What’s on the Workbench 22 May 2014

Landwher Casualties

Landwher Casualties

Despite a busy couple of weeks, including a short break in Belgium ( more on that later!) I did manage to finish off the 5 Prussian Landwehr casualties – not literally, of course – but they are now painted and based and ready to join their unit. The figures have been painted with the  following Vallejo Paints:

Face & hands – Flat Flesh 955; Hats & coats – Dark Prussian Blue 899; Boots, Hat detail & cartridge case – Black 950; Musket straps, packs & equipment detail – Leather brown 871; Misc. equipment – Iraqi Sand 819, Powder horns – Dark yellow 978; Musket Stocks –  Flat Brown 984; musket barrels, buttons & other detail – natural steel 864, Detail on muskets & straps – brass 801; Trousers & Straps – Off white 820; Blankets – neutral grey 992.

As these figures are from the Silesian Region, I gave them Yellow facings (yellow 953) and red shoulder tabs (Flat red 957). Technically, the colour of the tabs should vary by battalion, but I like the red & decided to go with this scheme with all my troops. The only other variations were the hair colouring – I just use a random mix of brown & blond! Oh! and one of the figures has light brown (Val929) trousers.

Once the basic colours

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were on, I painted them with Army Painter Dark tone and when this had dried for 24 hours, I sprayed them with Army Painter Anti shine varnish

I then go back and highlight some of the colours to make them stand out, notably, the white, yellow & flesh and I finish the bayonets with a bright silver ( val 997).

For basing, I re-based all the figures on Renedra 20mm square bases. I use a filler to level out the bases & then paint them chocolate brown. The next stage is to cover with Forest Brown scatter & then Flower field Static grass. The final step is to add some flowered and plain grass tufts for a bit of interest on the bases. The final picture shows three of the figures with their battalion as they advance into battle!

As a final thought, whilst I was over in Belgium, I visited the Battlefield at Waterloo and of course a full report will follow; but it only seems appropriate to include a picture of the memorial to the brave Prussian soldiers that fell during the battle for Plancenoit.prussian memorial at plancenoit

What’s on the Workbench 15th May 2014

Well, last week it was the Prussians and if all goes to plan they should be finished for next weeks post. This week, there is something different to show you, a baby mammoth- aaaah! We are gradually rebuilding the DeeZee range of animals and have had two

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new models sculpted by our very good friend Cedric. The first one is of the baby mammoth. Here’s the little darling being painted. I’ve still got the tusks to add and some more detail to add to the base but you can get an idea of how she (he?) will look when finished.

Once I’ve finished the baby, I’ll publish some pictures on the blog with the rest of the mammoths that we stock. The idea is to create a herd of mammoths for another project that we have on the go…….

Watch out for more information in the coming year and also for the next cute releases in the DeeZee range….

What’s on the workbench? 8th May 2014

It’s been a while since I have managed to to add to my blog in any regular fashion. I’m afraid that I have had other distractions that have prevented me from writing a regular blog – just finding some time to actually paint & do some modelling has been a challenge. I hope that this has now changed and I now have both the time and the facilities to keep my blog up to date. Of course as well as keeping me amused whilst writing the blog, I hope that there will be some content that is useful to anyone who is good enough to spare the time to have a look at my musings….

I thought that one way of giving some continuity to the blog would be to show just what I am working on at the moment. The danger being that some of my projects drag on as I am not the fastest when it comes to modelling & painting. As I usually have three or four projects on the go at any one time. I will perhaps alternate between a couple over the weeks. So what is on the workbench at the moment?

Prussian Landwehr Casulaties from Warlord Games

Prussian Landwehr Casulaties from Warlord Games

I’m working on Prussian Landwehr at the moment. I am in the process of building a Prussian Brigade for my Black Powder games and I need to add a couple of units of Landwehr to the brigade. I already have two command groups painted, as well as 30 marching troops ( The Warlord games plastic boxed set). I’ll need another 15 troops to be able to make up two battalions of 24. Rather than just buy some more of the marching troops, I thought that I would add in some Prussian Landwehr Casualties for a bit of flavour! The picture shows my progress so far. They have been cleaned up, undercoated & received the base coat of Flesh & dark Prussian blue. I’ve added a picture to give you an idea as to how they will look when they are completed an added to the unit. Of course they are on temporary bases at the moment, so they should look a bit better once the painting & basing is complete!Prussian Landwehr advance into fire!

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