Just a quick update this week on some upcoming units for the French Napoleonic army from a variety of figure sources.
Here are some minor conversions of Der Kriegspieler line French artillery. I added the plume and will add epaulets as needed to model the 9th company of artillery that was attached to the Imperial Guard Fusilier-Chasseurs regiment.
I had enough Der Kriegspieler figures for a battery of the Imperial guard and a line battery with a captured Austrian gun. The line artillery is really extra to my needs, so if anyone out there has any DK 16s or Elite Voltigeur would be happy to trade. I need about ten of each to expand my Middle Guard Infantry battalions.
I'll be modifying and using Newline Design's artillery transport team and Caisson to model the support team for the Imperial Artillery.
Nominally 20mm, but fit in well with the Der Kriegspieler figures.
Did a little arm surgery to modify one of the DK line artillerists so I could have one with a rammer
Continuing to make progress on the Bavarians. With such minimal facial detail on these modifications of the Airfix originals, I felt like a wash simply would not work to bring out the detail. I tried the reverse process and started with a darker base coat, and just highlighted to bring out a semblance of a face. The result was fairly abstract, but will do OK when seen in mass.
I found these old Alberken figures on eBay masquerading as Dutch 25mm figures by the seller. I suspected Alberken Duchy of Warsaw and Wellington Man was kind enough to cofirm using an image from the Lazey Limey site:
http://lazylimey.blogspot.com/2008/12/alberkenearly-minifig-20mm-fn09-line.html
Here is an Illustration of the 8th Infantry Regiment, that these figures will ultimately represent.
Next up from the Tennant Collection will be my first cavalry regiment to get the shiny treatment and some much needed touch up - the 21st regiment of Chasseurs a cheval
When doing so I mount each figure individually to facilitate finding and correcting any missing paint from the journey overseas. I'll add a wash for the faces and some highlighting and then off to battle with them!
Lastly, a necessary concession to my decision to retain the large battalions of the Tennant collection, is the expansion of my original infantry battalions. In this case two more companies of the 17 line regiment to bring the 1st battalion up to strength. Behind are a line Chef de Battalion and Colonel who will lead the 39th line infantry regiment into battle. The mounted commanders are Franznap figures. As you can see - lots to do!
Love the conversions. The DK figures also look pretty nice - I always thought they were supposed to be inferior castings. Anyway, how do you find the time? Do you have a life? Don't bother answering that, your recent holiday snaps prove that you do - so what am I doing wrong?
ReplyDeleteHah! It's called kids in college and suddenly there is more time. I also took a veritable metric butt ton of photos a couple of weeks ago so that I could more easily post a series of blog entries. One more to go, but it will be a complete departure from the Napoleonics. In truth I am blessed with a good job that doesn't require much evening work to complete. My spouse is a teacher, so I have to occupy myself with something besides cleaning and cooking when she is busy doing her class prep every evening.
DeleteYou are certainly putting me to shame, David. Some very clever conversions you've got going there.
ReplyDeleteDon't be so sure WM! I was pleased with the plumes. Certainly a vast improvement over my first attempt for the Carabiniers, but truth be told, the rammer arm is a little wonky, but I angled the figure just right for his moment in the sun. Will also try to model a trumpeter for the transport team, but only hope it will come out as well as your soldered ones!
ReplyDeleteNice and shiny - the way Napoleonics should be!
ReplyDeleteAgree Matt! If you look at my previous blog entry, you can see how the highlighting, and in particular the gloss coat, really brings out the detail in the figures as compared to those without. Don't really know why, but it is as if the final gloss coat with the Windsor and Newton oil based varnish, really pumps up the contrast in the colors and sets off all of the detail work.
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