Up the Nile: Mounted Infantry, Second El Teb Added- Page 3- 29/04/2021

[Atheling]

Hi,

I've been experimenting with speed painting in order to get a decent number of Beja onto the tabletop. Some years ago now I managed to get eleven (yes, you read that correctly; eleven!) to a finished stage by using my normal many layers method. This was simply not going to do the job. Certainly not if I was ever going to have the numbers on the tabletop that I desired!

I've bunged a few of pictures into this post, two are of my experimental speed painting technique and one of a kit bashed Beja which hopefully shows what is possible by simply doing a little planning and foresight.

All the details of how I went about sped painting the Beja here and more examples of some kit bashing to create more variety can be seen on my blog here:
https://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.com/2020/07/first-painted-perry-miniatures-beja-and.html

Speed Painted Beja:



Kit Bashed Sample:

[Eric the Shed]

great stuff - looking forward to seeing more

[Diablo Jon]

I have just left a comment on TMP about these might as well repeat it here..

They look good. I'd even go as far to say I prefer the speed painted ones over the ones that took you a long time…

[FifteensAway]

The Old Choice: do we paint a few figures nicely or a lot figures adequately.  Well, no choice for me, I have too many so it is definitely adequate at best.  Your 'adequate' is pretty good.

[Atheling]

great stuff - looking forward to seeing more

The other half of this little lot being metal required  a good coat of gloss varnish before they got their coat of matt this morning so given that I haven't missed any nook and crannies with the matt varnish I hopefully have more to show tomorrow

I have just left a comment on TMP about these might as well repeat it here..

They look good. I'd even go as far to say I prefer the speed painted ones over the ones that took you a long time…

Yeah, I have just read it prior to popping over to LAF again

I don't think it's an unfair judgement TBH. The 'speed painted' models do look a bit better- perhaps it's the tendency to over do the skin tones, something that works well on fabrics but maybe not so on flesh.

[Plynkes]

Wonderful stuff! Just love your style. If that's speed painting then we should all live life in the fast lane.


I'd query the name of the thread, though. Beja were involved in the campaigns on the Red Sea coast, they never got much nearer than about three hundred miles from the Nile.


Sorry, reverted to being Private Picky of the Picky Patrol for a minute there! 

[Atheling]

The Old Choice: do we paint a few figures nicely or a lot figures adequately.  Well, no choice for me, I have too many so it is definitely adequate at best.  Your 'adequate' is pretty good.

Thanks- funnily enough quite a few, mostly on other fora, have commented that my speed painting is better then my more layered approach 

Wonderful stuff! Just love your style. If that's speed painting then we should all live life in the fast lane.

Thanks- there should be another seven ready tomorrow- they're a day behind the last lot as they were all metal and needed a good coat of gloss prior to matting down.

I'd query the name of the thread, though. Beja were involved in the campaigns on the Red Sea coast, they never got much nearer than about three hundred miles from the Nile.

Sorry, reverted to being Private Picky of the Picky Patrol for a minute there! 

No worries, Private Picky has on occasion been know to reside within me too

Hadendowa then? 

[Atheling]

Hi,

I managed to get seven more Beja varnished yesterday and experienced my very first problems with Windsor and Newton Professional Matt Varnish where some speckling had occurred. This took me by surprise as I have never had any problems with Windsor and Newton Professional Matt Varnish Spray until yesterday. The mystery was compounded by the fact that the humidity in my part of the country was quite low yesterday.

I gave the mini's another coat of Windsor and Newton Professional Matt Varnish last evening, skipping the stage where I would immediately add a brush on acrylic gloss over the speckling (much more of a problem when I was using HMG Matt varnish adopted prior to finding Windsor and Newton many years ago), I simply applied the W&N Matt varnish again and the mini's have come out well. In effect, an experiment on speed painted models so less of a 'loss' if missing the re-glossing stage was missed out and it all went pair shaped.

In the meantime, the Beja painting frenzy continues on my painting desk

As usual more information and 360 degree pics can be found on my blog here:
https://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.com/2020/07/more-beja.html

Pics:

[Smokeyrone]

They look great

[Digits]

Absolutely, they are really cool fella.   Now to read the blog.

[Atheling]

They look great

Thanks Smokey- appreciated.

Absolutely, they are really cool fella.   Now to read the blog.

Thanks

Oh, and let me know what you think of the blog. I'm of a mind that I have a tendency to waffle so any feedback would be great

[Digits]

Lol...gonna take a number of visits!  I hadn’t bargained on it being such a treasure trove!

I’m only worried I’m going to come away with too many new projects.....you are a machine!

[Atheling]

Lol...gonna take a number of visits!  I hadn’t bargained on it being such a treasure trove!

That's really lovely of you to say so  Oh so much appreciated.

I’m only worried I’m going to come away with too many new projects.....you are a machine!

Welcome then, to your doom 

[Plynkes]

Hadendowa then? 

Hadendowa are the particular sub-group of Beja that fought the British in the Red Sea littoral. But they still never went anywhere near the Nile. There were no "Fuzzy Wuzzies" in the Nile campaign. You want different figures if you wish to accurately represent that. But if you just want some cool-looking Sudanese and you aren't all that worried about button (or hairstyle) counting then you're cool.


"Fuzzy Wuzzies" are good for the first, second and third battles of El Teb, Tamai and some skirmishes with the Egyptians early on. That's about it, historically speaking. Unfortunately they aren't any use for the second Suakin campaign, as they had adopted the Ansar uniform and shaved their heads by then.

[Atheling]

Hadendowa are the particular sub-group of Beja that fought the British in the Red Sea littoral. But they still never went anywhere near the Nile. There were no "Fuzzy Wuzzies" in the Nile campaign. You want different figures if you wish to accurately represent that. But if you just want some cool-looking Sudanese and you aren't all that worried about button (or hairstyle) counting then you're cool.

Yeah, I was just yanking your chain a little bit

"Fuzzy Wuzzies" are good for the first, second and third battles of El Teb, Tamai and some skirmishes with the Egyptians early on. That's about it, historically speaking. Unfortunately they aren't any use for the second Suakin campaign, as they had adopted the Ansar uniform and shaved their heads by then.

Thanks. That's pretty clear. i'll be getting around to Egyptians at some point purely so kick Hicks Pasha's proverbial arse if nothing else

The lack of variation with the bit of an oversight with the Perry Mahdist wars range in that thee is loads of variation in terms of numbers in their Beja packs- 12 packs if you include the camels. Less so with the Kordofan packs- 5 packs. But the Nile Arab and Late Ansar packs are limited to two packs apiece which is a real shame. I'm certain that they would sell like hot cakes if the number of packs of the above were to be enlarged upon in line with the Beja packs.

I've got another "hush hush" project that I'm waiting for delivery of that will be keeping me busy for quite come time but it's all Beja for now with some Brits thrown in for good measure if I get the time.

BTW, how do the Castaway Arts sculpts compare size wise and more importantly quality wise with the Perry Offerings? Do you think many of their sculpts would accept Perry plastic heads?