French Trapper & Shawnee Ally, French & Indian War, Ohio River Valley, Fall 1754

I'm continuing with my French & Indian war vignettes. This time in 54mm with Best Soldiers' "Following the Enemy" sculpted by Alan Ball. I must say, Alan has done an amazing job on the sculpting with this one. Impressive to say the least and Best Soldiers' resin casting was superb.

I set the time and place to the Fall of 1754 in the Ohio River Valley. In July of the following year British General Braddock and his expeditionary force would be defeated at the Battle of Monongahela. Accompanying Braddock was a young Virginia Lieutenant-Colonel named George Washington and a wagoner named Daniel Boone.

The kit comes with two trapper heads and two Indian heads. I chose one of each as you can see. There were no changes to the figures. The kit also comes with a marvelous base. Normally I don't use the bases supplied but, in this case, I used the base as the starting point for my own creation. I put together my usual Magic Sculpt foundation and placed the base on the back two thirds. I then added the front one third including the fallen tree and blended everything together. I followed this up with some static grass and leaves (from my wife's spice cabinet).

Painting was all done with acrylics, primarily Reaper and Vallejo. Tying everything together with liberal use of Citadel Shades/Washes.

Thanks for looking,
Ken

Another nice one, Ken ! How'd you make the nameplate?

Nice work Ken. You've got ground work down pat.

Thank you sir!


As for the nameplate. I use a small brother p-touch label printer that works stand alone or attached to a pc. It accepts a 3/4 inch white on black cartridge tape that feeds and cuts automatically. It can handle 3 lines of text with a double line border. After printing, I apply the tape to an old 1/16 inch thick black plastic binder to add thickness, and cut it out with an exacto knife. It provides me with standard looking nameplates for all my work. Since I make my own walnut bases and prefer shorter rather than taller bases, the nameplate size works well for me.

Cheers,
Ken

Thanks Mike! I really enjoy making the groundwork and definetly have standardized my approach.

Cheers,
Ken

That"s a lovely vignette. Great scenery, great setting, great paintwork!!

Excellent work, Ken - especially the base & groundwork, sets the whole scene off nicely.

Awesome work. Beautiful pastel tones, very stylish painting. well done

Cheers Borek

Stunning Ken, nice very nice vignette, superb painting,lovely groundwork.

Thats rather special.

Fine piece of work Ken - I've got the Indian figure in my stash which I might dig out and take a closer look at again (although I think I've nabbed a hand for another figure)

Love the presentation and blending the kit base into your own is clever
Cheers
Paul

Thanks everyone for the very nice comments. They are very much appreciated.

Please try and stay safe in these trying times.

Cheers,
Ken

Excellent painting and groundwork,congrats Ken

Thanks Nap!

As to my flesh mix. Like many painters, I have various flesh specific paints and I will use them on busts because of the larger scale. However on most of my 36mm through 90mm figures I use a mix originally suggested by Doug Cohen. The mix handles Caucasian people with a tan and native American complexions, the bulk of my works. Others races require more finesse. I simply use black, white, reaper orange brown, reaper clotted red and possibly a little violet in the cheeks.. Then I add to that by applying Citadel flesh shade/wash. The first wash blends the lights and shadows. Additional washes create a sunburned effect all the way to a native American complexion. In between washes I might re-highlight certain areas. Sometimes for me simple is best.

Cheers,
Ken

Really nice paintwork.

marc

Thanks Marc!

Cheers,
Ken

That is a really nice version of the kit. I like the colourscheme a lot

https://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk/collections/figurinitaly