1:16 French Cuirassier

[von Lucky]

Lovely stuff! Something I don't see much of, but I can appreciate the conversion and painting.

[wolfkarl]

Glad to see your continuing with this project. It's looking great, the detail work on the hilt is a nice addition.

[DintheDin]

It is coming out slowly, but when finished it will be one of your best gems, for sure!
I love the 5 o'clock shadow on the cuirassier's face!  Cheers!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Vanvlak: Cheers. To be honest I was quite lucky with it. First two of the bits fit rather well right away. The third one was a bit of a headache, but it didn't take excruciating hours as I had thought it would. Yeah, I know what you mean about the disembodied head. Thanks for the comment on the metal. I wasn't quite sure if it's looking quite right yet. Of course it technically should have some more scratches and the mandatory "bullet dent in the lower left region" (because for some reason they look the best in that spot).

@von Lucky: Thanks very much! Yeah, I didn't have much choice on the conversion. The kit basically says "either you add the basket or you don't [we don't supply parts for it], but if you don't and people will point and laugh at you".

@wolfkarl: Yar, glad I found the time! I had hoped to finish him until the 11th, because I'll attend our annual historical wargames show then and I need new stuff to display at my Battle Brush Studios table. But with all the other projects and now moving house... it may get a bit tight.

@DintheDin: Cheers! I try not to get too hasty on things on this model. Painting the face surely was the most fun and fluent step on this model yet.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Right, shows are coming up, and I better bring stuff to showcase. So I decided to finally finish the Cuirassier!





Things aren't proceeding half-bad really. He's not finished yet, but I'm getting there. However, I ran into a very annoying problem - For some reason the scabbard and the rest of the left hand (both of which I hadn't glued on to date) have disappeared from the box I kept them in. That's what you get for not finishing a project for months. Grrrr. Put quite a dent in my motivation...

[miltiades]

There are no words to describe it . This is really awsome

[DintheDin]

Horse and rider are stunningly impressive! Really lifelike! And you are one of the few who gives so special attention to the horse! Such details as the different hue of the front and the back hooves the fading of the socks, the eye so well done, I even see traces of sweat on the hind!  I love this horse! 
For the rest of the left hand missing (which I wish with all my heart that you'll find) I may suggest that your ingenuity and craft may find a way to hide this problem, by making the rider holding some object - a captured flag maybe? 
Already what I see is worth of your effort and I wish you good look until the completion of this great work! 

[wolfkarl]

Oh No! I know how you feel, this has happened to me as well. The model is stunning and WHEN you finish it should take "Pride of Place" in your display.

[Plutarch64]

Fantastic work, but very annoying about the hand. With my limited modelling skils I'd probably call it a battle wound and put four rolled up bits of greenstuff on the ground next to the model, but given the outstanding quality of your output I'm sure you will find a better solution than that.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@miltiades: Thank you very much!

@DintheDin: Thanks once more, Sir! I've been harshly taught to pay attention to details on horses by a gentleman I paint a whole lot of horses for. He's been an avid horserider and -painter all his life, so he's got a lot of knowledge (and opinions; and rightly so!) on things to pay attention to when painting horses. The missing fingers on the left hand weren't the big problem - these I could have added with putty (even with my limited sculpting skills, because the way he holds the hand the fingers are barely visible anyway). It was the scabbard missing that would have been the really annoying thing.

@wolfkarl: Yar, it's annoying when that happens, isn't it.

@Plutarch64: a bunch of GS sausage'fingers' on the ground? Well, that would certainly make the whole model 'tell a story'.


Right, thanks for all the comments and the honest sympathy for my situation. We're all modellers, and I'm sure we all misplaced important parts before. Originally I'd planned to go to bed, but after reading your comments I felt like I must set the record straight about the latest developments. Today I spend a few hours getting stuff from the old flat into the new one again and one of the very first things I found was the sprue with the scabbard and fingers! w00t!

So here's the chap with the scabbard attached:


Just as with the reigns and straps which hold the stirrups, these are not included in the kit. For the white straps holding the scabbard I just cut up some white cardboard right off my photo background and painted them a little where required. Next on the to-do list is the reigns. Those will be a whole different challenge because these require me to ultimately attach the rider to the horse. And much more challenging than that the reigns will be very delicate and make handling and transporting the model problematic, especially seeing as how I plan to have him with me on at least 4 shows this year.

I'll have to check if I use black photo cardboard again for the reigns or go with more flexible thin strips of plastic. At least that stuff can't really get crumpled up, and moisture won't mess it up. So either that or maybe cardboard/paper with a coat of PVA or varnish at least.

[DintheDin]

This is great news!!! Cheers!

[Ben Waterhouse]

Magnificent, well worth the effort.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@DintheDin: Oh yes, I'm quite relieved.

@Ben Waterhouse: Thanks, Sir!


Okay, I recently took a 'what's on the painting table' shot which nicely illustrates the size of the Cuirassier.



Today I took the plunge and added the reigns and straps on the stirrups:






That's another important milestone done. Now I still have to neaten up some things, especially on the horse. Preferrably without ruining the reigns again. Speaking of which, I made the reigns and stirrup straps from plastic rather than cardboard as I'd planned earlier. I'm rather sure it's a more useful choice (less susceptible to moisture and getting crumpled up). The reigns were cut from the back side of a folder (one of these: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41WofyB%2B33L.jpg). Upside: comes with a rather fitting texture, downside: doesn't take paint too well.

[Cubs]

That really is very beautiful.

I think I saw some Mini-Art 1:16 kits going very cheap in the bazaar earlier on. They'd look lovely after meeting your brush I'm sure.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Cubs: Thanks for the comment and the heads up! Having recently moved and realized that I just got WAY too much stuff in general I guess I'll have to restrain myself.