The Grand Review

At very long last I have finished the 8th Cuirassiers. It took two whole days to complete the final touches, which made me feel a little guilty yesterday as the weather was glorious. It was rubbish today though, so it was time well spent.

Marbot: General Nansouty has arrived with the cuirassiers, Sire.
Napoleon: He took his time! Very well, start the parade.

Nansouty: Cuirassiers! Let's show them what proper cavalry look like!

The 8th Cuirassiers defile past the assembled throng....

Nansouty: Nice one lads!

...and take up position on the right of the line.

Napoleon: Right then, time to thrash those Prussians!

The cuirassier figures are all vintage Hinton Hunt FN 102: Cuirassier Trooper, charging, with one converted into an officer and another as a trumpeter.

Lining them all up like that reminds me that I really need some more line regiments...

WM

Lemon Squeezer

By Jings, what a busy weekend. I've been shopping, repairing, transporting, cleaning, cooking and fighting a battle, but by some miracle I somehow managed to squeeze in a trumpeter.

He is, of course, a Hinton Hunt FN 102: Cuirassier Trooper, charging (One Piece Casting), converted by yours truly into a trumpeter.

He's almost finished. My brushes are all hopelessly blunt and in dire need of replacement, so there are numerous wee areas that need tidying up. I really must do something about it as the rest of the squadron is not going to go well otherwise.

I can't help feeling a bit guilty about this one as he's the first completely intact, pristine and vintage Hinton Hunt I've ever dared to chop up.

Nansouty is well underway, so there's a reasonable chance that he'll be appearing next week.

I am, etc.,

WM

New Year's Resolutions

Phew, that was a good one, if somewhat perilous. The lump in the landscape we chose to shin up this year was Castle Rock, which is about three hours drive north of Wellington.

Castle Rock, aka The Crag of Doom

There's a charming Department of Conservation sign just before the ascent which basically says: "Abandon all hope all ye who are daft enough to try this". I'm not entirely sure how we survived. There is absolutely nothing to hold onto on the way up or at the tiny little ledge at the top.

At the top. To give you a sense of scale, you may just be able to make out the lighthouse

 out there close to the end of the point.

My New Year's Resolution is not to do that again. On the plus side, the prospect of painting a regiment of cuirassiers suddenly didn't seem nearly so bad.

I'm still at the prepping stage with these. They're all vintage, never-before-painted Hinton Hunt FN 102s, and if you'd seen all the flash on them you'd understand why. It took me about five hours to carve it all off. By the end I was covered in little lead shavings.

Including one I did earlier.

They look quite smart now I've managed to clean them up, and there's the added enticement of the little command group I converted for them this afternoon.

I can't wait to get stuck into them!

Yours, and wishing you all the best for 2020,
WM

Cuirassier and Curiouser

As you know, while working on the Grenadiers, I've also been experimenting with a few test figures. Below is my first ever attempt at a French cuirassier. No French army would be complete without at least a regiment of these.

He is a vintage Hinton Hunt FN 102: Cuirassier Trooper (mounted) charging, painted to represent a trooper of the 8th Cuirassiers.

I had a number of false starts with this one as it was really difficult to work out exactly what it was that Marcus intended in some areas, so it took a bit of guesswork.

I'm reasonably satisfied with the results.  I'll get cracking on the rest of them as soon the Grenadiers à pied are finished, which shouldn't be toooo far off now.

Yours, as always

WM