Monthly Archives: November 2022

Piers the Plowman and ‘Friends’

I had long admired the Piers the plowman set issued by Foundry Miniatures and finally acquired it at the Partizan show that was held last March. As well as the plowman set, I also picked up a set of Red Deer. The plan is to add both sets to my WOTR collection, preferably as part of a collection of scenery that I am working on.

The Red Deer are painted and you can see them in a temporary scenic setting in the pictures above. As you can tell from the bases, I still have to decide how to finish them – the idea is to make a small vignette that will serve as battlefield ‘decoration’.

So it was on to the plowman set. There are two parts to it really. A Tax collector and two guards confronting a hapless peasant family, obviously asking for more, as tax men are inclined to do. Then there is the Plowman, his plow and oxen team. It was a straight forward task to paint the Peasant and his wife and children. I had to smile to myself, the little girl looks a bit fierce and defiant compared to the rest of the family – she must take after my daughter!!

I haven’t got any more Sir!

Having started with the two easy subjects it was then on to the Tax collector and his men.

The rest of the set – painting in progress

As usual, I block painted the figures , shaded them with ink and then re –highlighted with the original colours.

The figures have now been block painted and await the ink washes.

I worked on these figures in sub sets. The taxman and guards first and then the plowman and plow.

Tax collector and guards finished – inked and highlighted – except for basing
Plowman and his oxen and plow.

Then final stage was to base the figures. The individual figures were very straight forward. The plowman needed a bit more thought and I used the Vallejo textured earth to create the plowed base – simply drawing a sculpting tool through the paste to create the furrows.

Peasant family based
The finished Tax collector and guard
The plowman hard at work!

So they are now finished for the time being. I have plans to create a home for the Peasants, a nice Medieval Carriage for the tax collector and a much larger plowed field for the plowman. They will all drop into ‘sabot base’ positions on the larger scenic pieces but for now, I’m calling them done and as well as adding these to my collection, I have achieved my aim of painting everything that I have bought at shows before the next show arrives!

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Perry’s Napoleonic Flat Boat part 2

The work on this lovely model continues. As I finished each block of figures I placed them into the boat, ready for the final assembly. Once the sailors were completed, it was onto the soldiers.

The officers take their seats!

The next set of figures after the Officer party was the two sentry’s at the front of the boat, and the drummer and trooper to accompany the officer party. I had decided to paint the soldiers with dark blue facings as they will probably have flags from one of the guard regiments.

Sentries, drummer and trooper block painted and inked – they await final highlighting.

You can see from the picture above that the four blocks of sitting troops are primed and ready for painting. I once again tackled these in two small ‘bites’ – the two block of four troops first, then the larger blocks of five troopers afterwards. I found that this was easier and with each of the sub assemblies that I finished, the more encouraged I was to continue.

The two blocks of four awaiting final highlights and matt varnish.
The poor chap being seasick in his hat is particularly characterful!

The first batch of troops were then added to the boat.

next, the two batches of five troops were painted

These were then added to the boat. It’s getting a bit crowded!

I also took the time to repaint the boat itself, giving it a black gunwale and repainting the rudder white and black. With all the main pieces now painted, the next step will be to add the missing oars, The sergeants spontoon, flags to the ensigns and make a base. That will come in part three of the blog! I’m currently waiting on the flags but here is a sneak preview of everything else in place.

All aboard!

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – our web site will have much of what you need! Click here to see our shop.

ARCANE SCENERY

You can find all the Vallejo Model colour paints here. If you don’t want to browse, just enter the paint number into the shop search bar;

VALLEJO PAINTS

Happy Modelling!

More Partizan Personalities!

Having attended ‘The Other Partizan’ at Newark back at the beginning of October, I picked up the latest free personality figure, The Empress Matilda. Rather than putting the model into the lead pile , Matilda was promoted to the front of the painting queue! Whilst I was painting one figure, I thought that I might as well add another in from the lead pile. In this case, it was Rosa Luxemburg, the German communist revolutionary, otherwise known as ‘Red Rosa’.

Matilda on the left, Red Rosa on the right….possibly the only time she has been there….

Once the figures were cleaned up – not that they needed much in the way of cleaning – They were temporarily based and primed in grey.

I usually copy the pictures on the Partizan program but I wanted to paint Matilda differently and I didn’t have a reference picture for Rosa. (Although her nick name gave me a clue).

I went for a Yellow and purple scheme for Matilda with some gold edging to the cloak. The partizan model looks a bit angry (their own description), so I tried to give her a softer expression.

I gave Red Rosa a nice red dress and attempted to paint the hat as a Straw hat. I’m not sure that I actually achieved the effect that I wanted but it will pass for a first attempt.

The two finished models

I based the models as normal – perhaps Rosa would have been better on a paved base but there would have been a good deal of cutting and filing to get her to stand correctly and I should have thought about it before I painted her! I’m quite happy with the result and another two figures come off of the lead pile and go into the cabinet.

THE COMMERCIAL BIT

I hope that you all enjoy your hobby as much as I do – our web site will have much of what you need to finish your models! Click here to see our shop.

ARCANE SCENERY

Happy Modelling!