Soiree Flamenco - Peninsular War 1812 by King Derelict - Art Girona - 54 mm

[king derelict]

This took my eye when I was ordering the last figures from Art Girona. I'm not sure its a wise choice; at least to me, it seems hard to capture dynamic motion in static figures which is why I like the A-G casual poses. The little scene appealed so I ordered it and will see how it works. I'm not sure the Spanish civilians were always enchanted with their French invaders so I have thought about adding a knife hilt to the back of the dancers skirt to make it a little edgier but we shall see. There seemed to be a lot of spare time while other things were drying so I opened the bag and started fiddling

 

I decided there was no good reason to leave the dancers arm separate so I glued into place and the fit was good enough to not need a pin. Similarly the way the guitar and arm fit onto the soldier they seem self supporting and didn't seem to require a pin. The soldiers head was pinned as is becoming standard practice for me.

I plan to build the bases into a single piece at the end of the painting.

The shaded primer has been applied and shows another nice set of A-G castings.

I've started with the initial glazes on both figures. I'm trying to generate two different skin tones. The painting notes describe the dancer as a gypsy so I am trying for a darker tone than the French soldier. His rather agonising posture is because he will be sat on a stool in the fullness of time which should make him a little more relaxed.

Now I am at a point where my lack of knowledge about Napoleonic uniforms runs out and I'm not helped that for this kit A-G only provide a front view (and I also think some of the details are shaky)

The French soldier is described as a Line Infantry Grenadier and the uniform looks right for that. I believe that epaulettes, facings and cuffs would be red, cross belts White with red borders possibly. Any information on these items would be very gratefully received

Thanks for looking in on yet another miniature.

Alan

 

[Old Collingwood]

Alan   this  might help  with  the  French  Grenadier Scheme  of the  time   - 

 

OC.

[king derelict]

33 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Alan   this  might help  with  the  French  Grenadier Scheme  of the  time   - 

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. That clears things up nicely. It also suggests that I'm not too far out with my shade of blue.

 

alan

[Old Collingwood]

1 minute ago, king derelict said:

Thank you very much OC. That clears things up nicely. It also suggests that I'm not too far out with my shade of blue.

 

alan

Glad  to help  mate,   I used  them   for my   Figure painting   there  are   lots  of different  ones    -  

 

http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/detail_uniformes_uniteBR.php?rubrique=U&uniformes=112&drapeau=

 

 

OC.

[king derelict]

23 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Glad  to help  mate,   I used  them   for my   Figure painting   there  are   lots  of different  ones    -  

 

http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/detail_uniformes_uniteBR.php?rubrique=U&uniformes=112&drapeau=

 

 

OC.

Thank you so much OC; that's a great resource.

Alan

[king derelict]

A day of faces. I still find them very challenging. The details are about the limit of my vision even with magnification and steadier hand would be nice. I tried a suggestion from @Jack12477 and used the tip of a pin loaded with paint for the pupils of the eyes and that was much better than trying to get a round dot from the brush. In spite of the difficulties I find the faces to be one of the most interesting parts of the painting. A touch of colour and the whole face alters and expressions change with eye and mouth details.

I was amused that for the first time my camera recognised both these two as "faces" so maybe I'm getting better. I still tend to end up with an expressions bit beyond my control rather than exactly how I want it but hopefully these are early days. I did get the soldiers teeth picked out so I am feeling a bit triumphant about that.

The dancers hair is dull and I am trying think how to bring it to life. A touch of clear gloss maybe drybrushed on? I have a red - black paint and I am wondering about touching some of that into the hair to break up the flat black.

Eyebrows need a little work here but its getting there. I added another white glaze which is probably enough and I need to build up the blue and sort out the red details.

 

Thanks for looking in, the likes and comments.

 

Alan

 

 

 

[king derelict]

I added the gypsy ear rings to the dancer and some gloss coating sparingly to her hair. That seemed to complete this figure so I completed the base. Rather simplistically, trying for a dusty patch with a bit of rather dry grass. She would hardly be dancing in a bramble patch so I kept if basic.

And with the improved photo set up

The Frenchman has had the basic uniform completed. I'm still not sure about his coat turnbacks and I need to add buttons but hopefully let me know if you see something badly wrong.. I have added dust to his boots and gaiters. I am not sure whether to muddy his pants. Off stage I have started on the guitar, missing arm and shako - and teh essential stool.

Thanks for looking in and for the likes and helpful comments

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Great work Alan   -   tunic turn backs  should  be  White  mate,  and  the  buttons  a  Brass  colour  also  the  sleeve cuffs  should have a  Yellow  edging  along the  raised  edge,  all belts  White  with Brass  buckles.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

7 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Great work Alan   -   tunic turn backs  should  be  White  mate,  and  the  buttons  a  Brass  colour  also  the  sleeve cuffs  should have a  Yellow  edging  along the  raised  edge,  all belts  White  with Brass  buckles.

 

OC.

Thank you for the kind words and the advice. I’ll add the buttons and yellow edges to the cuffs. 
Alan

[Old Collingwood]

20 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Thank you for the kind words and the advice. I’ll add the buttons and yellow edges to the cuffs. 
Alan

Glad I could help  Alan.

 

OC.

[Jsk]

What an interesting vignette. The dancer's red skirt really shows the movement of the dance. The shading on that is great.

 

I did notice that the mould lines jumped out at me on these figures in the earlier pictures. Now that I've seen it I can't unsee it! Are you cleaning those up before painting? I usually just place an Exacto blade at 90 degrees to the line and run it down to scrape off the line. Though I have to admit cleaning figures is one of my least favorite modeling activities.

[king derelict]

9 hours ago, Jsk said:

What an interesting vignette. The dancer's red skirt really shows the movement of the dance. The shading on that is great.

 

I did notice that the mould lines jumped out at me on these figures in the earlier pictures. Now that I've seen it I can't unsee it! Are you cleaning those up before painting? I usually just place an Exacto blade at 90 degrees to the line and run it down to scrape off the line. Though I have to admit cleaning figures is one of my least favorite modeling activities.

Thank you Jeff. I use a small diamond file to clean up the mould lines but I find I miss a few and they show up when painted (and photographed). The soldier has one on his left leg that I thought I had removed. I’ll clean it up and repaint. Thanks for letting me know.

Alan

[king derelict]

Picking up again on the work bench. Most of the progress predates the tornado. The arm and guitar had already been added to the body and the paint touched up. Today was really parking him on the stool. adding his shako to the base and painting and adding his sabre briquet.

The yellow piping on the sleeves leaves a bit to be desired but I think its as good as I can get. The uniform may have a few errors but it follows the general uniform of a grenadier in a line infantry regiment. Thanks to OC @Old Collingwood its more accurate than the original Art Girona artwork.

Thank you for all the likes and the helpful comments as this developed. I think this one is finished.

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Great work Alan, those colours  came  out  spot on  -  lovely details mate.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

4 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Great work Alan, those colours  came  out  spot on  -  lovely details mate.

 

OC.

Thank you very much OC. I don’t know how you get the uniform details at 28 mm

I’m not sure what’s next. I had thought of a couple of Paras for the 80th anniversary of Market Garden but it got away from me

Alan

[Old Collingwood]

4 hours ago, king derelict said:

Thank you very much OC. I don’t know how you get the uniform details at 28 mm

I’m not sure what’s next. I had thought of a couple of Paras for the 80th anniversary of Market Garden but it got away from me

Alan

Lots of extra magnification is the key  (was)   when painting my figures, the  hardest  was painting the  Red White and Blue  on the  French Shako cocades  (those small   round disks under their plumes).

Looking forward to what you  do next  - Market Graden  would  be cool  with the Paras  - I used to know an old timer who was  serving over there  at the time  - he was  dropped  over by  a  Dak  with his chute.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

10 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Lots of extra magnification is the key  (was)   when painting my figures, the  hardest  was painting the  Red White and Blue  on the  French Shako cocades  (those small   round disks under their plumes).

Looking forward to what you  do next  - Market Graden  would  be cool  with the Paras  - I used to know an old timer who was  serving over there  at the time  - he was  dropped  over by  a  Dak  with his chute.

 

OC.

I hope the new glasses are working out well and painting is possible.

Yes dad did all his jumps from a Dakota . He thought it was much more civilized than going out of the hatch in the floor of a Whitley

Alan

[yvesvidal]

Alan,

 

That Flamenco diorama is a breath of fresh air and absolutely lovely. Very well done.

 

Yves

[Old Collingwood]

3 hours ago, king derelict said:

I hope the new glasses are working out well and painting is possible.

Yes dad did all his jumps from a Dakota . He thought it was much more civilized than going out of the hatch in the floor of a Whitley

Alan

Yep slowly getting used to them  -  not  done any  model work yet though.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

7 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Alan,

 

That Flamenco diorama is a breath of fresh air and absolutely lovely. Very well done.

 

Yves

Thank you very much Yves. I like the subjects of soldiers away from the battlefield. Art Girona make some very nice subjects. I have another multi figure French napoleonic diorama waiting. Les Bourres. Should be fun.

alan

[king derelict]

5 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Yep slowly getting used to them  -  not  done any  model work yet though.

 

OC.

I hope they are an improvement for your eyes and then ease back into the painting when comfortable 

alan

[Old Collingwood]

12 minutes ago, king derelict said:

I hope they are an improvement for your eyes and then ease back into the painting when comfortable 

alan

Thank you mate.

 

OC.

[GrandpaPhil]

Very nicely done!

[king derelict]

Thank you Phil. It’s been a very enjoyable work 

alan