Napoleonic French Cavalry

A quick, sneak peek. My ancient Cybershot's dying and I know for a fact the old Tannenbaum doesn't have one underneath. None of the other photos turned out. Maybe after the new year I will post some more pictures. As for now I just wanted to get something new up. The left side is ESCI Polish Lancers, the right French Cuirassiers. I like these figures a lot.

The good thing about the holidays is we're heading back to St. Louis (and home of CRM Hobbies!) I should have a chance to get some new figures.

12/24/08 edit: retook some pictures. I got lazy and haven't added ground cover to the bases yet. I was surprised how quick and easy these (the Cuirassiers at least) were to paint. Horses and especially the white trim on the Polish Lancers saddle blanket took more than the figures. This is more first foray into Naps since I was 12 or 13. (Airfix figures) and I originally bought these to convert to World War One (1914) cavalry. I gave up on that because my real interest is British v Germans 191 6-1918. These are really nice figures with good detail. I wish the Cuirassiers had a bugler. The man standing by his horse is excellent and I wish there were more casual poses like this. Hope you enjoy.

IMEX/Revell Civil War Skirmish

I'm glad this one's done. For some reason I got bored with this and painting became a chore.

A lot of this is because I'm not a fan of the Civil War--probably the idea of fratricide. Also, I have a penchant for European armies. These IMEX figures are not my favorite. The detail is dull, the body shape diminutive. The Union faces are often squat, the Confederates better shaped, but blobs. The Union are is a Revell/IMEX mix, the Confederates just IMEX.

The Union standard is the 1st Minnesota regiment who played a critical role in holding the line during Gettysburg. (I'm no Civil War buff.) I hope to add some more figures, mainly a Confederate with the flag of the 1st Missouri who played a role in the stout defense of Vicksburg. There are two Confederates reloading to one Union, the reflects the better armament and repeater rifles found in the Federal army.

Side note: Missouri/Minnesota? My great-great grandfather fought with a Minnesota Regiment, not sure which one. And I was born in Missouri.

The British Are Coming!

I picked up some IMEX Revolutionary War figures a few years ago and there they sat. I bought whatever my fancy was given to. The problem is I had these notions I was going to build giant armies, dioramas. In this case, it was to be Cowpens. After a month, I realized that was never going to happen.

A few weeks ago I was going through my soldiers to get rid of stuff. At that point I decided to paint (approx) one of each pose, get rid of the rest. The result is a small vignette. Free of creating giant battles, I have been on a painting spree. The base (5 1/2" x 12") is not intended as a diorama, but simply a display board with grass.

The stone wall is Tidy Cat kitty litter.

HaT US WW1 Artillery

These are some test sprues I received from HäT. Initially I was not a fan of this sculpting style. I was very disappointed when the first images of HäT's World War One troops with this new style--German Heavy Weapons, US Infantry, Canadian Infantry. I have yet to purchase these figures. Plastic Soldier Review gave them low scoring marks as do I.

That said, I've seen some good paint jobs of these soldiers on HäT's Everything Toy Solider forum, most notably by Thomas Willers and Sander Van Straeten.

I thought I'd give these a go and I am pleasantly surprised. The main shift was that these figures are toys. Once I got my head around that (toys like the old Lineol and Elastolin) then I was okay with them.

Note: The house is the classic Airfix Command Post. The wagon is from IMEX's Civil War munitions/ambulance kit. The gun emplacement is pink insulation foam on an old CD. The sandbags are made from some Crayola craft putty I got at Wal-Mart.