Military Miniatures

For a change this French Dragoon Officer will be sitting in a cafe (or inn).
The building will have to be scratch built using mounting board (the thick card that we use to mount my wife’s watercolours before framing).

Measuring the height of a typical 54mm model soldier, adding another third or so for the height of the ceiling gave me the rough height of the card wall that was needed.

The wall had to have a thickness much greater than the thickness of the card, so I cut two sheets and spaced them apart with scraps of card. Then the ends of the wall were sealed with thin strips of card to make it look neater.
I used PVA glue throughout.

Next came the small section of roof. I decided to make it look like a spanish tiled roof as this was to be in Spain during the Peninsular War.
Again, the tiles were cut from mounting card, bent and then glued to make the roof of the cafe.

Using a sharp hobby knife I cut the window opening in the wall, cutting one side of the wall first, and then using this opening as a template to cut through the other side. Frame and window sill were again cut from mounting board and glued in place.

The floor was cast out of plaster of paris and, whilst still wet, the ‘flagstones’ were scribed with a sharp point. These ‘joints’ between the flagstones need to be cleaned up when dry, and the floor will need a lot of weathering.

Now the outside of the wall was given a dirty white wash followed by spatters of mud and dirt.
I have a lot more to do on the outside yet, and will be adding mould/wet patches and possibly a creeper.

Similarly the inside will need a wash of colour. As you can see I have started to add some cracks in the wall as well as some dirty patches that will not look so obvious once they have been partially covered with a coloured wash.

A new project, still in the Napoleonic era, but with more of a scratch building slant.

I have bought the “French Officer, 4th Dragoons 1812″ from Andrea Miniatures (S7-F10) but with the intention of doing a different scene from those I have done in the past.

This model is of a Dragoon sitting on a wooden chair having just completed his meal. He is leaning back, facing away from the table with a pipe in his hand.

Following some research I have come up with an idea for a small diorama …………… so watch this space and see how it unfolds.

To be honest, I do not know how well this Napoleonic diorama will turn out as a number of the pieces will have to be constructed from raw material. One of these pieces will be something I have never done before, so a new challenge for me.

The model kit box has been opened, and I have cleaned up the castings, filed and shaped the arms etc so that they are a good fit onto the body, and have undercoated them in white primer.

Unfortunately the chair needed much more work, and I have just spent (at a table in the sun in the garden) most of the afternoon filing, drilling and dry building the chair to get all the small parts to fit snugly together.

The holes in the back of the chair needed to be drilled out a bit deeper and a bit wider.

All the bars of ‘wood’ were test fitted into the newly drilled holes to check for fit and alignment.

Now the chair and the table are ready for undercoating in white primer.

With these two major elements built I can now measure up (roughly) for a base which will give me an idea how much room I will have for the rest of the elements of the diorama.

The reins have been cut, painted and added to the Polish Lancer’s horse.

All that is left is to change the colour (hue) of the horse’s mane and tail, and add highlights on its flanks.

My next two projects are being planned.
Both Napoleonic, but both very different from each other…………