Sunday 18 March 2012

Grant's Troop 18th Hussars - finished

I've been very busy for the last few months with work and had very little time for this project. Eventually put finishing touches to the 18th Hussars this weekend. Pics taken a bit hastily and I can see quite a bit of static grass which needs brushing off! In the end I was quite pleased with this lot, though I might still prefer the 10th in their red shakos.




 I tried a different method of assembly for these- painting the rider and horse separately and painting the braiding on each man before adding the pelisses and scabbards. Frankly, this seems to have been a pretty massive waste of time as 99% of the extra access which this allows (e.g being able to paint the waist sash etc) ends up being obscured anyway. In addition, and more importantly, NOT glueing the figure firmly together from the start has led to all manner of issues with parts falling off (scabbards/pellisses) as, no matter how hard you try, painted pieces will never bond well. There were also issues with some figures not fitting in saddles (because their sword arm had been glued in a position which would not wedge in under the carbine jutting up from the saddlebags). But it was a useful experiment and a lesson learnt. From now I will always glue everything together before beginning any painting - the 10th Hussars were a breeze by comparison to the 18th.










 
The 18th were an infamous band of vagabonds - their looting exploits after Vittoria had nearly seen them sent home from the Peninsula in disgrace - and I imagine they enjoyed plenty of time in Flanders to accumulate some ill-gotten gains before Waterloo. Many of the figures have therefore been fitted with various sacks, bags, extra pistols, and other paraphernalia. Here we see Serjeant Michael Donnelly, flanking troop commander Captain James Grant, with a nice French saddlebag attachment! 

Captain Grant was court martialled a year after Waterloo for using "provoking, obnoxious, and insulting language to a Department of Commissiary General".


 

At the other end of the line is Lieutenant Charles Hesse, with a pair of pistols held in a holster. Hesse was wounded in the arm at Waterloo. He was later killed in a duel, his adversary being Count Leon, an illegitate son of Napoleon.


Here is the troop with Floyd's troop of the 10th.




12 comments:

  1. Great photos!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This unit came out very well, great photos by the way. I thought you lived in central London, lots of trees in the background.

    John

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely work, the basing is very effective, too.

    Simon

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great work - looking good. And useful learning re the assembly process

    ReplyDelete
  5. A remarkable photo! The figs are wonderful, and the "mise en scene" is great!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Many thanks for your very kind comments guys, they really give me a spur!
    John, you would not belive the difficulty I have in finding a shot with trees in but no buildings. Just a millimetre to the left and right is nothing but terraced houses and the shots have to be taken upwards to cut out the garden fence!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lord Hill - It is a beautiful photo with great composition and clever staging!

      Delete
  7. Yes, a stunning hussar brigade! Well done!

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very impressive. They look great! I'm also from the school of fully assembling the model before painting. It just saves so much time and the detail you think you're missing is really never even seen when completed.
    - Curt

    ReplyDelete
  9. Quite amazing! Lovely to see Hussars en masse! I love the way you photoshop/edit the photos.

    BTW, are you familiar with Brigadier Allan Mallinson's 'Hervey' books about the 6th Light Dragoons?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks again for the comments everyone. Sparker, no photoshop here! Just took pics in the garden!

    ReplyDelete