Rumblestripe

Resurrecting this post with another addition to The Watch. Ladies and Gentlemen, Captain Delphine Angua von Überwald Not my favourite figure of the series which is why she has been on the "stalled" bench for some time. I actually managed to snap her legs trying to correct her pose. I have repaired the legs by pinning them and repositioning. She still seems to be sort of leaning back. Hey ho. Vallejo acrylics and metallics.

Thanks for the kind comments. Just by way of explanation. This a brief overview of "how I done it" As you can see here, I simply spray primed the figures white. I have tried "slapchop" (or "zenithal" if you prefer) where the figures are painted black then highlighted in grey then white to emphasize shadows. I found that overpowered the "contrast" effect of these paints. I have used the technique successfully when painting horses but felt I wanted more "pop" to the colours. In the picture above you can see the effect of a single coat of Speed Paint "Orc Skin". The trick with these paints, if there is one, is to apply liberally but carefully. This allows the paint to "settle" and you get the contrast effect. Overworking the paint or simply not applying enough will give you a thin translucent finish like a glaze. Try not to apply the paint where you don't want it, the paint is translucent so if you need to apply a different colour, particularly another contrast paint, you need to over paint your mistakes with white before carrying on. So, Chummy's teeth were retouched white. Nearly complete, Chummy has had his teeth touched in white (later some brown staining was applied) his trousers are done in Vallejo blues with a more traditional drybrushing and lightening done to bring out the shape of the figure. His shirt and all leathers are done with various contrast paints sometimes mixed as the colour choice is limited at the moment. His gun is Vallejo Gunmetal with Brass details then washed with Vallejo Black Wash. Later it would have rust and staining applied.

A bit of fun and to test the new Contrast/Speed Paint/Xpress paints Nominally 28mm figures they are more like 35mm. Multipart hard plastic. No issues sticking 'em together, all the parts fit well and can be easily used in various combinations and positions. The skin tone is Army Painter Speed Paint "Orc Skin". This was Speed Paint V1.0 and although it gave a really nice result was an absolute nightmare to work with. If you have heard of the problem with these paints "reactivating" this was probably the colour that was worst, even after several weeks drying if you applied ANY colour on top of it it would bleed through. On some areas I applied several coats of Vallejo White on top of it and it was still pale green! Two of the figures were completely stripped of paint and re-primed because I had been too liberal with this colour. Grrrr. I understand that the V2 paints are much better in this regard. These two were repainted with Vallejo Xpress "Orc Skin" which is a much more yellow colour and I added some blue Xpress Colour to better match the other guys. Most of what you see otherwise is Vallejo Xpress and Game Colour paints. Metallics are a random mix of Vallejo to give a rough and ready Orkish appearance with bits of corrosion and filth on the armour and weapons. The Vallejo Xpress Colours are my favourite of this type of paint, they work really well giving a good tone gradient across textures, mix together well and dry perfectly matt and do not reactivate.

Arrgh, sorry. I've asked for it to be moved. Sorry guys!

This is the "Starter Kit" with the single piece tracks and running gear. I corrected some of the errors with the original model. I have removed the bow machine gun and added the additional plating that seems to have been applied to most Fireflies and the "Pistol Port" on the side of the turret and drilled out the muzzle brake. At some point it has lost one of the fire extinguishers that should be on the rear deck to feed the voracious carpet gods. Built as a little "palette cleanser" as I have lost my modelling desk to my son - he does move out again shortly. Hurrah! so it was a traditional "kitchen table" build, all paint applied with hairy stick. I used the green from the starter kit but all other paints are Vallejo acrylics. I left off some of the markings that came with the kit which probably means the Txxxxxx number is wrong but the appearance better matches period photographs. Oh and I should mention that it cost me the grand sum of £4 as Lidl were doing a half price clearout in the middle aisle, I also have the Tiger set in t' stash. Good fun little kits.

I have a half built one of these on my "shelf of shame" perhaps this will encourage/shame me into completing it. I've gone for a turned metal gun barrel but aside from that straight out of the box.

Try the new fangled "Contrast" paints for a one go solution. You prime in white and then apply a generous coat of contrast paint and allow it to settle in the recesses like a wash but no need for a primary colour. For Caucasian skin tones. There are three manufacturers Citadel (Games Workshop) "Darkoath Flesh" or "Gulliman Flesh", Army Painter "Crusader Skin" or "Peachy Flesh" and Vallejo "Dwarf Skin". If you wish to tweak it a little use a very thin black or dark blue wash to emphasize eyes and mouths.

You have produced a very interesting model and it looks great. I f I could make a small suggestion, I would like to see it next to an object like a tea cup/mug to give me an idea of size, I guess it must be a rather large item?

Went together very nicely. The flags are the ones printed on the instructions that accompany them with the white edges painted to match the colours of the flags The mathematicians among you may notice that there are only 36 figures here. There are 40 in the pack but this numpty put too many on 3x1 and 3x2 bases so that I can't rank up four rows. (I'm not a wargamer 🤷‍♂️) A couple of cruel close ups

Some wargames companies produce 40mm figures which scale at slightly large for 1/48 (38mm is approx. 6ft tall in 1/48) but oddly I cannot find any company producing WW2 figures in 40mm. Perhaps there are some? Get googling! Also, you might get some positive results by talking to 3D printing companies (or buying STL files and your own printer). This company (Wargaming 3D) lists a huge variety of WW2 figures in 28mm "heroic" for example this Polish early war light mortar team They would probably scale up to 1/48 quite easily (though the hands look perhaps a little crude) or perhaps find some in 1/35 and scale down?

Oddly I was just flicking through some pictures from a Classic Car show earlier this year and stumbled across a Hillman Tilly Of course this colour could well be a fanciful invention of the owner but I thought you might like to see it, sadly it appears to be the only shot I took of it!

Just to add to the cacophony of (justified) praise. I would like to praise the use of figures in creating vignettes on the ship, they give a sense of scale to the monstrous ship and of a snap shot of the life on board. Well done indeed, I look forward to seeing what you do with the "Millennium Falcon"

Horses nearly finished I'm very happy with them. The detail on the saddlery was added with a mixture of contrast paints for the black leather and the blue of the trim everything else is picked out in Vallejo Acrylics some drybrushing on the sheepskin. Half of the horses now at this stage the rest are due to get their tack sorted shortly.

Absolutely sensational model. On a related note if you are aware of the podcast "We have ways of making you talk" with Al Murray and James Holland they have recently ran a series of podcasts called "Between The Lines" in which actors read the diaries of several figures from 1943 including Admiral Sir Herbert ("Bertie") Annesley Packer KCB, CBE who commanded Warspite in that period. An interesting insight into the period and the thoughts of Bertie about the ship and her crew.

You're right there, you've made yourself a lot of work to do! Not least the research. As I found out for myself even with my "flexible" approach to timescales there are pitfalls a plenty in this. Previously my butterfly mind took me down the path to build a Sherman tank. Oh boy I thought that was surprisingly complex! Nothing compared to Napoleonic uniforms though. At least when I painted the Pratchett figures no one could tell me that in The Year of the Dancing Lobster the Watch only wore blue jerkins with leather breeches! Good luck with your dio, hope to see it up here one day.

No. They are the first British Napoleonic figures I have had a go at. I have a (nearly complete) unit of Perry's Russian Infantry and an unopened box of Russian Uhlans. Then there are some Dad's Army figures a unit of Zulu War British Infantry. I'm not a wargamer so my figure collecting and painting is just what takes my fancy. For example these from the SF & Real Space Forum Pratchett's Figurines - Ready for Inspection - SF & RealSpace - Britmodeller.com

Hurrah! I have a solution to my (self inflicted) uniform quandary. When I looked closely at the back of the box there is an example of just the combination I had created. The 12th Regiment (Prince of Wales') "Late Peninsula War uniform" the later "French Style" coat with the Tarleton helmet. So I'm guessing that being out there they were able to replace their worn out Dolman jackets with the new issue and hung onto their lovely Tarletons. This chap has his campaign overalls but I assume that they would still have their breeches. Well mine do...

Ah thank you @Bagpuss64 you are of course right. I have misread/misinterpretted the reference sheet. Fortunately I only assembled a single trooper so I can correct my mistake. I will go for the full early uniform or perhaps as you suggest the 1812/transitional uniform with the Tarleton which the regiments only gave up reluctantly. Anyway I have been making progress with the horses. I have used the new Vallejo Xpress Color (sic) paints. There are presently only three "browns" to whit "Dwarf Skin", "Copper Brown" and "Wasteland Brown" in the range, but as horses do not come in uniform colours I have mixed them together and added drops of green and yellow to give a varied result so that each hoss is a slightly different base hue. I'm quite pleased with how they have come out. The paints have dried completely matt (which GW Contrast paints and Army Painter Speed Paints do not always do, though as I finish with a coat of Matt varnish that is academic). They are, of course, not finished, I will pick out tails and manes in darker and lighter colours as I see fit and perhaps add the odd sock or two. Then we start on the tack and other gubbins. Not sure if I will persist with Xpress/Contrast paints throughout the project, we shall see.

So, the hosses are done (well barring the two on the "Officer Sprue" which I have left for now). I primed them using Liquitex Black Gesso. I like Gesso on figures it shrinks as it dries, grips well to plastic, resins and metals and leaves a slight "tooth" to the surface which takes acrylic paint well. I have decided to try the new fangled "Zenithal Highlighting" and a combination of GW Contrast and Vallejo Xpress colours on these. So first a "damp" brush of a medium grey to leave the black in only the deepest of crevices and the underneath of the figure. This is more usually done with an airbrush but I'm not going to be allowed to use that in the front room without experiencing extreme physical intimidation or divorce (probably both - Fun Police Enforcement Section)! After the grey, I drybrush with white Next step will be various shades of brown. I believe that the horses of Light Dragoons were principally Bays and Chestnuts though the Trumpeters rode greys? The theory is that the highlighting will exaggerate the action of the contrast paints. More when we have it.

I have one thing I dislike in Wargames figures and these little chaps are also the targets of my ire. What is this terrible irritant that causes me a disruption of my humours? The big clumps of moulded "grass" (ringed in yellow) required to give the horse some strength to survive the handling that is required of Wargames figures. So I will cut that off, but to restore the rigidity I will drill the base and use a short piece of 0.5mm brass wire. And then cut it flush with the base Much better once there is a little static grass on the base the brass wire will be almost invisible. Three done Another 12 to do, I think it's worth doing. As you can see these are rather lovely sculpts with nicely animated horses and clever design to give nine different poses.

So, let's have a go at something a little different I thought, a little challenging perhaps... Now Napoleonic Armies have always had a special interest for me but scared me to death with the intricacies of the uniforms. So what better challenge could there possibly be? Inevitably I stumbled across these chaps on the E of the Bay They looked as though they had everything I would need to be able to assemble and paint a representative force for the display cabinet (I'm not a wargamer but I do like 28mm scale figures) However, when I opened the box I found myself still a little confused so after many hours on T'internet researching the subject I treated myself to a book to help. I bought "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars" by Digby Smith. It's a good basic ground work with good clear illustrations and discussions of the uniforms. This helped me to identify the options I wanted to model. I decided I wanted to depict a regiment at the beginning of the period allowing my chaps to wear the dashing Tarleton helmet and I wanted them to be in breeches rather than campaign grey overalls. Much smarter! So here is something that I wish I had before I started. An analysis of the parts on the "Trooper Sprue" The other reason for choosing the early period was the much simpler "Tolman" tunic which has a lot less braid. There is also an option for Regiments serving on warmer climes the "Tropical Tin Helmet" was used. The horses are very straightforward and yet quiet clever. You get a sprue with three left sides and three right sides and you can combine any left with any right which (if my fingers and thumbs don't deceive me) gives you nine different horse poses. There is also a command sprue which gives you two figures and two horses. So with four lots of three (hosses and doods) gives a total of fourteen figures. Quite enough to be going on with. So I have assembled the first three troopers and horses and here is one of them. Needs a little bit of seem smoothing but otherwise pretty good in this cruel close up (remember the soldier stands at about 3cm tall. Don't expect daily updates on here. I have lost my modelling bench to my son and daughter-in-law between residences and this is being done on my work desk in the front room which the Fun Police Officer insists is tidied away each evening. Tally ho.

Exquisite, thank you for sharing. (Though part of me suspects that you have used a time machine to nip back and photograph the real thing!)

Extraordinary model, a work of art, magnificent, all of those things and more. AND 1/350!!! I've painted 1/48 figures that don't look as good!

That's a very big pen! Seriously, that is very nice indeed.

Fantastic model, love the figures the body language is spot on. To tidy up the diorama base (if you think it necessary) I would try to remove some of the overspill from the scenic area, perhaps skim the outside with filler and then paint the sides matt black. In fact just painting it matt black will make a difference.