Goya popped over yesterday for a toy soldier related chat and showed me a couple of really nice British Napoleonic figures he had painted (20mm but not HH). We both agreed that we enjoy painting British Napoleonic’s more than any other nationality as we consider that they have the most striking uniforms, its just something about the red and grey combo that really works.
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| Pretty in red my latest finished figure - BN/71 Fusilier Sergeant (charging) |
Goya reckons he can paint and base a full 24-figure unit in 21 hours which I consider impressive as I think that the same for me would take in excess of 50 hours. However, I know that I do try and avoid the job in hand when there are 24 figures staring back at me from the painting desk by seeking diversion into my other ‘minor’ projects.
Last night following his visit I knuckled down and only
painted Fusiliers and achieved more than I had previously done all week. Revitalised,
the aim now is to get on and have the unit finished by the end of October and
stop messing around painting other things like ACW buildings for my 6mm armies
(click HERE) that I don’t even need.
12 comments:
Lovely castings those and excellent painting Ian. Timings interesting, as I'm a commission painter now days I'm all about timings! My estimate for a 24 figure unit in 20mm would be around 10 hours and that's very achievable for me, but I paint at high speed, the brush is constantly moving, it's pretty full on concentration and I start with a lot of dry brushing to get the basic shades down quickly. That's my Good wargaming Standard as you see on the blog and would not include all that careful black lining that you do, just a mid grey base for straps highlighted off white and a few dashes of pure white on top, very fast. It's the speed and accuracy that comes with several hours a day at the desk that I enjoy but can fully appreciate others will prefer a more leisurely and relaxed approach, it is after all a hobby :)
Wow Lee - respect! I don’t think I would be capable of that kind of speed but I see that it could be done with full concentration. I certainly could paint faster than I do if I got myself a bit more organised but ultimately I think its about motivation (and decent brushes).
I reckon I can usually do about 25 figures a week - but most of them take less time than Napoleonics anyway. As for the comment you made about 'don't even need'... now that is the wargames equivalent of blasphemy. We don't actually need any of them... it's just that we...want... them...
Well, you do have a point there Rob!
“Need”, “want”, “speed”,, hey, this is all too much like being back at work.I can see the 7th are going to be superb. Maybe one day I’ll get to charge them with the Hoch und Deitschmeister or the Splendid Splenys. Now that really is weird...
My painting is getting slower all the time - I can still do it, but in a perverse way the thing I like best is getting it absolutely right (only by my own meagre standards, I hasten to add), and the fiddling around takes a lot of time. Some of my refurb efforts have been pretty quick, but in these situations there is a limit to how good I want them, implied by the general state of the original paintwork. Painting from bare metal there are no excuses, so I am very slow!
Nigel, they will be ready to see off the Kaiserliches by the next time you sortie across the border!
Tony, I did try to refurb one of these figures but it took almost as long as painting from scratch and didn’t look very good so in the end I just stripped them all as usual!
You're going at lightning speed compared to me!
I think this is going to be an exceptionally beautiful regiment.
All the best, WM
Thanks WM, I’m going to try and get my finger out and get these done!
I can't imagine being able to finish a unit in 20+ hours. I think I am better off just not knowing! Your NCO is cutting quite the figure and is quite striking indeed in his brilliant red. I remember back in the day hating to paint British, because I was never patient enough to let the red paint dry and it would always bleed into the white. Of course when you get it right as you have done, it is a lovely combination. Keep'em coming!
Thanks David, of course it’s much easier painting red using modern fast drying acrylics than the old Humbrol enamel!
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