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Saturday, 23 February 2013

In half a league of his own


Well, he not only crept onto my desk, he managed to push his way straight to the front of the painting queue. This is BC/75 17th Lancer in lancer cap in “foul weather” cover and full dress marching order riding on Horse BCH/4. The fact that the horse is given the code “4” does make me think that Marcus Hinton had perhaps intended to beef (no pun intended) up the cavalry in the Crimean range.

I’m really pleased with the way this one turned out especially as I didn’t find him easy to paint. The casting suffers from an extreme case of “disappearing detail syndrome” and it took me ages to get the cords and straps right. None of this was helped by the fact that every source I looked at had a different version of a 17th Lancer’s uniform. This is one occasion when it would have been very useful to have the Hinton Hunt painting instructions as a guide.

The figure is really superb and I’m now more frustrated than ever that Marcus Hinton didn’t finish off the range. This chap seems lonely without any Light Dragoons or Cherry-Bums to keep him company - not to mention personality figures of Cardigan, Lucan and Nolan. Also missing from the range are Russian gunners and cannon (so nothing to the right, left or front), Cossacks and of course no Heavy Brigade either!

If I had the skill I’d be very tempted to sculpt them all myself…

Thanks to Dave for the updated photo!
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10 comments:

  1. Conrad Kinch23 February 2013 at 12:23

    That's a wonderful piece. Nice paintwork. I particularly like the pose of the figure - there's a wonderful swagger about him.

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  2. Stryker23 February 2013 at 13:42

    Conrad - I agree he does have a certain something about him! Like much of Marcus Hinton's work I only really appreciated this one fully when I picked up the paint brush.

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  3. James Fisher23 February 2013 at 13:46

    I can see why you dropped everything to do him. All your efforts paid off. Fabulous stuff!
    James

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  4. Stryker23 February 2013 at 14:03

    Thanks James!

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  5. WSTKS-FM Worldwide23 February 2013 at 15:00

    I've a;ways been a huge fan of the 17th, regardless of the precise nature and details of their uniform. Even in a foul weather cover, and in miniatures their czapka, and indeed the entire figure, is stunning.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  6. Anonymous23 February 2013 at 15:11

    No word of a lie, that is the nicest Hinton figure I have seen. Not sure if it is the pose or my own bias for the period but he is superb. Beautifully executed!

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  7. Stryker23 February 2013 at 16:01

    Cheers Stokes & Matt - as you can see I really enjoyed painting this one...

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  8. 'Lee.24 February 2013 at 11:03

    I knew this one was going to be good! He is a little gem of a figure and so captures the period. The paint job is perfect for him.

    Just imagine a full Regiment of these!

    Great stuff,

    Lee.

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  9. Stryker24 February 2013 at 11:33

    Lee - NOOOO! I'm trying really hard NOT to imagine a full Regiment of them!!!

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  10. lewisgunner27 February 2013 at 10:17

    If you want a pretty well compatible figure look at the Tumbling Dice range.
    Lord knows why Marcus made so few Crimeans. One could hardly say the range didn't sell as it was never full enough to enable an army to be built.
    What I do know is that Crimea generally is not much of a seller. Minfigs did do a full range and I remember Neville saying that it really didn't give a return.I suspect that is because there were no proper battles with all arms involved. A refight of Inkerman, for example, is a pretty unrewarding spectacle.

    Roy

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