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Saturday, September 2, 2023

Nashcon Finds and Works in Progress!

 Works in Progress at Home and Abroad

What better way to pass the time when recovering from the dreaded COVID, than to post some works in progress, and remembrances of a lovely gaming convention with friends in which many new toys were acquired.  I had avoided COVID for many years, getting jabbed as soon as vaccines/boosters were available, but no such luck this year.  In any event the symptoms are abating and I finally feel well enough to get a little computer time in and perhaps even some painting later today.

Here we have the first of the 54mm Hinton Hunt figures I am attempting to paint, a Hungarian infantryman.  The precision of casting/sculpting is not as fine as I would have expected, but I have tried to clean him up as best I could before beginning the paintwork.

I have suckered, I mean persuaded, some of my good buds into tackling a few of these vintage sculpts with me.  This Voltigeur from the Legion du Midi is underway having received a lot of love and a new hand!  I won't give away his caretaker until he is done.

This Austrian fellow with the big pipe is being done closer to home and is sporting a new mustache thanks to the ministrations of his caretaker.  The amount of prep work done on this poor fellow to get him into better condition is astonishing!

·         Undercut as many places as I could reach

·         Repositioned the arms

·         Recarved the musket

·         Made and added a new musket strap

·         Removed the bayonet and put it in the scabbard

·         Drilled out the musket barrel and the bayonet socket

·         Cut his que loose and shaped it

·         Added a moustache

·         Drilled out his pipe

·         Removed the cast flap and added a new one to the cartouche

·         Undercut the ends of the straps on the pack

·         Recarved the overcoat and reshaped it to look folded on top of his pack

·         Removed the pack, did a little carving and re-etched/enhanced the fur then glued it back to fit properly


This Stadden figure of De Hilliers will be winging his way across the pond shortly to get the attention of another talented artist based in the UK.


Back to my normal scale, I'll add some of my own work and correction to the Lamming Grenadiers from my previous post, on which I had painted an incorrect "monkey butt".  These fine fellows are now looking the part of line Grenadiers!

Nashcon Vendor Finds


These fine 1/72 Austrian fellows were labelled as Les Higgins, but I knew something was off about that.  They turned out to be Douglas figures.  I had never even heard of Douglas figures so these were a new one on me.  I picked them up for a friend who is slowly being seduced by the Austrians.

These were clearly based on a Hinton Hunt sculpt, but modified with a new canteen, rolled greatcoat and musket sling.

These Minifig s-series French Cuirassiers will be winging their way across the ocean to their new home shortly.

These fine fellows will be staying with me.  Two Minifig s-series varieties of Spanish Lancers; SNC 1s and SNC 2s, along with some s-series British Heavy Dragoons who will be converted to serve as officers, should make for a lovely regiment with some nice Spanish flair.  The Colonel in the lead is likely a Warrior Miniatures British Heavy Dragoon trumpeter, and will undergo a transformation to a Spanish Colonel of Lancers.

I already have this carriage set (SFA 1s), but for $5 I could not resist adding a second.  The original, painted by Dick Tennant is part of a vignette with Marshal Messena's mistress riding in the carriage.  I believe I will leave this one as is, albeit repainted as Massena.  

These lovely s-series Spanish Grenadiers (SN 5s) were my favorite find.  The s-series is a bit bigger than the Hinton Hunts that make up the majority of my collection, but they are Grenadiers after all, they are supposed to be big! 


I plan on converting the Austrian General into a Spanish Colonel to lead the Grenadiers.

I also found a nicely painted set of Der Kriegspieler French legere firing with enough intact bayonets to finish off a regiment I had in the wings.

These are Warrior miniature's Spanish Dragoons mounted on s-series horses for the most part.  Not the nicest figures, but I really do love the idea of adding a regiment with the yellow jackets of the Spanish Dragoons.


ADLG Madness and a Spanking!

The real draw of Nashcon for me this year was to play in the L'Art de la Guerre tournament.  I am not an experienced player but wanted to give it a whirl, so pulled out some Romans I had and with a few speed painted additions, was able to put together a 200 point army.  


Despite the addition of these rugged Roman legionnaires, lets just say that my games were a learning experience and leave it at that...


Finally a few pictures of a work in progress of a nifty vignette from a bud across the pond that I wanted to share.  Rob sent the following shots:

The inspiration is a painting of a Spanish Cavalry General with Guerillas and Lancers by Denis Deighton from the Royal Collection

The figures are a mix of Warrior and Minifig s-series castings

SNC 3 s with a modified telescope to match the painting more closely.

The original of this figure was holding a telescope out horizontally, so clearly a major re-work with solder and green stuff to match the Guerilla leader shown in the painting!  Can't wait to see him painted.






11 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you're feeling a bit better. Also, that you've sorted out your inappropriate monkey butts although it sounds like you got yours handed to you on a plate at Nashcon's ADLG competition.
    That's some serious enhancement of those 54mm HHs - is this going to get all competitive? And, talking of figure enhancements, don't forget to gouge out those buttons eyes on your Warrior Spanish Dragoons before you paint them.
    PS you can't have too many Massena figures - for my money one of the best.

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    1. You are absolutely correct about my dismal ADLG showing, though I have to say my opponents were very gracious in the way they meticulously disassembled my lines. As for the 54's, no competition is allowed but it is fun to see how folks are approaching them. I'm hoping that my brush work makes up for some of the roughness in the casting, but only time will tell. I'm going to have to double check those Spanish dragoons, as I did not notice the button eyes on first glance. Those lancers of yours were special indeed. I'll carry the vision of those eyes boring into me to my grave!

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  2. Haven’t you been a busy boy David…
    You have certainly acquired some lovely toys…
    I am certainly impressed at the amount of old school toys you picked up at Nashcon you rarely see stuff like that at U.K. shows.

    Don’t worry about getting beaten… I have found you quite easily get used to it 😂
    You are not the only one that is looking forward to seeing Rob’s vignette finished and painted.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. This was certainly an unusual year for rare Napoleonics and the first time I had run into this vendor at Nashcon. It was delightful surprise though, if hard on the wallet...

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  3. I'm very pleased to hear you're on the mend. Was it another acquisition from Nashcon? We've just had a new outbreak in the WM household, I'm sorry to say. It remains to be seen whether or not I can dodge it yet again.

    What a magnificent vintage haul! One doesn't see very many things like that in NZ either.

    Your Combined Grenadiers are shaping up very finely indeed. They have very good bones, those early Lammings.

    Rob's coversions are just amazing!

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    1. Hoping fortune will favour you yet again as that acquisition is one you don't want. I don't think Nashcon is to blame for this one, despite the 6-700 attendees gathered, as the timing is wrong. More likely a gift from my wife's school, but who really knows. The vintage haul really did take me by surprise, but I guess that is the nature of the beast. Stay well!

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  4. What a great collection of troops - those Spanish Lancers are particularly nice!

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    1. The discovery of the Spanish Lancers and Grenadiers just sitting in a corner of the convention hall just about floored me. They were the last thing I expected to see!

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  5. I join those who congratulated you on the conversion of the Guard grenadiers into line grenadiers. Generals used to form “united grenadier battalions” during the Peninsular War. These battalions existed long before. They formed a division of “grenadiers and voltigeurs united” under the orders of General Oudinot. This elite division allowed Napoleon not to engage the infantry of the Imperial Guard, which at the time (1805-1806) was few in number.

    The general of Dragons is called Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers. He was colonel-general of the dragoons. In this capacity he commanded the division of dragoons on foot. This general was very unhappy throughout his career. He was several times falsely accused of weakness or incompetence by his leaders who thought they were thus hiding their own errors. Disgraced, suspended from his functions He died of grief in 1813 in Berlin. He was waiting to be tried again there. His son Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers will become marshal under the Second Empire in 1854.

    The marshal on board a landau is most certainly Marshal Masséna. Following a fall from his horse, he commanded at the Battle of Wagram from his carriage. After the battle Napoleon declared that the two bravest men were not among the soldiers he commanded, but the coachman and the postillion of the Duke of Rivoli – Prince d'Essling. These two civilians had exposed themselves to fire beyond their duty. Napoleon could not directly reward these two brave men because they belonged to the prince's household. After two months Massena, who was very stingy, announced that he would give each of them a sum of four hundred francs (a ridiculous amount considering the perils he faced and the nine hundred thousand francs per year he received from the Emperor). Marcellin Marbot, then aide-de-camp of the marshal and who had understood very well, immediately said that the marshal was very generous to award them four hundred francs of life annuity. Massena became angry and left the room furious. The Emperor found out about it and teased the marshal so much that he had to give them a life annuity of four hundred francs.

    The red general officer uniform does exist. But it is the outfit of Marshal Jean Lannes, Duke of Montebello, who was also colonel-general of the Swiss, who wore a red uniform.

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    1. Looks like the postillion's luck has run out as he seems to have been shot off his perch.

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    2. Well Rob, if you wanted to use your modelling skills and make one for me, I could pop him in position. :)

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