POST 105: A little more on the Hungarians from my 100^th Post.

www.michaelscott.name/1809/1809blogpost105.htm

Cheers, Michael

Nice as always!!

Nicely written up, good painting, these are coming on a storm!

Great stuff Michael.
Cheers - Phil.

Thank you, gentlemen!

POST 106: The advance of Autumn.

www.michaelscott.name/1809/1809blogpost106.htm

Cheers, Michael

Nice! Love the banner!

Lovely Michael !
Cheers - Phil.

Great work Michael. When might we see these on the battlefield? It would be great to see them en masse in action.

Nice unit

The blog is really coming along nicely Michael.


RE Austrian cuirraseurs: What do you think of the painted figure? Will a paint job succesfully hide the rear plate?

I am really disappointed with this FO-PAH, I was intending to have full Austrian heavy cavalry div.

We can mix in infantry from other manufacturers but I am not so sure about the cavalry because of varying horse sizes. Not sure anyone else does an Austrian cuirraseur any way.

Quote from: Rob on 21 September 2013, 09:22:00 AM
The blog is really coming along nicely Michael.

RE Austrian cuirraseurs: What do you think of the painted figure? Will a paint job succesfully hide the rear plate?

I am really disappointed with this FO-PAH, I was intending to have full Austrian heavy cavalry div.

We can mix in infantry from other manufacturers but I am not so sure about the cavalry because of varying horse sizes. Not sure anyone else does an Austrian cuirraseur any way.

You are right, it is a terribly disappointing and unfortunate faux pas and I took the figures along to Claymore to discuss with Dave and Leon before I posted on my blog. Austrian cuirassiers are one of those troop types that you need lots of, they're going to stand loud and proud on the tabletop so the research should be right.

I tried to show how the paint job looks on the backs of the figures but the image below may provide a better view. The lines of the backplate can be seen but it's the bulk of the smooth torso and how the armour-plated back makes the paint job look iffy that disappoints.



Both Magister Militum and Old Glory produce 10mm Austrian Cuirassiers. The MM figures (which do not have a pic on the website) have purposely large horses that on first glance look like a larger scale. I don't think they would mix with Pendraken but I haven't tried.

For future reference, Saxon cuirassiers that are on the to-do list didn't have backplates either! 

Perhaps this image shows the backplate better.

Yep. Pretty clear on that picture.

If there was a preview of the Napoleonoc figures like we get from Techno, Mart and Clib, these errors would be spotted before they went too far. 

I researched and sent Leon a comprehensive list of uniform and equipment info for what I believe is the next batch of French releases as Leon posted that the sculptor was having difficulties with the time required to research uniforms and that that was what was holding him up. As Richard of Magister Militum said to me at Claymore this year, it took him a good whack of time to research each Napoleonic figure. I agree, it took me a good amount of time, too. So, here's hoping! 

Interesting points about research.
When I've done the odd '19th Century' 'infill' figures for folk...I'm afraid I've always had to ask the relevant commissioner to supply me with as much info, as he possibly can ....Otherwise I'd probably spend far more time on 'finding things out' than I would actually pushing the putty around.
Cheers - Phil

Quote from: Rob on 21 September 2013, 04:51:07 PM
If there was a preview of the Napoleonoc figures like we get from Techno, Mart and Clib, these errors would be spotted before they went too far.  

There is: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,2774.msg40166.html#msg40166, we try and preview every figure which comes in to us.  Unfortunately in this case, the back of the figure isn't shown, so the error wouldn't have been seen.

This topic is interesting, in terms of sculptor's research. In the stuff I do for Pendraken I don't get any instruction from HQ, other than something like "we need more cavalry", because they are projects I am already interested in and know quite well in advance. They are a special case because they let me have pretty much total creative control.

In the cases of my other clients, its not yet occurred that any of them expect me do to any research, nor have I ever expected to. Any project I've ever done has been for someone who already knows the period well and provides me with answers to questions I ask, or provides pictorial references for me to work from. That said I do independently spend a lot of time surfing the net looking at relevant material to immerse myself in the subject to get the "vibe" right, but I do expect them to be on top of the accuracy of any given aspect. It could be that its just worked out like that so far.
If I was asked to do something say, Napoleonic, I'd be looking to the client to provide me with the right info, or at least the right references for me to look at in detail.

The cuirassier does highlight one perennial problem for sculptors; "what does he look like around the back?" Its hard to get illustrations of figures from behind (often you have to guess on the basis of what you see on the front). This is an issue that never occurred to me while painting (of course the detail, right or wrong is sculpted on the figure), but when I started sculpting it was a big problem; one of my first jobs was some 15mm armoured medieval types; that was a bloody nightmare! Its harder to guess what armour is like than clothes.

Quote from: Leon on 22 September 2013, 11:51:37 PM
There is: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,2774.msg40166.html#msg40166, we try and preview every figure which comes in to us.  Unfortunately in this case, the back of the figure isn't shown, so the error wouldn't have been seen.

Looks like the original figures were modified from existing figures - French cuirassiers, perhaps?. The back-plate would therefore already be present on the figure. As my old boss used to say - s**t happens! 

Quote from: Leon on 22 September 2013, 11:51:37 PM
There is: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,2774.msg40166.html#msg40166, we try and preview every figure which comes in to us.  Unfortunately in this case, the back of the figure isn't shown, so the error wouldn't have been seen.

May I ask whether you will be changing the figures Leon?

To me that seems like the logical thing to do, but I understand there may be financial and time constraints for Pendraken that mean you will be unable to change the figure. These were the next Austrians for me and I am holding off at the moment wondering whether to do without them or put up with an incorrect figure.

Cheers Rob