First Three Test Figures Completed. . .

Here is one photograph of the three figures in question.  From left to right: A wash of Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd Oil Cadmium red; A wash of Cottman Watercolor Cadmium red; A wash of Speedball Acrylic Scarlet Red.  In each case, I applied an undercoat of Humbral orange enamel before applying the red wash on top.

  By popular request, here is a close-up of the three test figures.  I now see a few areas in need of touching up, but they are basically done.

After some time spent adding more details to the last nine Minden hussars' horses, yesterday evening, I got to work on those first three RSM95 test figures.  I'm fairly well pleased with how things have goone so far, but I am leaning toward the sample at far left, whose red coat was the result of  a wash of Winsor-Newton Griffin Alkyd Oil (Cadmium Red) over an undercoat of Orange Humbrol.  The orange shows through the red just enough give the coat an orange-ish scarlet hue.

The middle figure, painted with Cotman watercolor, and the figure at right, painted with Speedball ink, look nice, but the colors are so intense that the Humbrol orange undercoat does not show through at all although I used thinned washes here too.  So, before I do anything else, I want to try two more test figures, one with a wash of red alkyd oil and another with the red watercolor (both over white undercoats) before I make my final decision.  However, at present, I am leaning toward the figure at the far left right (oops!). . .  the far left.

Incidentally, the uniforms worn by the infantry of the Free and Hanseatic cities of Luebeck (the model for the figures above), Bremen, and Hamburg during the 18th Century have the dual advantages of being both very colorful and easy to paint in short order.  It's a shame we don't see more of them on wargaming tables.


Later. . .
It occurs to me that I might use the Speedball red ink as a shadow color (between torsos and arms) on top of the Winsor & Newton Alkyd Cadmium red.  This is a bit more subtle than black lining, but I'll continue to use black lining against the white areas.  Oh, and the shadow color on the figures' faces is from an old battle of Ral Partha "Leather."