Chugging along now seeing to a myriad of small details to wrap these up by month's end.
"You know, it's funny. . ." As 'Vyvyan Bastard' (Adrian Edmonson) used to begin his numerous observations on The Young Ones many years ago.
Taking my cue from Mr. Bastard then, it's funny. Up to a point, figure painting can seem like a largely thankless task. You paint, and you paint, and you paint. As wargamers, we probably spend far more time painting than gaming truth be told. Unless we farm out our bare metal/plastic to painters for hire.
As I said, we paint and paint. For considerable time, a batch of toy soldiers under the brush won't look like very much. And then suddenly, everything comes together in a pleasing way.
Such was the case with the cuffs of the figures' coats, which I addressed yesterday evening and this morning not that long ago. Each consists of, as with much else on these grenadiers, a base color and a highlight color, which I have tried to keep understated. Really just touching the brush to the high points in most instances and letting a drop or two of paint settle before moving to the next one in the queue.
Admittedly, I went a little lighter than I should have with the highlight for Citadel Dark Angels Green, which is very dark right out of the bottle. I wanted it to show up on the cuffs and edges of lapels, however, and ended up mixing in a bit too much white on my waxy piece of palette paper. So, let's just call it artistic license. After all, we want our colors to show up on the table. And yes, I do have a Grand Review of everything planned as well as some kind of solo affair for later in August. Plenty of Kodak moments are planned, rest assured.
Returning to the point at hand, here is where things stand for the self-imposed July Painting Challenge this morning. All of the facings and turnbacks are done now, and the 33 human figures are starting to come together after almost three weeks of work. Not too shabby if you'll excuse me for saying so. But we're not quite out of the woods yet. Light may be at the end of the tunnel, but we still have some considerable distance to cover.
It's time now to address, one by one, all of the numerous tiny details sculpted to masterfully onto the greens/masters for these figures by the supremely talented Richard Ansell. Bayonets, musket barrels, firelocks, swords, mustaches/hair/queues, cartridge pouch plates, mitre caps and bags, officers' gorgets/gloves/sashes , horse coat and horse tack, etc., etc. Plus all of those even tinier items that only the more obsessive among us will notice, i.e. buttons and shirt cuffs peeking out from beneath the coat sleeves on many left arms.
And we can't forget the inevitable touch-ups before glossing and tacking 'em down to permanent bases. Nothing for it, then, but to press on. And press on we shall. . .
-- Stokes
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