Completed French Line Infantry by ICM and Belgium Guide

[valiant]

Hi Simon, good progress on these, but might I politely suggest that you shorten the necks on the figures, as they appear too long....?

 

[Nap]

Hi Simon

These are all coming together nicely , personally I'd reduce the cheverons a bit

The mystery man is building up well ......intrigued about the headwear

Have fun at the bench

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

What product are you using for both types of grasses? Is it pre-colored? Attached with white glue, or other?

Thanks.

Hi, thanks for looking in, the short grass in the foreground is plain old flock as sold by most on line scenic display providers. To fix it a liberally smear a small section with PVA then with a pinch of flock between my fingers I dab it on fairly firmly. Finally tip the base over and vigorously tap the bottom to knock any loose flock back into the pot. It is pre coloured and comes in a variety of colours, but it looks shiny and artificial so will be painted in acrylic paint using a wide flat brush and a dry brushing method.

The longer grass is even more basic, it's just gardeners string, the loose hemp type. This is a lot more fiddley and messy. Again stuck down with white glue, pinch between your fingers a short length and tease it out of the twists it comes in, I use a tooth pick to get in and separate the strands. This is then cut off still holding it tightly together, the cut end is then put into the glue so it stands upright, it will stand up and the more you put in the easier it all stands together. Once the glue is properly dry, at least overnight you need to tidy it all up, there will be loads of loose strands that need teasing out. With a good paint of sharp scissors it can be trimmed to suit your desired look. This also needs painting, even if you want to depict dead winter grass, it's best to use very dilute oil paint (I dilute with white spirit).

I'll be adding extra bits, long stalks with seed heads mainly and these are a real pain in the backside. Using the bristles of a clean but used cheap decorators paint brush. Each bristle is dipped at one end into PVA then dipped into a granular material, I use the foam from wall insulation slabs all ground up but almost anything light and small will do. This then has the other end dipped in PVA and slotted individually in place, usually prior to the painting. It's a time consuming boring method but looks good when done.

Hope that answers your question, always happy to share tips, cheats and methods, most modellers are so just ask anytime.

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

Good progress, looking forward to seeing the groundwork develop. You are very old school using unwound string I used to do that in the 70s, now I buy fancy products from a range of suppliers!

 

[Briggsy]

Hi Simon, good progress on these, but might I politely suggest that you shorten the necks on the figures, as they appear too long....?

Yes this seems to be a theme with me, the Jager I did started a little giraffe like. I've had a look at them and agree with you they are rather long necked, however having broken the Grenadier trying to remove the head I'm going to live with it for these two. The heads are pinned and superglue in place and I think running a razor saw through the neck would reduce the length too much. I would say live and learn but I'm not doing g the learning bit very well. Thank you for pointing this out though I appreciate your input and will do better next time or at least I'll try!

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

Hi Simon

These are all coming together nicely , personally I'd reduce the cheverons a bit

The mystery man is building up well ......intrigued about the headwear

Have fun at the bench

Nap

Cheers Kev, another keen observation and you are of course right. The cuff rank bars are a bit long and easy to rectify. Not sure about the service chevrons though, I know they were fairly large, do they need shortening? I defer to your opinion on this and will shorten if you think it necessary.

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

Good progress, looking forward to seeing the groundwork develop. You are very old school using unwound string I used to do that in the 70s, now I buy fancy products from a range of suppliers!

Nigel, many thanks, I use the string because it is cheap, last diorama I made with long grass was on a 10x8 photo frame and contained a half track and towed anti aircraft gun. The cost of using off the shelf products exceeded the cost of the kit so I went old school. Since then all.my ground work products and gleaned bits from nature are hidden unintentionally in the garage (including a box of seafoam) or the natural stuff went on the compost heap. Plus I quite enjoying doing it this way. There are though some fantastic ground work products available, but I don't really want to start dioramas again as I have limited room to display and store them.

Cheers Simon

 

[mm70882013]

Hope that answers your question, always happy to share tips, cheats and methods, most modellers are so just ask anytime.

Cheers Simon

It does; thank you, Simon.

I appreciate the help and detailed answer.

I will give this a try.

 

[Briggsy]

It does; thank you, Simon.

I appreciate the help and detailed answer.

I will give this a try.

I have been reminded by NigelR above that this is an old school method and he's absolutely right it is. There are products available from many businesses out there that take all the tedium out of my approach. Off the top of my head I would happily recommend Model Display Products or Green Stuff World, also Delux Materials. The stuff they all sell is very good and not especially pricey but being a tight fisted Yorkshire man and because I enjoy it I tend to stick to the older methods. Have a look and see what's out there and go with what feels comfortable.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Cheers Kev, another keen observation and you are of course right. The cuff rank bars are a bit long and easy to rectify. Not sure about the service chevrons though, I know they were fairly large, do they need shortening? I defer to your opinion on this and will shorten if you think it necessary.

Cheers Simon

Hi mate

I am a silly billy , I was thinking WW1 but of course your doing the Franco Prussian War of 1870

Here's a piccy of a release from FeR with large service chevrons and long rank

You have my permission to carry on and stop listening to my dribble ...lol



Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Hi mate

I am a silly billy , I was thinking WW1 but of course your doing the Franco Prussian War of 1870

Here's a piccy of a release from FeR with large service chevrons and long rank

You have my permission to carry on and stop listening to my dribble ...lol

View attachment 478033

Nap

Ahhhh Kev I've changed it now!


Well I did the rank bars but not the service chevrons, the bars were a bit long and the ends weren't trimmed to vertical in relation to the sleeve seams.

Also taking on Valiants comment, rather than shorten the necks I'm extending the collars a little, will try and post piccies later. Must add i haven't made them look like Harry Hill lookalikes but it does make them look a bit better.

Gonna have to break for cider and rugby soon.

Cheers Simon

 

[MarquisMini]

Part two, did this yesterday I'm not that quick. Not much to add, simply adding the torsos to the half men, they looked like left overs from Kev's bust factory!

View attachment 477815
View attachment 477816

It's probably not very evident in these images but I am etching the figures with a scalpel as I go. That is seams, straps, belts etc are having the detail sharpened by scraping away the soft edges from the injection molding process to leave a sharper more defined edge. It's slow work and causes cramp in my left hand from holding the piece steady. It's also very easy to slice beyond the figure and into some soft flesh. I need new super glue as I seem to have sucked some blood into the bottle while fixing my fingers, it now has a pink tinge and clogs the nozzle constantly.

Cheers Simon

I have to say,
The French uniforms of the FrNco- prussian war were very distinctive and eye catching.
You are making a " Labor of love " with your detailed work Simon.
I follow with interest .
Cheers!

 

[MarquisMini]

Bringing things up to date I did some more this morning. I have substituted the ICM heads for Hornet ones and added appropriate facial hair. Rather than sculpt new kepis I used the kit supplied ones, though they needed some filing at the back to make them look like they fit. Also I had to file the tops of the heads flat, using a sanding stick and water because of the resin dust. The kepis were still too big so both figures have a fine head if hair to cover the overhang.

View attachment 477817
View attachment 477818

I have done all the putty work using a mix of Magicsculpt and Duro or Greenstuff. I don't like using Greenstuff on it's own, I find it too stiff to move around easily.

As you can see I have made some tweaks, the officers coat collar is now open and the corner of the coats skirt is now flapping a bit in the wind thanks to a post it note. I also decided the Grenadiers trousers weren't baggy enough so I built up one leg, once the putty has cured I'll do the other one.

That's all for now, time to be Dad's taxi again.

Cheers Simon

Hornet heads are great as a replacement for figures, they are easy to paint and they are full of charater.
I know it is a slightly bigger scale, but the Heads/hands set of the unfortunate dissolved JMD brand were one of the best in the market IMO, i have use many of them in my 60mm figures.
As for the greenstuff, I normally use greenstuff for hair and some other details, what i don't like is that sanding it when it is cured does not work well.
Generallly i Mix Magic sculp and add a little of greenstuff to the mix, it works miracles if i am making a part of the uniform like turnbacks or main areas.
Have you tried Brownstuff?, i have that as well and works great, and it is sandable.

 

[Briggsy]

I have to say,
The French uniforms of the FrNco- prussian war were very distinctive and eye catching.
You are making a " Labor of love " with your detailed work Simon.
I follow with interest .
Cheers!

Yes very striking uniforms, though I must say that coat in hot weather must have been uncomfortable, still they make for good subjects for us.

Hornet heads are a god send, never tried the JMD, though now I have a 3D printer I'd like to make my own, but the machine scares the he'll out of me, pretty much a techno-phobe these days.

Green Stuff is good like you say for detail, I'm in awe of sculptors like Kev White of Hasslefree Minis who sculpts or used to at least whole figures in the stuff and in 28mm at that.

Agreed though mind with Magicsculpt it is very good, I need some new Greenstuff though, mine is a little old and stiff, even mixed. Generally though I like Magicsculpt on its own, especially when just mixed. I haven't tried the Brownstuff though, is it as stiff as the green? I was recommended to use Sculpey Firm by Roy Hunt but I'm not keen on baking things, I used to burn detail using Super Sculpey so I'll stick to air drying stuff.

Cheers Simon

 

[MarquisMini]

Yes very striking uniforms, though I must say that coat in hot weather must have been uncomfortable, still they make for good subjects for us.

Hornet heads are a god send, never tried the JMD, though now I have a 3D printer I'd like to make my own, but the machine scares the he'll out of me, pretty much a techno-phobe these days.

Green Stuff is good like you say for detail, I'm in awe of sculptors like Kev White of Hasslefree Minis who sculpts or used to at least whole figures in the stuff and in 28mm at that.

Agreed though mind with Magicsculpt it is very good, I need some new Greenstuff though, mine is a little old and stiff, even mixed. Generally though I like Magicsculpt on its own, especially when just mixed. I haven't tried the Brownstuff though, is it as stiff as the green? I was recommended to use Sculpey Firm by Roy Hunt but I'm not keen on baking things, I used to burn detail using Super Sculpey so I'll stick to air drying stuff.

Cheers Simon

Brown stuff is almost the same as Green, but harder and sandable and easy to keep the hard edges.

 

[Briggsy]

Brown stuff is almost the same as Green, but harder and sandable and easy to keep the hard edges.

Might have to give it a go then because straight edges are a quality of Magicsculpt unless I let it stiffen a bit but that reduces working time. Thanks for the heads up.on thar, much appreciated.

Cheers Simon

 

[mm70882013]

I have been reminded by NigelR above that this is an old school method and he's absolutely right it is. There are products available from many businesses out there that take all the tedium out of my approach. Off the top of my head I would happily recommend Model Display Products or Green Stuff World, also Delux Materials. The stuff they all sell is very good and not especially pricey but being a tight fisted Yorkshire man and because I enjoy it I tend to stick to the older methods. Have a look and see what's out there and go with what feels comfortable.

Cheers Simon

Understood, Simon.

I am very much “old school” myself, but I will check into the sources you’ve recommended.

Thanks again.

 

[Briggsy]

Good, I'm not the only old school one. I just wanted to give you a fair appreciation of what is available as I have no idea of your experience in the hobby. Just one of the problems associated with on line correspondence, but the sharing of info, experience and even cheats more than make up for it. Look forward to seeing your work on the forums, oh and excuse my rambling I'm a bit drunk after the England vs Fiji match.

Cheers Simon

 

[Warren SMITH]

Great work.. I have this set, and I am enjoying what you are doing with them.. well above my skill level..

 

[Briggsy]

Great work.. I have this set, and I am enjoying what you are doing with them.. well above my skill level..

Many thanks Warren, give them a go they make really nice figures. As for skill level, we'll it's about enjoying the hobby not being the best. As I've always said the unhappiest modeller is the acknowledged best modeller in the world, he/she has nothing to strive for.

Cheers Simon