There are some regiments that just have to be done. And since the old 42nd has always been my home regiment, it's a must.
Here's the progress to date. After the undercoat and the red and then the tidying up of the straps, I moved on to the kilts. This is a technique I've used for years to get a good kilt effect and it's not too much work. First the kilts are painted a basic dark-ish blue, but not too dark.
Then a dark-ish green overstripe is painted - two horizontal and several vertical, trying to get the stripes as even in width as I can. This gives a good basis for the government tartan. I always avoid a central front stripe because I want the blue squares to be the central focus on the kilt.
Then a slightly tricky bit is to paint a thin line of a black wash on the outside of the green stripes. This is to give the impression of a darker green line, and not a black line.
And that's pretty much the kilts done. I could add a slightly darker wash to the stripe areas at the sides of the blue, but since these are 18mm figures and most likely to be seen from 3 feet or more away, I'll leave them as they are.
Of course, it was at this point I remembered that Black Watch pipers wore the Royal Stewart tartan. I wondered if I should re-do the drummer's kilt as a colour contrast. Information on the tartan worn by drummers is uncertain, so I decided to leave the drummer in the government tartan. If anyone says different, I'll just claim that this is the drummer's campaign service kilt.
I then added the white on the belts and as an undercoat for the pattern on the socks and the dicing on the bonnet. They're starting to look the part. I've still to add the stripes on the flank company shoulder rolls, but that can wait.
Now the red dicing effect on the stockings. I had a bit of trouble figuring out the sculpt lines on the models, but I eventually figured that the lines in the middle were the garter. So I went on that basis. Any paint overspill will be corrected later when I do the gaiters.
And finally the dicing on the bonnets. A horizontal red line first, just to make sure it's even, then the vertical lines. I don't think I'll add any dots where the lines cross as they are starting to look quite good - or at least they are to my eye.
Next will be the muskets, gaiters and anything else I've forgotten, and then I'll move on to dark greys for the bonnet feathers. More later.
I didn't get much painting done last week, so when I had some time on Sunday and the last couple of nights, I decided to press ahead with one unit instead of trying to do several at the same time. The idea is just to see how it's looking and the best combination of colours.
Here, I've added facing colours and flesh.
Now the white for the crossbelts and a basic brown for the muskets. I've also added a fresh highlight of red to the outer sleeves and patches of the coat. I'll maybe add some more of a brighter red later.
A close up of some figures. Later I'll try to brighten the officers tunic to a scarlet.
And a rear view.
Next for these will be finishing off the hair and then a black-grey on the packs and cartridge pouches. I think I'll do all these bits and then move on to the headgear last.
More later.
I was debating what to paint next and I saw several boxes of 18mm Napoleon at War British still on the shelf after a couple of years. Then next time at the Perth club I mentioned it to a friend who suggested I paint his British instead of my own. I agreed and a couple of weeks or so later I made a start.
As is normal for me, I based all the figures and spray undercoated them white.
I had the idea that I would use my airbrush to do the tunics. Then in another moment of slight stupidity I reckoned I would apply a black wash in the same way. Initially, the result wasn't that great and I think I should have used a brush for the wash.
Here's the example. The figures on the right have the airbrushed red and black wash. A bit dark for my taste, but once they were tidied up with a bit more red on the tunics and grey on the straps they looked better. The chaps on the left have been tidied up.
And a highland unit.
The first 4 battalions. The front 2 the units are just undercoated and washed with black. I think this is a better way to do it, black wash first and then the red.
I also decided to leave the horses as undercoated white. I can do a batter paint job on them over white.
By the time I was looking at the heavy cavalry figures I had decided to do a thinned black wash by brush as I could get better control of the paint flow. Here's the Scots Greys, some with the just the black and the others with red tunics. Not a bad start.
And a bit more on the Greys and one heavy dragoon unit. It's starting to look reasonable.
I'll post more as I get the chance. I'm planning to do 2 or 4 infantry units and a couple of cavalry units to start with. Then I'll assess how best to proceed with the rest. There's a total on 10 infantry battalions, 5 cavalry units and 2 gun batteries as well as several generals.
More later.
