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54mm Charge of the Scots Greys

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Well I needed a break after that tartan, but I didn’t expect it to be 7 months!
I haven't been posting lately due to work and life, and I wasn't really going to bother blogging this part, but I decided to in the end. I'm still quite busy with work so who knows when the next installment will be, but here goes. I DO want to get the damn thing finished, though!
Part of the reason for the delay was uncertainty about the base. I want to protect it from household dust (I don’t have a cabinet- yet…), so I was looking for a suitable receptacle. I finally found a glass dome on Amazonia for a sensible price, so that was a step nearer completion.
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I didn't like the nasty wooden cheeseboard type of pedestal, so the first thing I did was to create and 3D print a better one in a nice shiny black plastic. I thought I had taken a pic of it before working on it, but I can’t have done, so here’s an image of the file
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Waterloo took place in fields of rye after a night of very heavy rain, and I learnt how to do rye from the Stan Catchpol Bible when I did my Imperial Guardsman a while back, so I won’t go into it again here. Briefly, it is made from raffia and bristles, with fine sand for the seed heads.
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I have been making stock of it on and off since July.IMG_20210218_175509627_HDR.jpg
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I have refined Stan’s technique a bit. If you’re interested you can find it HERE
I also confirmed that it would definitely be green, as per these re-enactors at a Waterloo anniversary
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The next step was to create a ploughed earth effect using Sculptamold. I mixed it with brown acrylic to avoid the white showing through. I wanted to show puddles so I took the furrows right down to the flat base. I’ve been walking a lot in the local woods during lockdown and lately it’s been incredibly muddy, so I have made good use of my time and researched mud in great depth…. I was surprised to find that there can be many different colours close together and the water is a different colour again! I also realised I would need hoof prints and lots of them, so I made a little hoof stamp with a horse shoe and pressed it all over the place randomly. These would also become puddles. I painted the puddles with a much lighter shade ink and made the water from successive applications of Klear. There are probably better products out there, but I got impatient and Klear is what I have to hand. I kept the rest of the mud slightly less glossy by using a brown ink wash.

As I wasn’t planning to blog this I didn’t take any WIP shots, but here it is ready for the trampled rye.
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This is as far as I have got.
Thanks for following

Neil
 

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Looks great Neil. You’ve captured the greenish tinge of very wet mud very nicely indeed.
 
Cracking work Neil, really liking the rye ( ready for the base ) and the hoof prints in the wet mud.
 
Very nice and soggy Neil :smiling2:

Cheers,
Richard
 
Hi Neil
Glad this is back. The base is looking superb. Love the rye.
Jim
 
Very nicely done, Neil. This will look magnificent when finished. Can't wait.
John.
 
Patience of a Saint doing that Rye Neil! Love the colours of the muddy base.
 
Ohh... the sound of hoof beats cross the glade... ;)
Sorry... couldn't resist.
Baldrick! My coat and hat!
 
Your pot must be blacker than your kettle Andy :tongue-out3:
 
Most interesting Neil, I had a look at your link, and sorry to say I didn't see that build when you did it so apologies.
Love the base and the hoof prints, will make sure I see the rest.
 
Thread owner
Thanks everyone for your kind comments, very encouraging.

Just a quick update- I have 'planted' and pre-trampled the rye
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Not long to go now!
thanks for looking
Neil
 
Thread owner
Looking the part Neil, how long did that take ?
Cheers John
Bearing in mind that the rye was already made, the planting only took about an hour.
It's hard to figure out because I did it in stages and spread it out over a couple of months, but each strip of about 20 stalks probably takes about 20 minutes to make.
I stuck them to the earth with Evo Stik as it is brown and grabs immediately so they don't fall over.
 
Most interesting Neil, I had a look at your link, and sorry to say I didn't see that build when you did it so apologies.
Love the base and the hoof prints, will make sure I see the rest.
AN same for me Neil ive been havin a look as there is so much ativaity on this forum its easy to miss things but that how a forum should be anyway Niel i'll be havin a look now
chris
 
Thread owner
Thanks again for the kind comments everyone.
I want to have a bit more detritus on the battlefield, other than the Cuirassier's helmet I have already done, so I had a look through the spares box for French stuff, and I found a French Infantry backpack. It wasn’t furry so I dug out the heated knife and rectified the situation.
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I seem to remember someone pointing out that it was the 45th Line Infantry who the Greys really charged, so in a nod to historical accuracy I think the debris left behind ought to be theirs.
I don’t have any Line Infantry shakos in the spares box, so I thought I would see if I could create one digitally and 3D print one.?
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I used a peak from something plastic in the spares box, probably a highlander’s bonnet. But it does look a bit too pristine so I decided to fabricate one, and if I make it properly then I can crush it realistically too. I took a pattern from the 3D printed one by wrapping insulation tape around it, trimming it and then sticking that to toothpaste tube foil, as a template.

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The eagle is from Historex, but I had to make the cockade and Shako plate from lead sheet. I used the heated knife to ginger up the feathers on the plume too.
I found a few other bits to chuck around
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The half musket will have to be buried by the horse (it’s the only French one I have).
By this time I am on a roll, and I have always fancied making a discarded uniform coat, so I went for it with the Duro green stuff.
I pressed it into the base over clingfilm
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Turnback grenades and cuff detail are from Historex again, the epaulette is Airfix I think (like anybody cares…).
So the next step is paint.
many thanks for watching
Cheers
Neil
 
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