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

    ReplyDelete
  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....

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

    ReplyDelete
  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.

    ReplyDelete
  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

    ReplyDelete
  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!

    ReplyDelete
  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!!

    ReplyDelete