Prussian Leib Garde - Dresden 1813

Regiment of the Day

Last varnish experiment before settling on a 'standard' way to apply the varnish.

Some Prussian Garde in full gloss finish. Looks anything but 'realistic', but I do like the way it makes these special troops stand out !!

A few bases of Garde Grenadiers  and supporting Garde Jaeger. (white plumes for the Guard - line Grenadiers have the black plumes I believe).

Whilst on the subject of massive plumes, note that the officer is white over black with silver shako fittings, and NCOs are black tip over white with gold shako fittings.  Privates are all white with white shako fittings, and a silver Garde star.

I don't really know whether that is 100% correct for the given campaign .. any comments on that ?

Jaegers operating in pairs, as they should.  From what I can tell, the only difference (worth painting at this scale) is that the Garde Jaegers have the little 'Lintzen' stripes on the collar and cuffs.   Probably a bit of extra lanyard as well for the marksman award.

If you can dig up a more recent East German DDR braided lanyard - they are almost identical to the 1813 model.

Extreme gloss finish for the Gardesmen - slightly OTT perhaps, but they do stand out on the table.

Prussian Reserve Infantry Regiment 11

Regiment of the Day

More varnish experiments - this time going real heavy on the gloss coat, wait for a few days, and then a light matte coat to bring it back to matte.

A week later - no frosting !  It works, Yay !

I like the unit too - these reserve regiments look quite 'modern' for the period, very warlike actually.

The usual mix of whatever dirty colours are currently sitting on the palette when it comes to painting the pants for the reserve units.

Varnishing II - French 27/50e Ligne - Jena Auerstadt 1806

Regiment of the Day

Second experiment with varnishing ... this time hitting them after the gloss coat with a very very light airbrush spray of vallejo matte varnish.

Back to a full matte - works nicely I think.

Varnishing - French 33e / 85e Ligne - Wagram 1809

Regiment of the Day

Taking the plunge with varnishes now. Had nothing but rotten experiences with varnish in the past - yellowing, frosting, etc, etc.

Some of the new UV stablised urethane varnishes now seem to do the trick nicely.

Here are a couple of units of regular old French line with a splash of JoSonjas gloss coat - seems to do the trick OK.

Some of these I am hitting with vallejo matte varnish afterwards, just experimenting with what works and what doesnt.

Seems like the best approach is to make sure there is decent gloss coat BEFORE applying the matte coat ... give it a day or more to dry thoroughly, and then hit it with a super thin matte coat - just a light dusting with the airbrush brings it back to matte, with zero frosting, and no loss of detail.

Anywhere, here are some marching out in full gloss ... bit of variety, and it gives them a nice 'toy soldier' look I think.

I think what I will do in future batches is go for a reasonably heavy gloss coat in all cases, and then use a real light dusting of matte afterwards.

In some cases, I can then leave some of the leatherwork like boots or shakos a little shiny, to represent some very nicely polished up units.

I reckon that good old-school Prussians and various Guard units for example should be immaculately turned out, with exceptionally shiny boots and headgear !

A slight satin finish is probably a good thing to leave behind on skintones as well .. what do you think ?

The miracle of IsoPropyl Alcohol

Tip of the Day

On another site somewhere, some time ago, I read about using Isopropyl Alcohol to clean brushes.

If you are using acrylics such as Vallejo model color - which tends to dry very hard after a few days, then  I am pleased to report that this stuff does an excellent job of  restoring life to your favorite brush.

All those little dried up particles of acrylic paint that gather in the head of the brush and cause the tip to spread out .... gone !

Well pretty much gone anyway. After a quick thrashing in the alcohol, the whole brush recovers it's smoothness and fine tip.

So from now on, before any painting session, Im giving all the brushes a quick re-wash in this miracle substance before use.

Give it a go !