That leaves me with a number of figures on the bench. I usually prefer a thread per model or project in the appropriate subsection, but this bunch has no relation to each other other than the fact they happen to sit on the bench at the same time, and each figure by itself isn't enough for a proper thread. So, I finally got an excuse for a workbench thread.
On to the dramatis personae.
First up, Napoleon, or at least the upper bits of him. I ordered up a bunch of figures from Historex a short while ago, and they included a resin bust of their favourite character as a bonus. This is 1/15 scale, and so seemed like the perfect test subject; at least I wouldn't need a microscope to see what I was doing. (that's the official party line; any rumours that it was also considered surplus are totally untrue..)
For my first attempt with the new medium, I decided to follow "http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/t ... ting.9629/" pretty much to the letter. The result was a surprise:
I don't think I ever got a face to look this good, and that's without proper experience in this arena. In other words, that's not skill, that's a medium positively eager to do the job, and a very good tutorial. I'll work on the skill part in the future though, because I'm now completely sold on this stuff.
The head isn't complete yet of course, but the skin plus eyes have validated the medium and technique for as far as I'm concerned. Being a test, I haven't even cleaned up the lower half of the bust yet, but I like the result so far enough that I'll finish it.
Next up is a Segom drummer of the 67th regiment of the French infantry in 1809.
Segom produced flat tin soldiers, metal 15mm(?) wargame figures, and 54mm Napoleonic figures in acetate. When I was getting up to speed with Napoleonic figures in the early 80s, they were already on their way to becoming a forgotten name in 54mm, found only as leftovers in some shops. I suspect their exotic choice of material and competition from Historex on the same subjects and market, using the more conventional styrene and much higher quality tooling, destoyed them in this domain (I believe their flats and 15mm went on much longer, perhaps to this day). In some ways, this is a real pity, as their animation was much better than Historex's, and I think their parts layout had a clear advantage over the more traditional kind.
As can be seen from the picture, the torso is hollow, and the legs extend into that hollow. Since the parts separate along the same line as the clothing, this means all of the trousers are one part, and all of the coat another (this is not uncommon, of course), and that the coat falls 'naturally' over the trousers. The latter is a neat trick; you could paint the parts separately, and not worry about perfect fit or filler-and-touchup when joining them, as the minimal gaps along the join are in the correct location for the real thing and thus do not need correcting. It does require some very thin edges to the torso part though, and tricky moulding to get the part right. Maybe that was one of the reasons they went with acetate. I'm no materials specialist, but at first glance this would be impressive moulding in styrene even now. Still, I like the idea.
I only ever had one of these in the distant past, a French 7th Hussar, and my attempt to build it was an unqualified disaster. All that remains of it today is the instruction card that came with it. I don't take defeat lightly, and I hold grudges with the best of them, so a rematch was clearly called for. Problem was, I didn't even now the name of the brand (not mentioned on the instructions..). An evening of searching the net revealed that particular bit of information though, and also that they still showed up occasionally on eBay. Within a week a small batch of these distant memories was on it's way from the US. It's almost too easy these days...
One of the models in this batch was a trumpeter of the very same 7th hussars that had clobbered me ages ago. Not the exact same kit, but close enough; revenge will be mine
Now, revenge is serious business, and it's unlikely I'll get a third shot, so I'm not going after this one first. It's companions will teach me what to look out for with these kits before I go for it. Pretty much at random I picked the current victim from the small stash of these.
Segom kits had their undeniable charm, but they are, shall we say, basic. The drummer is a grand total of 9 pieces, the drumsticks are almost comically undersized, and the sword looks like a toy. The detail is a mixed bag; on the one hand, what is there is beautifully done, on the other, it's not exactly complete. Obviously absent is the rear half of the drum carrying belt (it's there in the front, then vanishes at the epaulette), and the rather prominent protective sheet drummers wore strapped to their left leg. Fit of the arms to the torso is more implied than present, which makes the epaulettes, of which one half is on the arms and the other half on the torso, a real problem. Stark contrast to the drum; the round part that closes the bottom fits so snugly that it's practically a snap-tite. All the parts will need rather serious cleanup too. The instruction sheet is a scrap of paper, roughly A6 in size, with an "artist's impression" pen drawing of the subject on one side, and text-only colour callouts on the other. Still, I'm no longer an inexperienced schoolkid, and I doubt those were ever the target audience in the first place, so I should manage if I can avoid a bad case of perfectionism..
I've cleaned up the legs sufficiently for a first shot of primer to point out what I missed, and to start thinking about what to do about the leg protection.
Number three is an Airfix 10th Hussar.
This was started ages ago, in the late 80s, briefly picked up again in 2011, after which it faded into the background again. The state of play 2011 was as shown below.
I was originally going to leave all the previously done work alone, but it hasn't quite worked out that way. No matter how I look at it, Airfix messed up one of the right arm positions. The one with the sabre held high over the head works, and for this the entire torso and especially the right shoulder angle upwards. The position shown on the box art either requires a slightly bent arm, or a level shoulder, but the arm is too straight for that (actually, the bend is completely horizontal, while the elbow should have been slightly above the shoulder). This was just a bit too much to accept, so I chopped off the arm and replaced it with the other option.
The Torso has been joined to the legs, the head stuck on, and the lot given the usual cleanup treatment and primer. I'm currently in the process of painting the face and hands with oils; we'll see how it turns out on a much smaller scale (and lesser quality scultping underneath) later.
The horse seemed a bit bland, so I made the mistake of putting white socks on it. Although the demarcation between the two colours is quite sharp on a real horse, merely painting the socks white gave a rather terrible result. While I was working on Napoleon's face, I used some leftover ochre to put a very thin wash over the socks, and although the colour is now clearly off, the arms length result is much better. I'll complete the painting of the horse sort of soon, and judge the result once completed. If I don't like what I'll see, I'll strip the lot (which was what was going to happen because of the botched socks anyway).
The final figure for this batch (for now
) is a Historex Saxon cuirassier of the Zastrov regiment. This too has been clogging the bench for the better part of three decades. Again, I intend to leave the existing work alone, and just finish it.
State after years of neglect:
Historex were at the top of their power in those days (they're still good, but not that good anymore - range has been reduced slightly, mouldings aren't as fresh, and QC occasionally slips up, but I'd still recommend them to anyone getting into figures), so other than the somewhat stiff pose, the kit is simply perfect. Finishing this one should be a walk in the park, unless I somehow damage the yellow parts. These were painted in Heller 7002, and although to my surprise I still have that particular tin, I have no idea about the state on the contents, or the degree to which fresh paint would still match 30 year old work. Best not to have to find out, I guess..
I have no idea what I used for the silver, so the same holds for those parts..
), that I decided to put it here. I certainly intend to put a few pictures in the "figures" area as things get finished, with a link to this workbench thread. If consensus here is that this is not the correct compromise, I'll be happy to see the workbench moved to "figures" as well.
