discussion 54mm Dutch Belgian Royal Guard Artillery 1810

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Neil, sorry I’m late to this, he’s looking splendid.....
In answer to the Dutch-Belgian question earlier, that is how one of Wellington’s Army corps, serving under the Prince of Orange, has always been referred to in English text. It was composed of Dutch and Belgian troops from the newly unified Kingdom of Holland (I think) mostly who had until very recently fought for Napoleon, hence the French cut to the uniform....

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Neil, sorry I’m late to this, he’s looking splendid.....
In answer to the Dutch-Belgian question earlier, that is how one of Wellington’s Army corps, serving under the Prince of Orange, has always been referred to in English text. It was composed of Dutch and Belgian troops from the newly unified Kingdom of Holland (I think) mostly who had until very recently fought for Napoleon, hence the French cut to the uniform....

Enlightenment!
many thanks Tim!

 

[Guest]

I think he's coming along very nicely Neil.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I think he's coming along very nicely Neil.

Thank you Peter, always there with the encouragement of we lesser mortals!

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice work Neil. Look forward to seeing the next update

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks Steve, well here it is!

I’ve painted his face….and annoyingly just as I had final tweak of his right eye I mucked it up, so I will have to do that again.

I’m slowly getting more used to the small size of everything, but I’m still struggling with the hand control.

And I still hate the blobbiness I’m getting from the acrylic paint.


I can't WAIT to get some matt lacquer on him, it's driving me nuts.
Hopefully the next installment will be the final one. I need to fix that eye, work on the cross belts, do a bit of weathering and highlighting and then add the accoutrements( which are not very interestng and why I haven't bothered photographing them).
Oh and put him on a base.
thanks for looking
Neil

 

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
That's looking good. Looking forward to the final reveal.
Jim

 

[Guest]

Looking good.

 

[Nap]

Hi Neil

Like others for me the sculpt looks okay ...a interesting subject and it's nice to see the way you approach the painting

I tend to flit between doing the flesh first or lastv..no idea why

Following if I may

Nap

 

[Guest]

Nice work Neil. I can't work that small any more so envy your abilities.

Re the lumpy acrylic. I find that the stuff can curdle on the palette and that it's best to mix fresh paint on clean areas fairly frequently as you go along. It will also create lumps if you use too many brushstrokes creating fresh layers on top of partially dried ones.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Neil

Like others for me the sculpt looks okay ...a interesting subject and it's nice to see the way you approach the painting

I tend to flit between doing the flesh first or lastv..no idea why

Following if I may

Nap

Welcome aboard Kevin, and welcome to the forum . Nice to have another humanist here, even if you do only do half the story
Thanks for the comments, but this has shown me that painting the sculpt is the ideal way of trouble-shooting it. For instance the eyes could be alot better, which would have made them easier to paint. It's also relevant as to how to split a master figure up, not only for ease of casting but also for ease of painting before assembly. Who knows whether I will ever need to think about it again, but it's a good lesson to have learned.
Cheers
Neil

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Nice work Neil. I can't work that small any more so envy your abilities.

Re the lumpy acrylic. I find that the stuff can curdle on the palette and that it's best to mix fresh paint on clean areas fairly frequently as you go along. It will also create lumps if you use too many brushstrokes creating fresh layers on top of partially dried ones.

Thank you Peter, that makes sense,and it's something I can try right away (except that I will have to thoroughly clean all of my pallete every time, rather than the one compartment that's least used at the time).
As for the small size, I don't know how much longer I will have what small abilities I may have. Hopefully a few more years yet,and into retirement. I am very aware that time marches on and as we get older all sorts of crap happens to us and we realize we are not invincible after all. So I'd better make some progress or my entire stash will be wasted! I only have 3 figures larger than 54mm, hmmm better start looking at 75mm maybe?
Cheers
Neil

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Neil
I’ve found that Vallejo light colours can clump when overthinned with water. I think it is because the carrier breaks down and coagulates like oil drops in water. If you thin them with Matt medium (basically paint without pigment) they are much easier to use. Another option is a wet palette.
Cheers
Tim

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks Tim, something else to investigate cheers
Neil

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Neil
I’ve found that Vallejo light colours can clump when overthinned with water. I think it is because the carrier breaks down and coagulates like oil drops in water. If you thin them with Matt medium (basically paint without pigment) they are much easier to use. Another option is a wet palette.
Cheers
Tim

thanks Tim.
Is the Matt Medium a Vallejo product ?
N

 

[Tim Marlow]

Yes, but there are other makes available. I’m afraid everything of mine is currently boxed away...looking it up though it’s code 70.540

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Yes, but there are other makes available. I’m afraid everything of mine is currently boxed away...looking it up though it’s code 70.540

ok thanks Tim

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi All, hope you had a good Easter Holiday with lots of modelling time?
Much to my surprise, I got in quite a bit,interspersed with visits from the grandchildren,gardening, clearing the garage and a trip to the tip!
AND dealing with a very large and bold mouse in the kitchen and a hysterical SWMBO!
Anyway, I thought I would just throw in a bit of 21st century model making trivia for your amusement.

On Friday morning at work, knowing I wanted to make a base for this fella over the weekend, I decided I wanted cobbles. I had a quick search of the internet in the hope of finding a digital model of a cobbled street that I could 3D print. The only one I could find for free was a single cobble stone .
View attachment 337533
I started by scaling it down to the correct size. Being essentially a cube, I copied it 5 times and rotated each copy which gave me 6 types
View attachment 337534
I had already created a blank base
View attachment 337535
so I arranged the cobbles to fit
View attachment 337536
this process took me about 30 minutes.
Then I printed it in black plastic on one of our filament printers (Ultimaker, for those in the know), which took about an hour and a half,
and this is it


I made the cobbles a bit too proud because I wanted dirt in between them, but I'm not capable of creating that digitally. I thought I could do it with thick paint but it didn't work, so so I used Vallejo acrylic filler, wiped off with a cotton bud.


I had to paint it again with the earth colour

and then I painted, washed and dry brushed the individual cobbles


thanks for looking
Neil

 

[Guest]

Nice little base Neil.
Anyone up for solitaire :tongue-out3:.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

thanks Ralph- I KNEW it reminded me of something