Firstly this is my first blog ever ... But i'd thought id give it a bash .

Painting Russian Guard 1813 - The first Brigade Vth Corps 1813 . ( Preobraschenski & Semionowski Life Guards 3 Battalions each )

* Armed with my reference materials

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* AB Figures via Eureka Miniatures & GMB Flags via Grahame Black in UK.

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* I Started by Cleaning up the excess flash lead where applicable :
Before :
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After
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* The standard bearers have their flag poles removed and replaced with piano wire about 3.5 CM long - All my figures are then stuck down on Cardboard strips using PVA / Aquadhere. The cavalry figures get a light touch of Superglue to their feet and put on cardboard strips too.

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* Primed the figures with grey "Auto Primer"

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* Then Base coated figures with GamesWorkshop Chaos Black ( Through one session of Battle of the Bulge )
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End part 1.

long tan .. good points , though this is more of a "how to" so I shall move it to the Artists Gallery , in this Hall you have to actually post the pictures , rather than links..it is after all a Gallery

ok back to work .... I usually start on Faces first , dont ask me why , i Just do , maybe its because the sooner you have a face painted in , the sooner you can start introducing yourself to "the fellas" .

Faces :

* Base color My preference is Games Workshop Scorched Brown - may be too dark for some , but its my personal preference.



* Highlights . I next use a "dot" method to do the facial highlights.

A dot for nose and chin using Games Workshop Elf Flesh .



then , a dot in for each cheek , and ear . as follows :



and for those troops wearing a bicorne , a line of flesh just under the bicorn brim ( sort of crossing the "T" above the nose )



and just repeat that process x 80 for 6 Battalions of 12 plus 8 command figures ... and take a sigh of relief because - Faces Done !

next part the shako.

ah good one , love the tutorial..

Shakos

Pompon : According to the research the two regiments i am painting ( Preobrajenski & Semenovski Guard Regiments ) have red pompons .
So i base the pompon with Games Workshop Scorched Brown



Apply a mid tone of Games Workshop Red Gore


Then hi-lite with blood red



Double crested Eagle / Schizophrenic chicken : The best thing i have found for a real antique gold look is called "Rennaisance Gold" by a french company called GEDEO and is a medium called "Gilding Wax" . You apply it as you would a dry brushing technique , just a little bit will go along way. ( Great for Cannon ! ) , and dries looking like metal. Takes a little getting use to tho ... but im very happy with the result .



Here's what it looks like in the jar :



EXTRA WORD OF CAUTION ! This stuff is toxic . if any of you have a habit of licking the brush tip to maintain your point , dont do it with this stuff !

Cords & Tassles Now for some pain staking neck breaking stuff.

I "dot" in the cords and tassles using GW Skull white.




I noticed as i was painting the figures that one of the marching variants seemed to have a bit of a casting fault. The tassles did not appear to have been cast fully. It might be more evident in the last pic , but the chappie on the left didnt have any tassles on the end of his cords ( Sounds unfortunate ! ) . So i have used a bit of "illusion painting" , painting something on the figure , which isnt there. Some of the other figures have the shako cords going under his right epaulette , and hangin down on his breast , ( backed up by some of my refernece materials as well ) so i have just painted in the missing cords ......



So ill take a break , before finishing off the remainder of the brigades shako's , over the next day , and then move onto the tunics .

Phew ..that took longer then expected... .

The 1st Brigades shakos are done now along with their command elements . Drummers get a red shako plume , which is painted the same way as the pompons described earlier above, the officers on foot get Games workshop Mithril Silver shako cords and Tassles.




Here's the brigade so far.



Ill be starting the tunics this arvo hopefully .

LT where did you get the golding wax..?

Cardinal , I picked up the Gedeo items at an Art Shop in Chatswood. Near Cnr Victoria avenue & Penshurst street .
I think any decent art shop would stock the stuff ( I've seen it also in an art shop @ North Sydney ) .

Ive got the Renaissance Gold ( Good for Cannon , Hoplites , French Carabinier Cuirass , you name it ! ) as well as Silver ( At the time i bought the silver for French Cuirassiers)



Inside the Silver Jar :



They also have Gedeo "Gilding Liquid" items , i picked up three bottles of various types as well ... shown below :



&

Great guide mate.

yes, a great guide..will go and look for some of that french metalic stuff..looks very good..

Tunics : Well , there was a bit of trial / testing to come to a preferance for which Greens to use. There are just sooo many to choose from !



I'd been pointed in the right direction by some of the guys on http://www.generaldebrigade.com ( Good place for Napoleonic Eye Candy ) . In the end I've opted for a combination of the Vallejo Paints.

Mid coat : vallejo Black Green ... ( Remembering that the entire figure has been coated in black - being your overall base color )

I went the darkest green in the end as my mid coat , because by all account , the Russian Greens of the Period were almost Black. But hey i know we wont please everyone !



Just have to remember to try and leave a small outline of black in all the places you'd expect to see shadows .

Hi-light : Vallejo Russian Green - I apply the hi-light color trying to obtain a balance of hi-lite to mid coat .... you dont want to obliterate all your work in the previos step by over doing it. In this case the old saying "less is more!" applies.



Here's a figure in Natural Light.......



and another under spotlights..........




So ill just go under cover for a bit and paint the rest of the brigade now that i've sorted which green to use for my tunics. then ill move onto the strapping / webbing and other accoutrements before moving onto the pants.

The brigade so far :

Russian Great coats : osprey books describe the great coats as "Grey Brown"

Base Coat : Vallejo Red brown




Mid Coat : Black Wash : very small amount of Games Workshop Chaos Black diluted in water and then covered over the red broan , applied in previous step.



Hi-Lite : Games workshop Graveyard earth , applied to top and bottom leading edges of the great coat. This will leave the Black wash applied in previous step still showing between the hi-lites you've just applied .



Webbing : The webbing for haversack, cross belts and great coat are now applied with Games Workshop Skull White.



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I'll apply a little bit of Games Worshop Boltgun metal to the webbing clasps and then it will be back to rest of the boyos to bring em all up to same stage as these ones ...cya !

took me a bit of time , but heres the latest on the Russians fiends from hell....

through a movie session of "Theirs is the glory" and "Alamo" ....

Alot of Games Workshop Skull White later and here is the brigade so far :



Now its time to move onto the "business end of things" . ( All painted whilst watching first two episodes of napoleon - quiet apt really )

Once again my preference is to start from the top of the figure making my way down.

Bayonets: painted using Games Workshop Boltgun Metal .



Muskets: : Painted using Games Worshop Scorched Brown .



I then go and apply Games Workshop Brown Ink over the scorched brown. I very much like to use inks over my muskets and haversacks . ( As the ruskies have black haversacks i dont have to worry bout painting it brown ! ) Its a great contrast and tends to compliment the rest of the painted figure , plus its my own personal preferance. You might not get to clearly see it in the pics , i'll try and grab another pic later in daylight , rather then under the spotties.



After applying the ink , i then paint a thin line of GW Chaos Black down the length of the barrel so as to form an outline , prior to painting in the barrel of the musket , itself.



The Barrel is then painted in using Games Workshop Boltgun Metal.



Musket hoops are then painted in gold . ( I found a very good el cheapo tube of "Reeves" gold at Lincraft of all places - it will probably last a lifetime theres so much of the stuff so im tryin to use it up )



and finally , Russian Guard Infantry had a red musket strap which is painted using the same techniques i used earlier for the red Shako Pompons...



and a nice sigh of a relief , crack of the neck , and give the brigade a critique .... they arent looking like black brunswickers now

good one

Been absent without leave for a bit - But im happy to say that the brigade is almost finished... I will post more pics very shortly on the finished lads after i just do a bit of flocking.....

good one LT

neat work!

Longtan you can actually highlight black; depending on the figure a little scorched brown added to black then up to scorched brown itself or a prussian blue mixed to black up to prussian blue ,I'll start to rave so I will stop at this point.


P.S. like the paint job

I shade black , well highlight it rather than shade which is a different thing altogether, with Vallejo Grey Black..as I gloss then flat varvish it knocks down the contrast just the right amount, in my opinion.

Well once again apologies for posting so late ...heres the final pics and the rest of the blog...

When i left off in 2008 , id just hit that pyschological barrier....painting white...i must admit i Hate it.... takes so long before you seem to see a result...but ah well they are guard units and you cant leave em half finished....

2009 , Quick phone call to a friend in Blue Mountains and its like hey what you up to ...how about a painting session ? So off to the mountains for two days of painting with a friend to break thru the barrier and get these guys finished....



* The pants are painted with Citadel Foundation Astronomical grey as the Midcoat and then high lighted with GW Skull white , leaving the grey as shadow for creases usually i just do inside of the legs and round knees and ankles.

The brigade as they looked with all pants finished....



With the body of the work finished it was time to finish off the remiander of the figure before moving to the regimental distinctions .

Water canteen was GW Boltgun Metal , the sword and pack webbing GW skull white and a little bit of gold at the end of each sword scabbard and on the cartridge pouches , four gold dots to the corners and one in the centre.



The cuffs , turnbacks , shoulder straps & collars were painted as to the regimental distinctions. Semenovski , all red whereas the other regt . cuffs and collars are GW ultramarine blue with red trim. All the red is painted same way as previously described in the blog.


The vertical part of the soldiers cuffs ( dont know the name of it ) gets a small black line as a base to the gold line over the top. At this scale i havent gone back to try and put in stripes which by alrights should be there along that part of the cuff ...as it would obliterate the paint work ( and i dont have a small enough brush to do it anyways ... ) if someone knows another way please tell me ... im eager to find out how to do chevrons ...coz they stump me. You will notice i havent painted chevrons on my drummers... i usually end up stuffing my figures up so i've left them out ..

The hands are simply GW elf flesh over the GW Scorched brown.

Officers get a GW Mithril silver sash.

Here are the figures with their GMB flags... I hope you like em ....i know the last bit of the blog is a bit rushed .apologies for that ..but any questions post away i will answer them ...

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS Please advise..im always looking for better ways to paint .

The brigade with Brigadier Potemkin .





Special mention of the GMB flags- They are EXQUISITE ! .... I found out the hard way that they dont appear to like using water based glue on them. The water appeared to leech the color out of a flag i had practiced on ...So i searched around on the web and found a great way of doing them . I bought some doublesided sticky tape from art shop , and placed that on the back of the flags , uncovered the backing to the tape , then cut out a strip of tin foil placed that on , and a second covering of double sided tape. Cut the flag to shape with a VERY SHARP stanley knife , put them on the flag poles and shaped to my hearts content. Can't remember the person on TMP who recommended the method , but it worked a hoot. And i managed to get a bit more "life" into the flags , which lifts the battalions out alot . So to the GMB team THANK YOU !!!!

nice collection of ruskies there m'boy

Lovely stuff

A lot of good work there: a man obsessed!