Nearly There

Late last night I saw the pictures of the, almost, completed greens! To be fair, Richard sent them late afternoon but yesterday was the one day I didn't check my mail until late, typical.
I won't post any pictures yet. Firstly they were to allow me to check the finish and details etc to see if everything was ok or if ammendments were needed. I've just sent my reply to Richard and I would rather show the figures in the 'ready to mould' stage. Secondly the pictures are huge. Putting them at 100% size on the screen makes the figures head and feet disappear off the screen. I will play with my photo resizing software later to make them a little more Internet friendly.
Needless to say, I am over the moon with what I've seen and can't wait to share them with you all.

WIPs WIPs Everywhere.

I thought I'd take the time to show you the WIPs of all 5 figures which will go together to make the 'Century'. All are at the basic posed stage and are awaiting detailing.

First we have the Musketeer, as previewed last week;

Next we have the Pikeman, we've opted to have a wire pike rather than a cast one. The one here is just shown to give an idea;

Third figure is the NCO, who will be armed with a halberd. Again this will be of wire, but there will be a cast head to go on to it;

Fourth one up is the Musician, seen here with his rather splendid drum;

Lastly we have the Officer, bravely urging his troops onwards;

The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed the slight difference in the uniform between the first 3 figures and the last 2. Neither the Officer or the Musician are wearing the sleevless leather waistcoat. Although not mentioned in the Reveries, I decided to go with this idea as it sets them apart a little and allows more space on the coat for extra detailing, lace etc..

For casting, the idea is to have a production mold with 1 Officer, 1 Musician, 1 NCO, 7 Musketeers and 7 Pikemen. This will allow me to do a Century of 170 men at 1:10 scale with one spin! Should people prefer using 1:20 scale then each spin of the mold will produce 2 Centuries. This, I hope, makes it reasonably versatile and maximises the number of useful figures from each spin. Should there be space for an extra figure or two then I will put in more musketeers and pikemen.

First View

Richard has been hard at work, turning my rabid mumblings into purest putty! I wanted the unit in a more dynamic and aggressive pose than that normally seen for the period. As de Saxe writes that this is the proper way to fight, so that is how we had to show them.

Using the pose shown below as a base seemed to give the right amount of 'aggression' for the period!

 

Richard has tweaked it slightly so that the figure is advancing, rather than stepping over a fallen comrade. Below is the first picture which gives the pose and basic bulking of the figure. Now the hard work of detailing begins, when he transforms into a soldier fit to grace any army.

On the model you can see the two jackets, the top of the stocking and the cuffs. To me the lines of the model work well in showing the basic uniform as shown in Reveries;

 (Please remember that the picture above shows the clog that was not worn on active duty.)

So, the important question, what do you think?

Orders From the Duchess

Having heard of the impending arrival of the new troops the Duchess has decreed that there must be a clearout of existing forces. As I dare not disobey a direct order, a clearout is exactly what will happen.




I have about 12 crates worth of figures which I have been told to sell! I will be listing them on my site, everything will be nice and cheap. The first dozen or so bits are up now and the rest will be going on as soon as I can sort, photograph and weigh them. Please treat yourselves and ensure that the Duchess gets her new troops at the earliest opportunity...........