The Grenadiers almost based
Both the Spanish Grenadier and the French Grenadier are painted and have now been glued onto the wooden base I have made for them.
The base was made from a strip of 6mm thick wooden strip that had been cut and glued to form a base with two levels, stained and then varnished. I have left the top of the base unvarnished to assist in affixing scenery.
In the picture below, the French Grenadier is on the left, the Spanish Grenadier on the right.
At the moment I have not decided on what scenery is to be added to the base. I can’t have too much on the base as the figures are meant to be moving towards each other and cannot do so if there is too much scenery in the way. So I have to keep the scenery at a minimum, but I want to try to make it interesting as there is quite a lot of the base to cover.
To simulate a battle scene I have added ‘interest’ by making a Spanish Grenadier’s Bearskin cap and embroidered bag out of modelling clay. This will be painted and then arranged on the base close to the Spanish Grenadier. It was not difficult to sculpt and it makes a change from the French Shakos or broken swords or muskets that are normally seen in model diorama scenes.
The figure of the French Grenadier still has casting marks which are just visible in places. Therefore these will be hidden by making the back and hem of his greatcoat dirty, which means that the base should show the ground being wet or muddy. I had an idea to make a rain puddle on the base with some muddy grass and the ground cut up by wheel tracks and foot prints. But first of all I will sketch out some ideas.