Photography

October 3 2022

 I have started this post to show my progress (or lack thereof) with setting scenes. I purchased a couple of backdrops which I have temporarily blue-tacked to an MDF board with supports. Not ideal but this is new to me. Anyway, here are my first photos with the backdrop. I know it needs a lot of improvement and any suggestions will be gratefully received!

The first is Perry's fine mini diorama of Napoleon and Staff FN1  (this includes Napoleon, Ney leaning on table, Soult, Drouot, Colonel Gourgaud ,Hussar officer acting as ADC and map table). The tents are Renedra.

 The next scene is also Perry Miniatures FN 86 Young Guard, Voltigeurs/Tirailleurs sitting on their packs, again with Renedra tents and firepit.

 

October 6

I have given some thought to the exposures, lighting etc and had another crack.

 

 

 

 

 

And I took some photos of my first attempts at mini dioramas. The figures are mainly Hinchliffe with some Minifigs painted in the 1970's in Humbrol enamels. 

Austrian 'sausage' gun carriage with engineer.

 

Austrian Grenz, flanked by FreiKorps and dragoons

Another shot showing the dragoons

Hessen Kassel troops serving with Austria. Dragoons, Hussars, Infantry and Austrian Jaegers  one with bent bayonet lol!

Austro-Hungarian strongpoint.

French Marines, Guard horse artillery and Guard Chausseur a Cheval.

 19 July 2022

Just primed my Charles Stadden 90mm Empress Dragoon bugler, I used black as the primer to enhance the models recessed areas.

31 July

Progress but I so wish I could zoom in and fix painting errors as easily as I can zoom in with a digital photo! Lots of fiddly stuff yet to do as you can see.

12 August

Nearly finished, waiting on a replacement sword from Tradition but otherwise completed. I am happy these 70+ year old eyes can still paint figures.

27 June 2022.

 I have finished the latest large figure assembly and paint of French Colonel-General of dragoons Baraguey d' Hilliers. I am unsure whether it is best to assemble the whole model first and then paint or (as I did here) leave off the sabre etc and prepaint both the figure and the sword then add the sword to the finished figure. Any advice would be welcome. I have to say that attaching it was a bit of a struggle as the sabre really didn't want to stick to the main figure. I had the same issue with the plume and had to drill small holes in the plume and helmet and then add an 'L' shaped piece of wire to get the plume to attach to the helmet.

Painting update

18 August 2022

Seems I haven't updated this page so you can see from other posts that I have progressed beyond the model below. I will have to think if this page is worth keeping.

 

 Well I am now underway with my Tradition 90mm model of French Colonel-General of dragoons Baraguey d' Hilliers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Baraguey_d%27Hilliers Painting such a figure tests my aging eyesight, all the gold filigree on the uniform is a challenge!

Link: to model https://traditionoflondonshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=4218

I am also tossing around painting some back scenes as there seems to be few available in Australia that would fit my table. Backscenes for photography helps the figures come to life. I got the idea from the Terrain Tutor, Mel Bose: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTerrainTutor/featured Mel is simply amazing at what he can do and his book is a fantastic resource for scenery https://us.warlordgames.com/products/terrain-essentials

Yet another Napoleonic's blog!

 Hi, thank you for 'popping by'. I have been motivated to try writing a blog because there seems to be a dearth of interest in Napoleonic models and wargaming in Queensland (& Australia) so I thought I would have a crack.

Please bear with me as this is all new to me 😄😄

15 June 2022

Slowly updating the pages and layout, must be my age but getting the 'right' feel is not coming together how I would like but I will keep going. Any recommendations or ideas are welcomed!

4 November 2022

I am still finding my way around this blog and with summer in the air in the sub-tropical city of Brisbane the mind goes more to BBQs by the pool than painting. 

Just in case anyone is interested,  I thought I would indulge myself with laying out how I got to this point. I was brought up in London England and like most boys played with toy soldiers, mostly drab WW2. At an early age, maybe 8 or 9 my father took me to a museum (I forget which) in London that had dioramas of famous battles possibly in 20mm scale. I was very impressed and the memory stuck but had no outlet. Time went on and Airfix (another tragic) released their figure range which I avidly collected.

After getting married in the early 1970's, we moved to Australia and my interest dropped off. I did do some WW2 modelling but not much until a friend showed me his Airfix Napoleonic and ancient figures and introduced me to wargaming. WW2 suddenly lost its appeal to the colour and pageantry of the Napoleonic period.

For personal reasons, I returned to the UK in the mid 1970s and found local stores that stocked Hinchliffe and Minifigs figures. I spent many hours stinking the house out with Hunbrol enamel paint and turps with a long suffering wife opening windows in sub zero temperatures to purge the smell. Many of the figures I painted then are in this blog. London was a great place for modelling, I loved the Tradition store and the variety that was available in both figures and literature. So for three years I horded what i could to take back to the land of sunshine which happened in the late 1970's,

Back in Oz, work and family took over and most of my figures remained packed away as they had been when I left the UK. Requirement however, finally gave me the time and opportunity to rediscover this passion. 

Sadly, I have not been able to contact any like minded people in Brisbane, it seems that Napoleonic's is a passion for the 'baby boomers' and sci-fi / fantasy is the rage now. So, as there is no one local to wargame with, I concentrate on photography and painting figures both 28mm and larger. This blog is an outlet for me and I fully accept that my standard of painting is way below many of the other blogs I follow but it is the best I can do at the time and I always strive to do better so a huge THANK YOU to all the other bloggers posting their photos to inspire me (& others).

13 November 2022

Wow, finally made it to 100 page views, not sure how many of those are my own but 100 views and no comments says something I guess. Well I did this blog mainly to see if I could do one so I guess that is sufficient.