Here is the completed unit of French Voltigeurs representing the 10th Regiment D’Infanterie Legere – finished only three weeks behind schedule. My Light Infantry units are made up of 18 figures all individually based because I like my skirmishers to look like skirmishers. In reality of course the 10th Legere would have been comprised of just one company of Voltigeurs plus one of Carabiniers with the remainder being Chasseurs. Mine are all Voltigeurs because I like the snazzy colpack-busbies.All the figures I used were Clayton produced Hinton Hunt ones with the exception of the Cornet that is probably a vintage figure. The Cornet/Bugler is painted as a member of the 50th Regiment using the original Hinton Hunt painting instruction sheet. I’m assuming the uniform would have been the same for the 10th but if anyone knows differently please don’t tell me. The unit is made up as follows:
1 x FN80 L.I. Officer (charging)4 x FN82 L.I. Voltigeur (charging)
6 x FN83 L.I. Voltigeur (firing)
2 x FN84 L.I. Voltigeur (running at the trail)
4 x FN85 L.I. Voltigeur (kneeling firing)
1 x FN86 L.I. Voltigeur Bugler (playing)
At the moment the Voltigeurs only have a few Austrian Jagers to pop away at but eventually they will have some chosen men in rifle green to contend with.
Next up will be the great man himself.
10 comments:
Very Pretty Ian,
Was anyone else astonished at the price lazy limey just paid for some Prussian lots on Ebay??
Presumably in Canadian dollar terms the price is more reasonable?
Roy
Yes but Roy - they're genuine vintage PN3 Prussians, if I had the money I'd have pitched in there too (hope Mrs S doesn't read this). I painted about 80 of that exact figure in 1971 but sadly only have a few Clayton's now.
Quite a lot of HH on eBay at the moment (I may have to upgrade the security here at HH towers). Some nice stuff - just look at those Greek Hoplites, now who bought those I wonder?
Ian
Why I did , of course and was slated to pay not too much for them. However, someone else came in with a big bid just before the end and forced the porice right up.
Not that I begrudge paying Harry... he's sort of a founding father of the retro HH genre.
Unfortunately Ebay no longer allows us to see who bid what and when... or perhaps fortunately.
I tried for the Prussians (it was a whole battalion if one won two lots, but unfortunately Gordon Brown had to bail out the British banking system again this weekend so I could not raise the finance to get beyond the limey's price!!!
Roy
Very, very pretty. Now all they need is some grubby Brit dressed in muddy green to knock them flat before they even get in range....
Matt
Very nicely done Ian, The light infantry have always been my favourite french troops, The untextured base's works really well
with these type of figures
Paul
Thanks Paul. I was a bit worried about these figures with their bright Noddy style uniforms as I painted them individually but they work nicely as a group. Should be quite easy for Sharpe and the lads to pick off though!
Ian
Lovely unit of light infantry
-- Allan
Ian
Once again, lovely painting. I have dreadful difficulty painting Hintons because of the lack of the detail in the castings (compared with more modern efforts). When you have to paint on the cross belts where they should be then I have a problem - probably not a good enough painter anyway, but it's all a bit vague for me.
I wanted to hark back to your 'Repaint' post on 13 Dec. You mentioned using Sainsbury's bleach to strip figures. This is a sore topic for me at present, since stripping is not my favourite job and I always put it off. I am currently doing quite a bit, treating (mostly) elderly Higginses that were painted in the 1970s. It may render the figures germ-free, but I find that ordinary bleach hardly damages the paint - I have to use Nitromors, and even that often takes 2 goes.
Realise it depends what the paints are - I guess these are mostly Humbrol enamels and similar, and a lot of them are covered in a once-clear (non-acrylic) varnish which has gradually changed to treacle toffee over the years. Anyway, even the dreaded Nitromors Hand-Remover often leaves an off-white puddingy substance in the crevices which has to be picked out with a scalpel.
This may be an old subject, and it may even be boring, but I have to say - if you get good results with bleach then I'm mightily impressed - I sure wish I could. All clues and words of wisdom welcome...
Tony
Hi Tony
I think painting the Hintons is a bit of an acquired taste - I actually like the quirky way that the detail comes and goes but I do remember being very baffled/annoyed by it years ago.
With regard to the paint stripping - I've had no real problems using the bleach (make sure it's thick bleach not the thin stuff) on an assortment of paints. I soak five or six figures at a time in jar of bleach overnight*. In the morning I take the figures out one at a time and rinse them under a hot tap while scrubbing with an old toothbrush. Usually this lifts most of the paint (and part of my skin) but there is often some residue - particularly with flesh and red colours. Quite often I give figures a second dunking to shift the stubborn bits.
I have sometimes had some white gunky residue and I think this is possibly some sort of chemical reaction with the lead (I can't confirm this as I flunked A level chemistry). I had it recently with a couple of cavalry figures that I think I left for too long. I figure that any paint that survives two dunkings is never going to come off anyway so I just undercoat over it.
I'm hoping that in a couple of year's time all the paint doesn't fall off my re-painted figures as the result of some delayed chemical reaction!
Ian
*Children please don't try this without adult supervision.
A very nice unit. I love the white stripe around the lapels...
Waiting for HIM
Regards
Rafa
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