Sunday, 9 January 2011

Champagne Charlies

These chaps are the rank and file of the cavalry for my Praetorian guard cavalry elements; champagne corks seem an appropriate temporary base for these.  I'll eventually have 2 units of 6, as the cavalry detachments of the two 24-man cohorts I have planned.  I may eventually end up with 3.

I've just taken advantage of a clear and sunny London day to gloss lacquer them.  It'll be a while before the unit gets finished, because the command figures I ordered from Black Tree Designs (in September, grrr) still haven't arrived.  I've chased and ordered some more.

I know, somewhere, I have another 3-4 dozen Black Tree cavalry, but can I find the blighters?  I've been scouring the lead mountain, but so far to no avail...
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10 comments:

  1. Scullmeister9 January 2011 at 12:58

    They're coming along very nicely.

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  2. Guidowg9 January 2011 at 14:10

    Looking good BRBC. I'll be watching with interest to see how your project comes along.

    I've tried painting horse & rider separate but find I have less problems if I glue them together first.

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  3. DeanM9 January 2011 at 17:10

    They're looking good. I really like the helmet sculpting and the scorpion shield design. Dean

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  4. Der Tsstler9 January 2011 at 17:11

    the decals are VVV, aren't they ?

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  5. Christopher(aka Axebreaker)9 January 2011 at 17:12

    Very nice and really like the shade of blue.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  6. BigRedBat9 January 2011 at 17:29

    Thanks chaps! Another year or two and I'll have the unit completed. ;-) The riders are nicely sculpted, I think.

    Yes DT they are VVV transfers. I had to cut them up to fit them around the shield bosses, so it was a bit fiddly. The blue is to match the colour of the LBMS Praetorian shields I expect to use.

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  7. Gabriele Campbell9 January 2011 at 20:27

    Heh, you won't want to meet the originals of those in a dark alley. ;)

    Do you know what materials the Romans used to get such a pretty blue? (It's another item on my research list: Roman dyes.)

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  8. BigRedBat9 January 2011 at 23:40

    Hi Gabrielle, I rather fear that the Romans never achieved that blue. Just possibly they could have imported ludicrously expensively imported Lapis Lazuli, maybe, from Afghanistan? I have a few units in blue shields, probably a few too many.

    But it is a very pretty blue!

    Simon

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  9. Larry27 November 2011 at 13:16

    What do you have the figures attached to?

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  10. BigRedBat27 November 2011 at 13:26

    Hi Larry,

    The figures are drilled and mounted on brass rod, which is pushed into the cork. The champagne corks have a 2p coin stuck to the flat underside, to gice them a little weight, and the coin has magnetic sheet stuck on it which holds them upright on my tray.

    Wehn they are finished, I snip the brass rod off at 2mm length from the minis bums, and this fits into a hole drilled into the horses' saddles.

    Cheers, Simon

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Thanks for commenting. I will post this as soon as I am able to review it.