Napoleonic, WSS & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Friday 10 November 2017

Guest Spot - London Lobsters

Steve Cooney was kind enough to send me photos of some more of his ECW troops last week.


He writes:

Thought you might like to take a look at a couple of photos of an ECW unit I just refinished.

It's Sir Arthur Hesilrige’s Cuirassier Regiment, the Heavy Cavalry of Sir William Waller’s Parliamentarian Army 1643. Figures are Hinton Hunt with a couple of recasts to make up the numbers; Officers and Cornet are Hinton Hunt conversions and the trumpeter is a Les Higgins conversion.


Steve is very skilled with his conversion work - a true master of the soldering iron. He has recently supplied me with a shed-load of French Napoleonic infantry; these are mostly old Der Kriegsspieler castings, which he has modified to lengthen the legs a little, to make them more directly compatible with Hinton Hunt. I'm working my way through these, retouching as necessary to freshen the colours and rejuvenate them a bit. Retouching is always a challenge - knowing when to stop is important, and I have the further benchmark of trying to make sure that the figures end up somewhere close to the quality of Steve's original paintwork!

Since there will be a delay before my proposed Bavarian project can start in earnest (I'm waiting for a shipment of figures, and have a lot more to order up), this job will serve to keep my eye in. Because I'm using many colours simultaneously, I've set up a proper (well, improvised) wet palette, which is a big help, saving time and cutting down the waste of paint.

These French troops will need a few weeks' work, and I also have to collect some suitable command figures for them, but once completed they will contribute most of another division for my Salamanca forces.

Thanks again, Steve.




5 comments:

  1. A splendid looking unit Steve with clever conversions!

    Tony - will you be posting any work in progress pics of the French?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ian. I could do - a bit of a factory process at the moment. I'm doing the French in 3 preliminary batches. I've got about 70 fusiliers on the bottletops at present - I've broken that into two lots, the first of which might be ready for basing today or tomorrow. There is then a mixed batch of 30 voltigeurs and grenadiers (the grenadiers are Alberken, but a decent match for the DKs) and then I have to get together command figures for 5 battalions. I have some nice Art Miniaturen mounted colonels (though I have still to check they look OK for size with the DKs - if they're a bit big I'll use SHQ colonels) and the rest of the command will be Hinton Hunt or (possibly converted) SHQ - or whatever else I can find!

      I also have to face the challenge of printing some decent flags on my new printer - hmmm.

      When I've got this first batch ready for basing, I'll maybe do a quick photo. The idea is for "effective en masse", so they are not going to win any painting competitions. Never mind the quality, feel the width...

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  2. Indeed, a neat looking unit. Was it the Higgins Dragoon Steve used for the Trumpet? It fits really well.

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  3. Yes! They really call to mind Gilderesque, or similar, figures I've seen in photos from the 1970s or very early 80s. Lovely work.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  4. Lovely stuff, but massive compared to my 6mm lads. Must be nice painting figures you don't have to peer through a magnifying glass at! Mind you at least I'm spared the pain of head swops etc. Kudos to you Mr Cooney. Thanks for showing them to us Tony.

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