Feb WIP #2

My Italian Grenadiers of the Royal Guard are coming along nicely. Although I only need 3 figures with our proposed 1:120 scale, I'm going to paint up the usual 9-12 figures for the 1:60 scale we commonly use. Same goes for the Chasseurs and Velites of the Guard; they'll only need 3 and 5 figures respectively for the 1:120 scale, but again I'll paint up enough for use in the 1:60 games, too.

Pedants among you may have noticed a couple of mistakes that I've rectified since taking these photos: the collars should be green and the officers' epaulets and gorgets should be silver. I also think I've cocked up the cockades (pun intended!) with the wrong colour combination, but I don't think I could be fagged changing it.

I've also made another head conversion from an SHQ/Kennington French Line infantry officer in shako, swapping his head with a bicorne wearing head from HaT's 8095 1808-1812 Line Infantry set. Worked quite well, I think. He'll be the officer figure for the Chasseurs of the Royal Guard. Not sure what I'll do for the Velites; I might actually have to buy a figure as the HaT Chasseurs of the Guard set doesn't come with officers. I might have to buy the SHQ/Kennington Chasseur command set to flesh it out.

I haven't painted Zvezda figures for a while (I have got the Cuirassiers and Lancers of the Guard sitting in boxes gathering dust!) and the detail is amazing, although very fine. After being used to the chunky sculpting of HaT, it was a little daunting trying to follow the very fine details on the figures. The officer figures have the best sculpting, viz. the flag bearer, but the other ranks figures had almost non-existent detail especially around the arms of the firing figure. One of the first sets I painted was Zvezda's Voltiguer infantry which almost defeated me as a neophyte painter, but I've had enough trial-and-error experience to be able to bodge-up a fairly accurate looking uniform where the detail is lacking.

There's also a picture of my latest tree creations, this time made from pieces of an old fake Christmas wreath  stuck on to a couple of trimmed dead twigs from a rose bush, which in turn are pinned and glued to the cork-board base

Eagle bearer. The text is in French, but you'd have to have pretty good eye-sight to notice! Likewise the number one in the flag's corners has been obscured to try and make it look like a flaming grenade.

Same figure from behind. I haven't added the buttons on his pockets yet.

Drummer.

From the front.

Officer with gold metal-work. Has been changed to silver since this photo, and the collars to green.

Rear view

Grenadier reaching for a cartridge. I love this pose; he looks so contemptuous of the enemy, nonchalantly reaching behind him.

Firing figure. Under the arms and where the musket butt meets his shoulder is a very indistinct area that is the trickiest bit to paint, I found.

Xmas decoration trees.

Head conversion for Chasseur officer.