Sunday 28 July 2013

Lithuanian Dragoons WIP

I'm still stuck at home due to my leg in plaster, so I have continued painting my late Prussians. It just struck me how amazing it is I have the amount of figures finished in my collection that I have as I now realise how bloody long it takes me to finish a regiment/battalion and I don't think I'm a slow painter either? However the loft has been a god send as it's the only place in the house I am "proper mobile" I have wheels on my painting chair so I can get around the area fine and the 2 big windows have kept me cool in the warmest Scottish summer I can remember. Can you believe it I did this on the evening of the 3rd and the heat wave started here on the 4th!!!! 
   
So onto the figures: The figures are AB and I bought them from Darren already painted. I had a much better time with these guys than the hussars. I remounted a good number where possible and sorted out anything I felt needed to be sorted and pretty much repainted the whole lot using the original painting as a base coat as best I could. Also around 10 I did totally from scratch. 
   
I had a couple of stumbling blocks regarding a few conflicting details within my own references so asked some questions over on TMP. Unfortunately I didn't get much help there however I did stumble upon the Calpe veteran website that pretty much told me what I needed to know even down to clearing up the confusion in my own reference material so I really can't thank the gentleman enough for his research! (Peter F?) Also the gentleman who wrote his online article on late Prussian standards, what a star! (Dallas Gavan?)
   
I used the light shade of Foundry Prussian blue as my base coat and then progressively lightened it by adding GW enchanted blue. I think I hit the colour of 1 of the prints I was working from on the nose? You can't make out my shading so well from the pics but it is there.(sorry for the pic quality) 
    
Gold and red on the trumpets and wings, very tricky to get the gold to stand out. I used a mid brown 1st then brass with a final highlight of shinning gold. I had to use green stuff to sort the horn on the trumpet as well as a few of the belts on troopers as they had gaps in some.
   
I used a flag from signifer that I picked up a couple of years back. The Prussian cavalry standards are perfect for AB cavalry (The infantry flags are to small for AB but good for Minifigs). I had to repaint it as the only colours I have left are pink and yellow for some reason?
  
So that's my latest regiment stuck on their bases and ready for battle (I'll finish the base work later). Let me know what you think of the colours etc as I'm interested to hear other peoples views on the Prussians dragoon blue. 

I'm taking a wee break from regular troops to keep the painting bug going so I cleaned up some command stands I've had in my mind for a wee while. I'm trying out JJ's idea of 30 days of continued painting. What else can you do with a leg in plaster and crutches? Also it just dawned on me I will miss Claymore :(
   
It's been hard on Mai as she's been buying the food after work and as we live on the top of a hill getting the odd taxi/bus up, that is until I discovered Tesco delivery . . . Brilliant!!! 
    
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and happy painting plus wargaming!!!

14 comments:

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

They all look very lovely and hope the leg heals soon!

Christopher

The Angry Lurker said...

Incapacitated and painting in this heat....a true hero sir!

GaryA said...

Lovely stuff again mate. You really are going to have to get some basing done soon - I cringe at the thought of what you'll have to face!

'Dal' is a boffin on the Prussian army and,although he's otherwise engaged these days, he used to help me out a lot. A genuinely nice bloke.

DaveD said...

Damn nice ...

fireymonkeyboy said...

Yep, the word that keeps coming to mind when I see your work is "lovely". It's just really pretty stuff.

FMB

Anonymous said...

Great stuff as always Paul. I like the blue.

John B

John (VonBlucher) said...

Paul,
Keep it going as you're on quite a roll, and the Dragoons came out beautifully!!

Paulalba said...

Thanks for the feedback gents, half way through the 2 man commands and decided to get a start on some basing to. Your fright Crazy Joe its a lot to do if you leave it to long.

Craig said...

Great work as always Paul. Truly inspiring stuff.

Dal Gavan is a really helpful bloke, who once traded under the pseudonym "Spanner" from a site that published very helpful reviews on 15mm figures. He's an absolute wizard on the Prussian army from the period, and provided me with a ton of information when I first started out.

Ken said...

Hi Paul,

Nice to see hordes of Dragoons roaming around. I've got to paint up a couple of AB units myself.

Cheers

Ken

James MacCraggs said...

Paul, stunning models as ever. Blue looks good to me, but then I don't know what shade it should be!

Anonymous said...

All looks mighty fine from my computer screen! Hope the leg sorts itself out soon.

Gonsalvo said...

They look great. Prussian Dragoons coats are depicted in anything from a rather light blue to a sort of deep Royal blue shade like you have used. My two regiments are each in somewhat different color coats, one quite light and the second just slightly lighter than yours here,

Paulalba said...

Thanks Lads,
Trying to get as much as I can done at the moment before I'm back on my feet and back to work.