Wargames Foundry British Artillery WIP #2

Essentially finished the guns. To get the brass look on the barrels, I used a base coat of Games Workshop's Tin Bitz and then wet brushed it with Shiny Gold.


For the carriages I used GW's Adeptus Battlegrey. Honorable Son #5 once again provided the great pictures.

Wargames Foundry Napoleonic British Royal Artillery

First of all, a special hats off and thanks to Honorable Son #5 for his help in taking the pictures below!

I've decided to paint some of the "King of Battle" for my Napoleonic British Peninsular Army. I take a long term approach to building my armies due to budgets and painting time and get most of my miniatures from eBay (unless I'm struck by the "oh my gosh I have to get that shiny new toy now!' syndrome). A few years back I picked up 2 blisters of Wargames Foundry's British 9lb field guns and two blister packs of British Royal Artillery crew.

For the most part I like the quality of the Wargames Foundry ranges; the overwhelming majority of my Late Roman armies are Foundry. Personally, I feel now that they have priced themselves out of my market - but that's why there is eBay!


After opening the blisters, I really liked the model of the gun; minimum flash and all of the proportions looked correct. The front of the gun barrel had some flash and mold lines that would be hard to fix with a hobby knife - more on that later. The figures . . . well, they are not in my opinion the best modeled and animated figures. In fact, I'm not quite sure yet how I'm going to mount them on the stand; in fact, I'll probably paint a few extra. The officer in bicorne is excellent and I used one earlier for my Duke of Wellington command stand. That's him with the telescope.



As usual, I applied a flat black primer over the gun models. Through the years, I have found it easier to paint the separate parts and then put them together. And yes, I will put the labels on the stands before I mount gun and crew! I still can't believe that it took me about 7 years to figure that out.


As I mentioned earlier, there was flash and a mold line across the front of both barrels. One of the best investments I have ever made was purchasing from Games Workshop a hobby drill for I think about $15.00. Using the tool I was able to drill out the flash and mold lines and in the process make the barrel look more realistic.


Now that the guns have been "prepped", it's time to paint. I did some research yesterday on what the wooden carriages and metal parts would look like. Almost immediately, I found a great new blog to follow Miniature Wargames with a timely entry on the guns:

http://miniaturewargames.blogspot.com/2010/09/napoleonic-british-artillery-colour.html

After more research and my own experience, I will be closely following the colors from Miniature Wargames.

Perry French Dragoons - WIP #6

Okay, now the 25th Regiment of Dragoons is really finished. For the 3" x 3" bases, I put thinned down white glue on the top and then just dip in a tub of flocking. I use to put in more detail, but with the size of the Volley and Bayonet bases, I just got plain lazy and decided just to use flocking. After the glue dries it's time for the protective coating.

For the first coat, I use Krylon's Workable Fixatif. Fixatif is use to protect pencil, pastel and chalk drawings and does a great job for the initial coat. Of course, make sure you use a well ventilated area! It'll dry in 15 to 20 minutes but you should not handle the figures for another hour. It will leave a glossy, shiny coat so if that's the effect you want, you're done. I prefer a flat look so a then apply a coat of Krylon's Crystal Clear Flat for metal, wood and wicker. This will give it a flat look and dries in 10 minutes.

I still have 9 mounted figures to do (it took a long time to do 3!; nothing like work and real life to get in the way of your hobby). I haven't decided if I'm going to do another regiment of dragoons next or knock out some 9lbrs for the Royal Artillery.

Perry French Dragoons - WIP #5

Yeah - finished the 25th Dragoons. Haven't finished the base yet but I am extremely pleased with the way they turned out. Nothing like some great quality figures to bring out a good paint job!

One thing I like about the hard plastics is the ability to paint some of the more awkward parts, like scabbards and other accessories, on the sprues before adding them. It definitely makes the painting a lot easier. Here I have painted the dragoon's muskets and scabbards on the sprues.


Some other views of the 25th Dragoons; almost ready to start play testing Napoleonic scenarios for Volley and Bayonet.

Perry French Dragoons - WIP #4

Almost done with the 25th Dragoons. Forgot to mention how I am painting them and as a reminder I primarily use Games Workshop paints:

1. Primed black on the sprues.

2. Skin: Dark Flesh, then Dwarf flesh with a highlight of Elf Flesh.

3. Jackets: Dark Angels Green highlighted with Snot Green (yeah, I love the names too). Facing color is Blazing Orange and the buttons are White.

4. Coveralls: Adeptus Battlegray highlighted with Codex Gray.

5. Helmets: Dry brush metal with Shining Gold. Crest is Black lightly dry brushed with Codex Gray. Fur is Scorched Brown.

6. Gloves: Bestial Brown then wet brushed with Bone White and then White.