Hougoumont Diorama £100 - £120 Local Delivery

This piece is currently available for £100 collected or £120 within 40 miles. Please contact via email on the link attached or other channels that you know me by. Unfortunately this piece can not be posted.

 I have had this diorama kit for a couple of years and finally got round to building it over the last few months. It's a 90mm (figure size) Mitches Military Models piece, currently not available but they do plenty more of this type of kit.The kit is the three figures, and the wall/table/barrel and base parts, cast in resin. The figures as you would expect are multipart and needed a little less than average cleanup though I broke most of the musket straps cleaning them up. These I replaced with cut strips from a pop can.

I painted the wall with oils using the same process I used on the Bren Carrier dio that I will load up at a later date. Oils allow a more varied finish from a few colours and I find looks more realistic than acrylic's.

I was not happy with the finish between the bricks so added a pigment powder the colour of concrete which looked close to the colour I have seen in photos of the actual walls.

Close up to show the extra texture I gained from the pigment. This gave the base a rather grimy feel that I wanted to build on.

I further built on this with making the lower wall behind and below the table really grimy. Whitewashed then oil paints added to show mud and dirt splashed over it and then added shades of green to reinforce a damp and dank feel. Whilst it's not easy to see anyone who pears 'into' the piece gets the idea. The barrels I added more thinned oils to above and below the metal hoops to give the impression of age.

The wall edges were cast with a rough look which I again added the concrete pigment highlighting the effect. The wall in reality of course runs on but needs some sort of finish and I think the sculptor got it right.

I used three other pigments to do the base adding a few puddles of water effect resin and grass tufts to give it a more interesting base. The bricks were already cast into the base and table top and the packs were part of the kit. I added the ramrod on the lower base as well as a bread bag dropped on the tables edge.

The table was also pained in oils, in this case over acrylic and then part removed to give a grain effect. The same technique is used on the muskets but with a finer brush and more time. I then added yet more pigments mixing with a mix of wet and dry effects to get the mud and dried mud look I wanted. The day and night before the battle of Waterloo it had rained heavily and I wanted to include that details. 

The white paper is from roll up cigarette paper torn into small bits to represent the tops of the cartridges, an idea I had from first getting the kit. It was my wifes idea to use this and it was a great idea as the paper is very thin and looks to scale. A friend had the idea of a dropped cartridge to help show the frantic defence and I took the idea a bit further having the cartridge torn and the powder falling out. Yes you guessed it yet more pigment, this time soot.

The scene is supposed to show a desperate point in the defence of Hougoumont with ammunition running low and the French literally knocking at the door. Other suppliers have made kits of the assault on the gates of the wall, I like this one as it's a fairly simple piece but you get the feeling of desperation.

The sergeant is shouting for more cartridges whilst another crouches behind the wall for a moment and the third is firing over the wall.

Time wise I would say I spent around the same amount on the base as on the figures and I'm really pleased how this one came out. Due to it being impossible to post it is most likely to be sold at a future event or via a craft and art gallery. I am slowly building up finished works that I hope to attend one of the various table top art and craft events. Finally something for the poor husband?

I will also travel up to about 40 miles from Derby-Mansfield area to deliver if anyone wants to buy this. Further would add more to the cost dependent on distance