Peninsular Allies - Light Dragoon….& lunch!

[OSHIROmodels]

The church looks promising 

[Shahbahraz]

Have a go yourself!  Honestly, getting to this stage is very simple.  All you need is some foam card (hobbycraft selling four large sheets for £10 right now...this has taken half a sheet.   Some pva glue, a ruler and scalpel.  I use dress pins to stabilise it whilst gluing.

It helps to have an old cork backed place mat to base it on.

Yes, I’m using casted roof tiles, but you can achieve the same with corrugated cardboard or plastic sheet tiling.

Next, you will need a pack of air drying modellers clay, about £3 to cover it with....

Looking great. My only concern with clay is that when I have used it in the past it tends to shrink a lot.

[has.been]

If afraid of clay shrinkage try thin filler mixed with PVA glue.
Paint it on with a cheap brush, then as it starts to dry, dab it
with that cheap brush. This will give an adobe like texture.
When dry give it a good look over. Any bits you don't like can
get a gentle sanding &/or another 'dabble' of filler/PVA.
When you are happy & it is completely dry, paint it.
First with a dark brown like Burnt Umpire.
2nd Dry brush with a medium brown (lots of interesting Match Pots out there)
3rd (& further coats)go lighter (& lighter) drybrushing as you go.
Worth doing a final (very) light 'dusting' on the bottom few (scale) feet of the building
& the ground around it. That will help the building look like it belongs there.

[Shahbahraz]

If afraid of clay shrinkage try thin filler mixed with PVA glue.
Paint it on with a cheap brush, then as it starts to dry, dab it
with that cheap brush. This will give an adobe like texture.
When dry give it a good look over. Any bits you don't like can
get a gentle sanding &/or another 'dabble' of filler/PVA.
When you are happy & it is completely dry, paint it.
First with a dark brown like Burnt Umpire.
2nd Dry brush with a medium brown (lots of interesting Match Pots out there)
3rd (& further coats)go lighter (& lighter) drybrushing as you go.
Worth doing a final (very) light 'dusting' on the bottom few (scale) feet of the building
& the ground around it. That will help the building look like it belongs there.

Building surfaces I use a few techniques. If it's MDF you can get surprisingly good results just attacking it at random with a dremel bit to create cracks and irregularities.



For other things, I use a grout mix, and just slap it on. Some people like to throw sand on afterwards, but I don't feel the need - it's overscale and unnecessary IMHO.

[Digits]

My plan is to mould the clay on, making a layer of pva behind it to help it adhere.  Score bricks, sets etc....let it dry.   Then, with a mix of polyfilla and pva, apply plaster over the clay.  That way I can leave patches of exposed brick / stone and I can fill the cracks as well....leaving any particularly cool cracks for effect.

[Digits]

WIP shot starting to add clay.  Mortar lines to be cleaned up as it dries.

[caveadsum1471]

Looking good, nice pantiles!
Best Iain

[has.been]

Bet you can't wait to for the painting & weathering stages.
They are the most fun, plus it means building is getting close to finished.

[Digits]

I’m in no rush.....in fact instead of working on it today, I’ve spend the last couple of hours cleaning and priming the next Scottish battalion.

Anyway, lots of clean up work as I go along as I’m not clever with clay, plus I don’t know how long I will be waiting for casting powder yet.

[Shahbahraz]

The church looks brilliant. Very clever work, although labour intensive! I shall be looking out for updates. 

[Digits]

Thanks, and I forgot to post after you did, the idea with the dremmel is simple but I agree can be very effective.

I may add more clay later....just starting to paint a few kilts......



Arrrrgggghhhh!   What a doofus!     I am tracking an order I made from Brigade Games in the US which should be with me courtesy of USPS within the next few days! Fingers crossed.

BUT!  I just noticed that in my haste to place what was a convoluted order, I accidentally missed out the mounted Scots officers complete with the Scots sapper, a figure I will need to complete this unit!

Bugger!

[Digits]

I decided last night that I will formalise my contribution to the Allied forces struggling to rally against my valiant Frenchmen.

To that end, here is my Order of Battle for a whole division of line infantry with light Dragoons assigned.

I already have the “Scots” brigade underway and have purchased all the minis for it.

I also have a box of plastic line Portuguese, a box of light Dragoons and all the 95th minis.

I suspect all the Colborne’s regiments will be a Front Rank along with most of the Portuguese being Perry miniatures.

I don’t want to detract too much from the French as I still have a way to go with them.



I realise I’ve not indicated 42nd as painted and I also need to edit notes, but I will do this on the next update.

[Eric the Shed]

great stuff - reminds me of my own peninsular project.... your terrain/figures however i suspect will look much better

[schoey]

Like the look of your buildings, nice to see how you have organised the troops.

[Digits]

Thanks chaps.

A bit of a tweak to the above organisation, mainly as I had just noticed the new Perry heavy Dragoons!

Btw...some of the command names are real, others clearly fictitious!