Tag Archives: how to

Beginners Guide to Painting British Napoleonic Infantry (part 2)

We are moving on with our flank company figures and in the last picture you saw they had just been dipped. We’ve now got to the stage where they’ve had a coat of matt varnish.
Tips when using varnish:

  • Make sure the figures get to dry for at least 24 hours, the dip will be touch dry after 1 to 2 hours, but you really want it to set hard. If you use your varnish too quickly on top of dip there is a danger you will end up with the varnish fogging.
  • You should make sure you shake your varnish. I cannot stress this how important this is.
  • When you come to use your varnish use it very sparingly.

I may need to go back to these figures a second time and matt them down a bit more as they are a bit shiny on cuffs, coats and on the hats, though I am not too worried about the hats as they would have been wearing oilskins, but the coats need to be matt.

Prior to painting the bases I have coated them in pva glue, and dipped in normal fine sand. You don’t want the sand to be too coarse as it can look a little out of scale. I have painted the bases the same colour as I painted my wargames table, using an ordinary emulsion called Dehli Bazaar. To highlight the bases I have used some Vallejo White to give a bit of contrast.

I have added also  some static  grass to the bases. I use flowered flock, Expo Static Grass Flowered Field effect, and I’m going to use some Army Painter Highland winter tufts to give the bases some more texture.

 

The final picture shows those six soldiers from the flank company of the 27th Enniskillens.

 

I am quite pleased with them. I was initially a little disappointed, because I felt the buff didn’t look as good with red as white might. I have gone back and touched up the white highlights on the shoulders because the quickshade had dirtied these down, and I have slightly retouched the buff strapping. I haven’t re-varnished the hats, and they are still a little glossy which would be a reflection of how the oil skins would be. I have gone back to the red, almost dry brushing with the flat red to improve the colour density.

I will continue with the rest of the battalion (32 figures) and at some point we will do an article on the officer, sergeant, drummer and two ensigns. We are going to paint these a little differently with more highlighting and less reliance on quickshade. I was talking to a professional painter and he said if you concentrate on the faces, bases, flags and officers and then your figures will always look good on the battlefield.

If you’ve got any modelling and painting projects you’d like to share email us at: girlfriday@arcanesceneryandmodels.co.uk

How to shop with Arcane Scenery: the eBay store

Okay first of all for many of you this is going to be a case of female grandparents and chicken foetuses, and if so, you can probably toddle off to skirmish. But for those who find eBay a world of bafflement hold on, we’re going to explain (or at least try)…

When shopping on the Arcane Scenery eBay store, on the left hand side of your screen you will see a search box and a list of shop categories. If you are looking for a specific item, simply type the name into the shop search box. For example, if you are looking for a Tiger Tank, you can type ‘Tiger’ into the search box and all of the different types of Tiger tank will be displayed.

If you are just wanting to browse, to find something that takes your fancy, you can use the categories which are located below the box. The Arcane Scenery store uses two types of category:

  • CAPITAL LETTERS are for the different Manufacturers that are currently stocked. So if you would like to view just AIRFIX KITS, click on this category and all of the Airfix kits currently in stock will be displayed. You will also see that the sub categories are then revealed. So you can now look at the sub category that interests you by clicking the sub category. If you want to look at Airfix planes, just click on this sub category and only these will be displayed on your screen.
  • In the lower half of the shop categories list, the items can be sorted by Period or type. So if you would like to see all of the Napoleonic era items from all manufacturers, simply click on Napoleonic Wars and they will be displayed. When you click on a category, a set of sub categories will be revealed to enable you to browse by scale. So you can now choose to look at just one scale of Napoleonic figures by selecting from the list displayed.

The historical periods that are listed are somewhat simplified. The Ancients & Romans will cover anything from cavemen right through to around 1066 and the Normans & Anglo Saxons.

Medieval Wars will go from 1066 through to around 1600 and for simplicity, takes in the Renaissance as well. Pike & shot features the English Civil wars and runs to about 1700. Horse & Musket runs from 1700 through to 1780 and then it is on to Napoleonic Wars which only feature the wars of Napoleon.

And this week we have a new category especially for all you Flames of War fans:- “15mm, FOW Compatible Kits etc” which can be found in the historical section under The Second World War.