Imperial Guard 1815

Further progress

This is getting nearer tothe finish line now. I have painted the eagle using a combination of Vallejo Brass, Rose Gold (powder) mmixed with Vallejo satin varnish and Vallejo Burnt Umber and Black.
I have attached the head and re-worked the blanket roll a little. The next stage will be the weathering of the uniform and flag.

Imperial Guard 1815

Continuing with the flag and knapsack

Some progress has been made over the last two days with the flag and the knapsack receiving some attention. For the gold colour on the flag detail I have used Vallejo Leather Brown and Yellow Ochre for the base colour, highlighted by adding further Yellow Ochre and then adding White for further highlights.
Knapsack is done using Jo Sonjas Red Earth and Raw Sienna 50/50 mix with Jaune Brilliant added for highlights and Burnt Umber added for shades. The roll at the top is considered (by me) to be a blanket roll and not a Greatcoat, as the Greatcoat is being worn. I prefer this option for a couple of reasons, first it fits in with the seasoned campaigner utilising all available resources and secondly it adds another colour dimension to the piece. I have used a grey base and added a mix of highlights using Raw Umber, Paynes Grey and Raw Sienna with additional hights created by adding Jaune Brilliant to each mix, some more work still to do on this.

Imperial Guard 1815

Continuing with the face, Greatcoat and flag

A fair amount of progress since my last post. Face, hair and Bearskin have been taken to near completion using the Jo Sonjas.

Here is the paint mix that I used for the face

The hands were painted next using the same flesh mix

Following on from there the Greatcoat has been rendered using a base of Jo Sonja Paynes Grey with French Blue, Medium Ultramarine and Naples Yellow used to create highlights and Blue Violet and Carbon Black for the shades.

In these pictures it looks a little bright. I do intend to darken it down as I will be going for a dirty and worn look.

In this next shot I have begun to dull it down a little using a wash over the entire (blue) area of Paynes Grey thinned with Vallejo Matt Medium and water mixed 50/50 with just 3 or 4 specks of the Paynes Grey. It's still quite subtle at this stage.
This process will continue when I begin to "dirty up" the uniform and flag using a variety of browns.

Here with more work done to the straps and the white and red areas of the flag.

Imperial Guard 1815

Face Painting

Having pre-highlighted through the airbrush I have pushed on with the face painting using 9 different flesh tones mixed with Jo Sonjas. Firstly generating 3 tints of mid tone using Norwegian Orange, White, Raw Sienna and Naples Yellow and adjusting by adding more white for the lightest and adding Burnt Sienna for the darker. The same was done for the 3 tints of light tones by working from the darkest and adding more Naples Yellow and White. The 3 tints of Greyed tone was achieved by using the same mid tone mix and adding Raw Umber, Hookers Green and Paines Grey to the mix in varying amounts. Warmer areas were created by adding Alizarin Crimson, Plum Pink and Cadmium Scarlet to the middle mid tone mix.

The pictures are after about 2-2.5 hours work and still require more refining but it's definately taking shape.

Imperial Guard 1815

CGS Military Figures 200mm Bust

Imperial Guard 1815

Sculpted by Carl Reid

One of my favourite Euro purchases this year and it's jumped the queue on the workbench while I work on the groundwork and bases for the Nocturna Roman and Germanic Warrior.

Assembly was a breeze with all parts fitting without issue, very nice casting and superb sculpt as usual from Carl Reid. I am keeping the head seperate for ease of painting and have undercoated the whole thing in Jo Sonjas Carbon Black through the airbrush. I have followed that with some pre-highlighting using the airbrush from a directional light angle. Using a mix of  Jo Sonjas Paines Grey, French Blue and a touch of Ultramarine Blue for the coat and first section of the Tri-Colour flag, the red section has received a spray of Napthol Red and Napthol Crimson mix. The face has had a mid fleshtone mix airbrushed over, again made from Jo Sonjas.

All ready for the brushwork.

Euro Militaire 2013

Back from Euro

Had a wonderful weekend in Folkstone for Euro this year catching up with friends and meeting new ones.
Really great to meet Alex Varela (Iguazzu) and Antonio Fernadez (Piqui) from Cursed Monkeys and see their work up close.
The competition boasted the usual high standard of entries in all classes. I myself was lucky enough to pick up a silver medal in class one for my 54mm Andrea Old Guard, super happy with that.

There is a link here for all of my photos from the competition.
There is a link here for a list of all the winners.
There is a link here for the Best Of Show Winner
There is a link here for a video made by Cursed Monkeys members

My Silver medal winner

Great weekend for traders as well, here are some of the models I bought

And some lovely wooden bases from Markuart (the first on the left) and Historia Miniatures (the other 4)

I also picked up this brilliant Imperial Guard bust from Graham at CGS Military Figures and it's jumped to the front of the queue on the painting bench

 

To round off the weekend my new Spanish friends Alex and Antonio gave me a gift of the new Outworld Miniatures release for Heroes and Villians

The Knight of The Lion Order

Can't wait for next year!!

Euro Militaire 2013

Getting ready for Euro

It's been a while since my last post, too busy over the summer holidays for any modelling. Always find it hard to get on the bench while the kids are off school, plus we've had some good weather and I also spent a couple of weeks in Spain. Back with my modelling head now though and gearing up for the annual trip to Folkstone for Euro Militaire. Very excited this year with traders like Nocturna, Heroes & Villians and Minituras Fortes attending for the first time plus a slew of new releases for the regular attendees such as Stormtroopers, Scale 75 and Pegaso. Should be a cracking weekend catching up with friends, buying figures and admiring the competition entries.

This year I'll be taking the following seven models, my total output for the year.

 

And I'll be carrying them in my new home-made transit box, knocked up for under £20 from mdf with a removeable tray fitted with the rough side of heavy duty velcro to secure the models.

The competion is super tough so I'm not expecting too much but here's hoping.........