French Chassuer a Cheval, 1790's Part 1

I have a couple projects going. This one is a French cavalryman of the 1790,s. This will give me a chance to sculpt another "Tarleton" style helmet.

I'm using a Doug's Original horse. It's well animated and sculpted. Being more 1/35 scale, I'm using a Hornet head with appropriate expression.

The other project is another WW1 subject.

Stay tuned.

Lieutenant Paul von Hindenburg, 1866

I built this figure while working on Berthier and completed painting before the MHMC Show.

I've been wanting to build this figure for a long time. It's based on the photo of Hindenburg when a leutnant in the 3rd Guards Regiment during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.

The photo appealed to me because of his "on campaign" look. He's wearing a great coat in a roll. His sword scabbard is dented and beat up and his jacket has a field worn appearance. He's also devoid of an officer sash, which may be a practice to be less conspicuous to those Austrian jeagers!

Berthier-Painted

Here's the finished Berthier. I would like to thank Gary Dombrowski and Luis Rodriguez Haro for uniform information. If it was not for their help, I would not have finished this figure.

Berthier- The American Connection

Here's a short bio on Berthier and his involvement in the American Revolution. Louis-Alexandre was born in 1753 at Versailles. His father was in charge of the Royal Map Service. At the age of 24 the young Berthier entered the army in 1777. He attained the rank of Captain. This is where he develops his talents in map making, no doubt inherited from his father.

In 1780, he is asked to be assigned to Rochambeau's Army which is preparing to leave for the America's. He's assigned to the army staff and takes part in the siege of Yorktown. From there he makes several maps on the return march to Boston.

As for the figure, he is 80% complete and going slowly. I've been working long hours and it's been difficult to get motivated and pick up a brush. I hope to make more progress this weekend.

Berthier- Napoleon's "Indispensable Marshal"

Louis-Alexandre Berthier. I was at first inspired to do a figure based on the illustration of him in a fanciful, caricature pose. The more I read about him I found a very interesting character. From what I found, Berthier in reality, was a short, portly man who had a habit of biting his nails. But he impressed a young Napoleon enough with his organizational skills to be named one of eighteen Marshals of France at the beginning of Napoleon's reign. (More on Berthier the man later).

The Figure: From the illustrations of him, he a had a noticable cleft in his chin. Along with wavy, curly hair he will make a neat figure. I started by carving away on a Hornet head. I added a new forehead, eyes, nose and a chin with cleft.
Good ingredients for a fanciful study. The uniform was a bigger challenge. More on that later too.

Thanks for following. Stay tuned.

French Infantryman, 1790's- Part 5

Here's the finished piece. I won't get into the color mixes for I didn't write any of them down...Which I really should do! Lets say I used pratically every light shade of grey from tan to greenish hues that Vallejo produces. I liked how it turned out and I won't be as intimidated to paint whites again.

A BIG thanks goes out to Gary Dombrowski for sharing his references. If it wasn't for his help I probably would have put this on the back-burner.

Thanks for following this project. I'm currently working on two figures, one a figure of Napoleon's "Indispensable Marshal", Berthier; the other a young Hindenburg from the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. This one loosely based on a photo of him at the time wearing his field kit.

Stay tuned.

French Infantryman, 1790's- Part 4

Here, I've finished the arms and other bits and pieces. The buttons on the leggings are made of Duro. Each leg took atleast 45 minutes each.

I'll try to have some pics of the painted piece soon.

Thanks for looking.

French Infantryman, 1790's- Part 3

I've now added cartridge box and sling, short sword and bayonet scabbard and sculpted the comb on his helmet.
Once the straps were attached I sculpted the turnbacks as well as the knapsack.

French Infantryman, 1790's- Part 2

After the coat tails have cured, I started applying putty to the upper body. I don't normally sculpt the body before adding belts & straps. I prefer to "tuck" the putty, but this figure will have the illusion of movement and the straps/equipment should show this too by being raised from the body.

At this time I began work on the 'Tarleton' style helmet. The bill came from a cap in my spares box.

Once the upper body cured, I drew rough lines for the turn-backs. It may look too fragile and tedious for such pressure...and it is! But careful hands are needed to sculpt them. Some sculptors can fold back the thin putty into this shape but I find this too tedious for me and usually don't look right afterwards.

At this time I added hair, turban and comb foundation to the helmet.

Thanks for following this project.

French Infantryman, 1790's- Part 1

My next project is a French infantryman from the 1790's. Inspiration came from a caption in Osprey's book on the same subject.
I will feature this project in an sbs format and try my best to explain the techniques I use.
I'm always on the lookout for a new pose. Some of my favorite sources are the "big" battle books. Sometimes there can be found neat vignette or single figure ideas within the large picture.
The past few figures of mine have been rather static so this one will be a change and a challenge.
I've added balsa strips to the base to give the "slope" some foundation for putty application.
For the figure, I composed in my usual way. Carefully measuring the length of the legs and torso (I use the figure chart from Mike Blank's book). This is the most critical point for the sculptor and every effort should be used to make sure the proportions measure equally.
I start to flesh out my figures one leg at a time. After each application I score/etch the putty while 80% cured. If I have the time, I will place the figure under a lamp to speed up the curing process and go on to something else. I try to stay busy when waiting for things to dry. During this time I will be working on "building" or cleaning the figures accessories, weapons, gear, etc.
After the legs and trousers have been sculpted/cured, I moved next to the coat-tails. I used rolled out putty and then measure and cut to appropriate shape. Then these are carefully applied to the boddy with super glue and shaped. Since there will be alot of movement with this figure I decided to give the coat-tails some "flow". I set two ink pens under the tails and let cure overnight.

Meet "Lucius"

"Lucius" became a member of the family back in 1996 when my wife and I lived in a small one bedroom apartment. He was saved from an early grave at the local dump by my wife, who worked in retail at the time. He had a large crack at the base of his neck nearly decapitating his head from the body. After a little TLC he became a rather nice uniform "hanger". When we moved into our next home and started a family, Lucius was packed away for want of room and of the fear the kids would be freaked out. Now that we have plenty of spare room in our present house, Lucius has come out of his cardboard coffin and has joined the family again, this time as guardian to the down stairs French doors.
It's a bit sad to know that Lucius looks better than most reenactors out there and is getting more use out of my uniform and gear than I will!