My own Bunker at last!

Very little figure painting is going on here because I have spent most of the month preparing the business premises we have just taken on for our Internet shop. We have been running the business partly from home and partly from the Self-Store down the road and have finally taken the plunge into the world of rent and business rates.

This is good not only because we need the space to continue to expand but also because our garage that used to look like this…


Now looks like this…


For the first time since I was 12 years old I have a space for a permanent wargame table. At the moment I have just put up two wallpaper pasting tables that I’ve had as a temporary table for many years that give me a 6’x 4’ playing area. The garage is big enough however for me to eventually build a permanent 4’x 8’ table. There are no windows which all adds to the bunker feel but I will be able to brighten the place up with some prints and stuff I’ve had tucked away since we moved last year.

First though, there are still a whole heap of things to do at the new unit (click here to see what I mean) and of course if the business doesn’t make enough money the stock may have to come back to the garage again so please if any of you have partners, relatives or friends who buy quality hand-knitting yarn forward them to Great British Yarns!

The recession bites

As if the wobbly world economy isn’t worrying enough it now appears we need to be concerned about another potential crash because amazingly I managed to buy these 12 Hinton Hunt figures on eBay for a mere £12.50 at the weekend!

I haven’t made more than the occasional token bid on eBay for a long time now and certainly never expected to end up winning this lot. They are however a very welcome addition as I have another 12 or so Clayton castings already and this will mean I can finally make up a proper 24 figure unit.

The firing figure is BRN/5 Brunswick Infantry (firing) and the officers are BRN/1 Brunswick Officer (charging). One of the Officers has been converted into a standard bearer, which is a bit of a bonus. All of these figures turned out to be vintage castings in excellent condition.

In the background is another eBay acquisition that arrived in the same post. I’m having a little bit more trouble than I hoped resisting my Crimean War project – this set is from ESCI (set 220 Lord Cardigan’s 11th Hussars).

Clearing the decks

I’ve been trying to clear up my painting desk and get rid of a few bits and bobs that have been hanging around for far too long so that I can concentrate once again on painting Hinton Hunts. My hobby time has been pretty limited of late and I can see no change in that situation on the horizon so it seems like a good idea to try and be a bit more focused.

My 15mm ACW project is getting tantalisingly close to being completed (yes I did say completed!). I only have to paint up three more infantry stands and I’ll have all the forces I need for my Henry House Hill Fire & Fury scenario. Just finished are a batch of limbers – I don’t like painting limbers very much and some of these were undercoated in the late 90s - better late than never I guess.

Then of course there is a little distraction in the shape of a Crimean War Russian artillery gun and crew. So what on earth am I doing wasting valuable painting time on that? Well I was in the local Model Shop and I saw this tempting looking box from Emhar (you know how it is) and anyway, I’ve always wanted to paint some Crimean War stuff. Hopefully that’s the beginning and end of my Crimean War project.

Waiting patiently at the back of the desk are the remaining five HH Polish Guard lancers – I will be finishing them soon.

Cavalry Review

Not much painting going on so here's a picture of Stapleton-Cotton, Ponsonby and Wellington at the recent Allied Light Cavalry review.

In the background the Austrian and Brunswick Hussars are being put through their paces.

I'm still working on those Polish Lancers (well I have the horses done - almost) but it may be a little while before they are completed and ready for a photo.

Twenty Twenty Vision

Following my post on the 3rd Cheveau-Legers Lanciers Don emailed me to explain his technique for painting tiny writing on his figures. Here’s how he did it (in his own words):

Painted those decades back. However, if I recall correctly, the trick was not actually painting a nice threaded '3' but something more bulky closer to a 'B'. Then I'd sharpen a round toothpick to a fine point and use a 'Degas' inspired method of literally dotting the excess out with the background color. One has to keep sharpening the toothpicks to keep the point tight and the paint from clumping on the end long enough to do a troop of the figures. It's a technique that worked its most extensive when painting the battle names on the British colours. Unfortunately, the pic doesn't do it justice, but gives an idea of just how small you can get with the method.

Excellent stuff - if you zoom in you can actually read the Battle Honours. I believe it was painted in Don’s BB years (before bifocals – as he puts it) but it’s pretty impressive all the same.

In the Pipeline

I did mention a few posts back that Matt had agreed to do some more painting for me. This is good news because I greatly admire Matt’s handiwork and particularly appreciate the way he takes care to produce figures in a style that fits neatly with my own efforts. It’s also good news because (as regular visitors will have spotted) my own painting out-put has gone from very little to almost nil despite my plan to have a monthly target.

So what’s in the pipeline? Firstly you will remember I have the composite unit of British Guards. These are mostly vintage castings in an assortment of poses gathered together from various sources. One or two may be later Clayton USA castings and one of the Officers and the drummer are Der Kriegspieler figures (but of the kind that are hard to tell apart from good HH ones). Below is the test figure I have painted for Matt as a guide.

BN/3 I love this pose – the only one like this in the entire HH range

After that Matt will be painting up an eighteen strong unit of French Voltigeurs. These are actually French Line Grenadier figures but as I don’t have any line Volitgeurs they will be standing in. Here again is my test figure.

FN/3 Lovely figure in a classic HH pose. This is a Grenadier painted as a Voltigeur

So that’s the hard bit done, all I have to do now is sit back and relax whilst Matt beavers away.

On a completely different note – we made another trip up to Scotland a couple of weeks ago and I finally got to visit Culloden. I had heard there was a Visitor’s Centre and was expecting some little wooden shed on the middle of the moor. What I wasn’t expecting was a multi-million pound gleaming truly excellent museum/visitors centre with well laid out battlefield trails.

View of the battlefield from the roof of the swanky Visitor’s Centre. The whole battle area is only about the size of six football pitches – much smaller than I imagined.

What a treat – and well worth the ten quid to get in (or free if you're a National Trust member).

And finally here's a neat new tune from my son Joe - follow the link and play "Lets move to France". Nice to think all the money we spent supporting him through his music degree and Masters may not have been wasted.

Return of The Emperor

I am pleased to report that Royal Mail (how appropriate is that name) have safely reunited the Emperor and Bernadotte with the French army. Arriving in the same package was a lovely flashy old casting of BN107 British General – a generous gift from the Russians.

And all on my birthday!!!