Work in Progress

Many things are on the painting table at present, including some Russian Napoleonic jagers (that are just waiting for their bases to be completed), some jungle or bush terrain pieces for East Africa, some East African native huts and another building to go around the East African railway station.  But the only completed item to come off the table is this week has been this Russian Napoleonic battery in winter dress.

Despite the fact I bemoaned my last greatcoated unit as being depressingly dull, I think these have come up rather well. I think the inclusion of ropes and other equipment along with some dramatic posing made these quite a pleasure to work with.

 

I have done this battery with a 12lb field gun and a 20lb licorne to get some variety and mounted them on winter bases.

Lake Victoria Gunboat - Part Three

So today’s report from the slipway, sees the top deck completed and painted.

The first thing to be completed was the wheelhouse. This was constructed from plasticard and then undercoated it black.

Next I glued a strip of light card around the outside of the top deck sides to smooth out the curvature.

The deck was in danger of looking too bland, so I added some clutter. First was a safety wall around the stairwell – proving that health and safety concerns were addressed. Second I added two sets of storage lockers along the sides, one along the rear of the deck and one in front of the wheelhouse. The whole assembly was then undercoated black.

When the undercoat dried, both the wheelhouse and the main structure was painted with two coats of grey and then weathered with a black wash.

To finish the funnel, the top 10mm of the was painted black.

Finally the wheelhouse was fixed in place.

The portion of the super structure roof that was not covered by the upper deck was covered with thin card, painted various shades of brown and deck grooves drawn on the deck with a pencil. The deck was then varnished to protect the pencil lines.

The superstructure was then glued to the hull and held down with a weight until the glue set. Then the top deck was glued in place.

When all the glue was set I looked at the model and decided it was too dark so I gave the whole thing a light dry brush of very pale grey and a bit of weathering.

I made a small rowboat from off cuts of foam board that was shaped then covered with green stuff, painted white and glued to the stern deck.

All that remains to complete now is the armament, anchors, chains, ropes, bollards and some general deck clutter. This will be added a bit at a time during work on other projects.

Russian Napoleonic Dragoons

The latest unit to march off the painting table is this unit of Russian dragoons in greatcoats, from the Perry’s. I actually finished the unit over a week ago, but only just finished the bases last night. In truth I struggled with them.

 

The figures themselves are well detailed as always and with the animation you expect from the Perrys’, but they are just so drab. After painting all those the reds, yellow and blues of the Carlist War, units going back to paint that grey/brown greatcoat was a bit depressing really.

Nonetheless they make a nice unit, although their regimental standard is yet to be awarded to them. I am beginning to look forward to the end of March when I will order the first of two dragoon regiments that will not be in greatcoats.

Lake Victoria Gunboat - Part Two

With the main form of the superstructure of the gunboat built I undertook the construction of the detail work.

 

For this I chose to use plasticard. This included, three sets of doors, two deck lockers, two small wall lockers, three ventilation ports, three bulkhead lights and a set of steps. All, but the steps were fixed to the model, along with six 3mm washers with a 6mm diameter that I used for portholes.

Above, the superstructure with all pieces glued on and the steps free standing.

 The whole superstructure then undercoated black. The steps were also undercoated black. Two coats of grey were then applied, to both the super structure and the steps followed by a black wash. The portholes were painted brass. Finally the steps were fixed to the superstructure and the whole piece was varnished.

 

The fully assembled and painted superstructure

 

I then began work on the hull. I thought of using plasticard for this, but didn’t have enough of the right thickness on hand, so opted for card instead, using the card from the box of some Perry Russian Infantry. I did not want the hull sides to come too high up so I set them rising 12mm above the deck. I cut the strips and painted the inside edges black, then two coats of grey and finally to coats of varnish. Was done for two reasons; first because the inside edge would be impossible to paint once assembled, and second because the extra layers of paint adds thickness to the card – by the time I paint the same number of coats on the outside, the thickness will have increased by half a millimetre. I then glued them into position and used some dressmaking pins to hold them in place.

 

For the stern I again pre-painted the internal faces and fixed the flat piece across the back first. Then the sides were attached, pinning as needed. I left these to dry.

 

When they were dry I applied a small angled piece of card over the points were the card met, etching rivet marks as I had on the superstructure and glued them in place. I then filled any gaps with glue, pinned then some more as required and left it all to dry.

The lower deck completed.

 

The next step was the construction of the upper deck. The deck itself had already been cut from a thick cardboard, but I deepened the hole to the top of the stairway that was just too shallow. Next was the wall around the deck. This time I used a heavier card and using some vertical cuts I soon had it confirmed to curvatures of the deck. I couldn’t pin these so I used a tape to hold them in place until the glue dried. This is going to need to dry overnight before I smooth out the curved edges with some moulding compound. Finally I made a rough hole for the smoke stack and fitted the plastic tube of a ball point oen that will be the stack. This will eventually be held in place with some green stuff.

 

The upper deck walls fixed and the deck dry fitted to the super structure. Te hull still needs to have a black wash applied.

  

The next step is the wheelhouse, armament and other details.

Franco-Prussian War Battle

Today, on a hot and steamy Auckland day, five of us played a Franco-Prussian War gsme. There were three French players and two Prussian engaged on a beautifully set up table.

The scenario was a relatively simple one around a triangle of three small villages near a railway line. Both sides have a need to secure these villages and which ever side held the greater number of village at the end of the game would be ruled the winner.

Of the forces engaged, on the French had three brigades of eight battalions, two field batteries and a single regiment of dragoons. The Prussians counted two brigades of seven battalions, one brigade of nine battalions, three field batteries and a regiment of uhlans.

The initial deployments, French above and Prussian below

In this narrative I shall refer to the left and right from a Prussian perspective - since I played Prussians.

Two villages were nearer to the French than the Prussians and they chose to move against the left hand village with one brigade, while the other brigades would take the village on the right, with the possibility of pushing further on to take the village on the Prussian side of the track. They moved the two field batteries to a high hill between the the two villages.

The French artillery

The French move to take the right hand village

We Prussians chose to move the nine battalion brigade to occupy the village on our side of the tracks. One of the other brigades would move to engage the French in the village on the left, while the third brigade would fill the space between the two wings where it could support either flank. The guns took the only high ground available from where they could support all forces.

The French easily occupied their villages on their side of the tracks. The Prussians threw the uhlans forward and drew the fire of the dismounted French dragoons, before making a desperate attack agains the French batteries on the hill. The end of the uhlan attack was messy for the cavalry, but for a few turns it drew the attention of the French guns from the infantry.

The first serious action developed on the left where the French had occupied some of the buildings of the town and had taken up positions behind and inside the railway cars there. An initial Prussian attack was repulsed, but a second one drove the dismounted dragoons from the railway cars and allowed a Prussian battalion to push beyond where they overpowered a battalion of Turcos in the café on the edge of the town, driving the Turcos back and taking possession of the café, which the would hold for the rest of the game.

The Prussians assault the railway line

On the right the action developed around the Prussian village when one of the French Brigades pushed forward. The Prussians immediately committed their reserve brigade against this force. Initially the French had some success here, but soon outstripped the supports. When the Prussian reserves got into action the French began to crumble and the brigade from the village in the right had to be committed. The Prussian advance was relentless on the right and when we broke for lunch, all seemed lost for the French.

The Prussians occupy the right hand village

The French attack develops

But eventually contained

After lunch the situation changed dramatically. The Prussian reserves now found themselves exposed and the French rebounded. In two or three turns the Prussian reserves were driven off and largely dispersed, but the fighting had taken its toll on the French on the right. One brigade was destroyed and the second fell back across the railway to defend the village on the right on their side if the tracks

In the left hand village the action swayed too and fro. Despite the fact that the dice Gods did not favour them, the French continued to contest the village. 

In the end it became a matter of attrition and as the Prussians closed in on the village on the right, it was decided that it was only a matter of time before they would carry the two villages on the French side of the tracks. The game ended with a Prussian victory, but at a huge cost - eleven battalions had been forced from the fight.

Lake Victoria Gunboat - Part One

As a part of the East African Project, that will see a significant scenario played out later this year, I need a gunboat to support Brutish operations on Lake Victoria. 

I had a bit of a search around on the web for pictures of these boats, of which there were a few, and most seem to be converted lake steamers rather than purpose built vessels. Unable to find sufficiently detailed images of these boats, I took my inspiration from an article in Wargames Illustrated (Feb 2017 issue) about the relief of Kut in Bessarabia that had some wonderful shots of a gunboat built for that game. My boat would not be as grand as theirs and would not be as heavily armed, but it would still lend some waterbourne strength to the British effort. 

My first task was to determine the size of the model. I didn't want to go beyond 300 mm in length because that is what I could place diagonally on an A4 piece of paper. I drew up the basic shape on the computer with a final size of 290mm lehgth and 85mm beam, and printed out several copies.

I then tacked a cut out copy of the printout to some 12mm foamboard and cut out the basic shape for the hull.

The superstructure was cut from 2mm cardboard and glued together.

The image below is the superstructure with the upper deck is positioned on top. On this upper deck will be a wheelhouse. 

The picture below shows the superstructure positioned on the hull.

With all the basic shapes made I started work on some of the detailing. On the main hull I created the wooden deck. This was done quite simply by scoring a series of straight lines, 2mm apart, into the surface of the foamboard with the back of the scalpel blade. The base was then painted black and a number of shades of brown dry-brushed across the detail. The whole surface was then washed with a coat of GW Nulion Oil.

I then set about working on the superstructure. This needed a surface applied to look like steel plates. At first I though of using plasticard, but in the end settled on a lightweight card I had in hand. I cut this into sheets that could be layed so that they overlapped and would give the appearance of rivetted sheets. To represent the rivetts I pushed the tip of a mechanical pencil into the edge of the card, although the effect if this won't be evident until the model is painted.

I then painted the deck between the two parts of the superstructure. I needed to do this now because once the assembly proper starts I won't be able to get at it. For this I simply applied the same colours as fhe main deck and to represent the deck planking I drew some pencil lines and to fix the pencil marks I applied a coat of matte varnish.

Below the two main components in what will be their final position.

The next step is to start on the fiddly bits: the doors, hatches, steps, storage boxes, etc. 

Piggot's General Store

Until sometime yesterday afternoon this post would have been titled "Smith's General Store" because that was the name I had put on the shop sign I created on my PC. But "Smith's..." just looked too tame for a general store in the middle of East Africa. So the search for a new name for the store began. It didn't take long to find the name...the name on a business card pinned to the back of the desk for a chap called Piggot just seemed perfect.

I wanted the store to be small, but feature a number of different textures. The basic shape was to be a stuccoed brick with a squared front and a corrugated iron gabled roof behind. To provide some of that texture, one side would feature an extension made of timber and corrugated iron.

Now I have made many model buildings over the years and whenever I start one I can pretty much always form an image of the completed item in my head. But it is not until I start painting of the model that it really comes to life.

I always start by painting the whole model matt black. I know that some people don't like the hashness of a black undercoat and prefer a dark brown base, but I like the depth of colour I can achieve with a black undercoat.

The first colour I apply is white, applied with a very rough dry-brush, as the render on the main structure.

This is followed by two more dry-brushed coats, finished with a fourth coat with a stippled brush.

Next was the timber work. It would have been easy to do this as bleached timber, but I wanted something a bit richer, so I started with a coat of GW Beastial Brown, then added a bit of yellow and finally dry-brushed a little white as a highlight.

Then I went back and blackened those parts where the white had been over brushed and then painted the window and door frames and the doors a mid blue, with a lighter blue highlight. 

The corrugated iron was painted a gun metal colour, and it is here that the depth provided by the black undercoat show up best.

The "Piggot's" sign had been printed on a laser printer earlier and was now glued on and weathered slightly with a a light brown and a bit of white.

Finally the building is weathered with some brown wash on the roof to simulate rust, some black wash as water stains and a light dust colour applied across much of the rest of the surface. And it is finished.

Also finished this week are two African native huts. These are the first of twelve I need to complete.