The Army of Frederick the Great (2 Viewers)

[Malcolm Britain]

As promised, here are the first 4 form the batch I purchased earlier this year.

View attachment 254129

There is an officer and 2 musketeers of the 22nd Regt with a staff officer looking on.

The officer was missing is spontoon so that has been made with wire and a cast head from Prince August mould, while the staff officer's cane is also wire with some dobs of glue to enhance the definition of the gold top.

More to come .... not sure when

John

Great stuff as ever John. These Stadden figures are something else. I am fortunate enough to own four prototypes being 3 British Dragoons in various at ease poses and a prototype General Wolfe reading a map. One day I will get round to giving them the final paint job they deserve.

 

[Oberstinhaber]

To change the subject on everyone' mind ......

I have been continuing may painting and this time is really rare set that John Eden had for sale on his eBay site last year.

It is an original set of castings, not a copy, by German make Hecker & Goros and titled "Manöverpause um 1760" or "Manoeuvre pause in 1760" according to the translator.

View attachment 258960

It looks like a scene in a tavern with a 1st Regt Dragoon confronting the owner while another 11th Regrt Dragoon is putting on his shoulder belt while a 9th Regt Cuirassier trumpeter leans back and a woman peers though the door.

When I get my diorama building out of storage I hope to pose these in better setup, but at the moment this all I can show ....

View attachment 258959

I still have loads more casting to get painted, so if I'm in 'lock down' in the coming months, that will provide sanity unless I run out of paint

John

Hi John,

You have restored my faith in human nature! Thank you. I had been thinking that you might have "moved on" from the 7YW, and I might never see any more of your beautifully painted Prussians. (beautifully painted Austrians would excite me even more!)

John Eden seems to have an inexhaustible supply of "relaxing" Prussians, Innkeepers and Tavern Wenches. All great stuff. Mine are in my "stash". It would be interesting to compare "stash" dimensions with the Baron.

Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Oberstinhaber

 

[Obee]

Great stuff as ever John. One day I will get round to giving them the final paint job they deserve.

Malcolm,

Thanks for your kind words about my troops

Like you I have been waiting for the 'one day' but with the coming situation, I'm sure I will have many days that will keep me busy in my studio ... the only problem is that I may run out of paint

John

 

[Obee]

Hi John,

I had been thinking that you might have "moved on" from the 7YW,

Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Oberstinhaber

NO WAY ........

I have about a dozen more Stadden Prussian Infantry to go, some British mounted Dragoons and some French ( coming later this year).

7YW is my 2nd favorite era to collect, only beaten by Napoleonic, and bot are SO colourful

Keep waiting this thread over the coming months ...

John

 

[Obee]

I have about a dozen more Stadden Prussian Infantry to go, s
Keep waiting this thread over the coming months ...

John

Here we go, I've started on a couple of Prussian Infantry which I'm painting as the 12th Regiment because there is nicely sculpted eagle on the face of the mitre cap, and I haven't any of this regiment in my Stadden collection. It's also shown in the catalogue and is the same figure reused as a Tradition of London Scale 54mm scale model soldier.



l hope the finish them this week, but I am really busy constructing more Billy Bookcases in my new Toy Soldier Room and have to shift whole the collection back .... something to do in 'lockdown' ???

John

 

[Obee]

Over the past month I have got some Ebay purchases ..... more castings to paint .....

Stadden ; Prussian Infantry from The Army of Frederick the Great.

View attachment 251448

Here are those figures as I bought them ..... I needed to fabricate a pom-pom for the drummer.

John

 

[Malcolm Britain]

These are going to look great John. Really looking forward to the finished column! I never realised that the sculpts were reproduced in the Tradition Model Soldiers series although I was aware of that CS had sculpted most (all?) of that Tradition range.

I also thank you for showing the work in progress ...really useful to see how a skilled craftsman does it.

Which undercoat do you use and do you think it so as not to obscure the fine detail on these sculpts?

 

[Obee]

These are going to look great John. Really looking forward to the finished column! I never realised that the sculpts were reproduced in the Tradition Model Soldiers series although I was aware of that CS had sculpted most (all?) of that Tradition range.

I also thank you for showing the work in progress ...really useful to see how a skilled craftsman does it.

Which undercoat do you use and do you think it so as not to obscure the fine detail on these sculpts?

Thanks for your kind words about my painting, I really appreciate that

This is a link to the Tradition website and the page 12th Infantry Regiment c.1756 showing the figures :
https://traditionoflondonshop.com/5..._c(dot)1756&osCsid=dr4m311s44fpsjeu3r094cbq07

As far a undercoat goes, I use a spray can from my local hardware store, but being in Australia, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to buy that brand in UK.
I use white to bright colours and grey primer for dull, like khaki or green uniforms.

Keep on looking, as I will post more images this week, but if you want to see more of figures I have painted, check out my website: http://members.upnaway.com/~obees/soldiers/

JOhn

 

[Obee]

I've done a bit more this afternoon ...

The white belts and the lace both on the grenadier and the drummer. The drummer's lace has a central red stripe, but that's a job in progress .....



Also the drum rim done, but some was smudged, so need to fix that

John

 

[Obee]

I've now finished these 2 figures ...



Painting the hats was helped with images I had from a trip to Germany in 2017 where i saw 2 mitre hats from the 12th Regiment

First one was in the Zitadelle at Spandau near Berlin



The second in the Army of Frederick the Great in the Plassenberg in Kulmbach, Bavaria



Hope you like the finished troops ??

John

 

[Malcolm Britain]

Super stuff John ..a big like. The black eagles on the mitre are a super touch but the red stripe on the lace? Did you use a brush or an ink pen? (and a 10x magnifier? )!

 

[Obee]

Super stuff John ..a big like. The black eagles on the mitre are a super touch but the red stripe on the lace? Did you use a brush or an ink pen? (and a 10x magnifier? )!

Malcolm, I used a brush for the central red line. The lace should be 2 stripes, but that's a bit beyond my painting skills especially at 1:32 scale

And YES, I do use a magnifying glass with a light around it, my eyes aren't that good any more !!!

Glad you like them,

John

 

[theBaron]

Finally getting some more things finished...

Another example of the Bosniak officer figure from Franklin Mint, painted this time in the summer uniform after 1763. The colors were reversed from those of the winter uniform:



And another example of Stadden's Duke of Brunswick portrait figure. I painted the figure in the uniform of Brunswick's regiment (Nr. 5), but with a star of the Order of the Black Eagle, instead of the Garter:




Two more Staddens, painted as captains in the uniform of Winterfeldt's regiment (Nr. 1):




Prost!
Brad

 

[Obee]

Finally getting some more things finished...

Prost!
Brad

Nice work Brad, glad to see more troops from this period, especially Staddens being brought to 'life'

I'm currently working on 2 mounted British figures from this period, a Horse grenadier and Scots Grey, both wearing mitre hats, and figures are ROSE Miniatures that I got from John Eden.

Later I hope to get on with more Prussian infantry in action by Stadden so 'watch this thread ...'

John

 

[Malcolm Britain]

Beautiful figures Brad. You have a great paint technique for the eyes. It is the commonest point of weakness on a lot of toy (perhaps that is a bot of an insult to Staddens?) soldiers but certainly not on yours! Great stuff

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Beautiful figures Brad. You have a great paint technique for the eyes. It is the commonest point of weakness on a lot of toy (perhaps that is a bot of an insult to Staddens?) soldiers but certainly not on yours! Great stuff

I totally agree with Malcolm. Your painting of the eyes ist outstanding and I also like the hue of the skin colour of your figurines very much. Difficult to get that right. Great job.
rgds
Wolfgang

 

[theBaron]

Thanks, guys!

Painting the eyes is a little bit of a modification from the technique I'd use on a scale model figure, but the secret is using an enamel. I use acrylics to paint most of the figure, but for painting eyes, an enamel stays wet enough long enough, and it's got the consistency of ballpoint pen ink, making it easy to draw out the eyelash line and add the pupil. That, and a brush with a fine point.

And after studying John Firth's work, and our late friend johnnybach's work, I started using a glazing technique for shading. I mix a little bit of a shadow color in 1 drop of water and 1 drop of clear acrylic (Future), just enough to tint the liquid. I brush that on and let it settle in the sculpted relief. Here are some other figures I painted as I worked on the technique. It really shows on the ladies' dresses:



They're from my Kaiser's Army/Berlin 1910 collection, by the way.

Thanks for looking!

Prost!
Brad

 

[Malcolm Britain]

Thanks for sharing those useful tips. The eyelash line really makes a good eye along with the correct positioning of the sclera. Do you use off-white for the "white" of the eyes?

 

[theBaron]

Thanks for sharing those useful tips. The eyelash line really makes a good eye along with the correct positioning of the sclera. Do you use off-white for the "white" of the eyes?

Hi, Malcolm, you're welcome, and thanks for your interest! Regarding the whites of the eyes, that's a good question. When I do paint them, yes, I'll use a light grey, right now, Folk Art's Light Gray. But I don't usually paint them, in 54mm. It depends on the casting. Stadden castings usually have good eye detail sculpted on, and the Sanderson civilians in that picture have excellent fine details. So to add the whites enhances the appearance of the finished figure. But in 54mm, it's often too small, so it's just the surrounding basic flesh color and black for the lash line and pupil.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Malcolm Britain]

Thanks for sharing your tips Brad. I tend to agree ...better not to use whote or off white on the eyes unles the eye detail on the casting is really good. A lot of painted figures (even commercial ones) display far too much white and often it is too bright. Looks bad on figures and looks really bad on horses. Old adage less is more certainly applies to the fine detail on 54mm figures.