Completed The Lancer

[Briggsy]

OK then here I go again, back to.my more comfortable ground of the Victorian.(ish) period British Army. This is one of four 2nd Afghan War figures I'm doing, the first is finished and was seen in my last thread. But as I promised an article for a friend to post in the BMSS Bulletin I won't put it up here till it has gone to press there.

This fella will be a Cpl in the 9th Lancers C.1880, it is based both on contemporary pictures seen in the Osprey "The British Army on Campaign 1816-1902 (3). Also on the late Sid Hortons model from his Chota Sahib range.



This is not my work, though I have painted it in the dim and distant past, I borrowed this image from one Francois Koestel fro Pintrest.

I made the figure in pretty much the same way as I did the Legionnaire and at the same time. I had a few disasters, first after sculpting the left arm I decided it was too short, so amputated at the elbow and tried to redo, unfortunately it wasn't working out so easily. So the whole arm came off and was remade in full. Then getting him ready to paint I snapped his right leg mid shin. A quick repair and he was ready to go.

As I usually do, after the disaster trying Tamiya Primer, I primed in auto gray primer.

Cheers Simon

 

[marco14]

a very nice figure,enjoy it
Mario

 

[Briggsy]

So to continue I have started his face and underpinned most things, a bit scruffy just now but plenty of time to sort that out.



As a Lancer he needs a lance and a sword. The sword is a reworked Historec spare part, the scabbard is shortened and the attachment rings are removed and replaced, in this case with plastic components. The actual ring is just stretched sprue wrapped tightly round a dress makers pin several times and individual rings cut from the resulting spring. I probably go through 3 or 4 rings for every one I attach successfully, the rest are scattered all over my bench and the dining room floor. The retaining band in this case is a thin strip of post it note strengthened with superglue. Stretched sprue can be used but it is a tedious affair, first the sprue has to be glued to the side of the scabbard with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and left to set fully. The next step is to soften the sprue with the same cement to soften it so it can be bent partway round the scabbard. Repeat till it's done, the paper is far easier.

The lance started life as a bamboo BBQ skewer, it is then laboriously sanded to the scale thickness, best guess. It's fitting because British lances were made from bamboo anyway. The knots on the pole are simple twists of post it note thickened with superglue and sanded to a more pleasing shape once dry. Same technique used for the butt od the lance, with the end point simply sanded to a point. The lance tip is made from a butterfly collectors pin (very slider and damn sharp), this is glued into a carefully drilled hole at the business end, well it is when I extract the drill bit from my finger tip and superglue it to stop the bleeding. The shape of the point is then made by wrapping some post it note paper on and securing with yet more superglue. Further refinement with Magicsculpt and finally filed to the correct shape. The lance pennon is as you have correctly guessed is made from post it note paper cut to shape and stiffened withe superglue.

I did a wee bit more painting this morning before my Granddaughter was released from play school, just starting to build on thr under painting.

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

a very nice figure,enjoy it
Mario

Mario, thank you very much, I'm sure I will enjoy it so long as the quilted jacket doesn't drive me even more Stark raving mad than I already am!

Cheers Simon

 

[marco14]

Mario, thank you very much, I'm sure I will enjoy it so long as the quilted jacket doesn't drive me even more Stark raving mad than I already am!

Cheers Simon

keep calm,it's the best thing they say LOL

 

[Briggsy]

Just a quick update before I finish for the night, just been building volume to the helmet and better defining the quilted jacket. Not sure my eyes will survive more detailed painting on those quilted squares.

Thank you and goodnight.

 

[Rob]

An interesting subject to pick, that has to go down as one of the least military looking outfits the British Army ever came up with.
Quilted fabric is a tough thing to get right, lots of painstaking highlighting. You are off to a good start.

 

[Briggsy]

An interesting subject to pick, that has to go down as one of the least military looking outfits the British Army ever came up with.
Quilted fabric is a tough thing to get right, lots of painstaking highlighting. You are off to a good start.

Cheers Rob, might be a tad unmilitary but warm, which in a Hindu Kush/Afghan winter would be paramount. The alternative would be a poshteen, which would be more at home on a 60's hippie. But yeah, the sculpting was bad enough and the painting tedious at best, the end result though will, I hope, be worth it.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Hi Simon

Glad your working on this , nice figure and subject

Your certainly cracking on with it some good build up of colours ....I like the blue trousers against the kharki

Again good to see the way you model and the materials used

Following with interest

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Hi Simon

Glad your working on this , nice figure and subject

Your certainly cracking on with it some good build up of colours ....I like the blue trousers against the kharki

Again good to see the way you model and the materials used

Following with interest

Happy benchtime

Nap

Cheers Kev, reckon those quilted squares are going to prise loose what little sanity I have left!

Cheers Simon

 

[NigelR]

Excellent work again, love the originality here.

 

[Briggsy]

Excellent work again, love the originality here.

Cheers for that, not that original since half the inspiration is from Chota Sahib back in the day, actually that must have been one really long day! I'm beginning to realise though why it hasn't been done by anyone else, note to self - no more quilted jackets.

Cheers Simon

 

[MalcC]

you're on a roll, keep going.
Nice work.

Malc

 

[Steve Brodie]

Coming along nicely

 

[Briggsy]

you're on a roll, keep going.
Nice work.

Malc

Coming along nicely

Thank you gentlemen, at the bench as I type, wondering whose daft idea the quilted jacket was! Update later.

Cheers Simon

 

[Briggsy]

Tonight's update before the figure melts. I have the general high and shades on the jacket now. Obviously needs refining which promises to be fun, still it'll be worth it in the end. The breeches are getting there I might be upping the highlights a bit and the trouser stripes are under coated in German Yellow, simply because it covers better than any other yellow acrylic. They'll be finished with a blend of German Yellow and Flat Yellow, which on its own is far too bright for this figure.

I have started his accoutrements and under painted the limited brass in a Games Workshop/Citadel colour called "Rhinox Hide", it's a lovely shade of dark brown that isn't muted as most Brown's seem to be, well the ones I have are.

The helmet probably needs a few glazes to darken it a bit and blend the shade and highlight together. All this will be decided when I next get to the bench after a wonderful day with my Granddaughter tomorrow.

At this point I would like to explain a little quirk I have with figure painting, don't worry it's nothing naughty. Basically I like my figures to be clean, that is no dust, grime or worn out clothing, even those in campaign dress, most of my figures tend to be full dress or barracks wear of various forms. Odd, yeah but I never claimed to be anything else, obviously on a vignette or diorama it's different and the weathering is all put in place.

Again please if I have missed a trick or you see something I can improve just let me know.

Thanks for watching.

Cheers Simon

 

[Nap]

Hi Simon

Nice painting there , definately worth the swearing re the quilting

Presume you've seen/ got this book

Look forward to seeing more on this

Have FUN @ the bench

Nap

 

[Briggsy]

Oh yeah I'd forgotten about that book, got a copy somewhere shall have to try and find it.

Cheers Simon

 

[MalcC]

good progress.

Malc

 

[Steve Ski]

Good progress, Simon, coming along nicely.