International Small Scale Convention 2015 in Heiden, Germany

Yeah...
You know that effect when you've prepared something for weeks and then... <woosh> it's away with a glimpse of the eye?

This is always the case with the two usual 'suspects' I annually visit - the FIGZ and the ISSC.

Unfortunately for my purse, I wasn't able to resist buying different stuff.

What these little thingies on the figure box are? You won't guess, I suppose: they're cats! :-D

Once again, the showroom was filled with many exhibitors and plenty of sellers. Therefore, it was much to discover, very much to see and even much more to spend your money on. In comparizon to other people, I actually didn't spend that much money.

Once again, the exhibits contained a lot of really great stuff. Several things were already to be seen in former ISSC shows, but there was also much new eye candy. Here are some examples:

That's how it looks like when you have trees in correct size

BANANAAAAA!!!

 

Remember that Bond movie scene?

If you think that's a bin gun...

...how would you call this one?

And finally: Dinosaurs!

Small saurs...

...larger saurs...

...and even really HUGE saurs! :-D

A swampy, rusty scene... pretty rotten.

And one of my favourites - WW1 plane flying over the trenches.

Once again, there was a competition. In my opinion, it was a really hard one again. Have a look at all these great work!

A nice Quetzalcoatlus - against which my contribution lost. :-(

Now look at these details - loads of junk and rubbish on the streets.

My favourite tavern scene

This one is especially remarkeable because of the whirly movement of the water surface...

My single figure, being placed in the 'fantasy figure' cathegory lost against that Quetzalcoatlus. BUT as there were only these two contributions and the flying dinosaur not even won a gold medal, I'm pretty puzzled if my entry was really that bad not to deserve a medal at all. Strange. But I'm too friendly to insist on such things - I just wonder.

At least, I won a Bronze medal in the figure-related Diorama_standard cathegory - which was very lucky because the jury seemed to have had decision problems. There were three bronze medalists in this cathegory. Having seen all that marvellous work on the competition desk, I feel really honoured. And: all the medals I have ever won in Heiden were bronze medals. I'm starting to fell like Mr.Bronze. X-D

This car diorama, by the way, earned a gold medal, the best-of-show-gold-award and Bennos' special 1/72 trophy:

And another best-of-show award plus the diorama_s silver medal was given to this completely scratch-build film studio:

Being in Heiden was again a really great thing. My son (9) bought himself a box of HaT Romans and talks about nothing else ever since.

Special thanks go to Francesco (Franznap) who gave me a sneak preview of the forthcoming 1/72 Baden jagers and Baden general staff. There are some really great figures coming ahead, that's for sure!

Detmold reloaded

Hey folks!

Among the little states that formed the so called Rheinbund was the Principality of Lippe. It was a small state with Detmold as a capital and never sent more then a batallion into active duty.
This battalion served both in Tyrol and in Spain and was finally newly setup in 1811 after facing a lot of losses in the catalonian campaign.

When Napoleon attacked Russia in 1812, these troops were integrated into the 5th Rheinbund regiment which was set together by troops from the principalities of Lippe and Anhalt.

The prinicipality units formed the so called 'division princiére under the command of General Daendels, eventually becoming part of the 34th division under General Morand. They saw action at Kowno and Wilna, where later stationed as garrison troops of the fortress of Danzig from where only a few men returned home.

The old ones:

I painted the fusiliers on basis of a uniform sheet several years ago - they were in fact my first bring-and-show-contribution for the very first FIGZ I visited.  That was even before I really was engaged in that Pre-Bardin-uniform project. In the meantime, the way of presentation - basing, style, intention - has changed very much.

In addition, I not only found Knoetel pictures about Lippe units, but also a Histofig plate. They showed the complete range of unifoms of this battalion and as I found it unlikely to scrape off the old figures from their sandy base, I just decided to paint this unit once more.

No, that's not a painting error on the drummers' pompom and the grenadiers plume. It's a light reflex. :-(

Plus I found some new uniform plates for Frankfurt soldiers - so I'm sorry that I'll have to refurbish that unit as well. And colonial units... My oh my...

The Illyrien regiment

Here's another unit for my Pre-Bardin uniform project. In fact, this one was quite difficult to paint - not because the uniform is that much complicated (except from the stripes-and-blue-circles-pattern on the drummers' arms) but because it's one of these units whith a uniform design that seems to be heavily disputed among the various artists.


Boissellier, Marbot, Knoetel, Humbert - the well-known painters of Napoleonics units all seem to have gone wild about this subject. Some show white, some black gaiters or light infantry boot-style gaiters, with or without tassels, in red, white, whatsoever. There are pictures with red and pictures with blue epaulettes - same with cuffs. Total confusion.

What is sure is that the Illyrien regiment was founded in 1810 with general uniform style of French light infantry. The Illyrien provinces were the former Austrian occupations along the Adriatic sea - Istria, Croatia, Dalmatia, Carinthia - with Ljubljana as a capital. It existed until 1813.

Parts of the correspondence between Napoleon, his military attaches and the responsible governors and officers for this regiment still exist. It seems that its' worth in battle was rather poor. When on action away from its' country of origin, the regiment suffered badly from desertion.

Well - I had to make decisions. So I went with Humbert and Knoetel. Others may tell me that this might be 'historically incorrect' - but then they must proof me that their sources are more accurate. ;-P

Some Italians

Meanwhile, the long-term Pre-Bardin-Uniform project continues. I have just finished another more unusual unit: Italian coast guard (cannoniers garde-côtes).
It's not that much that I found out about this unit, except that they were organized at company strength - approximately 120 men - and that the highest given rank among them was sergeant-major. Because of that, I've attached an NCO to the trooper and the drummer.

As no officer was mentioned in the reglementary, I suppose that they stood under the command of a fortification commander or were attached to other units - garrison battalions, for example

Not the most splendid example of work, I know. It's more kinda standard sort of... whatever, they're not that bad anyway - and I have completed another unit. ;-)

An experiment: Berg chevaux leger

I stumbled accross a picture of a light cavalry lancer of the Grand duchy of Berg (one of the many German minor states allied with Napoleon), dressed up in white and crimson (or dark pink, if you like). It fascinated me so much that I wanted to have one of my own.

Unfortunately, this is a unit not produced in 1/72 - as far as I know. I had to build one. But how?
At first: the uniform is basically that of a line lancer, except from the cords and strings and - of course - the Czapka hat. Czapkas were Ulans' hat of choice - but who has single lancers and single Ulan heads? Franznap has. So I placed a small order.

This is how the result looks like.
Second epaulette, cords and the small ribbons on the button sides have been added with green stuff.

Same with the Czapka, where I added cords, plume and the front plate.

I can't help loving that uniform. Flamboyant, colourful and well... something different then the usual black, blue and green.

Quite a lot of people have painted up some conversions - now I've got my own one.

Adding the guards

Finally, I have found the right dyes. So here are the Italian guard grenadiers for my Pre-Bardin uniform project.

Looks as if this is going to be the last project contribution for some weeks. I still have Italian coast guards at 90% on my desk, but as long as I've got some free time, I'm mainly working on my contributions for this years' competitions at the ISSC show in Heiden.

The figures for that are completed (nothing Napoleonic this year!), now it's diorama time. Which is always the hardest part of it.

Italian line grenadiers

One by one, I'm completing the Italian section of my Pre-Bardin uniform project.
I just checked the date when I started this project and was stunned that it was almost four years ago.
And I have only painted half of the over 400 figures from my to-do list.

Today, I present you the grenadiers of all seven Italian line infantry regiments of 1812.
Hope you like them.