Completed Airfix 54mm French Line Infantry

[Merryweather]

After a second application of Sculptamold to fill in the gaps under the casualties I painted it all earth colour

I then applied flock- so called ’muddy’, - which I don’t really like because it has bits of red and blue in it, but I haven’t figured out how to get single coloured flock.

So I sprayed it a bit green, which, of course, coloured the earth-grrr! But I prefer the colour of the grass now.
Then, although I had promised myself NOT to do it, I made some rye grass, because that’s what we’re told it was at Waterloo. Most of it will be trampled down, but I still think I need to do another batch.

Here’s the field of battle- looks like a crazy golf course.

When I put the laying down figures on they sat on top of the flock and rye grass rather than pressing in to it, so I had to carefully scrape away everything from underneath them, and now I’ve lost so much I’m going to have to re-flock.

But then I’ll have to spray it green again, which will make the earth even greener. But I’m going to do it anyway, even though I think it’s doomed.
If it doesn’t work I will just have to start again
That's all for now folks!

 

[Briggsy]

After a second application of Sculptamold to fill in the gaps under the casualties I painted it all earth colour

View attachment 486589

I then applied flock- so called ’muddy’, - which I don’t really like because it has bits of red and blue in it, but I haven’t figured out how to get single coloured flock.


View attachment 486590

So I sprayed it a bit green, which, of course, coloured the earth-grrr! But I prefer the colour of the grass now.
Then, although I had promised myself NOT to do it, I made some rye grass, because that’s what we’re told it was at Waterloo. Most of it will be trampled down, but I still think I need to do another batch.

Here’s the field of battle- looks like a crazy golf course.

View attachment 486591


When I put the laying down figures on they sat on top of the flock and rye grass rather than pressing in to it, so I had to carefully scrape away everything from underneath them, and now I’ve lost so much I’m going to have to re-flock.

View attachment 486592


But then I’ll have to spray it green again, which will make the earth even greener. But I’m going to do it anyway, even though I think it’s doomed.
If it doesn’t work I will just have to start again
That's all for now folks!

Looks good mate, the rye grass especially looks interesting, how is that made if I may ask? When I apply flock I dry brush the stuff with a fairly big old brush, it tends to be more focused than my spraying technique, that and I'm too lazy to get the airbrush out. There will be some overpaint onto the mud but a few carefully placed washes usually brings the mucky muck back to life.

Cheers Simon

 

[Merryweather]

Cheers Simon
The rye grass is natural raffia, combed out and cut to double length.
I lay a load of lengths across a strip of masking tape for spraying, then just cut with scissors. The stalks are from a cheap natural paint brush. I stick masking tape along the bottom of the bristles and cut with a scalpel,and just spray whatever sticks!
Then it all has to be planted individually, which is an utter arse!
I might try and streamline the planting method

 

[Briggsy]

I shall have to try and remember that because it looks really effective. I know what you mean about planting individual clumps and stalks, I spent hours doing a 10" by 8" diorama of a German flak vehicle on the Ukrainian steppe, hemp string grass, and all the thousands of long stalks from an old paint brush stuck in individually. Quite impressive until I dropped in reorganising the cabinet. Still on the bright side I found the space I needed!

Cheers Simon

 

[marco14]

wow,didn't see this one before, but now im here and that is gonna look fantastic,so much
figures close together on that base,that is something special,great work already
Mario

 

[Henk]

Yeah, just a quick "OOTB" build.... You know, just before I get stuck into that big project ...

 

[Waterlooman]

Really coming together.

W.

 

[NigelR]

Before you re-flock, get some Woodland Scenics static grass. This is the most realistic flock I have found. It is single colour but comes in four different length options and four different colours (but only one colour in each bag). It will look much better than the flock with all the colours in it. You can mix the different shades to get some variation and also dry brush it to change the colour. That's what I used on the base of this one: https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/red-trousers-against-machine-guns.525475/

This is going to look awesome, it's worth taking a bit of time on the base to set off all the work you did on the figures......

 

[Nap]

Hi there Neil

The groundwork’s getting there ,if I may personally not convinced with the strewn grass length , perhaps have a muddy puffy ground

The figures certainly give a idea of the chaos on the battlefield

Look forward to seeing more

Happy benchtime.....the finishing line is sight

Have fun

Nap

 

[Merryweather]

Hi there Neil

The groundwork’s getting there ,if I may personally not convinced with the strewn grass length , perhaps have a muddy puffy ground

The figures certainly give a idea of the chaos on the battlefield

Look forward to seeing more

Happy benchtime.....the finishing line is sight

Have fun

Nap

clarification please Kev- too long or too short?

 

[Merryweather]

Before you re-flock, get some Woodland Scenics static grass. This is the most realistic flock I have found. It is single colour but comes in four different length options and four different colours (but only one colour in each bag). It will look much better than the flock with all the colours in it. You can mix the different shades to get some variation and also dry brush it to change the colour. That's what I used on the base of this one: https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/red-trousers-against-machine-guns.525475/

This is going to look awesome, it's worth taking a bit of time on the base to set off all the work you did on the figures......

Thanks Nigel, that's the advice I had hoped for
although I have just found a YouTube video showing how to make my own flock......
will keep you informed

 

[Nap]

clarification please Kev- too long or too short?

Too much

Happy flocking

Nap

 

[Warren SMITH]

Nice work, I have to agree with Nap

 

[Merryweather]

Well,
After Nap's & Nigel's ‘disappointed’ comments I decided to dump the flock and go full-on with the rye grass. I’ve come this far it would be a shame to ‘spoil the ship for ha’p’orth of tar’, as my mum used to say to me.
So I scraped everything off, repainted it and started again.
I made the rye grass stems with bristles cut from a cheap natural-coloured paint brush, dipped the ends in PVA and then in fine sand to represent the seed heads, as per the Gospel according to St Stan of Catchpol.

The long leaves are made from natural raffia, also as decreed by St Stan.

Then I sprayed it all green

I needed loads and it was right PITA, but I’ve done it twice before so I knew what to expect (which is why I wimped out first time around… )

I’ve decided- no more Waterloo models- EVER!
I wanted to plant it in rows so I marked the base with thin masking tape to keep them more or less parallel.

I had done a few rows but I was having trouble getting the grass to stand upright with PVA, (even though it’s all going to be trampled down in the end)

I thought ‘I really should drill holes but that will drive me CRAZY, how can I invent a gadget that will do it easily?’
And then I had a lightbulb moment and realised I already have the PRECISE tool required

This instrument of torture is called a tracing wheel, and it is used by dress-makers to transfer sewing pattern pieces to fabric by means of carbon paper. And the reason I have one is because I do actually do dress-making . I learned the skill in art school when I studied stage-design and we were taught how to make stage costumes. To my surprise I really enjoyed it and it’s been very useful over the years- I even made my wife’s wedding dress ( I was young and fearless then, obviously)..
In fact I was even able to use the skill when I got work in film prop-making; sewing webbing, parachutes and upholstery and stuff on ‘Masters of the Air’. ANYWAY…..
It gave me a perfect line of evenly spaced holes in the Sculptamold, which is soft enough to take it.

I was tempted to remove the stuff I had already done, but it looked quite trampled so I decided to work around it

The right hand side is the side I had already done and you can really see the difference. It probably should be even denser but life’s too short! So now I just have to add some trampled stuff in the spaces in the other half and then we’re almost there! I've done it like this because I want grass coming from underneath the figures, not just placed around them, but I will add more in the gaps when the figures are in place.
And there’s still a load of muskets and shakos to place as well.

That's it for now, thanks for watching
Neil

 

[Briggsy]

Wow that's a thorough update, love the rye grass and your inspired method of planting it only to trample the lot under foot. Really looking forward to seeing this complete, it really will be worth the wait. Got to be thankful for good old Mr Catchpole, a treasure trove of wisdom.

Cheers Simon

 

[Warren SMITH]

Excellent work..

 

[NigelR]

Superb work on the rye grass, so much better than nasty flock (we hates the nasty flockses). And Stan Catchpol, there's a blast from my youth.....

 

[Merryweather]

I’m afraid my ‘youthful’ idealism in planting all the rye grass first was rather misconceived ….

As with the flocking beforehand I couldn’t get the figures to lie flat on the ground without removing everything in the vicinity- and this was worse because it wasn’t just the upright stuff that was in the way, there was all the strands lying across it as well, which were sooo springy!!
And then poking a rod through from the underside (to identify the correct 2 holes for each fella) was fraught with danger of damaging one or worse, knocking one off; and the more so the more figures I managed to put on.

Still, I am encouraged, it’s starting to look the part now, and the end is actually in sight.

 

[Briggsy]

It's always the closing stages that cause the most stress, at least the standing figures won't cause as many problems as the prone ones. It's looking really good, still dumbfounded at how many more figures are still to go on there.

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

I think that's looking pretty darned good, the rye grass is very effective. It's all worth the effort