Meantime, in order to keep stress levels to a minimum I have returned to working on the roofs of three buildings I started. After much thought I decided to go with plastic straws laid onto the roofs, covered in two coats of white filler and then painted vallejo Burnt Red as a base shade. At that stage it still did not look right and I put them away for a few days. Yesterday I decided to try to lift and highlight the tiles by painting individual tiles in a lighter mix of the red plus German camo orange. I was genuinely surprised how well this worked as an impression of the pantiles, it will do very nicely for me indeed. Just need to tile the third building now before adding window frames. The Moorish style tower is still on the to do list, probably once back in the UK, I think the four buildings in this scale will suffice for my needs. Walls and roads will follow.
The RHA crew are still work in progress and Ian informs me that Graham has printed five figures in slightly different sizes in order to see which best matches existing ranges. Once this is decided upon a full set will be printed and Ian is then going to put them into a mould via Griffin (click), with some other 40mm figures he is having made. This means I will have the option of having the crews in metal, which does seem the better option. The guns are on order from Andy but it will be some time before they arrive so this will probably be a project for back in the Uk. Creating a set of 40mm RHA gunners started as something of a dream for me and I am incredibly grateful to Ian and Graham for all their work in making this become a reality.
I am now researching the rocket battery base I plan, I know I'm pushing it a bit here as the newly trained rocketeers were not sent out to Spain from Woolwich until 1813, but you just got to have them! I'll only require two digital conversions to open handed crew and I'll use the existing firer and officer along with scratch built launcher and rockets.
A few research images so far.
Hi Lee quick question about the rockets (cos you know this is not my period) were they used en masse? I ask because I'm guessing they weren't very accurate?
ReplyDeleteHiya JBM. I'm preparing a post on the development of rockets by Sir William Congreve but essentially yes they proved to be very inaccurate although Congreve worked until his death to improve this.They were used en masse in the war of 1812 and proved very effective against the American infantry where "Never did men with arms in their hands make better use of their legs". The rocketeers were trained at Woolwich SE London very close to where I lived for 20 years and the old barracks still remain (I think as private housing now sadly). I think they only saw action once in the Peninsular, in 1813 but as you will know my blog is very much inspired by the Sharpe TV series and I have long loved the 'rocket' episode!
DeleteThere was a big step forward in accuracy of rockets when they abandoned the M1810 empty milk bottle launcher.
DeleteMany thanks for that Tony :)
DeleteThe tiles look really good to me, not that I've seen many (if any) such things in life.
ReplyDeleteThe RHA figures must be a very exciting prospect, from idea to table.
Hi Ross, I am of course surrounded by such roof tiles here, they are actually quite complex in both design and shape so best I could do was to achieve an impression, which I hope I have done.
DeleteThe RHA started out as an idea using conventional metal sculpts which would have cost close to £850 including putting them into moulds. The digital rout suggested by Ian has proven to be far cheaper and I think the renders are stunning.
The finished buildings look great and the tiles are just right! When you come back to blighty will it be Kent or somewhere else?
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Ian. To be honest we are still open minded about where to live next! So long as we are closer to the family is what matters.
DeleteLee,
ReplyDeleteIt's quite good we can now turn our hobby 'dreams' into reality!! A little more patience and I'm sure those gunners will soon be with you
Graham, I have plenty of patience, if not for sticking together plastic Russians! I think I might now take up Ians offer of metal crews, I doubt the guns will arrive before I'm back in the Uk anyway. Thanks for your work so far :)
DeleteYour buildings look really good and the tonal finish on the roof being spot on.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm, I was close to giving up, but I'm pleased with the roofs now.
DeleteEchoing everyone else, the buildings and roofs are fantastic! And one cannot go wrong with the RHA given their Tarleton helmets.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Thank you Stokes, a lot of hours work have gone into the buildings so I'm glad things have turned out quite well. They should serve well for my planned use of DBN rules.
DeleteRoofs look perfect, and as for rockets, how could you not??? :o)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Steve, I was really tempted to use the printed tile sheet, but the hours spent cutting up straws and mixing up filler seems to have paid off!
DeleteRoofs look great, the impression is all you need and you have succeeded really well I think! The rockets sound exiting! Good luck with the scratch build!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain. The open handed conversions are being done by Dan at digitalsculpts and I need to decide between the simpler launch frame or the more complex 'wheeled ladder' type frame next.
ReplyDelete