Basing PR&FR - 6 mm - What was done on January 2021

 Hi,

As a follow up about the few past weeks, here is the status of on-going Prussians and French, finally based, and so done.

As an introduction, here they are :

From top left, to bottom righ are : 2 PR Uhlan Rgt (1st and 3rd), 3 Landwehr batallions (PR), 1st Rgt des Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde (FR), and 3 batallions of grenadiers from la Vieille Garde (FR).

Before insights, here is how I based them.
I have very (I mean, really very) few place for this hobby.
That is the reason why I practice it by sessions.
Anytime, I need to get anything cleaned and prepared, then anything put back in place (and cleaned as well).
That "entry" ticket cost me about 15 minutes on each side.
So, I qualify and plan what to do, prepare a volume so not to spend more time setting/un-setting than really working, then... I start a session.

This session was based on the following :

Enough minis on their bags, enough bases, glue and some basic tool... so let's go.
Baccus strips are 4 minis per strip. I base 2x3 minis in two rows per base.
So, cutting is obviously needed.
But as a first step, strips bases need to be flatten because of "melting spots(?)" that could remain and painting temporary basing glue residues.

Obviously I do that as well before initial painting temporary basing, but now, up to base mini by mini sometimes, I pay a special attention so that each mini have a perfectly flat basement. It's easier, and safer, to do this with a strip rather than on individual detached minis. Also, take extreme care : Just slide gently the strips on the tool : hold them firmly but smartly, don't break anything !

I cut the bases as small as possible while preserving mini attach points to its' basement. So each strip is reduced to three minis strips, and I obviously keep the fourth one.

When basing, I always start by "the fourth" minis, the ones that are alone, and put 3 of them on the rear rank. This way, I may position them gently, not being in trouble with a front rank that would not let finger room for alignment. Front ranks are always the three "survivors" of the original strip. I glue them at a second step, as such :

The glue I use to set them in place is a basic (but really good) gel glue from Scotch (the green one - see first picture). It perfectly does the job for years and is not expensive.
Once minis are in place, I use white glue to seal them and flock.
I put a somewhat thick layer (very slightly diluted) on the base with an old brush.
Then I flock.
As it will dry, all minis will be sealed one to each other, reinforcing the overall solidity of the base.

For flocking, I use basic wood sawdust. On the picture it seems brown, but in fact it's green. (Mobile camera used)
Go to a place where they cut wood, be polite and gentle, ask accordingly and then you should get enough of it for 10 years.
Tint it with basic acrylics of various bright browns, green, and yellow (and mixes), let it dry (to avoid moisture), then you are done.
Don't forget the tip for the guy behind the saw...

You may find better "dedicated" basing flocking material, obviously, but it is expensive and for the size of the bases I deal with it is not justified on my side.

So, after all this "blabla", some closer pictures.
First the Prussians :

Then La Vieille Garde :

And finally les Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde :

Do not hesitate to comment or share you way for basing.

Thanks for reading,
Cheers and take care.

Bruno.

Napoleonic French - 6mm - WIP part II

 Hi,

Here is a short advancement status about the old guard I started about one week ago.

Status and pictures :

On going Grenadiers of the old guard are painted and varnished.

Same thing about the Chasseurs à Cheval de la garde.

They have been painted on evenings, by 1+ hour sessions along the week.
As a total time spent, I may estimate between 4 and 5 hours of total work to get there (for each of Grenadiers and Chasseurs, so about 10 hours total)

Paints I used :

I used a black primer (brushed Humbrol black matt 33, slightly diluted) then I used Prince August (Vallejo) acrylic colors except when said otherwise. Here are their references (numeric only as names are in french).
Conversion tables exist between PA and Vallejo references, so that should not be an issue if use Vallejo rather than PA.(ie : (PA) 970 = (V) 72)

For grenadiers :

Uniform blue : 965
All whites : 918 (Ivory - I never use pure white)
All blacks : 950
Red : 817 (kind of scarlett red)
Rifle wood : 846 (Mahogany ?)
Back pack : 875 (clear brown beige ?)
Rolled jacket : 836 (a grey - realized once done it should have been blue for the guard)
Flesh : 327
Gold : 996 - Metal colors in standard Vallejo/PA are not good. I still use that one (as I have it) but it has to be applied on a black background. At a time I will better use Vallejo Airbrush Metal Color (see thereafter).
Steel : Vallejo Airbrush Metal Color 77.716 (Aluminio satin) applied with a brush (obviously). That metal color is far better than any conventional Vallejo/PA metal colors.

For Chasseurs à Cheval :

Green (saddles/uniform) : 970
Trumpet exception (blue) : 840
Yellow : 948 - I prefer that "gold yellow" as offering better coverage and color depth than regular yellow.
Horses : 846
All other colors (red, white, black, metal,...) are like Grenadiers.

As a varnish I use an art acrylic painting varnish (Amsterdam 115 MATT for acrylic - brush applied). My 250 ml bottle is still 2/3 full after 3+ years... I pass 2 layers of it each tme. It makes it inexpensive in time, does stay clear and offers a good protection. Only thing is that it is a little bit satin but at 6mm it perfectly does the thing on my side.

What next ?

Still to be done is the basing. I have too few bases ready for them, so will have to cut and prepare (far) more. As I usually do, I put them in a bag waiting for bases to be ready. Also, I prefer to run dedicated basing sessions so will anyway wait to have more minis to be based before running a session :

Yep. Not sure they will all fit the 4 ridiculous bases remaining so far ;-).

Now, my French backlog :

So, here are :

• Line infantry
• Light infantry skirmishing
  
• Lancers of the line
• Lancers of the guard
• Elite Hussars companies
  
• Carabiniers
  
• Foot artillery
• Horse artillery
• Limbers
• remainings of previous backlog, so few of :
• Hussars
• Dragoons
• Cuirassiers
• Command

Anyway, my current focus is on Prussians.
So this week, I plan doing :

• 3 Landwehr batalions (24 minis each)
• 2 Uhlans regiments (12 minis each)

Once this will be done, I will probably change my mind with some english troops (that are nice too ;-)) for which I have an even more huge backlog.

Cheers and stay safe.

Bruno.

Napoleonic command - 6mm - FR & UK

 Hi,

This week evenings I worked a bit on my french old guard but not only.
For monthes I had some painted command I did not based yet.
Mostly French and English.
So, I did it as it was not that long after all (spent less than 1.5 hour in three evenings)...

They are mixed minis from different providers in time, so I am not sure of whom they were from  (except for the Baccus english and some frenchies)

I took pictures yesterday evening and quickly post them to conlude my remotee lunch break.

Here they are for France...

... and for England

They are based on 1, 2 and 5 € cents coins.
Depending on rules, 1 mini means Brigade command, 2 minis Division command, 3 minis Army corp command, or respectively ADC, Brigadier, Division at lower gaming scale.

This week end I'll continue my old guard and prepare some prussian Uhlans.
I will see if I have something advanced enough to be shareable.

Now back to job.
See you later...

Napoleonic French - 6mm - WIP

 Hi again,

As said in my Prussian WIP I, I am completing my French side in parallel with some French Guard. Here as well, those minis are from Baccus.
Currently planned are 3 old guard infantry batalions and 1 Chasseur de la guarde regiment.
I just ended up with a first set of strips, including command and some line.
Here they are just after first varnish layer.

As usual, light balance is wrong (underlying support is deep flat black, not blue), but however...
Flags are from napflags free flags, resized with inkscape as 7x7 mm side wide, then printed on photo paper. Historically, French flags were far smaller, but with scale, I prefer to size them to the available space left on the minis poles.

Here are two closer views on the command then line strips I did on that session.

Obviously, when looking so close paint job seems really bad looking, but you never see them that close on table top. To give you an order of idea, here is a comparison with a 35 mm height zinnfiguren.

Another time, picture is weird (contrasts are crazy and colours not right) and Zinnfiguren will be addressed in other posts, but it was just to give an order of idea for those not familiar with 6mm.

Next to come are those folks I introduced at the begining of this post, primed 2 weeks ago.

My french army is currently the biggest one I have and it's backlog of to-be-done minis is important. I will probably share on that as the old guard will move forward.

Cheers,

Bruno.

Small is beautifull...

Hi folks,

I made a little break from my 28mm stuff by trying 10mm and 6mm as well. In fact, it's your fault guys from TMP, that make me really curious about those scales, especially the 6mm one. So I bought minimum packs to make my mind, and here they are...

(fr) J'ai fait un petit break du 28mm pour tester le 10mm et le 6mm. A force de voir des posts délirants sur le sujet, notamment sur TMP, je me suis dit qu'il fallait que j'essaye... Donc, j'ai commandé un set minimum de troupes napoléoniennes, et les voici...

Before detailing them, here is some "sponge painted" landscape built for the scale. It's 60x120cm and should be OK for playing at reduced scales matching 6 and 10mm minis.

(fr) Avant de détailler les figs. voici un peu de terrain "peint à l'éponge", avec des arbres en "gratouilleur spontex".La planche fait 60x120cm. Ca devrait permettre de faire des parties standard avec ces figs. (réduction d'échelle : équivalent à du 120x240cm voire plus)


Here are the French Dragoons (10mm). Those old glory packs (1 line+ 1 cmd) let me build 3 regiments, 2 of 4 squadrons, 1 of 5 squadrons.

(fr) Tout d'abord voici les dragons Français en 10mm. Ces références old glory (1 cmd+1 ligne) m'ont permis de faire trois régiments, deux de 4 escadrons, 1 de 5 escadrons.




Then are the French Chevaux Légers (10mm). There was only two regiments of them. The old glory pack let me build them, with respectively 4 and 5 squadrons each.

(fr) Ici, les Chevaux légers Français en 10mm. Il n'en existait que 2 régiments, que j'ai pu faire avec cette référence old glory. Ils sont de 4 et 5 squadrons respectivement.



Here is French line infantry (10mm). For testing I ordered one pack of line, and one of command. Obviously there are far too much command, but I will solve that soon by grabbing more line.

(fr) Ici l'infanterie de ligne en 10mm. Pour mes tests, je n'avais commandé qu'un pack de ligne pour un pack de commandement. Bien sur, il y a bien trop de commandement par rapport à la ligne, mais je m'occuperais de ça prochainement.


Here is the Russian line infantry in 10mm. As before, I have far too much command vs. lines as I ordered one pack of each. That will be solved soon as well.

(fr) Voici la ligne Russe en 10mm. Comme précédemment, ayant commandé 1 pack de ligne et 1 de commandement, le ratio est disproportionné, mais cela sera résolu prochainement.



Here are Russian dragoons in 10mm. As ever with one pack of command for one pack of line, I could build 3 regiments of 4,4 and 5 squadrons presented here as a cahotic mix, but well...

(fr) Voici les dragons Russes en 10mm. Comme toujours, un pack de ligne + un pack de commandement = 3 régiments de 4/4/5 escadrons qui sont ici présentés en vrac, mais pour la photo, j'aime bien mettre un échelon refusé...


Now, 10mm french artillery. I had an issue as my daughter trashed most of the primed teams... She's 2.5 years old, so I did not trashed her (she's too big to enter the bin), but have noted it so to remember what I'll have to do with her Smurphs one day ... ;-)

(fr) Ici l'artillerie Française. Il en manque car ma fille (2,5 ans) a mis les artilleurs sous couchés au vide ordure. Comme elle ne rentre plus dans le vide ordure, elle n'a pas suivi le même chemin, mais j'ai noté l'incident histoire de me rappeler ce que j'aurais à faire avec ses Schtroumphs.... ;-)


Here the 10mm russian artillery. This one is complete (that saved the Smurphs for now...). One pack of team + one pack of guns let you build 12 of them when you succeed keeping your gremlins far of the painting table.

(fr) Ici, l'artillerie Russe en 10mm. Celle ci est "complète" (ce qui a sauvé les Schtroumphs pour l'instant). Un pack d'artilleurs + 1 pack de canons vous permettent de construire 12 pièces, enfin pour autant que vous réussissiez à éloigner vos gremlins de la table de peinture.


Now, the 6mm stuff. Here are 1 Infantry regiment of 2 batallions, 6 guns with 3 limbers, two cuirassiers regiments and some command. Those are Adler minis (?) I could grab unpainted from a friend to make a test but they were all mixed so I don't know which packages they are from, nor if those were complete. They were very funny to paint.

(fr) Maintenant, le 6mm. Il y a 1 rgt. d'infanterie de deux bataillons, 6 canons avec 3 attelages, 2 rgt. de cuirassiers et un peu de commandement. Ce sont des figs Adler (?) que j'ai récupérées d'occase non peintes. Comme elles étaients toutes en vrac, je ne sais pas à quels packs elles correspondent ni même si elles étaient complètes, mais elles furent un vrai plaisir à peindre...

Thereafter some close ups....
(fr) A suivre, quelques plans rapprochés...




So, the conclusion ? Well, I think I will build some armies in 10 and 6 mm very soon. Those are inexpansives, offer a very good level of quality at the scales, and are really fast and fun to paint.
I will let you know...

(fr) Conclusion ? Comme on peut s'en douter, je vais me lancer dans ces échelles très prochainement. Elles sont économiques, offrent un bon niveau de qualité pour l'échelle et sont vraiement rapides et marrantes à peindre.
Plus à venir sur le sujet donc...

Cheers,

Bruno.

Perry's plastics : French Infantry 28mm

Hi again,

Here are few pictures of my first 28mm Perry's plastics, a french line infantry batallion from 1815. When one think those 42 minis are sold 20 Euros (in France), it's simply magic, and make me decide to go for a 28mm army now that it becomes affordable.
It was a real pleasure to build and to paint, I only regret the mix of full uniform and long coats. I tried a block painting technique so to be fast, but being not very experienced with 28mm minis I have had few issues. However I find the result isn't too bad...

(fr) Voici quelques images de mon premier bataillon d'infanterie de ligne 1815 en 28mm. Ce sont les figurines plastiques proposées par Perry. A 20 Euros la boite de 42 figurines, c'est tout simplement magique, car enfin je vais pouvoir me monter une armée en 28mm à un prix acceptable...
Montage et peinture ont été un plaisir et mon seul regret est le mélange de positions avec et sans manteau. N'étant pas très habitué à la peinture "de masse" en 28mm j'ai essayé une technique de block painting pour aller vite, mais que suis encore loin de maitriser à cette échelle. Quoiqu'il en soit, je trouve le résultat acceptable.