Another box for John finished & more 6mm Crimean War.

Before I get this batch packed up I thought a group photo was in order. Very colourful batch this one representing a couple of weeks painting. A few of the odd foot figures, mostly Minifigs had a paint job on them but required retouching. The plastics are by Strelet (French dismounted Dragoons) and Zveda (Russian Cossacks and the figures in white Kaftans). Mounted Dragoons by Lancer Miniatures and the Winged Hussars of course by Ral Partha. I have another follow up box that remains unopened, I'll surprise myself over the weekend! The same outer box and inner boxes travels back and forth as we try to recycle as far as possible on packaging. 

Next I have two regiments of Peter Pig ECW foot for Graham and then a unit of 20mm WSS British Foot Guards and a cavalry regiment for Tony before delving back into John's next box.

I'm continuing to enjoy painting the Irregular Miniatures 6mm Crimean war figures with 2 Russian and 1 British infantry units done and a couple of bases of British Lancers. I have more on order and will make the cavalry units up to 16 figures each keeping the infantry units at 36 figures. The basing has grown on me just as they stand, they seem to sit far more naturally in the terrain in this scale than rigid 2mm MDF bases and can be formed into march column or line. I do have something in mind for them. 

Irregular Miniatures 6mm Crimean War - test paint #1.

 I like the Irregular Miniatures 6mm figures. They may be slightly 'rougher' in appearance at first glance compared to say Baccus, but from past experience I know that once you get a good flat black base coat on them and begin to carefully pick out the details some very nice sculpts begin to emerge. Such was the case in these Crimean War Russian infantry, my first test paints for what might (or might not, you know the score here by now!) become a little side project for myself.

These 6 strips - a 36 figure battalion - took around an hour to paint. I'm pleased with them other than that I did not paint in the red collars on the greatcoat so I might correct that. I filed the bases right down as they are a little thick and chunky and I think they stand well as they are now and that adding another 2mm MDF base would possibly detract from the overall look. The metal bases are textured anyway. 

Of course they look much better in real life than blown up on a screen given the tiny scale and I must admit to being rather pleased with them. Next up I'm going to paint 36 British line. It may be because the Crimean range is less popular than some other IM ranges in the scale but the strips are very crisp and cleanly cast. I have quite a selection of types to paint including Highlanders and Lancers etc so that I can get a good feel for the range. 

Edit: First battalion of British foot - 36 figures.

French dismounted Dragoons, and 'Ozzy' helps out!

Latest off the painting desk are these dismounted 20mm French Dragoons for John. The Strelet plastic Dragoons are very nice indeed, sensible poses and well animated. Each unit consists of 12 Strelets Dragoons, a metal Lancer drummer and a Hinton Hunt horse. in addition there are 10 metal dragoons,  by Lancer Miniatures. I have a few more to do today then it's more mounted Dragoons for the rest of the week. Looking ahead I have a couple more 15mm ECW regiments on the way from Graham and I'm delighted to say I'll be doing some painting again for Tony of the Prometheus in Aspic blog. It's been a while, but I'm looking forward to it. Another box of goodies also arrived from John when my Grandson Oscar, (we all call him Ozzy),was here and he wasted no time in getting his hands on it!

The photos below show the three dismounted French dragoon units being: Languedoc - blue justaucorps (top coat) red jacket beneath, La Reine - (Red/Red) and Beauffremont ('Yellow'/blue). Source is Officers and Soldiers of French Dragoons 1669 - 1749, which John loaned me for the painting.

Note: Just spotted that the two unridden horses need saddles painted in over the blankets!

Now, as much as I'm enjoying painting for others again there remains that little niggling feeling that I do still want to do something for myself besides. The C&C/individually based AB's project has fizzled out, I think because it's too much like going back over old ground. I need something different and something fresh and to this end I'm going to try painting some of the Irregular Miniatures 6mm Crimean War figures which I have on order. 2mm was just a bit too small for my liking although JBM is doing great things with the scale, and the Crimean War has been an interest of mine for many years so when I saw the IR range something just clicked. I want to begin by seeing what I can do with the figures and if I can still enjoy painting 6mm and given the usual speed of IR's order turn around time I hope to have my hands on them by the end of the week with luck.

Below: I don't really know what this image is doing here other than it made me laugh!

Progress report - a slight bendy Pole issue!

A few photos of the lovely Ral Partha Polish winged hussars in progress. I thought the horses were going to be a pleasure to paint and they certainly were. Not yet satin varnished as I might do a bit more work on the blanket detail, must say I'm really pleased how they turned out. One slight issue is that of the bendy wire original Ral Partha lances, as usual I fit these only once the figure is painted and drill out the hand before undercoating. This avoids it getting in the way of the brush. However the thicker lances - and I did a test run before painting - refuse to push through and are very soft metal so bendy, and there is the potential to scratch the paintwork. The thinner wire lances similar to those supplied by Hinchliffe is no problem as you can see, John fitted the flags to all ten lances so don't really want to see them wasted. Mmmm bit of a tricky one but nothing that can't be resolved.

Edit: Gave them a good coat of varnish so will let them dry overnight. In the morning I'm going to use a fine pointed file and mini plyers to push the lances through. As the lances are integral to the original castings it makes sense to keep them, a steady hand and eye will see the job finished then I'm going to follow with 24 Strelets dismounted Dragoons by way of a change. I do like the Vallejo satin varnish, it goes on quite thick but dries to a pleasing sheen which really brings out the colours, especially the horses. Note the hanging strap beneath the horses front legs, I have never seen that on a casting before, in fact I almost trimmed it off when I picked up the first one thinking it was excess metal!

 

ECW regiment of foot and another Reb unit for Graham.

This weeks output, more lovely Peter Pig figures for Graham. I don't know what it is about these Pigs but I find them such a pleasure to paint. First was a Confederate regiment of infantry 36 figures in total and as I mentioned previously I wanted to try to capture a few more of the 'cream' tones of faded butternut for this one, so effectively they are brown, faded grey and cream tones. The important thing is to try not to get too much contrast so that they all work together and hopefully I have achieved that and there is a bit of contrast with the previous two regiments. 

Then another regiment of foot towards Grahams Edgehill project, 28 figures, blue coated Royalists. I like these musketeers firing with rests and you can see the match hanging from between the fingers, a nice touch in this scale.

Today I'll be prepping up 10 Ral Partha winged hussars for John and some more 18mm AB Napoleonics for my own little C&C project of individually based figures with gloss varnish.