Ready to paint!

Workbench of misfit stock figures. I can be a sucker for cheap, but appealing, commercial figure kits. There's not a figure shown that I paid more than five dollars for. Even the poor Poste Militaire/Elite French Infantryman from the Franco Prussian War, bought at a toy soldier flea market for five bucks.

Makin buttons. Picked up a neat punch set at the Chicago Show. Huge time saver when projects require several rows of them.

The grey army is slooowly dwindling. This fella is from New Hope Design, Prussian jeager 1813. I've had this figure for at least 15 years, and finally put color on him. The casting was about as bad as his ugly mug. Still a pleasure to paint and had fun putting some weather on him.

Working on Prussian Elector Frederick William's hat plumes and hair. It was only a brief period where this hat style was in vogue. Popular with armies of the time, particularly French soldiers, it can also be traced back to Sweden's Gustavus Adolphus, who wore a similar style with hat brim turned up front.

The helmet is taking shape. I may trim down the comb a bit more.

Working on a Burgonet style helmet for the Swede trooper. I let the dome cure before adding the comb. The comb is intentionally large to give some room to carve, file and sand to desired size.

Adding straps and such. Working from bottom to top. Letting each layer to cure before the next step.

Here's another oldie. This one is a US Cavalry Officer from the 1880's in dress uniform produced be Squadron/Rubin. Simple but attractive.

Keeping the brushes wet.

Here's a little nod to Emanuel Leutzes "Washington Crossing the Delaware". The figure was produced by Cavalier Miniatures. I picked it up several years ago off eBay for cheap. Not the sculpting standards of today, but makes for an attractive display piece. You will see more of these from me, while I try to thin the stock figure herd.

Coat skirts

Cart before the horse! Before posting the armor video, I should have posted these SBS's on doing coat skirts. Most coat lengths for this period were very long, usually falling about the knee cap. What I do to make these "skirts", is make a pattern, much like the shape of an actual clothing pattern from that time. I will let the putty cure for a while before rolling out. Coat the plastic lightly with baby/talcum powder. What I use for a rolling pin is an old baby food jar. Roll out the putty to desired thickness and place the pattern on the putty. Use a hobby knife to cut out your pattern and then adhere to figure, usually a couple dabs of super glue will do the trick. Once in place, I placed the figure back on the horse, allowing the skirts to drape over the saddle/equipment. Some manipulating is required to make the folds and creases look convincing. Let the figure cure on the horse before moving on.