First of the British line

While conscious I probably should be concentrating on the next Soldier King army, I have found myself distracted by the French & Indian War......

Many years ago when up in Newcastle, I had eventually embarked on gaming the Seven Years War after a couple of abortive or half - hearted attempts (15mm followed by Spencer Smiths) in what was then 25mm scale.

While I really wanted to do Austrians, I found my opponent, Pete Foggin had British and some Austrians. We lacked Prussian, French and Russian armies. I therefore found myself building an army of the hated Prussians (using Pete's sculpted and cast figures - having to add command figures as Pete was too egalitarian to make any!).

Parallel to that, I contemplated French, but soon found myself straying from Europe to North America.....

Hence, although my French army had cavalry added, the infantry were the regulars sent to Canada. Native Americans were added, along with other bits. At some stage we refougt the battle of the Plains of Abraham (or Quebec if you prefer). The armies had been built for WRG 1685 - 1845 at 1:50.

I think for the battle we may have used an adapted version of Loose Files and American Scramble. While I had enough French line and we could scrape up enough British from Pete's figures, there were a few gaps that needed filling. I painted very quickly using washes, Canadian militia, Marine and some British light infantry (as Pete had none). I also had a sculpt from Miliput I'd made intending it to be a Native American. It turned out too tall and gangly so was abandoned. Discovering the figure when preparing for the game, I looked at it and started seeing a very close resemblance to General Wolfe......

A bit of work and a unique figure for Wolfe emerged. I don't remember much about the game apart from the adapted rules not working that well. The LI performed magnificently.......for the other side as I was playing Montcalm!

For years, the LI and Wolfe have been the only British completed; looking at the unpainted items, it seems I bought some British and Americans to provide opponents to the French. The recent purchase of the RSM / Pax Britannica 30mm and Rafm 25mm have added to the pile. However, I now have enough British to provide opponents (or will do once painted).

After much contemplation, it seems fitting to build the British around Wolfe's army at Quebec; 2 units with yellow facings, two with white, one each with orange, black and buff plus Highlanders, converged Grenadiers and a few Rangers.

The first 44 rank and file have been cleaned up.

While cleaning them up I listened to an audio book of Fennymore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans.

Injuns and IDF (or Hurons and Halftracks)

Unseasonably warm weather in the UK meant painting was out of the question; a wet palette might have coped but I find it requires a slightly different technique as the paint becomes thinner.

I therefore spent the weekend between two projects. Firstly some Rafm Native Americans / First Nations warriors were cleaned up with some requiring the addition of weapons.

Next the IDF M3 halftracks for the 35th Para Brigade attached to Ugda Tal.

Finis!

At last, I have finished painting the two battalions of Regiment du Berry.

What I thought would be a quick job has turned into a marathon! I spent lots of time getting the gris-blanc to a colour that wasn't to far from the existing French. The hard bit was trying to paint in a style that would not look completely different while getting something I was happy with.

Need varnish and flags and basing, but they are done for now.

The existing regiments are awaiting their flags refreshing as the varnish has yellowed considerably, Bearn was especially effected.

You can't go back.....and why maybe you shouldn't try!

A cautionary tale....

I embarked on the painting of the two battalions of Regiment du Berry on the expectation it would be a quick job. After all the bulk of the figures had already been blocked in so would just need touching up and a few figures added to fill the gaps....

Well it turns out it wasn't that simple. First I had to add around 8 figures to the same style as the previous painter. OK done. It was then that I examined my existing figures. The new figures were way too dark. Far darker than even my darkest figure's "Gris-blanc" coat, the particular French grey-white shade.

So I tried to remember how I'd painted back then. It was just before switching to black undercoat and layers. It must have been washes and drybrushing (as per Peter Gilder's guide from Military Modelling). So I tried a drybrush of lighter grey. No still too dark.

Part of the problem is my old figures are varnished and the varnish has discoloured giving an antique yellow hue. I cannot see how they were painted.

So, a thin light grey- white wash was applied over the dark drybrushed colour. Red was applied to one battalion. At this stage I began to realise that I would have been better to simply strip the figures and start again.........

Maybe, I'd have been better to not try matching, but just paint in my current style or using Contrast Paint? What was I thinking?

While intellectually I realise you cannot go back in time and be the person you were 20 years ago, I'd assumed you could replicate your painting style? 

It turns out trying to paint the way you did 30 to 40 years ago is harder than it seems....

Even realising how long ago it was gives pause for thought......

Anyway, this is where I've got to. I need to finish off a few more colours to see how they look.

Les Francais...

After completing 2 units of infantry for Banst (previous post) I decided the motivation wasn't there and rather than it become a chore, I put them away and did something else.

As my reading (and brain) is stuck in a French & Indian War theme, it seemed sensible to work on that.....

After sorting out the marching figures and strengthening weak bayonets, followed by some sorting of units, both RSM and Rafm, I put to one side some French bought part painted. This was interrupted by a parcel which needed collecting from the post office. This turned out to be Rafm Flint & Feather range packs from Australia, mostly canoes, something I had not bought originally (but always coveted).

The figures were part of the lots which had lead rot. These however, had been part painted. The bases had something on the underside, which didn't look like the lead carbonate bloom on the others, more like undercoat or results of glue.

I debated stripping the figures, but in the end decided not to. If they had been primed, then it should have prevented the lead rot developing. As a precaution I removed the residue (which didn't produce the same black on the gloves) and brushed them with the gum turpentine and mineral oil solution.

My idea was that the pre-painting should save some time. It did mean trying to match someone else's painting style and somehow blending them with my existing figures. My French had all been painted just prior to switching to a black undercoat, so are simple block washes, without shading.

The figures appeared to have been painted black in most areas, followed by a drybrush of grey. After repairing areas in black where the paint had rubbed off, I coated some extra figures to make up the numbers for two battalions for Regiment Berry. Touching up the white meant I had a grey to use to blend in the new figures. After a couple of hours, I had this:

More work is needed to match my original units. In the background, is the command stand of Bearn - their flag has suffered the most from varnish discolouration and fading and I may attempt to freshen it up with paint. They are also there to provide a reminder of ancient painting style. 

The units were originally done for WRG's 1685 - 1845 rules at a 1:50 scale working on French units of 14 figures to include a separate grenadier and LI piquet figures. I'm not convinced the piquet skirmishers were around for the SYW, although in Europe, the French deployed entire regiments as skirmishers (from memory). I should re-read Lee Kennett. Anyway, for consistency, I have kept with 14 figure units even though Chartrand estimates the standard battalion of being 550 (11 figures), with Berry having 960 in its two battalions (480 or 9 -10 figures). The game works on 600 or 12 figure battalions. Real life unit strength varied due to captures at sea, reinforcements, desertion, death and disease and towards the end, the regulars were made up to strength with Canadian militia.

The extra figures will allow for the formation of ad-hoc grenadier battalions (as at Ticonderoga) or for variable scale games; for smaller battles, a higher figure ratio is probably needed, such as Lake George where the 200 men of La Reine represented by 14 figures = 1:15. Of course this does mean more figures for militia, native Americans etc.

The first of Banst

First unit finished for the Electorate of Banst.

Technically one of the Electoral states of the Empire, character generation through up an Elector with a scandalous past who, while militarily talented, has an antipathy for almost every other state and is disliked in return by many!

I have pictured him as possibly something of a cad; a slightly Frederickan character who has little tolerance for others coupled with an inventive military outlook. His army is essentially a mercenary one, for hire and inspired by the ideas of the Marshall de Saxe.

There are two "Legions" each with three "Cohorts" of infantry, a unit of "Velites" (LI skirmishers) and "Horse" (Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers). Each has some light "Flying artillery" ( horse artillery) and an amussette musket. All but the hussars wear a "neo-classical" helmet and the colour scheme is green faced red with buff.

The army's genesis was born out of a desire / need to use up surplus figures; initially , I only had enough AWI Spencer Smith for the main armies, but had left over Napoleonic lancers and cavalry as well as some later additions in a slightly smaller size, including AWI light infantry. Judicious purchases allowed modifications; the infantry and dragoons had head swaps using the AWI head on AWI grenadiers or French Napoleonics or Bavarian / Wurtembourg Napoleonic heads on AWI cavalry. The artillery ended up with heavily modified ACW kepis. The tricorne surplus heads were used on Napoleonic or ACW bodies to produce civilian militia / rebels.

Just for Jonathan, the inspiration and painting guide sketches (already I have deviated from some colour choices).

Britcon and lead rot

Popped into Britcon today. Second time it's been held in Nottingham.

Predominantly a competition convention, it has some traders, a bring & buy and limited games other than the competition ones (I noted two....). Some traders present last year were missing, but there were new replacements. Last year had three booksellers, this year only one....

There were none of the 3D printing traders which seemed to dominate last year, however some of the usual resellers and familiar faces were back, but many of Nottingham's lead belt were absent again. A couple of the new traders were resin scenery makers.

Bring & buy was........underwhelming. Mediocre painted armies at inflated prices, perhaps aimed at the competition gamers?

I ended up picking up a Margeret of Anjou and Henry VI figure sets from a new manufacturer (Athena Miniatures) for WotR. Other than that it was terrain; some nice little Italian / Spanish houses and various self-adhesive flags from the Square, some ready done desert hill / ridge pieces (set of 5) and impulse purchase and biggest spend......F&I war stockade and fort pieces from Ironclad Miniatures - various separate resin pieces so various permutations of simple forts can be created. Reasonable price with deals for complete forts:

https://www.ironcladminiatures.co.uk/ourshop/cat_870020-French-and-Indian-Wars-28mm.html

With the F&I war being a focus at present, couldn't resist.....

Returning home, I carried on with the lead rot treatment. The cavalry and artillery had been brushed with brass brush and dipped in the turpentine / mineral oil on Friday. Today they were washed in detergent and rinsed. The last remaining figures were brushed and dipped this afternoon.

Now just to clean them all up, prime and paint them!

Tackling the lead rot.....

Finished work so thought I'd have a go at tackling the miniatures showing signs of potential lead rot.....

I'd ordered some brushes used to clean spark plugs and similar. There are a nylon, brass and steel brushes in the set. I thought the brass would be the most suitable.

I'd also ordered some gum turpentine and mineral oil; sceptical at first, I'd discovered that gum turpentine is used as a solvent including being used to remove varnish and old paint, including notorious white lead paint.....

So, I set too brushing the figures to remove the grey dusting which I suspect is lead oxide (or carbonate). The paper didn't show much in the way of removed material and then I noticed the figures of the gloves I was wearing.......

For the record, in addition to the household gloves, I was wearing a half face mask, such as used for spray paint. Now the gloves had some black paint on them but most of this is from brushing with the brass brush.....

After cleaning (the figures are shiny and there appeared to be no loss of detail) they were dunked in the magic mixture of 50:50 gum turpentine and mineral oil. I'm not entirely sure what the oil is for, whether to dilute the turpentine or as a protective coating to keep out moisture, but it certainly changes the appearance of the miniatures.....

The only downsides are figures being a bit oily and the smell of the turpentine! It's certainly a distinctive odour!

Slow but steady progress..

Considered tackling the lead rot problem as the brass, steel and nylon brush set turned up, but the will was lacking.

Aimed to tackle the IDF para brigade mounted in halftracks, but got side tracked if you'll forgive the pun, into finishing some bits on the SP 120mm mortar halftracks. Only got as far as cleaning the paratrooper figures, but ran out of time to work on their transport. 

IDF Mechanised Infantry

Abandoning corrective action on the lead rot, I turned instead to my 1:87 Arab-Israeli project turning to M3 half-tracks and IDF Mechanised Infantry. 

In 1967, the IDF had 5x armoured brigades (with 1 mechanised battalion each) and 4x Mechanised brigades (with 2 mechanised battalions each) giving a total of 13 battalions. In Megablitz terms 13 models and 26 infantry (apart from any crew figures).

I had already built 7 M3s and 6 infantry, adding another M3 recently. So while listening to Israeli folk music (!) I added another 3 xM3 and 20 infantry. Progress was marred by realising the rear folding shelves had been glued too far down. I did consider leaving them, but knew it would bug me so I had to alter them! The infantry head swaps were hard work, the metal of the figures being particularly hard, even when drilling with a mini-drill. Fortunately, Jerusalem of Gold, Rachel and some other songs got me through it!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=22b0UjPiNNY

Lead rot! Or the perils of buying old figures on eBay....

This week has seen me struggling with one of those wargames horror stories....the dreaded lead rot!

As part of the sidetrack into F&I war (solidified by a re-read of Parkman) saw me acquire rather a lot of old Pax Britannica / RSM nominally 30mm French and British figures. The price was right but marred by the discovery that many of the figures were slightly showing discoloration and patches of white powdering. Some of the figures felt rough where the colour was different.

After some research, it appears the white patches are lead carbonate, in effect lead rust and are signs of a reaction of the metal to certain storage conditions, especially damp, humid areas with both wood and cardboard producing the necessary acids to create the reaction. It seems however, not even plastic storage containers are immune from producing acids.

There followed some fairly extensive research on the internet on the phenomenon. Frankly, much of it was nonsense; everyone it seems has an opinion, some solutions appear more akin to voodoo or quackery!

Many were accompanied by horrific pictures of miniatures sprouting growths like something out of a horror show or medical textbook......

Fortunately, my miniatures were not so badly effected (no pictures as the camera on my tablet wouldn't focus enough); while I could have simply returned them, the figures are now difficult to obtain, so I have been looking at solutions.

The suggestions vary from throw them away or quarantine them (no evidence it's actually contagious) to chemical or physical removal of offending material. The commonest solution being one from The Game of Thrones author involving gum turpentine and refined mineral oil.

Unfortunately, there is no accompanying explanation of why this should work. I'm dubious about applying oil to a figure that is going to accept paint. Exactly how porous is lead? 

Next most common is the application of an acid solution such as vinegar; many have queried applying an acid to a problem caused by acids and some have tried an alkaline. This is either with or without removing any material first. Unfortunately, lead carbonate is also known as white lead and is highly toxic......

My impression, is that much of this advice, while well meaning, is based more on hope and hearsay rather than science. I read one piece (dressed up as being influenced by conservation) which suggested "household ammonia"; my research indicates that lead carbonate is not soluble in ammonia, so aside from neuralising the acids is not likely to do much to the surface white lead.....

Limited by the materials at hand, I have tried some experiments of my own. It is possible to scrape off the white deposits, but being highly toxic I have limited this to a careful limited test. It also does not work on areas such as the base. I have ordered some brushes to experiment further while wearing mask and gloves.......apparently white lead is sweet and was added to bitter wine to sweeten it until banned!

So far, the chemical experiments have been limited to a scrub with an old toothbrush in a highly concentrated detergent solution (only moderately successful) followed by an overnight soak in Detol; knowing it's effect on paint, I did look up it's chemical make up to discover it's a base and /or mildly alkeline - it's also highly toxic to cats and cane toads - who knew! A scrub in the Detol, has done little more than the detergent, but no further harm (and they are much cleaner).

I may try oven cleaner, as this is acidic, on the most effected. However, it seems physical removal, followed by some kind of alkali neutralisation (as simple as detergent) is probably the way to go before I start immersing them in gum turpentine and mineral oil!

Out of interest, the make up of the metal itself is one of the causes; the original Pax Britannica were reputedly made of pewter which partly explained the high cost; the moulds were acquired by Vandrad in the UK and /or RSM (Rusty Scabbard Miniatures) in the US who still produce them AFAIK. Vandrad are long gone and I cannot recall if they imported or produced under licence or owned the moulds. While Steve Hezzelwood (of Pax Britannica) was something of a "rogue", I suspect the castings are later as Pax Britannica were very hard and inflexible, suggesting pewter with very little lead content, unlike these figures so suggesting either RSM or Vandrad with a high lead content - although I thought the US had banned lead in miniatures?