Waterloo Project: Kevin forges ahead!

Putting me to shame Kevin East just told me he has finished one of the 180 figure French Light Infantry battalions for his Hougoumont scenario...but we'll have to wait yet for some photos,. Meanwhile here is news of a little vignette and accessories he painted in a "rest period". In Kevin's own words..........

"Now heavily embroiled in the crazy scheme of painting 700 figures by June 2015 for our series of Waterloo games at 1:3 scale, I came across a painting window of 5 days, when for some reason or another, I had just managed to complete my first French Line battalion of some 150 figures a week earlier than expected. Yes, there is a schedule in mind when I started on the project although it only exists in my mind's eye as something to try and work to. But generally speaking I am trying to paint at least 36 figures a month.

British Royal Artillery Officers

"I had in the spreadsheet some wagons, horse teams and various officers for the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Foot Artillery too, with very little thought of when they might be ‘scheduled in’. Well here was the opportunity! So with paint brush in hand I set to getting on with it.

 

Two views of the RFA team, limber and gun

The gunners can be detached from the limber, and dismountable
gunners with teams moved rearward will be reflected in our rules

"The first thing I had to do was create a Royal baggage train head conversion to some of the riders of the wagon. The model was a Perry but had RHA tarletons – not what was required for the Royal baggage team. I did a little research and discovered two options from different sources. “The Waterloo Companion”, and The Mont St Jean website which we have been using, conflicted in the hats that were worn. 

"However, I had seen the British Light Dragoon style helmet in other sources, such as a contemporary painting, and thought that’s the one to go for. Chris, very kindly, scoured his mountain of “Waterloo” plastic and came up with the appropriate goods from a plastic Perry British Hussar box. Plenty of painting and twisting of wire to make ‘rope’ for the teams took place.

 

Two views of Kevin's Royal wagon train model

The smithy or field forge was also fun to put together and laying out in an interesting vignette for one of our 1:3 games.

The field forge. I think it would do for either side as a marker if a cannon is damaged
and undergoing repair. However, it will be mainly British guns on the battle area we can manage.

"After painting for 5 hours a day the whole lot came to fruition and will get used on the day! Can’t wait!" 

About the photos

(by CG) Kevin hinted at a new process for his model photography and I asked him to explain. This is what he wrote:

"If you are interested in the photographic process, here's a quick description of how.

The photo method I use is really easy to do and only involved an additional front lighting source to natural light and an A4 piece of white paper.

The models are laid on the front portion of the paper and, directly behind the model, the paper is curved up vertically to create the background. A miniature version of an infinity photographic studio! Dead easy.

Its best to use at least 2x zoom on the camera to foreshorten the perspective for a nice shot. Depth of field is hit and miss on my camera as it is a 'point and shoot' but it works sufficiently well.

 I use a table lamp directly above the camera for additional illumination making sure shadows are not too visible on the backdrop of paper. Will do some more tests in the future to get better results as I am not happy with the light source sometimes, as direct sunlight from a window is not recommended since the sun needs to be behind cloud to provide a softer image! That's what comes of not having a full miniature lighting kit and no 'blackout' room!

A quick crop and colour balance in Photoshop and jobs a good un! I might try a gradient colour backdrop next time created by a spray colour being applied only to the backdrop of the paper.

 I find it fun to try to get good photos of my models. Then I lose interest and put them in storage (until a wargames day that is!) and it's onto painting the next batch of whatever I have scheduled in. I love the painting process. Its a joy.

(and By Golly, Kev, it shows in your results - thanks for your great contributions to my blog, CG)