Tuesday 8 March 2011

Battalion, Forward! Батальон! вперед!


Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the first battalion of the Galitz regiment of foot. All models are Foundry. 
I decided to base my Russian regiments using the General de Brigade ruleset so I have based them in 8s. Actually I was so excited about painting these that I ordered some custom made bases from Litko. Unfortunately I was not wise enough to realise the most obvious thing; that once you place 8 metal models on a 1.8mm thick piece of wood and you add PVA glue you will probably get a base that will slightly warp around the edges...
I had to think of something fast since I had ordered a pack of 50 bases and after a lot careful thinking I came up with this:
Thats right! I had to glue two bases on top of each other using PVA glue, rubber bands and cloth pins to make sure the two bases stuck to each other properly...
Unfortunately I had to do the same thing with models that I had already painted and based so it got a bit ugly :(



Hopefully this will teach me a lesson when I order custom made bases from them in the future...

One last thing I did was to order some test figures from Front Rank and I have to say that the rest of my Russians will be from them and not from Foundry! The Front Rank castings are so clean and the detail so clear on the models!
So here is the appropriate casualty figure (front rank) for the Galitz regiment:

I hope you like them! flags were as always from GMB designs. Total of 24 models



4 comments:

  1. хорошо! Great looking regiment, comrade. I still think the Napoleonic Russians are amongst The Foundry's best work, and you do them justice here.

    Ah, trials and tribulations of basing. I use the thick Litko bases, and I've learned that it is worth giving both sides of the base a coat of varnish first. This helps prevent warping both when gluing the figures down and painting the base, and later when the wicked Tokyo humidity comes to visit.

    Another trick when a lot of minis are going on a base is to use epoxy to glue the figures down. I use the slow-setting stuff as it takes a long time to set, giving me time to arrange the minis to my liking. I spread it liberally over the base, and you could even add sand at that point.

    The reason for warping is of course moisture, and the epoxy helps prevent this. I usually add PVA, sand and/or acrylic wood putty to the base to texture it, and the thin layer of epoxy acts as a barrier to prevent the water from soaking through and buggering the whole thing up.

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  2. Great looking Regt, I must say that Front Rank are great figures I am painting alot of there Seven Years War at the moment and love them. I hope you have as much fun with the Nap figures
    Peace James

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  3. Really nice Achilles,
    Good to see you doing Russians. I wish I could paint as fast and as detailed as yourself. The GMB flags really finish them off well!
    Cheers
    Paul

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  4. Nice looking figures and very well painted. Regarding the bases, that's what I call dedication, I think I would have just bought some thicker bases and used the others to throw at next doors cat when he's trying to crap in my garden!

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