4 November 2023
It has taken me three weeks but the troopers horses for my Bavarian (actually Perry's French but I am taking some liberties with historical accuracy) Hussars are done. I will be assembling/painting the troopers next and finally, the command base. It has been a while since I have painted this number of cavalry and I was amazed at the time the horses took me and looking at the photo I can't see where all the time went. I so admire you guys out there that can paint like lightening compared to me.
I am on holiday/vacation for a while so the troopers will sit in their box on their sprues until I get back.
They look great Chris, and eagerly awaiting their riders.
ReplyDeleteBack from a lovely holiday but the garage (where I paint) is 33C so it is way too hot to start the riders regrettably. Hopefully the heat will come down to a more managable mid 20's C. Thank you for the encouragement Lawrence.
DeleteHorses are time consuming for sure; I usually paint 16 - 24 at a time. I just primed my Bavarian Dragoons, but likely won't get to them for a while!
ReplyDeleteThankfully, I don't have another squadron/regiment of cavalry to do for the forseeable future. After these are completed I have another French infantry batttalion to do, then Bavarian artillery (converted French) and Bavarian infantry (Victrix) which will keep me busy for nearly a year at the snails pace I paint.
DeleteGood looking horses, to be honest I find horses easier ( which might explain why I have too many cavalry regiments!) Looking forward to their riders!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain, it has been a long time since I painted a cavalry squadron and the first non metal.
ReplyDeleteI am finding the riders so tricky as they are light and tricky to hold. I ended up drilling a small hole where they sit and using metal wire connected to a wine bottle cap so I can maneuver them about to assemble/paint. I also have just primed them with a brush (another first - vallejo white primer) as I could not think of any way of using a rattle can primer and not waste most of the paint.
Interesting, I paint the rider on the horse to limit how much I paint on a stick about 6 inches long with three horses/ riders which speeds things up as I do repeat strokes to increase efficiency, its a very unusual case that I paint a single figure, I lose too much time!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hi again I usually paint figures in groups of 6/8. I find more than that and I get bored with painting the same parts of the figure over and over. I understand the necessity of 'production line' painting but I also want to enjoy the process as well as the end result. I find my paint brush control isn't good enough to paint (in the Bavarian hussars for example) grey overalls on a white sheepskin saddle cover. I have just, today, painted the blue dolmans and grey overalls on the cavalry plus some of the colour on the trumpeter and officer horses.
DeleteIt is another reason I enjoy painting larger (54mm+) figurines, you can take your time and include more detail.
Bavarian hussars? Now that's a unit not often seen. I presume that these will be the really attractive 1815 version (medium blue with either blue or white pelisse) that did not see combat (as far as I am aware)? They look really good in the pictures that I have seen (Knotel and the like). I'm sure that your figs will look wonderful, given how good the horses look.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I changed my approach to something like Iain has described. I find that painting them as 'one piece castings' is far easier and doesn't involve painting areas that will be covered up by the rider. I even attach my figures to bases, so am usually negotiating around two horses and riders at once. Anything that my brush cannot reach will not be seen easily; especially on the tabletop!
Regards, James
Hi again James.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. I am not that keen on painting horses as cavalry take twice the time to finish a unit that infantry but they look so good :-) I don't have they best eyesight and use an optivisor to paint with so I try to paint what I can seperately to minimise my inevitable 'blobs' of paint where they are not supposed to be and clean up the figure afterwards if there is any glue damage.
According to my research, Bavaria had a regiment of Hussars in 1813 https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/organization/Bavaria/Cantler/c_cantler3.html I am paintinmg mine as the 1st regiment with the white pelisse and black shako. I cannot find any reference to the Hussar regiments at Hanau or Leipzig so I would be happy for any information from anyone on whether they actually saw action in 1813.
Cheers, Chris
My apologies Chris, I was mixing them up with the cuirassiers. You are correct in that they were raised in December 1813 (from Knotel's 'Uniforms of the World') but they did not ever see action, even in 1814, from what I can tell. The chevau-legers are the Bavarian cavalry in Nafziger's lists for the campaign in France. They are listed in the 2nd cavalry division of the 4th (Bavarian) corps of the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine in June 1815.
DeleteThat is not a reason to not paint them. I intend to!
Regards, James