Thursday, 17 March 2011

3mm ACW: Quick Cavalry base update


A quick update on the progress of the 1/600 ACW Cavalry figures, which have now joined the Infantry in having been based and given their first basic application of flock; this has put me in the position of being able to turn to some detailing and clearing up when I next have time, and hopefully turn out some pics of all of the units looking pretty together!

This time around, I smeared the filler onto the artist's card first, hoping to be able to 'bury' the individual bases more into this surface, and then placed the individual figs into a blob of superglue gel that I had placed onto some aluminium foil in advance, before transferring them to the base and squidgeing them down.

This seated them a little better than those I had done before, but I think this is going to come down to a matter of practice - too much filler could end up overflowing the bases of the figures and ruining your paint job, too little and they become little islands...

As I discussed in a previous post, I wanted the Cavalry base to represent a deployed group, with a combination of mounted and dismounted, taking advantage of the great little riderless mounts and the horse-holder figures:


So up front, then, we have a skirmish line of kneeling dismounted, with their mounts to the rear, and to one side, directed by a single mounted command figure, a few riders galloping into position. This is on a 50x50mm base, giving it the same footprint of the Infantry regiments already completed. I was quite pleased with this, but somehow couldn't ignore the urge to do an exclusively mounted unit, so went for a dozen riders on a half-sized 50x25mm:


The photos aren't the best, but I assure you that when painted up, the Cavalry figs look pretty splendid, with even sword scabbards visible in the sculpt - my paint job was deliberately on the simple side, but if you so desired you could put a lot of detail in with horse cloths and saddle colours etc....


Again, there is more work to do to get these finished, but I think once this is done, I shall move across to the Union side and get up a comparative force of a Brigade or so each plus supports, so that they will be nearer to gracing a tabletop in the near future than my usual sprawling 'must paint whole armies before gaming' approach.

To round off, a view of a Command stand glimpsed in my last post - a couple of foot commanders out front (These could probably do with a nice 1/6ooth map table between them), a clipped down standard bearers strip for the identifying flags, a pair of mounted officers, and of course those horse-holders to complete the picture, all on a 40x30mm base:


7 comments:

  1. Very nice - I'd even go so far as to say one of the best treatments of dragoons (even though people don't really use the term for ACW) I've seen in any scale

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  2. Gosh d*rn it, Donogh - you'll be making me blush! :-)

    Glad you like them, though -- the photos aren't the best, but I think they will shape up really well when the bases are finished off - I've got to say, these 3mm chaps are growing on me....

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  3. Nice work as usual! ... Keep it up.

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  4. Very nice! The "Squidge 'em down with super glue" method does require practice but is quick and easy once you get the hang of it. Always keep a toothpick nearby to scrape off extra goop.

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  5. Hi SoS,

    Very nice indeed and as ever, your explanations of how you get to the photos are really helpful. I cant wait to see the army deployed as such on a gaming table with terrain etc.

    Bring on the Union I say!

    All the best,

    DC

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  6. Thanks for your comments Guys - good to know I'm going in the right direction with these - it was a toss up between painting for 'Mass' or trying an approach nearer to 6mm - I think I got things about right in terms of time spent/results obtained - so this has definitely spurred me on to do more!

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  7. I have to say they look fantastic SoS - I wish they had been released before I got my 6mm ACW

    And I agree with Donogh - the cavalry base, with the mix of dismounted, horse holders and men riding up to the line is a superbly dynamic scene. It put me in mind of the union cavalry in the film 'Gettysburg' as soon as I saw them!

    And btw, I'm not jealous ... not at all ... honest!!

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