Having been tied up with commission pieces for a fair while, I have finally found the time to do a piece for the cabinet. Poste Militaires 90 mm Mounted French Dragoon has always been a great favourite of mine and I have wanted to re-do this particular figure for a very long time.
This will be the third time I have done this piece, but the first time it will be solely for me



Because of the pose, I wanted to utilise the way he is looking back over the flank of the horse, to create the feeling that he is on a 'scouting' mission. To help with this illusion, the base would have to support the feeling as well as the figure.

Whilst at Euro, I purchased the kit from 'Bonapartes', then went in search of a suitable base to complete the scene. Luck was on my side. I found exactly what I wanted at the first attempt.
While I was cleaning and prepping all the bits, I thought this would be a nice project for an SBS.
Also, I want to use the airbrush on the horse, to see how far I can push it on a smaller subject than I normally use it for.
Right, with the background to this SBS out of the way, on to the starting point, the base.
Having given the top surface a sand down in preparation for the groundwork, and decided where I wanted the horse to go, I then drilled a couple of holes to take the re-inforced mounting posts for the horse.

Very interesting Ron! . A lovely bit of wood. I was searching for this piece a few weeks ago for a relative. It would be interesting to know what your thoughts are about this Bonapartes edition vs the Original? However, I will be watching this thread very closely!

Regards,

Mark

With the base prepped, and the final position for the horse decided, it was time to start on the groundwork.
I wanted it to appear as if he had ridden up onto the top of a hill, and was looking down on an enemy patrol. This is another aspect where the base had to re-inforce the story. I was originally going to include a tree, but felt that this would 'lower' the perspective, so decided to keep the groundwork lower than the figure to enhance a feeling of height.
The hole in the base, next to the front legs, was an ideal area to use Vallejo's 'Still Water' effect on.
I put the side areas to good use for some broken tree branches/scatter.
As I began to build up the groundwork, I kept putting the horse back onto the base, to make sure it all blended nicely together. Once happy that all the elements tied together, I gave the whole base a couple of coats of 'Mr Clear super flat' to lock everything in place.





to be continued......

Hi mate, have to say that, overall, the casting is easily up to the standard Poste Militaire set. Detail is very crisp.
One thing I did note whilst cleaning up, the metal itself is slightly easier to work with/softer, than I remember it being back then.
I did have an issue with a couple of the pieces but, Paul at Bonapartes was kind enough to rectify it for me

Cheers

Ron

I can't wait to see more from this beauty. The start is indeed very promising.

Xenofon

Thanks Nap, glad you like the start. Yes, a true 'classic'. And Paul was very helpful once we cleared up a little confusion over a couple of the pieces.

Ron

Pleased you like the start of this Xenofon. Glad to have you watching.

Regards

Ron

Pulling up a chair for this one. Always fancied this model myself. Great looking start to this Ron.
Does the horse come bare like the red lancer?
Barrie

Nice job bringing this project together. Looking forward to the progression.

Bob

Hi Barrie, many thanks for kind words, and glad to have you on board.
Horse is not bare like Ray's later pieces.....stirrups/reins and tether are separate....along with saddle pack...rest is cast on with body......pic isn't great but gives you an idea.


Cheers

Ron

Nice one Bob. Glad you like the start

Cheers

Ron

Thanks for the info and pic Ron, had an idea for a swap around with riders but it wouldn't be possible without a lot of work and more money coming out of my pocket.

Barrie

greetings oh great and powerfull one, can i please have your autograph, before you display this model at the scots nats. in fact i dont think i will bother going,as you will clear the trophy table with this one. the light is def better in perth. i cant wait to see the end result, humbly yours ha ha / badger

.....don't know what your on mate.....but.....can I have some ........glad you like it though....I think ....!......hope end result lives up to your expectations Badger

Cheers

Ron

Oh dear, Badger, think you need to go to Specsavers! This is Ron's thread, Ron's SBS and Ron's model. Think you need to get on to Dundee council also about the lighting in deepest darkest Dundee, that way you might be able to see what's on the monitor in front of you.Lol. So looking forward to casting this up at Perth lol

Barrie

Cheers for that Barrie....wasn't sure if I was reading it right ....all those airbrush vapours

With the base done, time to move on to the prep of the kit itself.
As always with metal, I first primed all the parts/sub assemblies with Tamiya Fine Grey Primer, and left it to dry for 24 hours.
This was followed by a coat of Halfords Matt Black, which was left to dry for 90 minutes.
I then gave it a mist coat of GW Skull White. I apply the white in the 'zenithal' style (from the top only) to start with, and then turn the pieces and dust coat them across the surface only. Doing it this way, rather than directly at the piece, leaves nicely defined shadow areas.
The pictures explain what I mean.


continues in next post......

Now it's time to get some colours on the horse. As some of you will remember, I took a break a while back and, one of the reasons was, I wanted to return to my roots in airbrushing. Having used it successfully on the Scale 75 Bust, and the Dark Elf Assassin I posted on here a while back, I wanted to try it on something smaller. I know a lot of people don't agree with using airbrushes on figures but, to me at least, it is just another tool.
I want to depict a 'Dappled Bay' so I have chosen to use the Scale 75 'Wood and Leather' set for the base colours. These paints suit the airbrush very well and, they are very easy to work with.
First up was a coat of SC28 (Orange Leather) which gives me a nice warm base colour. This was applied in a few even layers, until the desired depth of colour was achieved.

Next came the first lites. For this I used a 50/50 mix of SC28 (Orange Leather) and SC27 (Iroko).
I mist coated this from the top first, then applied slightly heavier layer from below, to the belly area where the skin is thinner. I kept this layer thin, as I will return to the top hi-lites later.