Fizzy Drink Dragoon

The Soon Dragoons have turned into the Drag On Dragoons, I'm afraid. The good news, however, is that they are very nearly finished.

Herewith is their standard bearer, who gave me no end of trouble:

He was worth it though, I think, as I was able to sneak a little bit of pink into the regiment after all.

All being well, they should be ready fot their proper photo shoot at the weekend.

Best wishes,
WM

Soon Dragoons

Just a bit of an update.

I had a bit of time off this week, what with it being the King's Birthday and all, so some progress happened. Not as much as I'd hoped, but they're at least starting to look dragoonish.

In case anyone is wondering, that is indeed the famous Humbrol Prussian Dragoon Blue you can see there. I had to screw up my courage a bit because the last time I used it on some Airfix Landwehr in about 1978 they looked hideous. I think it looks quite good on the dragoons though. There was a clue in the name, clearly.

Have a great weekend

Yours
WM

Precious Prussians

For the last few weeks I've been preparing a regiment of Prussian dragoons.

Progress has been a bit slow, I'm sorry to say, but the conversions are finally complete and they all have their white undercoats on, ready for the kick off.

Part of the slowness was simply down to the rarity of these figures. About half of them needed sword repairs, and the three command conversions (the officer, standard bearer and trumpeter) were made from even harder-to-get recasts. The upshot was that there was little room for error, so I had to take my time.

I'm not entirely decided about whch regiment they are to be, so the initial plan is to paint their facings white (which is what I'd do in any case). If I like them like that, then they will be the 2nd (1st West Prussian) Dragoons. If I don't, then I'll probably paint their facings over in pink and turn them into the 6th Neumark Dragoons instead.

How quickly these get done will depend on whether I go travelling again next month. I feel great and my GP says I'm good to go, but my employers may take a different view. I'm hoping to find out in the next week or two.

Wish me luck

WM

Army Analysis

My apologies for the long intermission, but I've been away on holiday in the Deep South. Getting restarted on the painting table, however, has been a bit hit and miss. This will change, I'm hoping, as a result of a delightful visit from my friend Bill W, who came all the way from Oklahoma.

Bill wanted to see all the troops, of course, so I set them all out for him:

And this is what they'd have looked like if Bill had shown up in 1973:

And since you've twisted my arm, here's a slightly better colour shot:

This was very useful, as it happens, as it allowed me to see where I've got to and what the gaps are. Somehow or other I've managed to acquire 25 battalions of infantry, nine regiments of cavalry, eight batteries of artillery and about 32 command figures - or just shy of about 800 figures and models altogether.

The conclusions are: I'm going to need three more infantry battalions, three cavary regiments, four more batteries and a handful of colonels and generals to round off Phase Two; and that I really must paint the other half of the ping pong table.

Have a great weekend

WM

The Fifty Seconds

As promised, I present the 52nd, led here by Sir John Colborne, later to become the 1st Baron Seaton. He's Seaton on his horse now.

A couple of vintage Hinton Hunts, I'm pained to admit, were harmed in the making of this regiment. One of these was a BN 20: British Rifles Bugler, to whom I added some shoulder wings to turn him into a light infantryman

The second was Sir John Colborne's horse, which started out as an FNH 10: French General's horse, converted into a British Infantry Officer's horse.

And to finish up, here's what they look like with my other two Anglo-Hanoverian regiments. Some British artillery to go with them is looking a bit overdue.

The figures used for the 52nd were:

Hinton Hunt:

BN 93: British Light Infantry charging x 20

BN 90: British Light Infantry Officer charging x 1

BN 20: British Rifles Bugler, converted into a British Light Infantry Bugler, x1

FNH 10: French general officer's horse, converted into a British infantry officer's horse

Der Kriegspielers Napoleonique:

#154: British Light Infantry Command Group regimental colour bearers x 2, with a few modifications

Alberken:

BN 35: British light infantry officer, converted into a British Light Infantry colonel x 1

For those who haven't spotted it yet, Colborne is my new avatar. He was a Wellington Man, after all.

Happy New Year everyone!

WM

Regimental Sir John

It's Christmas Eve and I've been hard at it for the last few days working on the 52nd (Christmas chores allowing, that is).

Progress on the 52nd has been a rather glacial business, I'm sorry to say, but at long last they're finally coming together.  I've even managed to finish painting a commander for them. He is none other than Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Colborne, who commanded the 52nd at Waterloo.

The figure chosen for this gig was an Alberken BN 35: British light infantry officer, pictured here next to a Hinton Hunt FNH 10: French general officer's horse.

Cutting him off his base, fixing his sword and bending his legs, etc., so that he could sit on the horse were all quite easy. Less simple, however, was the major leg surgery he needed to shorten his unreasonably lengthy calves. Other changes were a new left arm, courtesy of a Lamming Scots Gray trooper, and some epaulettes suitable for a field officer.

The horse still needs a bit of work, but there's a fair prospect of getting Colborne and the rest of the 52nd finished this week.

In other news, I was very chuffed to see that my flag design for the Russo-German Legion has caught on a bit. You can see it here: The Hinton Spieler.: Green Jarmins

Pictured below is the absolutely exquisite version painted by Aly Morrison:

And not be outdone is the very pretty version made by the mysterious Count Goya, which he somehow managed to create directly from one of my photographs:

Seeing these flying above such beautifully painted regiments has been a really lovely way to round off the year.

Merry Christmas everyone!
WM