54mm Project Stage 4

I went with painting up the red facings, collar and epaulets. These I did in basic Red, highlighted with Scarlet then Game Colour Bloody Red. After this I darkened the basic Red for the creases and added German Orange to the Bloody Red for the final highlights all of which seems to have melded well.

Now without any more excuses I moved onto the black. I simply added a single drop of Blue Gray Pale (the darker of the two greys) layers it over almost all the original black. I followed this procedure four more times, each time covering less of the areas until I had a mid to dark grey that I just touched up the Shako's rim and peak as well as very little of the gators. Not withstanding it was my first time at painting a large area of black I thought it went really well and am 100% happy with the result.

The shoes were finished off with a coat of Black Indian Ink so that they shine.

From here it's just touches, the rope work on the Shako started off black so I just dry brushed Ivory and then White over that so the cording stands out. The Eagle and the rosette fairly simple single colours and the Pom Pom Andrea Blue with a heavy Blue Shade wash gave it some nice depth. The rifle stock started Leather Brown and I added Red Leather to the Brown, painted over the original coat and then added more Red Leather for a third layer. Each layer shows through some so you get a hint of grain. The base was Panzer Aces New Wood in an attempt to show off the base at it's best.

All told I would guess at somewhere around twenty hours of painting has gone into this figure. After varnishing I added highlights of White Gloss to the leather belts to set them apart from the rest of the white. It's been a blast doing this project. I have five more on order, four of which I picked up for a song whilst the fifth is a three figure set that I will do once I feel I have this larger scale nailed.

This picture shows the backpack, ammo boy and bayonet that had to be glued in place.as did the nearest coat tail.

This shot shows off the detail in the muskets lock and how the glued parts fit, no way could it be cast as such.

OK I finally show a close up of the face. Cath thinks I should repaint the left eye but I like that he is squinting, kind of makes me think someone is trying to do him harm as well. It also shows the depth of colour through layering the paint and ink washes.

I like this shot as it shows some of the detail and the shading on the trousers. The musket looks really long in this shot. Mind you I am just glad it staying in one piece as I bent it a couple of times as I was painting the figure itself.

Nice shot of the figure from behind. The light picks out the texture of the pack and blanket roll.

Again I like this shot as it shows off some of the detail such as the Shako cords that was more or less dry brushed just using the detail of the figure rather than trying to paint it in.

You can just about see the shading in the inside of the Shako, I wanted it to be fairly low key, though in the flesh it is more prominent that in the pic.

 Anther shot I really like of the figure.

OK thanks to everyone who took the time to put up with my ramblings over this project, as you will have noticed I had a buzz going for it. All the pics in this segment were taken by Cath whilst all the earlier ones  were my effort. So tanks to Cath for making my work look good and onto the next project.