Saturday, February 27, 2010

3rd East Prussian Cuirassier Regt

here are some foundry cuirassiers i painted back in June. I have painted them as the 3rd East Prussian Regt with their traditional white waffenrocks and sky blue facings. I chose this regt for no particular reason other than i liked the facings, simple as that. otherwise the cuirassier regts were all similarly dressed.
i have done a very minor conversion for the trumpeter model as foundry dont make any for the germans. I simply used a perry plastic trumpeters arm from their ACW cavalry boxed set
as stated previously i use a 1 figure = 50 men ratio. so this 12 model regt = a 600 man full strength regt
also i should explain how i base my models, i use a 50 x 50mm base for 2 cavalry men and 40 x 40mm for 4 infantrymen. i tend to glue my models to the base add the premixed plaster allow to dry, then i add sand mix and glue this on ebfore undercoating the whole in black. i know that this can sometimes make the finer details of uniforms difficult to get to but generally especially for 19th century models it is not a major issue and allows me to paint quicker than doing each model individually and then basing them
3rd east prussian cuirassier
3rd east prussian
3rd east prussian cuirassier
prussian 3rd cuirassier

Sunday, February 21, 2010

French Dragoons 1870

At last here are my first FPW figures in about 9 months.
i thought to get back in the swing of it i would do a relatively simple unit so french dragoons came top of the list.
i use the ratio 50 men to a figure for all my FPW units so a regt of cavalry for france or prussia will be 12 figures (600 men). A French battalion of 16 figs (800 men) or a Prussian battalion of 20 figs (1000 men)
french dragoonsfrench dragoons
The dragoons were quite easy to paint really although i must admit i hate painting cavalry as i really do find painting horses boring. although it is a necessary burden to get all those really nice units done. i havent done any socks or flashes on the horses mainly im sorry to say because i couldnt be bothered. i might add some at a later date if i feel like it.
a note on the models, these are foundry models which i quite like but i have t admit they are starting to look a little tired compared to some of the brilliant stuff that is coming out these days, especially from helion and the perry twins etc. i wasnt a 100 per cent sure whether the dragoon officer should have silver or gold epaulettes. i went for silver in the end based upon an old foundry painting guide but i dont know how acurate this really is
anyway it was good to do some FPW stuff again and i think i will have to put some more effort into some more, probably some prussian infantry and prussian hussars would be next.
french dragoonsfrench dragoons

Sunday, February 14, 2010

4th new york continental infantry regt

finally uploaded are the 4th new york in their resplendent white uniforms, coouldnt let an american unit of the awi look too neat so have added a wounded character and a variety of different tricorne variants. i just dont believe that a new nation could have clothed its troops consistently well except for thje initial enrollment. any campaigning would have shown up the flaws in a new commissariat immediately
i had a bit of trouble getting this regt to look right, i find it difficult to get the right mix for white uniforms. eventually i kept it simple with an undercoat of black followed by a vallejo stone grey coat then covered with 1-2 coats of pure white. i thought about adding more weathering to the lower legs etc, but decided against it in the end. they may a look a little stark but they will form a great contrast with the rest of the blue coated continentals
Photobucket
Photobucket
next up will be the french francoprussian dragoons, riders done just need to do the horses followed by all the other things i mentioned in the last post. unless i get distarcted again!!!!!!
aside from painting i have been reading the rules of engagement set for ww2, i have plenty of german wehrmacht and ss in 28mm and hope to take these against hals american soon. on the face of it these rules look very familiar as they incorporate many elements of warhammer and flames of war, both sets of which i have used a lot. i hope they will live up to my expectations as i have been looking for a goos playing set of ww2 rules for some time