Wednesday 18 February 2009

Current wip


Apologies for the lack of posts of late. Running out of command figures necessitated a quick order to the Perries (which arrived within 3 days - phew!) and as a result I find myself with 3 units nearing completion at the same time, said completion delayed by a weekend away and ongoing prep for the big trip to Kiwiland and South Africa. So above is a wip shot of Seth Warner's "Green Mountain Boys" ("GMB"). I'd be interested to know what readers think of the colour scheme. I found the recreated GMB's website last week (see here)and that shows the men in a mix of the green faced red coats that sources refer to and hunting shirts in a variety of greens, mostly very pale greens. These 3 chaps are "test" figures insofar as I wanted to see which look I preferred. As it is, the figures I am painting now are in different shades to these, so the end result is going to be what Whistler might have called "Symphony in Green. It's been good fun though - it's always tempting to paint hunting shirts in browns, beiges and whites; largely because, I suppose, those are readily available colours. But hunting shirts came in all colours, and the colours I am using for the GMB are all "self-mixed".

The GMB aside, I thought I'd use this post to say a few words about how I base figures. This is in reply to a couple of email discussions about the colour of bases. When I first started basing my AWI figures (about 2 months after I started painting them) I wanted a look that was quite "bright", so reflecting my own painting style and conveying the impression that the figures were in American meadows; I thought this would capture a "New World" feel. So the colours I use are these (after covering up the metal bases with Polyfilla and adding Games Wokshop or other grit/stone mix : the base coat is GW "Graveyard Earth"; first highlight is Foundry "Base Sand 10B"; second highlight is Foundry "Boneyard 9C". I then use a variety of Woodland Scenic stuff, mainly "bushes" and "coarse earth", with some flower scatter and then whatever static grass I've picked up at shows. You can buy seasonal grass these days, but as said above I like to have a summer meadow look so mid-green is fine for me.

The pics below show, left to right, "Graveyard Earth", then the first drybrushed highlight and the then second of "Boneyard C".

9 comments:

Ubique Matt said...

Hello Giles,
Initially I thought you’d had a mishap with the green paint until I looked at the link to the Green Mountain Boys site. I think many modellers/wargamers forget the bleaching effect sunlight had on cloth dyes before modern ‘fixers’ came in effect.
Those earth bases look spot on to me.
Regards,
Matt

jmezz382 said...

Once again .... beautiful.

I only hope mine will look like that some day. ...

What rule set do you use ?

Mezz

Sire Godefroy said...

Thanks for the advice on your basing technique. I tried to imitate your approach, so it's quite helpful to know how the original was made.

From the three samples of the GMB I like best the one in the middle. Somehow dyed hunting shirts don't really appeal to me. Above all, faded colours aren't easily reproduced with acryl colours as they tend to look a bit too glaring, like on a 1980's sports jacket. ;)

Anyway, good to see you're still working. My Hessian Jäger have arrived, and your entry goads me to painting them up finally.

Cheers

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

I'm with Sire Godefroy, I like the middle one (in fact that's how mine are all pianted), but I admit I also like the hunting shirt look, but the one on the right rather than our pistachio friend on the left.. :o))

Anywhoo.. less of that and can we have some more pictures of the Sudan troops please, that sneak peak in your basing pictures is definitely wetting the appetite!

The Haggis said...

Good choice of next unit with the GMB! I'm a Vermonter and 6mm AWI gamer, so I couldn't be happier to see this unit coming up.

I have seen the re-enactors at local parades and they are spot on your guy on the left there. But, I went with the guy in the middle as you can see here http://syw6mm.com/minirev/2008/11/warner%E2%80%99s-additional-continental-regiment/

Be different, go with the light green!

Fraxinus said...

Been messing around with what to base my 1914 Belgians with & ended up with a similar recipee after initial failure of using too much grass. I like using some Hornby light green grass cut to length to finish off with woodland scenic/GW static grass clumps.

Great Figs as ever just putting off reading Mark urbans Fusiliers otherwise I will be bitten by the AWI bug!

AJ (Allan) Wright said...

Light greens are good since prolonged exposure to the sun would fade period dyes rapidly. Try to make them look faded, not vibrant (which I think you've done a great job doing).

They look great. Can't wait to see them finished.

AJ

Anonymous said...

Echo other comments here  – I really like the central figure.

Consul said...

Hi Giles,

I just wondered, is the base on the far right the colour all your bases look before you apply flock etc to them?

Thanks,
Consul.