Sunday, 17 November 2024

Back in the saddle

The lack of activity on the blog recently is due to a lack of activity at weekends generally.....

Aside from the VWC, I have been unable to summon the energy to tackle any of the many projects, partly due to endless grey skies and work, work, work.....

Hopefully, I can get myself into gear and do some cleaning up of figures.

In the meantime, various projects have suggested themselves, such as my long neglected SYW and FIW armies. While there is still unpainted lead, I have supplemented them with some eBay purchases....

Greenwood & Ball / Garrison French




Very nice in an "old school" way and about £1 per figure.

I also could not resist this Austrian Willie general and his Hinchliffe aide. 



Not cheap but an inspiration to paint my own Willie generals; fortunately the style is not too dissimilar to my few painted Austrians, supplemented by some painted units. I puts me in mind of Phil Robinson's (?) fantastic Hinchliffe SYW Austrian army, complete with Willie personalities that appeared in a very old MW.

A friend of mine, Pete Foggin, sent some pictures of masters he has done for his expanding Italian Wars 10mm ranges. In this case Stradiots.



To buy, see here:

https://www.foggofwarminiatures.com/

At present only Gensdarmes and Swiss/Lansknechts seem too be available with various ancients.

Finally, David of the Ragged Soldier blog (https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/) mentioned he had been to the NAM in Chelsea and seen the Siborne Waterloo diorama. There were in fact two a small and large, the small resides in the Armouries Leeds. I didn't post previously as the pictures are not of the best as it was very difficult to photograph. Online articles suggest the figures are 25mm but appear much smaller - scale creep even in the C19th?






Despite restoration and conservation (including making replacement figures) it looks a bit sad and worn. Anthony Clipsom indicated there's a viewer to see the figures in close up, but I missed that.

12 comments:

  1. Work tends to get in the way of a lot of more interesting activities. Good to see you back and with more figures.

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  2. Thanks Jonathan. Sadly it seems I have a few more years of work before I can escape!
    Neil

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  3. Love the Garrison French, really nice, I have a pile of Prussians sitting in the pile of shame to do! The Austrian general and aide are very nice indeed, very elegant looking figures.

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    1. Thanks Donnie. The G&B French were too much of a bargain to resist and the Austrian general caused about a second' s hesitation before I clicked on " buy it now" ☺
      Neil

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  4. A nice collection of new (old) toys Neil…
    I have to admit that I have found the endless grey skies have dented my mojo somewhat… maybe I shall paint something bright and shiny to compensate 😁

    All the best. Aly

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  5. Thanks Aly. You know it's bad when the first sunshine has you acting like you have been in the Arctic and 6 months without daylight!
    I'm determined to do some cleaning up of figures to get back into it!
    Neil

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  6. Goes to show that when we cannot paint or play, we can always BUY. 😁

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  7. Buying is easy.....painting not so much.....
    Neil

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  8. A lovely selection of photos, thanks for sharing.

    Willz.

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  9. You're welcome Willz! Unfortunately, not much progress on the painting front.
    Neil

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  10. Those G&B/Garrisons look great, more elegant than their Minifigs contemporaries, and very reasonably-priced. Interesting to see the Siborne model, I must get there one day!

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  11. David, for the price, irresistible!
    You can certainly spend a day at the Armouries and it's free.....!
    Neil

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