Black Hats

I needed a break from painting the 'Boys That Wore The Green' so i painted a trooper from the famous 2nd Wisconsin, part of the Iron Brigade.

The casting of these models is alot better than the Irish with overcoats. They're only a bit harder to paint; more colours and detail, but i don't mind... I hope i got this one right, painted as the 2nd Wisconsin at Gettysburg.

I'm also gonna try something new, a quick painting guide for this one. Stay tuned for Irish Brigade painting guide once i got them all finished. All colours are from the Vallejo Model Colour range except the metal parts on the rifle. Here goes...

Undercoat - Black Spray
Uniform - 899 Dark Prussian Blue + Drybrush  865 Prussian Blue
Trousers - 901 Pastel Blue
Leggings - 951 White
Hat, Feather, Shoes, Belt, Ammo bag, Bread bag & Backpack - 950 Black + Drybrush 862 Black Grey
Blanket in Backpack - 992 Neutral grey
Canteen - 821 German Camo Beige
Canteen straps - 826 German Camo Medium Brown
Belt buckle, Buttons & Hardee Hat symbols - 801 Brass
Hands & Face - 955 Flat Flesh
Musket Wood - 872 Chocolat Brown + Highlight 875 Beige Brown
Metal parts - GW Chainmail

All washes are also from the Vallejo range, i use Winsor & Newton Flow Improver to dilute my washes. I had a problem with my black wash (diluted with demineralised water) turning grey when drying. Flow Improver solved my problem for 90%. I blame our government for the 10% that fails...

Hands & Face - 204 Fleshtone Wash (not diluted)
Leggings -  201 Black Wash + (2x) 202 Grey Wash (diluted 25%)
Trousers - 207 Blue Wash (diluted 50%)
Uniform, Backpack, Canteen, Rifle & Hat - 201 Black (diluted 50%)

After that it's varnish time, i don't Gloss Varnish before Matt Varnish. I just give it 3 to 4 thin layers of Vallejo Matt Varnish Spray.

5th New York, Duryee's Zouaves

 

"Where the Regiment stood that day was the very vortex of Hell"

 Pvt. Andrew Coats, 5th New York, Second Bull Run.

I finally finished my Zouaves a couple of days ago. Took a few pictures while moving them upstairs to the glass closet. Still to do is the flags & basing ... like all the rest of my units.

Also working on my 69th Irish guys, they are steadily moving forward. After that i'll have to base some trees and paint some fences and after that it's Berdan Sharpshooters time. I'm really looking forward to painting those guys. I still have to decide which famous regiment to paint next.. either the 54th (cliché, i know) or 2nd Wisconsin. The voting opened up! :-)

Enjoy a few more pics from my Zouaves!

 

A Christmas gift... before Christmas

Voila, I finally bought me a Dremel. It was on my to-buy list for a long time now and there was one in promotion for 85€ with a holding stand and flexible thingy, so i couldn't let this pass. It's an early Christmas present from my family-in-law. If they ask 'what's it for?' i'll just answer i need it for putting the finishing touch on our someday-to-be-finished-renovated home!

This will come in handy for those pesky metal mini's i bought from Redoubt. I tested it a couple minutes ago on some figures and it looks like i can throw my knifes away, or at least use them for something else. After 30 minutes of good use on some miniatures i must say this is a must-have for anyone with a budget and some badly casted models :-)

On to the undercoating and painting of those Irish bastards!

Crazy weekend and other things...

Well, what can i say? Crisis was ... crazy! it was great & awesome, it was spectacular and most of all, it was good. I had a small budget to spend on mini's. The list was long but i got most things that i wanted.

First off, i bought me a new can of Vallejo Matt varnish! Yay! Second, bought 2 second-hand Osprey books about Trench Warfare in World War One. Hoorah! Third, i bought some Battlefield-in-a-box desert hills for FoW and after that ... i payed a visit to the Redoubt Enterprises booth to pick up my order :-)

Irish Brigade, Iron Brigade, Garibaldi Guard, Berdan Sharpshooters, 54th Massachusetts, 13inch Mortar, limbers for my 'Napoleons' and an Ammunition caisson. Also on the list was a Union artillery command. I was in heaven (for a while)!

To be honest, i was a bit disappointed when i checked the Redoubt miniatures in close-up. After reading alot of positive posts on tmp about their ACW range i have to say they have good detail but are so badly casted they will need hours of trim-and-file work. I think they really need to check their moulds. But maybe i'm just spoiled after painting those Perry Zouaves, which, too say again, are absolutely beautifully casted!

I finished 4 of the Irish soldiers already, i couldn't wait to see them painted. They turned out nice i think, but again, they could have been alot better if it weren't for the bad castings.

On a funny note, i was checking the Irish regiment in the display case at the booth and told the vendor that after seeing the movie 'Gods & Generals' and seeing the pictures on the website i just gotta have those, he told me with a big smile that he modeled them after seeing the movie.

My Perry zouaves are half done, 16 more to go. But here for your viewing pleasure (ahum) are some hardened 69th Irishmen in overcoats advancing on the stone wall at Marye's Height, Fredericksburg. Maybe they have more 'luck' in our future wargames then they had back there!