Vistula Legion Infantry - part 3 & started painting Lancers

Finished off the fusiliers for the Vistula Infantry. Very pleased with how these turned out. The castings by "Elite" are first class. It was nice to not have them looking up at the sky as they sometimes seem to be.

Groundwork and photo courtesy of John D

I have also started work on the painting of the Vistula lancers. Just a test one to start with (Officer hence no lance), and I am pleased with the results. More work over the next few days to finish of the soldering and final tweaks to the rest of troopers. It will be a real one off unit once completed.

I am enjoying the modelling challenge here. Lots of extra work going into the castngs with moving arms , replaced swords, sword scabbards remade and flying loose, reins added, czapka has chords and rackets added. All good fun!

I have also come across some old 30mm Stadden figures which need a little repair and restoration before going to auction at Vectis, pictures next time

White Horses

Aaargh!! I hear you say.  I love painting white horses, and you never need that many usually so I don't mind spending a bit of time on them. As I am working on a cavalry regiment at the moment I thought I would try and deconstruct how i did them to work it out as it has mostly been discovered through good old trial and error. I have tried various methods from just white , grey, oil washes etc, and have settled on this method.

Horse initially undercoated in Humbrol 67 (Tank Grey) - yes dark grey.. Allow to dry properly. Then a heavy dry brush of Humbrol 64 (Light Grey), allow to touch dry, then again a heavy dry brush of Humbrol 34 (White) - making sure the paint is not too thin, even just using a bit of thick stuff at the bottom. I don't find I get the same result using acrylics here at all , they don't dry brush as well. The aim being to give a good lightening effect from the dark grey  but still leave darker areas in the muscles folds, around horse furniture etc

This is after the 3 first coats as above.

Next up add the furniture. I this case i am also colouring the tail, mane, socks and the muzzle using a Vallejo black. For the eyes, again just black. Don't worry about "whites of the eyes" - horses don't really have them they are more yellow anyway and horse pupils are very large - you are looking for suggestion here

Now time for the hard earned experience bit. White and grey can look a bit stark or dull. I want to add a little bit of warmth to it. I use water thinned Vallejo Khaki Grey (70880). Take a large brush and paint clean water all over the horse. Then working quickly using the large brush add neat Khaki to the horse -  it will run with the water already applied, work it over the horse. If it appears too thick add more water to your brush, too thin a little more paint. Allow the colour to collect in the folds around the furniture etc. Too much water? Dry your brush on kitchen paper then by touching it to the water area it will draw water and pigment off the horse.

At this stage it can look a little odd, but once it dries (a few minutes) it gives a certain warmth and weathering (probably sweat!) to the horse.

Next , i then use Vallejo Neural Grey (70992) and paint a few thin line marks on the flanks and neck etc to help suggest movement and muscles too. Out with Off White (70820) next to paint (not drybrush - but paint in ) the tops of muscles and flanks. You can at this stage add any dapple you want with the Off White. The horse furniture ,tale , main, muzzle and socks are given a light dry brush of the Khaki and hoofs painted in in Khaki. The muzzle is then given a light brush of Dark Flesh.heavier at the mouth end.

 

Furniture brasses and steel then added. Add any further dry brush to tail and mane etc . Add any neat pure white to muscles, flank, nose top blaze etc if you want too. Again you can over dapple with dots of pure white.Just remember sometimes less is more!

 Finished!  

Overall it does not take that long. Funny thing is it is not until near the end that it all seems to come together and suddenly it comes to life.

Time to complete one horse about 15 minutes altogether with a bit of drying time between some operations

And some more with riders i did this week

Belgian 2nd Carabinier Trumpeter(with own added trumpet etc as the range did not have one!)

Belgian 2nd Carabinier Officer

"Conoisseur" Heavy Horses. I do like them!

Horses

I have a few projects coming up , so I have decided to to complete a job lot of 28mm horses to hold ready to use when required. I have a stock from various manufactures (These are Conoissuer, Elite, Bicorne , Front Rank, and a few of unknown provenance) which I have accumulated over the years so it gives a reasonable amount of variety.

These horses are to be completed in oils. I use two brown colours , Burnt Umber (a dark brown - gives a dark chestnut finish) - and Burnt Siennia (a lighter redder brown- gives a red chesnut /bay finish).Oil is a very forgiving medium which takes a long time to dry fully so can be worked easily to achieve results.A well sculpted horse will really reward this method of painting.

Check out "Horse Color" website for more detail of horse colourings and markings in real pictures..

It is not worth doing just a few horses so altogether I have done 64. So here is a walk through how it's done.

Preparation -
1-  Clean up castings and attach to something to hold them while painting.
2-  Undercoat in Yellow (rather than white as gives a subtle tone to the end result)- this is Humbrol 74 and allow a full 24 hours to dry.Also use 83 Ochre
3-  Paint in horse furniture, this was with Vallejo black. Sometimes I do miss this step if not sure what colour I will be using as it can be completed once the oil has dried too.

4 -Apply neat oil with a large stiff brush - do this to all the batch. This is messy so don't do it on the dining table! I usually also use some protective gloves as well. I don't thin the oil with a spirit or medium, just use it neat and work in it all over.

5- Wipe of excess oil , this can be completed with sponge, large soft brush (wipe off any excess that accumlates on the brush as required), absorbent paper towel. Each of these gives a slightly different effect. Work from the horses head down and backwards. Leave a thin covering of paint on the muscle tops , flanks etc. Let the oil do the shading work in the creases , the mane, tail and underbelliy etc. If you don't like how one comes up, just apply oil again.

6- Leave to dry! I find these usually take a few days to dry somewhere warm and ventilated, it may take longer somewhere colder.

There are ways of speeding the drying time if you need to such as using quicker drying oil paint, or mixing with a medium such as Liquin. 

7- Add any horse furniture metals , colour hoofs, mane and tail , socks or blazes -(white or black usually).

8) Once finished they can be varnished matt, satin, or gloss, either an acrylic or enamel works fine. I would  test a small area if you have been impatient - as it can run in area where the oil had been left thicker.

This method can also be used for horses with cast saddles or one piece horse/rider casting etc, just clean off excess oil after wiping, and obviously do this before painting the rider!

It has taken 3 hours- an hour a day over 3 days to get these 64 to stage 6. Once dried I can just complete the last stages in a few minutes as I need each horse.

Apologies as a couple of shots here are not in sharp focus - a new camera is on the "wants" list.

Picking up those brushes again.

So rooting through the mass of unpainted metal in the back of the store cupboard. I came across some old figures and decided to finish them.


First off the stocks a 28mm "Elite miniatures" French Cuirassier general.Some basic conversion work carried out, adding a flattened pin sword to replace the thick cast one. The horses reins are replaced with flattened wire and soldered into position. The horses head is turned to the side with a little pressure applied with pliers, and a little working of the mane and tail with the soldering iron too.

White horses. I had forgotten the challenge here. Started with a light grey undercoat (Humbrol 64). Then a very heavy dry brush of pure white. Once dried I then painted in an Off white (Vallejo acrylic)  over the top of the muscles areas. A wash of  yellow ochre (Vallejo - thinned with water)  was applied all over and allowed to dry. Then a dapple can be applied by spotting pure white over the flanks and chest area.  Black socks added and dry brushed. Sounds a lot of work , but the whole figure took less than two hours overall which is fine for a "special"

Doing his job - leading a division of Cuirassier at the WHC.