Having returned from the eye clinic last week for a five-week check-up, I find that my eyes are now generally OK, but I had the advice that I should perhaps stand back a little from extreme close-up work, at least for a while.
Most of this year I've focused on the "War above the Trenches" series of biplane projects in 1/72 and 1/48, but with the thought of continuing rigging and turnbuckle work in these scales, decided not to do so, and with heavy heart I sold my only two kits: the 1/72 Roden Zeppelin Staaken and the 1/48 Silver Wings' Supermarine Seagull, the latter kit not so small, but still a handful. Who knows, I may come back some day.
Anyway, onward...
Some of you may have seen my recently completed Napoleonic vignette, "Berezina 1812", which further referenced an earlier vignette, "Veterans".
These two 90mm projects form the "wings" of a Napoleonic triptych, "La Grande Armée", meant ironically, as all parts of the triptych are in fact looking fairly spent and bedraggled.
The centrepiece of the composition, "Band of Brothers", is a pairing of a Hussar carrying a Drummer Boy on his back, and a separate Infantryman. Although separate pieces, they share the symbolic common denominators of defeat and retreat from, I would suggest, a failed campaign in Russia in the Winter of 1812. For this reason I want to show them marching together through a Winter scene. This is what the sculpts look like as complete compositions.
Both are sculpted by Richard Bailey and Jim Evans, and at 230mm they are large figures by anyone's standards. I've decided to start with the Hussar and Drummer Boy. There are only 16 pieces to the sculpture, including the base, shown here, but which will not be used in the final presentation. As can be seen, there is excellent detail in the resin castings.
I've kept the Drummer Boy's head, the drum, and various capes and musket, separate from the other, main pieces, to facilitate painting. They've been washed in warm soapy water to clear any mould slip agent, dried and primed.
I'll be posting occasional WiP updates, not that I think they'll necessarily interest anyone, more to the fact that they do add a little momentum to the process for me.
I decided to make a start with the side drum. Although well primed, it still took a few coats of acrylic to block-in the colour palette. Here we are with everything looking pristine,
and here with added "character" using Artists oils.
After the oils, to keep them from "moving" under a brushed application of warm Artists Matt Varnish, I dusted it over with Army Painter Anti-Shine lacquer, followed by the AMV.
It’s still too evenly worn, so will do a little more fine-tuning after it’s put in place on the Drummer Boy’s back, maybe with Burnt Umber, or perhaps scrub in some pigment dust into the gold faces.
And then to the carbine. Same process as for the Drum. The first photos here show the piece before any varnish finishes, so just raw colours.
The stock was darker at first but I think I like it better in a lighter finish. Might review that later.
And here after matt varnish. Not too bad.
On to the head of the Drummer Boy, and here the main colours of the shako and plume are set. Very bright at present.
The headscarf I later decided was too bland, and so added a little green over-colour.
The shako is black, but of two different finishes. The main panels are a kind of woolly felt, with leather strips holding the panels in place. There is also a dirty black-grey cover laid loosely over the top, probably, like the sheath for the plume, of protective oilskin.
To simply paint something black doesn't work, of course, so the fallback is 'model black' - that is, a dark grey. This way, deeper shadow detail can be added in true black. I used Dark Sea Grey for the panels as a base, then a weak wash of Paynes Grey overall. Highlights were added with lightened PG and Titanium White.
Here, more work has been done on the shako, the headscarf and shako accoutrements. Duller in palette, but more realistic.
And here to the front for a better effect. The face is now painted, too.
Just to maintain momentum, a few images of the Drummer Boy's cloak. Not too interesting, as such; it's...er...grey. That said, I've tried to show a graduation of tone from the deeper recesses to the outer folds, bearing in mind it's a wool garment and fairly 'flat' in terms of refraction. I think if I was using acrylics, there would be a temptation over-emphasise the graduations, but with oils, and in this context, the medium itself imposes limitations.
The first photo shows the garment in mid-grey primer with the first 'lowlight' added, and the two other images after more work as described above. I'm definitely using pigment dusts along the lower edge, later.
Here's the bedroll, salvaged by the Hussar when he lost his horse, one presumes. The painting is pretty basic, as when in place beneath the Drummer Boy's cape, only a little of it is in fact visible. I'll wait until it's in place and see if it needs a little highlight in bright red/white. The "9" on the ends of the cover refers of course to the 9th Hussars.
The Hussar's pelisse (fur-lined cape) is visible at its corners. This one's in light blue with high/lowlights. It's not long varnished so the shine still has to settler down a little, and the "9" still needs a delicate outline in weak black, to better define it against the background.
These are the last of the small, independent items. The main figures are next.
A close-up gives an idea of the complexity of the uniform. It's difficult to tell a dolman from pelisse.
It's taken a few hours to puzzle my way through this, but the main colour tones are now blocked in. Not entirely as they will appear of course - the braided areas are based in a mid-brown but will be in a gold finish, for instance - but it's enough to offer a guide as I work through the oils.
Moving on apace. The Hussar's head and neck area, the Drummer Boy's greatcoat and his arms and legs, and the blue folds of the pelisse have now been finished, except for fine-tuning a few areas.
I didn't photograph it earlier, but the Drummer boy's eyes have had a drop of Glue 'n Glaze applied, which dries crystal clear and gives the eyes some life. The Hussar's single visible eye will get the same treatment.
Tomorrow, it's the red jacket with its fur trim and gold braids, and probably the blue areas of the trousers, which will leave the leather leggings and boot areas to finish, hopefully in the next few days.
The Hussar is now complete down to the legging wraps.
Here are the leggings completed. I've tried to give them a little contrast from the riding chaps without departing too far from the preferred colour palette.
And here is the combined sculpt complete with accoutrements. As you can see, I've simply leaned the unit against a backdrop to keep it upright here, for these test shots. I'll drill one of the boots from the underside for a small fixing post for a temporary set on the stand, so it can stand independently, just to keep it safe and out of the way for now.
That, then, is the end of Part 1. Next, the Infantryman.
Welcome back to the Quiet Zone (Figures Group lol...)
The Infantryman: looks like the axe-murderer is back in town...
Apart from the torso, arms and legs, here are the other bits.
And a closer look at the head.
This strange-looking item doesn't appear in any of the promotional photographs. It took a few minutes before I realised it was a piece of soft-leather wrapped around the end of a stick, perhaps a sort of hold-all for a little food. I'm not sure what to do with it. When all other items are fitted around the back and torso, there's little room for anything else. Maybe it's meant to be an alternative to one of the other items. I could just about set it to appear as though the stick is shoved into the haversack on the left side.
Speaking of haversacks, I had to cut the one mentioned above into two pieces, backfill some areas and reinstate one or two other parts, together with adding foil straps to meet the other strap ends as they run down across the body, back and front.
I usually try to paint individual pieces separately, e.g., bedroll, backpack, and so forth, and then attach them later. Here, the two lower sections of the greatcoat snug-in around the waist, and do fit very well. I had decided that there wasn't much to gain by painting them separately, as so much of the back of the figure would be obscured by the coat in any case, and so attached the pieces.
I then attached the arms. The fit was good. It was then I noticed that the crutch was not going to fit into it's recess under the left arm, even though the arm certainly appeared to be correctly placed. I fettled things a little here and there, and at last got the piece in place.
Further, with the crutch so difficult to fit, I then realised that the haversack, with its protruding sword and bayonet, was also an issue, as it was meant to fit between the crutch and the coat. If I had noticed it earlier, I might have been able to adjust the angle of the arm to a wider 'sit', which in turn might have solved the issue with the crutch space. Not sure.
To solve the problem, the haversack was then bisected to fit in either side of the crutch, and filled in to effect a slightly thicker series of sack folds. I think when painted it won't be noticeable, so nothing dramatic, apart from having to spend several hours sorting it out, when it was meant to be a simple unit placement along the left hip of the figure.
As the haversack now sat a little forward of its intended position, the straps moulded into the figure at back and front were short of meeting the haversack. I cut and double-folded foil strips to replicate the straps, and ran them from the corners of the haversack, to be fixed where the resin detail ran out, the joint made-over with a little putty to disguise it.
The green on the images below is a quick-setting putty that I brush into various gaps with an old brush and lacquer thinner, which dissolves the putty and alleviates any sanding, for the most part.
I should have used a secondary light source, which would have revealed more of the repairs, but I'm sure you get the idea.
After a little filigree work around the repairs, everything is now ready for priming.
After further work as described, the main unit (full figure and head), and the various accoutrements, are now primed and prepared to be based in their block-colour palette.
I decided to complete the accoutrements first, excepting the bag-on-a-pole item, which I'm fairly sure won't be used.
No secondary light source here, just a few record shots.
Having pushed through the previous Hussar and Drummer Boy set, right into this one, I'm standing down two or three days, to come back fresh for the Infantryman's Head and Body; there's a lot of work.
I've also located a nice mahogany base for all the figures together, as per the original idea for the group. It's from the Rugged Company in Scotland. The main base area will have something of a winter scene, with snow and dried grass in and around where the figures are standing.
Using the same colour-blocking techniques as described earlier, the head of the Infantryman has now been brought forward with oils.
The lighting, again, is just for record photos and doesn't catch the subtleties of light and shadow. Hopefully, in the final photos of the group as a whole I'll get the effects set to best advantage.
As can be seen, the main figure of the Infantryman is now complete. I sprayed the oval bases black for both sets, just to be able to stand them upright and out of the way, and still look a little more finished in their temporary display; they're pinned but not glued.
The mahogany pedestal base is arriving in a day or two, and I just have to dress the top of it with a little scenic material - snow, dead grass or similar - affix the figures and add the nameplate, and that will end the project - about a month's work, overall.
I think that, compared to the Hussar/Drummer Boy set, the Infantryman is less detailed in some respects, but there are several nice things about it. Part of it might be that the latter figure is simply wrapped up in a big coat, with the more detailed elements strapped to his back, while the other set has a natural amount of detail on view, because of the differences to their uniform.
All in all, though, an interesting project and a nice change of pace.
