Hobby Roundup. Spring Clean 2024.

I wanted to show a model from the back so I could explain how I painted the equipment that cannot really be seen from the front. The breadbag was painted Zandri Dust by GW then washed with Army Painter Soft Tone and highlighted with the original colour. The lower part of the water bottle, mess tin and hand grenades were painted with GW Death World Forest. The STG 44 ammunition pouches were painted with a mix of GW Zandri Dust and XV88. These were all then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade and highlighted with their original base colour.

What I thought I would do with these is pick individuals from the unit to do separate tutorials on. Each one focusing on a specific aspect of the uniform or the paint process in general. The figures have all been painted with either Spring or Autumn Oakleaf camouflage.

Really enjoyed building these. Long time since I have built a warlord WW2  set of minis. I mounted them on 25mm MDF round bases from Warbases. I added slate bits to the bases at this stage. The models have been undercoated with Halfords White Primer. I drilled holes in the bottom of the figures boots and inserted small bits of paperclip and superglued the figures into pre-drilled holes into the bases. My Wowstick made life easy for me at this stage. I left the figures boots slightly shy of the base so when I add the sand -pva at a later stage they will be on and not in the ‘ground’.

These were one of the few Cuirassier regiments in the ECW. I used a variety of methods to paint the armour on these figures.

High quality amour: Base with any silver and wash with a very thinned black/blue ink mix. Highlight with Vallejo Model Air Chrome.

Munition Standard Armour: Base with GW Leadbelcher. Wash with a more pigment heavy and black mix of the above. Highlight with GW Iron Hands Steel.

Blackened Armour: Base with Vallejo Model Colour Gunmetal Grey and wash with a slightly diluted black ink. Use just a few selective highlights of Leadbelcher.

Russeted Armour: Base with Gunmetal Grey  and shade with Agrax Earthshade. Highlight with Leadbelcher.

The Pike and Shotte cavalry box set comes with six cuirassier models. Looking at the cavalry as a whole if I take some of the other mounted figures I should be able to make a small unit of ten models. I have already painted 5 cuirassiers so if I add in the other one, a standard bearer and 4 harquebusier models that will give me enough . The unit will represent Haselrigge’s lobsters. The models will I think not look out of place as a unit as in the actual regiment cuirassier armour became increasingly less common as the war progressed. The lobster pot helmet would also have been commonly worn even at the start of the war. As you can see in the photo the cuirassiers are all on one base. They aren’t however stuck on and I will spread them out across the unit.

The finished half unit. The flag is by GMB Designs. With my painting for wargames figures I am now trying to make it less ‘fussy’ and concentrate on cleanliness. The horses for these (apart from the trumpeter) were all painted as blacks. The regiment ideally used black horses if possible. My method was the same for these. The base is black and is then highlighted with Scale 75 Petroleum Grey, Graphene Grey, GW Dawnstone and final highlights with GW Administratum Grey.

I actually painted the trumpeter and officer for the last Spring Clean and did one of the troopers after. The officer was never based and I had started on the horses. I wanted to finish at least a small unit before the end of the Spring Clean. One of the problems faced I think by many of us is that our pile of things to do can increase and not decrease over the course of the challenge and certain things get bumped further down the list. I was determined however to do something with this unit. I will add to it later and bring its strength up to twelve.

I wasn’t happy with the sky blue on the saddle cloth and trim on the riders and repainted it using GW Caledor Sky, shaded with GW Macragge Blue and highlighted with Calgor Blue. I had not realised that the collars and turnbacks should be a light blue and the blue part of the trim around the cuirass should be a dark blue. I painted the latter Vallejo Game Color Dark Blue. I aslo tidied up the figures and reinforced the white edging to the blue cloth for a cleaner finish. The plastic pole on the Eagle Bearer was replaced with a section of paper clip. This was for two reasons: firstly for durability and secondly as is it is not long enough to fit a GMB flag.

This is actually a conversion using a body from the Guard Chasseur set and adding a Perry head. I used the Mont St Jean site as a uniform reference and saw that like the rest of the troops apart from officers he should have a moustache. Therefore I sculpted one using green stuff. I then learned that he was actually an officer so should be clean shaven. So I carved my hard work off and stripped the head with IPA. This was a complete faff to get the face ready to be repainted. I used my usual display level recipe for this. Start with Army Painter Barbarian Flesh. Wash with a flesh wash (old Citadel) mixed with Seraphim Sepia. Highlight again with base colour. Highlight with this mixed with Vallejo Pale Flesh. This is done with an almost glaze consistency. Shade with a glaze of Screamer Pink around the cheeks and nose. Paint lower lip with Tuskgor Fur. Add a little highlight to the lip with your flesh highlight mix. Put a line of Rhinox Hide between the lips and in the eye sockets. Do the whites of the eyes with Ulthuan grey and add black pupils to finish.