Shotandshell Posted October 12, 2024 Posted October 12, 2024 Last Christmas, my better half got me this Polish winged hussar in 54m from Andrea Miniatures. Been wanting to start on it but had to put it on the back burner for a while because I got caught up in other projects. Now I have finally found the right time. The kit is in white metal and has a whopping 74 parts which is a real lot for a 54mm model. This is mostly because the feathers at the back of the rider have to be individually assembled so that racks up the parts count. Lots of small bits and pieces and a bit of an extravagant colour scheme, leopard skin and all. The figure carries a huge standard which comes printed with the kit but I am half tempted to replicate it from scratch freehand. But it's still very early days and I shall see when I come to it. I have done some superficial research on these troops but I will be sticking mostly to the box art and enclosed instructions. Box art gives a very clear indication that this is not going to be a walk in the park Keeping the mount halves together whilst the epoxy sets Horse and rider partially assembled and primed in grey. Detail is very crisp and fit is quite good. Some putty used to fill in gaps but nothing alarming. Base coating the saddle and saddlecloth in Vallejo Red Black with Brown Earth borders which will be finished in gold The saddle is done up in Flat Red with piping in Golden Brown highlighted in Golden Yellow and Off White. The saddlecloth is highlighted in Red whilst the edge is given a coat of Golden Brown I tried a touch of NMM on the edge of the saddlecloth which - I'd like to think - came out decent. This was my first ever attempt. In the meantime the dark red of the saddlecloth has been highlighted further with touches of Light Orange Starting the 'border with a border', if you can call it that. The gold border is filled in with Black Red to leave two thin gold borders either side. Done. The Black Red is highlighted to match the rest of the folds in the cloth to ensure a continuation with the rest of the saddlecloth. Now things start getting tricky. The dotted pattern on the border is not easy to paint by brush. So, don't use one! I used the rear round part of a 0.6mm drill to dip in paint and stamp the circles one by one taking care not to apply too much pressure. Dots are in Golden Brown and highlighted in Golden Yellow in those areas where the light would hit more. The dot sizes are not entirely homogeneous but I think they will do. With the naked eye the differences in the circles are not so easy to pick out. Mount is now base coated in Black Grey, Shading will be done in Black and highlighting will see a mixture of greys. The saddle strap is highlighted in Black Brown whilst the harness is in Brown Earth. This is where I am now. More (hopefully) soon. Take care and keep well. Mike 12 4
Model Mate Posted October 13, 2024 Posted October 13, 2024 Really nice work so far -this is going to look amazing when it’s finished! 1
Shotandshell Posted October 13, 2024 Author Posted October 13, 2024 4 hours ago, Model Mate said: Really nice work so far -this is going to look amazing when it’s finished! Hope so MM! Thanks for visiting and for the kind comment.
Hopsing Posted October 13, 2024 Posted October 13, 2024 An extremely challenging and ‘heavy project’ in 54 mm. I will follow your progress with curiosity and wish you every success One question: How heavy is the model overall? 1
giemme Posted October 14, 2024 Posted October 14, 2024 That is impressive already! And thanks for the tips on how to do the dots, duly noted! Ciao 1
Hunter Rose Posted October 14, 2024 Posted October 14, 2024 Looking great so far, nice work with the nmm on the saddlecloth, very effective 1
Shotandshell Posted October 14, 2024 Author Posted October 14, 2024 19 hours ago, Hopsing said: An extremely challenging and ‘heavy project’ in 54 mm. I will follow your progress with curiosity and wish you every success One question: How heavy is the model overall? Thanks for your kind wishes. The model weighs in at 278g, 52 of which belong to the base. So the overall weight on the mount's legs will be 226g. The horse comes with two legs reinforced so I reckon there shouldn't be any future bending issues. 2 hours ago, giemme said: That is impressic already! And thanks for the tips on how to do the dots, duly noted! Ciao Buongiorno Giorgio! Very happy you find the dot method useful. If you look carefully at some of the photos I posted earlier, you can still see the drill lying in its container lid. Did some more work this weekend but not much as I was pretty busy with family. The mount has separate ears and upper mane and when these are fitted they partially obscure a detailed rosette on the horse furniture. So I had to finish it and the surrounding harness before fitting the ears. Normally I wouldn't do this as I work from the inside outwards but in this case I had to finish that part of the harness which would be obscured. Harness is given a coat of Golden Brown over its Brown Earth base, and then given a wash of burnt umber ink The harness in the area around the ears is finished off with Golden Yellow highlighting and touches of Off White as an uppermost highlight. The rosette 'stones' are given a base of Black Red and a small dot of Vermillion to create contrast with the ink. The finished harness is given a light transparent coat of Old Gold to leave the non metallic highlights showing through. The ear section is then fitted over. There is some filling to be done but I will use Vallejo filler which can be applied with a wet brush. This will ensure no damage comes to the finished areas. View from another angle. Note the red band in the gold harness behind the ears and the black outlines in the mount's shadowed areas. This will form the basis of the shading in black. Doesn't show much on camera but the black areas are visible to the eye. Most of the contrast on a black horse will have to be done via the highlights. Blending the shadows and applying the highlights will be the next step. Until then, many thanks for visiting. Mike 6 1
Shotandshell Posted October 14, 2024 Author Posted October 14, 2024 12 minutes ago, Hunter Rose said: Looking great so far, nice work with the nmm on the saddlecloth, very effective Many thanks Nick! Coming from you I will take your nmm comment as high praise !!!
Davethehat Posted October 14, 2024 Posted October 14, 2024 Very nice work so far like the dot idea looking forward to seeing this progress 👏 1
giemme Posted October 14, 2024 Posted October 14, 2024 1 hour ago, Shotandshell said: If you look carefully at some of the photos I posted earlier, you can still see the drill lying in its container lid. Got it, I own a similar - if not identical - set of drill bits! More excellent detail painting, BTW (which reminds me I should really get back to my Viking figure... ) Ciao 1
Shotandshell Posted October 14, 2024 Author Posted October 14, 2024 9 hours ago, Davethehat said: Very nice work so far like the dot idea looking forward to seeing this progress 👏 Thanks Dave! Glad you’re enjoying this thread. 8 hours ago, giemme said: Got it, I own a similar - if not identical - set of drill bits! More excellent detail painting, BTW (which reminds me I should really get back to my Viking figure... ) Ciao Thanks a million Giorgio. Yes please, would like to see that viking……..😁 1
Shotandshell Posted October 18, 2024 Author Posted October 18, 2024 Hi all. Just a quick post to say that unfortunately I will have to put this project on the back burner for a couple or so weeks as I need to work on a pro bono commission for a friend. Hope to to resume in the shortest time possible! Apologies. Mike 1
Piotr Sudnik Posted November 13, 2024 Posted November 13, 2024 I haven't been here for a long time and unfortunately I missed the start of your work. As usual, you're doing fantastically well. The topic is close to my Polish heart If you need to find some Polish sources of information about the hussars, I'd be happy to help you. Best regards, Piotr 1
Shotandshell Posted November 15, 2024 Author Posted November 15, 2024 On 11/13/2024 at 12:07 PM, Piotr Sudnik said: I haven't been here for a long time and unfortunately I missed the start of your work. As usual, you're doing fantastically well. The topic is close to my Polish heart If you need to find some Polish sources of information about the hussars, I'd be happy to help you. Best regards, Piotr Many many thanks for the kind words and offer Piotr. The winged hussars are truly spectacular and a joy to reproduce in scale. I have to admit I haven’t done too much research as I don’t intend to divert much from the box art. However if you think there are any mistakes or inaccuracies as the project progresses, I would be happy if you could point them out. Hopefully I will reprise the project soon. Thanks again my friend.
Piotr Sudnik Posted November 17, 2024 Posted November 17, 2024 On 15/11/2024 at 22:13, Shotandshell said: Many many thanks for the kind words and offer Piotr. The winged hussars are truly spectacular and a joy to reproduce in scale. I have to admit I haven’t done too much research as I don’t intend to divert much from the box art. However if you think there are any mistakes or inaccuracies as the project progresses, I would be happy if you could point them out. Hopefully I will reprise the project soon. Thanks again my friend. Thank you very much for your kind words. There are a few historical inaccuracies in this figure, but let's just focus on the painting. A distinguishing feature of hussars over the years was their yellow or red leather boots. The hussar holds a royal crown banner in his hand, but its central field is not visible and it is difficult to determine which king we are talking about. Therefore, it is difficult to determine from what period the banner is from and whether it fits the hussar's equipment. Cheers Piotr 1 1
Shotandshell Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 On 11/17/2024 at 4:32 PM, Piotr Sudnik said: Thank you very much for your kind words. There are a few historical inaccuracies in this figure, but let's just focus on the painting. A distinguishing feature of hussars over the years was their yellow or red leather boots. The hussar holds a royal crown banner in his hand, but its central field is not visible and it is difficult to determine which king we are talking about. Therefore, it is difficult to determine from what period the banner is from and whether it fits the hussar's equipment. Cheers Piotr Hi Piotr. Now that I'm finally on the point of reprising this project I am uploading a copy of the standard supplied with the model. Maybe you can obtain more information from the pic. Thanks Mike 1
Angus Tura Posted January 16 Posted January 16 That is looking very good, Mike. I note from the packaging that it is only about half the age of your recent Samurai... That banner would certainly take a bit of painting! Alan
Shotandshell Posted January 17 Author Posted January 17 19 hours ago, Angus Tura said: That is looking very good, Mike. I note from the packaging that it is only about half the age of your recent Samurai... That banner would certainly take a bit of painting! Alan Thanks Alan. Yep, that banner would be a real headache to reproduce. It’s still a long way away so I haven’t fully decided yet, but knowing me……..🙄
Piotr Sudnik Posted January 18 Posted January 18 On 12/01/2025 at 11:02, Shotandshell said: Hi Piotr. Now that I'm finally on the point of reprising this project I am uploading a copy of the standard supplied with the model. Maybe you can obtain more information from the pic. Thanks Mike Hi Mike The banner is from the times of the Vasa dynasty ruling in Poland at that time. Probably King Władysław IV or his brother John II Casimir. Looking at the hussar's armor, it dates from 1650 to a maximum of 1672, when John II Casimir died. Cheers Piotr 1
Shotandshell Posted January 26 Author Posted January 26 Okay. Time to resume this thread. Having spent the last couple of months assembling and painting Bavarian infantry (see the RFI section), I finally got down to continue this project. In truth it's been a couple of weeks or so since I reprised but I couldn't find the time to sit down at my PC. Continuing were I left off, I concentrated on highlighting and blending the muscular structure of the horse using a mixture of light and dark greys. In places the highlighting seems exaggerated to my eyes but I felt it was necessary as anything less lighter was getting swallowed up by the dark base. Once the highlighting was mostly done I turned to fine tune the face, A hint of thinned down red around the eye sockets and around the gums enhances features somewhat. I used Off White with a just a touch of Khaki for the teeth to give them a slightly yellowed look, I feel whiter than white teeth on a horse are never realistic. Next up was the metallic plates on the horse's harness. Using a Brown Earth base and building up with Golden Brown, Golden Yellow, and Off White, I again attempted to gain a metallic look. I dunno if my NMM is good enough, To my eyes it seems okay on the saddlecloth but not too convincing on the metal plates. I might need to change my metals strategy in future. Thoughts? 5 1
Piotr Sudnik Posted January 26 Posted January 26 37 minutes ago, Shotandshell said: Okay. Time to resume this thread. Having spent the last couple of months assembling and painting Bavarian infantry (see the RFI section), I finally got down to continue this project. In truth it's been a couple of weeks or so since I reprised but I couldn't find the time to sit down at my PC. Continuing were I left off, I concentrated on highlighting and blending the muscular structure of the horse using a mixture of light and dark greys. In places the highlighting seems exaggerated to my eyes but I felt it was necessary as anything less lighter was getting swallowed up by the dark base. Once the highlighting was mostly done I turned to fine tune the face, A hint of thinned down red around the eye sockets and around the gums enhances features somewhat. I used Off White with a just a touch of Khaki for the teeth to give them a slightly yellowed look, I feel whiter than white teeth on a horse are never realistic. Next up was the metallic plates on the horse's harness. Using a Brown Earth base and building up with Golden Brown, Golden Yellow, and Off White, I again attempted to gain a metallic look. I dunno if my NMM is good enough, To my eyes it seems okay on the saddlecloth but not too convincing on the metal plates. I might need to change my metals strategy in future. Thoughts? Your horse reminds me of a painting by the Polish painter Władysław Podkowiński from 1894. The title of this painting is "Frenzy of Exaltation"
Shotandshell Posted January 26 Author Posted January 26 2 minutes ago, Piotr Sudnik said: Your horse reminds me of a painting by the Polish painter Władysław Podkowiński from 1894. The title of this painting is "Frenzy of Exaltation" I don’t know it but yes, there does seem to be a certain resemblance 😮
giemme Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 26/01/2025 at 10:54, Shotandshell said: Thoughts? I actually like how you did the metal plates, and the horse in general. To my eye, the only things looking slightly odd are the deep lines on the horse body (the muscular fasciae), but that's how the sculpting came, I guess Ciao
Shotandshell Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 (edited) 9 hours ago, giemme said: I actually like how you did the metal plates, and the horse in general. To my eye, the only things looking slightly odd are the deep lines on the horse body (the muscular fasciae), but that's how the sculpting came, I guess Ciao Hi Giorgio. Yes, those lines follow the sculpt’s contours so it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Together with the belly underside, they’re practically the only places I used pure black on the horse! I might apply a glaze later on to temper the darker areas. Edited January 29 by Shotandshell 1
Shotandshell Posted Saturday at 01:03 PM Author Posted Saturday at 01:03 PM Then I had a moment of madness........... While browsing for more references I began to notice that most hussar saddlecloths were by far more elaborate than the one on mine which looked so barren in comparison. One struck me as particularly attractive so I decided to add more design to what had been a finished part of the model. Such an elaborate design. Makes your jaw drop! So out the window went the old saddlecloth and I started sketching a rough design in Brown Earth. I did not copy the design faithfully but rather used it as a starting point for a modified version of my own. Filling in the sketch with Golden Brown...... ........and Golden Yellow with top highlights in white. Must have had some white on my gloves as I inadvertently smeared some on the left front leg !!! (sigh!) White smears removed and more detailing work Until...... Same stuff, right side Top view Finished main leather strap, maintaining the red/gold combination throughout the reins and harnesses Finally, not being entirely convinced of my NMM abilities, I gave an extremely light pass of Vallejo gold on all the gold areas just to give it that slight shimmer when viewed against the light. I did more emphasis on the metal parts rather than on the gold thread to give different textures to the two materials. The gold thread on the saddlecloth was passed so lightly that it is hardly visible and the non metallic colours still show through. Have I just invented hybrid NMM........? :))) Take care all Mike 3 1
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