Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen

Having returned from hols I have a host of autumn projects lined up - an air force (more correctly 2) of 1/144 Eastern front aircraft, a full blown converted lancer regiment (or two...) , some old school shineyness AWI, old school shiney Naploeonics as well. However I still have a few outstanding "just cause I fancied" them purchases from Salute as well - and here we have one.

A rather fine figure from Testudo miniatures in Italy (I got them from PD miniatures , but the thier website seems to have gone so not sure if available direct in the UK any more)from their personalities set for the battle of Tannenburg. He was a bitch to put together lots of fiddly bits He has separate, sword, dagger, lance ,mace, helmet feathers and shield, the cape is a two piece affair which in the end i soldered together using the big soldering gun. But worth the effort in the end

It was a very good figure to paint with the challenge of the white barding and the billowing cape being fun!

Anyway he is the first of an occasional series of Teutonic Knights

Hoping to get a cowboy game or several in coming up too!

Work in progress - Teutonic Knights & Cowboys

No not for the same game - but someone probably has invented one.

Picked up some sets of the Testudo Teutonic Personalities via PD Miniatures - great figures - although the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen took some work to assemble as there are a number of parts , separate swords, lances , mace , helmet feathers , shield and a two piece cape. I put them together with the soldering iron as i decided that the cape would one day fail and break - well not now its all one piece! Also some serious drilling out of metal from the tail and hind legs of the horse. I can understand Why it was cast like it , but to make the best of it , it needed removing.

The Duke of Lituania Vytautas was a nice clean casting. although i have replaced the cast sword which looked a bit flimsy as it had been bent in transit and would have broken shortly i think. Interestingly the metal used seems softer and had a lower melting point than most figures these days - which was an advantage for soldering bits into place. The facial detail on these two is incredible.

There is also a large mob of Black Scorpion Tombstone (all resin figs) cowboys , civilians , outlaws etc. They were a bit variable in casting quality , with a couple needing some filling , and most had thin flash to remove and some recess to drill out. Also a few Artizan Old West , and Ebob specials in there too.

All cleaning up sorted and undercoated ready to go as the fancy takes.

 Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen

The Duke of Lituania Vytautas 

"Who said to round up a Posse?"

and the first Old West building is done

the livery

Anglo Danish Warband

Well , and now for something different. This is a Gripping Beast Warband set I have recently done for a friend who is going to finish them off with the shield transfers and basing. They made a change from the more uniform Napoleonic.

Main colours used are the Andrea Colour sets for  Greens & White(well the base colour is linen). Chain mail done with Vallejo oily steel and gunmetal. Once Matt varnished the mail and other metal where highlighted with a pure silver mix.

I also experiments with a washing/staining process. This involved using a carrier of Humbrol Satin Varnish with a stain of Humbrol Dark Earth added, this was then washed over the figure prior to final Matt Varnishing. It worked really well on some of the shading areas on the lighter colours and faces. More experimentation to come here with different colour stains. Of course I now have a tin pre mixed of my dark earth stain for future use.

Back to more traditional fare with the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot on the table next.

One man & his dog

I have been working on a different request for a friend last week. Not my usual fare, but I have done plenty in the past. A set of 25 figures for an Anglo Danish warband from Gripping Beast. They are nice clean uncomplicated figures. The only real challenge being deciding on colour schemes, non of this referring to uniform plates stuff! I started with their Chieftain figure. He is pretty simple to do as a lot of chain mail , and then a large cloak. Chain mail is done with a mix of Vallejo Oily steel and Gunmetal ,then highlighted up with a little silver after Matt varnishing.

To this I have also added the Warhound , a large bull mastiff type dog available as part of a set from Warlord games, all nice snarly dogs!

So just the rabble to finish off. He made a nice change to do. I will get some photos of the wole mob done once fully based up