Thursday, December 6, 2012

Eureka WFR Austrian Infantry

These Eureka figures took me the better part of a month to finish, but I lavished some extra attention on them.  These are three battalions of German line infantry c. 1798.

Here is the 1st Battalion, Infantry Regiment 11.  They had rose facings with white buttons.  I am waiting on a flag for these men.


I paint the traffic hazard pattern on all my Austrian drums.

Here is 1/IR5 with flag from GMB.  The flag pole is a cut down pike from North Star.


As I age, my eyes are getting worse.  These are the first figures for which I have broken out my optivisor.  I know it slowed me down, but it was nice to be able to see what I was painting.


All my Austrian line infantry get barber pole flag poles.  I used a mixture of acrylics, oils, and enamels on these figures.  All the metal (buttons, gun barrels and fittings, shako and cartridge box plates) are Testors enamels.  All the cloth is done with acrylics. The white parts start with Delta's mudstone, and then I paint everything but the recessed areas with Delta's oyster white.  These facings are Delta's blueberry over Delta's manganese blue.  The overcoat is Delta's rain grey over Delta's charcoal.

The knapsack got an initial paint job with acrylics, then a dark brown oil wash.


The regiment in march column shows how much detail I put into these figures.

The musket stocks were painted with acrylic medium flesh.  I then applied a medium thick coat of burnt umber oil paint, loaded my brush with solvent, and streaked off most of the oil paint, leaving the grain pattern you see here.

The canteens start with Delta's brown iron oxide.  The straps are Detla's latte and the main canteen color is Delta's toffee brown.


Shako plates got a coat of Testors gold followed by a burnt umber oil wash.  I then tidied up around the wash with black acrylic paint.

Musket barrels, banding, bayonets, and locks are all Testors Model Master steel.

Faces and hair are all craft acrylics.  For flesh I start with Delta's dark flesh, paint everything but the recesses with medium flesh, then hit the raised areas with fleshtone.  I only used five different shades of hair in this batch.


Here is 2/IR5.  I love those GMB flags!

All told, I spent 25 days on these 60 figures.  That's a pretty slow pace for me, but I had to allow for a lot of drying time for oils and enamels.  The optivisor took some getting used to, and I know it slowed me down as well.

Still, worth it.  Totally worth it.  These are some of my favorite figures I have ever painted.

12 comments:

  1. This is your finest work, yet. I love them!

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  2. Fantastic work. Crisp painting, lovely bright colours, and terrific details.

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  3. Just...wow! In every picture, there is much to be learned. Boots with silver highlighted with a tiny dot of white. I've never seen oils used for staining other than on horses. The effect, painstaking as they were, are brilliant! I applaud your work.

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  4. Actually I don't like the Eureka miniatures that much but you ennobled them with your tremendous painting skill.

    These are really top-notch for me!

    Cheers
    Monty

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  5. Your painting method for faces is just the best I've ever seen... superb units no wonder you're proud of them!

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  6. Just wow!!! Absolutely incredible!!

    I want you to paint MY Austrians!!!

    :-)

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  7. Those Austrian figures are fantastic! Great painting style!
    Phil.

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  8. Absolutely first rate, Scott. Magnificent work.

    Best wishes

    Giles

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  9. Great work! I use a similar style of painting and relied on Delta ceramcoat paints for 30 years, but alas, they are not available here anymore and it seems that their last stocks had a different, less opaque formula. Can you still get Delta paints? One colour that I had not seen for a very long time was the Palemeno Tan. Still around? I would love to get some if you can lead me to a supplier.

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  10. Chris, I am having the same trouble. I can still get them through the mail, but some of the paints have changed.

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  11. Great stuff! Your descriptions are wonderful. I've been painting AB, but you have me tempted to try some Blue Moon.

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