Time for progress

Well - once again, it's time to move my long-run project (http://zedsnappies.blogspot.de/2011/07/project-all-varieties-of-pre-1812.html) a little further. Here are the new entries in my catalogue of units that can be created by using HaTs' set of French line infantry no. 8095.

The first one is a soldier of the Baden regiment of life grenadier guards.
This guy required a lot of cutting and re-shaping work, including the use of heated cutters, etc. I'm not completely satisfied with the outcome, but the next one will be better.

Nevertheless, it's a really nice uniform pattern. And easy to paint - if it wasn't for all the little details.
In comparizon, the next two guys were a lot easier. Blue again, it's soldiers from the regiment Ile de Ré and Walcheren.

Nice and quick to paint. I still argue about that guy on the left side (Ile de Ré rgt.) - that pose looks somewhat weird. The next unit to come should be some Swiss guys, but at first, I'll have to paint something Polish, eh?

 

And another Hurray!

Today, it's time to cheer up again for another country with more then 100 visitors on this page.
Many thanks go to Belgium this time!

And what is more easy then painting some good old Belgian line infantry?

Here it is! Thanks to Peter from http://peterscave.blogspot.de/, who sent me these little HaT fellows.
Sort of a quickpaint job, but almost the best I was able to do without spending weeks for these figures.
Nevertheless, I like that set. The figures are nicely modelled - only the extra plastic and some naughty mouldlines are doing bad for some of the poses.

So thanks again for visiting this place!

And the next big 'thank you' goes to:

RUSSIA!

Thanks for your interest in my little work!
I know that many great miniature artists come from Russia, including some really great sculptors. Keep up the good work, folks! Well - this is for you. From Zvezdas great set of Russian hussars:

A trooper of the Alexandria hussar regiment in his splendid black uniform. I must confess that among all Russian hussar uniforms of that time, I like the black ones the most.

I suppose that one day I shall put a greater focus on Russian troops of the Napoleonic wars. Seems as if there's much to discover there. :-D

Happy thanks to the Dutch / drawing plans for 2013

Okay, you dutchie Oranjes!
You belong to the Top-10 of the visitors on this blog and so you have deserved to get your '100+' figure!

And here it is:

Hehehehehe, I guess some people would have expected some Waterlooey figure, right?
No, it is not. This is a Marine of the Kingdom of Holland which I found in a collection of old Suhr pictures - and a simple and quick conversion of a French line infantry figure from HaT.

So thanks to the Dutch - if there hadn't been that Dutch guy who founded http://bennosfiguresforum.com/, I would certainly not be in that kind of hobby. At least not in that intensity. :-D

Which brings me to the next thing: plannings.
Everybody seems to be fond of analysing last years' performance an drawing plans for 2013 these days. At least I have read such things on several blogs now. Well... what about me...?
Reading such things, I reflected my own work of 2012:

I have completed 81 foot soldiers, 18 mounted figures.  25 foot figures and 18 mounted figures are in different stages of preparation. Not very impressive, when I compare that with the output of people like Paul (http://paulsbods.blogspot.de/) or Tamsin (http://wargaminggirl.blogspot.de/). But I'm fine with that . Although I sometimes wish to be a faster painter in order to finish my projects sooner as I currently can, I have learned that what counts most is to be happy with the results - and I am.

Well - the figure above will add to my long-run project 'pre-Bardin uniform variations' (http://zedsnappies.blogspot.de/2011/07/project-all-varieties-of-pre-1812.html). Looking at these Suhr pictures, I discovered that the Kingdom of Holland had a number of additional versions of the original pre-Bardin uniform version I had not known before. So I made an Excel sheet and studied all my reference material in order to find out how many figures I have already painted and how many are still to be painted for completing the whole task.
The answer is somewhat disturbing. I have currently 281 versions in my list of which I have painted 75. This leaves me with 218 figures to be painted. Ugh.

And what does that mean for my plans? At first, I decided to make at least  two single figure vignettes for FIGZ and the ISSC in Heiden this year. I'm also working on a special display for the multi-figure contest in Heiden. Apart from that, I want to finish the groundwork for my little Spaniards' vignette and add some figures to my long-run-project-regiments list.
This includes finishing at least:
- all not yet painted Swiss regiments (3 are left, of which I have one on 75%)
- soldiers for the regiments Isle de Ré and Walcheren (currently at 50%)
- Baden foot guards (one at 90%)
- Wurzburg light infantry and regimental artillery
- 1st provisional Croatian infantry
- King Joseph Napleons' Spanish guard grenadiers
- Italian light infantry

So far so good. Let's get ready to rumbleeeeeeeee !!!

Oh - and Happy New Year to you all!

Canada hurray!

Oh - there's one last posting that I have to do for this year.
Regular visitors might remember that once upon a time, I painted a nation-specific figure everytime I got a 100st visitor from a specific country on my blog.

I must confess that I haven't had a closer look on my blog statistics for a while. Additionally, my mind was too occupied with other things so I simply forgot. Well - it's time to re-establish that good tradition.
Because of that, there will be some nation-specific postings within the next weeks, starting with:

CANADA!

Well. Is there anything 'Napoleonic' about Canada? Of course it is!
I painted some conversions of US-soldiers for the 1812 war - now it's time to switch to the Canadian side of the fence:

These guys represent the Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada in their early (green) uniform.

I found these uniforms on this blog, which contains tons of valuable uniform pictures for this specific war theatre: http://history-uniforms.over-blog.com/article-l-incorporated-militia-battalion-du-haut-canada-dans-la-guerre-de-1812-109003510.html

The figures are British Peninsula infantry from HaT. Thanks to Tom for sending me some single figures from that very large set. :-D

And now: HAPPY NEW YEAR ALTOGETHER!!!

(...and the next posting will be something Dutchie... in 2013 ;-))

May I finish that within 3 days?

Probably not. I don't know how you guys feel about such things, but it leaves me with a slightly disappointed feeling to see so much unfinished work shortly before the year ends.

I wanted to bring at least my Spanish Walloon guards onto an adequate base, but it's still stuck in elementary groundwork stage. *sigh*

Btw - I made my first experiment with figure modelling. As you can see, it didn't come far. I already got the creeps building that b* wire model. When it was ready, I started with that greenstuff thingy. Well. It is sticky. It is gluey. It is loaded with lots of Bisphenol A. And although I worked in the way mentioned in all those how-to's (including rubbery rubber gloves), I ended up with that... dunno.
It was an experiment. Starting to put the greenstuff onto the wire model, it bend itself into odd positions. Maybe I'll make soe sort of scarecrow model out of this. Or abandon it completely.
Seems not to be my part of the story anyway. X-D

So... just have some relaxing rest-of-the-year-days. I'll be back in 2013!

This world ends in 1.20 minutes

Well. Depending on where you are. Or am I wrong?
Dunno. I don't believe in this sh... anyway, so why should I care about all these end-of-the-world-babble, eh?

What I actually know is that it's only three days left until christmas and that the children are already pretty curious for the presents and the xmas meal. So am I - although in my case, it's all about the meals. ;-)

The strange thing is that at this very moment, I cannot show you any new pictures because everything that I've finished in the past two weeks is either already intended for the painting competitions of next year (and yeah, hussars are a pain in the a**, Ben, if you read this - I can fully understand you) or for some special presentation on this blog. Later on - because I still miss a delivery containing two very urgently needed figures. Can you hear me, Tom? *sigh*

So what can I do? I just lean back, make a snapshot and wish you a...

All the best for you and your families! Make a wish and always remember: it's not about getting presents. It's about giving! ;-)