On Manoeuvre

I have a few items on the painting table but they are not yet finished. Instead I share some views of my classic Napoleonic collection so far.

In all the collection consists of 10 infantry battalions each of 24 figures, 4 cavalry regiments of 12 figures, 6 batteries of artillery with 4 crew. There are also 4 companies of skirmishes each of 6 figures. Finally there are 7 generals and a few odd single figures. 

In all there are 347 figures mostly Hinton Hunt, both original and recasts, Alberken, Les Higgins and Garrison and the odd Rose and Douglas figure.

Wellington and Picton

Over the last few months I have been painting my British and Allies.  As I only had an old Alberken Daddy Hill painted I decided I needed some extra commanders.

I have had original Hinton Hunt Wellington and Picton figures and horses in my to do pile for a while and decided it was about time they got a lick of paint.

I have painted Picton in scarlet rather than black using Hinton Hunts original painting guide, which is available on Clives excellent blog, as a reference.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6QhqFeu85JyVXjfs0mc1Bih47QH4j_d52jk5fcQzTHjv4vZgSzHVSAD0dpTaBodlWD62SQ8Al0bN2ceWdTexR3yKW8ffoC425vt5cxHA9pCiz2s9Z_NcpQQfhMa3QGfHj-J1gPtdPI91/s1600-h/BN253+Picton+Paint.jpg

Men in Black

The Brunswick Ducal Corps were commonly known as the Black Brunswickers but were also known as the Schwarze Schar (Black Troop, Black Horde, or Black Host) or Schwarze Legion (Black Legion).

Most units in the Corps were dressed in Black and I have completed a paint rennovation unit on a unit of Austrians as the 1st Line Infantry.

The Black Brunswickers earned a fearsome reputation during the Napoleonic wars and took part in several significant battles including the Waterloo campaign and Quartre Bras on 16 June 1815, where the Duke of Brunswick was a fatality wounded.

The flag is hand painted on a old metal coke can.  I found the yellow hard to do using Acyrlic paint as it took multiple coats and has not covered evenly. Perhaps I need to invest in some Humbrol enamel paint for my flags for the main colours.

The Brunswickers will be brigaded with my Nassau Battalion.

I have a unit, of what looks like original, Hinton Hunt Brunswick Hussars in a bleach bath at the moment so you can expect to see some more Men in Black soon.

Currently on the painting table are the Duke of Wellington and General Picton as well a paint renovation of 12 old Douglas French Voltigeurs

Royal Horse Artillery

Finished some British Royal Horse Artillery this morning.  These are recast Hinton Hunts figures and the artillery pieces are 6 Pounders from SHQ.  The SHQ pieces are nice models and work well with HH figures.

I used Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue for the jackets as I like the shade.  In fact 90% of my paints are Vallejo. There are a few exceptions however I the quality and consistency of their paint much better than other options. They are also readily available in my local Boyes.

British Lifeguards - finished

I have now finished the remaining 6 figures to finish my British Life Guards.

The command figures are Newline mounted on Hinton Hunt Horses. They fit very well indeed.  I might have to buy a few more command figures. Extra trumpeters can have the hand and trumpet cut off and used to convert one piece castings into trumpeters.

I have also started painting 8 RHA recasts. I will be using SHQ 6pdrs with these figures.

I did have a original RHA crew but these are now part of  Strykers collection.  

Brunswick Paint Restoration

As part of the recent collection I received was a unit of Brunswick Line Infantry.  On examination they were in fact Austrians recasts that had been paint converted to Brunswickers.

I had a few options with these figures including stripping and painting as either Austrians or again Brunswickers.

Before doing this I thought I would try a quick paint restoration on a single figure to see if I could produce a reasonable finish.

Firstly I get to remove them from their metal bases. I removed the polyfila first and then holding the metal base with a small pair of pliers I gently heated the base on a gas ring. The heat melted the glue, which looked like araldite, and allowed the figure to be gently prised of the base.  We careful the figure gets hot and you need to make sure you don't over heat as there is a risk the figure could melt.

The photos below show the before and after paint restoration and a coat of gloss.  The result looks good enough so  I will do a paint restoration on the unit and add the 1st Brunswick Line to my allied order of battle.

The previous owner had converted a couple of standard bearers which I will use but there were no other commands figures. It just so happens that in my spares box I had an old Kennington Brunswick command pack and I will use these.

They are a close enough and once painted black will fit in nicely.

Der Kreigspielers Catalogue

I came across this 1973 Der Kreigspielers Napoleonic Catalogue.  There are some interesting photographs which may help with identifying figures.

This catalogue and other useful information can be found here.

http://www.vintagewargamingfigures.info