French Cavalryman, 1790's - Painted

Finally finished! I really enjoyed painting this one. The Doug's Original horse is first class sculpting. I wasn't too sure about the texture of the hide at first. Thinking it may be too much overdone. But after laying in colors, it really helped painting in shadows and highlights. I have two more of Doug's horses that are waiting for riders...They may have to wait, I'm a bit burned out with doing another mounted subject too soon.

The color of the chassuer's green jacket is a bit more darker than shown. The lighting washed some of the clarity.

The reference I used for the chassuer was Europa's "NAPOLEON'S LINE CAVALRY-Recreated in Colour Photographs". There were a couple color illustrations that I used as well. Not sure how accurate he is but I used what was avaliable to me.

British "Tommy", 1916

I've been working on this fella while working on the Frenchman to change
things up and keep my interest elsewhere. I don't normally like doing two projects at one time but building a mounted figure alone can get very fatiguing... Atleast for me.

World War One subjects are really not an era of modeling interest to me but I was inspired by the cover of a Military Illustrated magazine. In fact, I bought the mag (for $1) just for the image.

The pose will be a bit different and arrangement of the equipment will be also. I'm using the book "World War 1 Infantry In Colour Photographs" for reference and inspiration as well.

His trousers may look a bit "baggy" but I really like the way they turned out.

French Cavalryman, 1790's - Part 3

I've just primed and began painting the flesh tones of the trooper. The lace of his jacket is thin strips of semi-cured Duro. Once in place the button loops and buttons were added.

This was my first attempt at scratching a musket... or musketoon rather. Well the butt of the stock is from an Airfix kit and the rest is brass rod and putty. I was a bit intimidated at first to try this and thought of not to have him armed with one. But he would look a little silly having the straps for it with nothing attached. I overcame another modeling phobia and will try a whole musket/rifle sometime.

French Cavalryman, 1790's Part 2

I've progressed much further than the pics shown. I'm just too slow loading them. So I will spoon feed what I have.

I've added the horses straps and foundation of the saddle. The riders legs have been sculpted and then placed on the horse while the putty is still wet. This will ensure a nice fit to the saddle. Note talcum powder was brushed onto the saddle so the rider dosn't stick.

The shark tooth edging of the saddle sheepskin saddle blanket was made of paper thin plastic card.
The cutting wasn't that hard and went rather fast. Some refinement of the teeth will be done later.

The sheepskin was sculpted and textured. Then the rider was placed onto the saddle again to make a nice snug fit. Again, a light dusting of talcum powder was brushed on.

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.