Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Chasseurs à Cheval - Work in Progress part 3

The first regiment - the 23rd has now been completed as far as I am taking taking them apart from a further coat of varnish and I will wait and do both units together to ensure a consistent finish. I will get a photo back of them based and flagged.

The 23rd Chasseurs were commanded by a certain Major Marbot in 1812 and i was asked to do some conversions on the unit commander. His head was replaced with one with a a Colpack and plume on (from the spares box), A sword was made to and placed in hand as the original is just waving , add  loose sword knots from wire, and a flying scabbard was added. A rather nice individual creation.

I have had a few queries on the greens to be used. The main colour is Vallejo Model Colour Military Green (975) as the overall base, this is then highlighted with VMC Flat Green (968), and VMC Light Green (942), with some mixing between them . It gives a pleasing result to eye I think.



Of course the other fun with these is that French colour "aurore" , which seems to vary from a yellow to scarlet - although can be orange to salmon pink! So in the end I went with a VMC scarlet base mixed with a little VGC 028 Orange Fire and highlighted with a touch of the pure orange.

Also been doing something a little smaller - some AB miniatures French Lancers are on table once the 24th chasseurs are done.

so a little taster - and just to put things in scale




These AB are 18mm - but they seem a lot smaller than that. However the casting quality and detail is superb making them a real joy to paint. more next time.

16 comments:

  1. I always like seeing the conversions. The way you guys alter the figures and create something individual is amazing. So much skill is required for that. I'm glad you put these up for scale. I don't own any 18mm and I'm going to wait quite awhile before tackling something that small.

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    1. Thanks Anne. It was interesting for me to see the difference in size in a picture too. Same principles for painting apply though - just does not take so long!

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  2. Looking superb Dave, as for those 18mm miniatures... wow! Great job on the mounts so far, looking forward to an update on those.

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    1. The AB are really nice.Horse are done in oils as per the larger 28's. Looking forward to see the whole lancer units myself!

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  3. Looking good! Look forward to seeing them finished.

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  4. Well, your chasseurs eally turned out great. I really like them. And thanks for the colours tip

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    1. Thanks,. I thought it might be helpful to list to colours used :-)

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  5. Hi Dave,
    Nice work and great conversion on the officer.

    I have just been reading my Osprey this week on line chasseurs. Picked up a few AB's with yellow facings on ebay and will be adding to them (4th I believe). Lots of possibilities with officers sometimes wearing the colpack and also the hussar style pelisse at times.

    Look forward to seeing your Lancers!
    Best
    Paul

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    1. Paul , yep lots of options. Given there were so many units most gamers don;t seem to have them, not sexy enough i guess,

      looking forward to seeing the end result on lancers myself

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  6. Great work, Dave! I have a soft spot for the colpack - such a elegant piece of headgear - so its nice to see your officer sporting one.
    Curt

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  7. Very nice Dave, those little soldiers are very little, you are a better man than me.

    John

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  8. Very nice looking figures Dave, and a great conversion work too!! I always thought AB figures were rather large compared to most other figures in the same scale.

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  9. Another fine looking unit and thanks for sharing the green colour reciepe.

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  10. Dave,
    I've been working on Austrian command stands. These images of Colonel Marbot have certainly inspired me. I'll be looking to create some similair command stands for the Staff officers.
    Great stuff!

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