Hey All
Finished this one off this evening.

This piece represents a French Infantryman during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. During the massing of the French forces and their advance towards the area surrounding Sedan towards the end of August 1870, our man has stepped of the track, out of the column to take a moment to rest his feet and catch his breath. He may have taken a longer break had he known the grinder that the unprepared French were marching into against the Prussian war-machine.

The figure itself is an Andrea 54mm, painted with Vallejo acrylics. The groundwork is based on Aves Apoxie Clay painted with Vj acrylics, dressed with roots, pebbles, flock grass and premade greenery. The base is a chunk of one of the trees that fell in my backyard (this one is from a 60 year old Locust) during this winter's icestorm, that I milled, cut, routed, polished, stained and cleared with my own loving hands. From this storm, I harvested over 100 lbs of various hardwoods that have been milled into a number of rough blocks of various sizes... hint hint

Thanx for looking in... any and all comments and critiques are always welcome.

Colin

As always, apologies for the crap photography

Reds, blues, greens and yellow, such a great allsortment of colours, this came together nicely. You've done a great job Colin.

Cheers Zane

Brilliant finish Colin.

The figure is very well painted, l really like the way that you dealt with all that great detail.

Super groundwork too. Especially the tree in the background.

All the very best Mate,

Keith

great work Colin, but I think the pictures don't do justice.

Marc

Very nice Colin and good job on the groundwork.

Roger.

Lovely job on this figure especially as it's 54 mm a scale way to small for my tired old eyes...A Cracker Colin......Kevin

A very nice scene Colin, thought it was bigger than 54mm, impressive detail work.

There it is the finisehd work.
Look's very good indeed!
Good Work Colin

Regards
Pedro

Congrats on completing him Colin. Nice work, particularly on the blue.
I do think the base is a bit over-sized, but nice work on the wood nevertheless!

Cheers,
Adrian

Very nice painting Colin

Really nice work colin,love the blue coat finish and the groundwork looks really nice too,

Brian

Thanx everyone for the kind, supportive words.
The overly tall (or generally oversized) base is a mistake I repeatedly make. To my eye the base looks alright when I make it... then once the groundwork is done and the fig mounted I see the disproportion. Is there perhaps a rule of thumb as to the size of the base/the figure ratio?

Also to be done is to have a nameplate made up. Going to check out a new engraver today.

Thanx again

Colin

Excellent job, my friend! Looks very good! I like it a lot!
Generally, the rule of thumb is Base height = 2/3 Figure height. This is not a hard rule. Is just a guidance. Here is a discussion on the subject.
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/bases.47620/#post-480338
Hope it helps!
Cheers and see you soon.
Zeno

If the base is thought to be to big for the figure, don't make the nameplate to small or that may make the base look even bigger,just a thought.

Zane

Nice painting . After watching your progress I went into my box of shame and dug out my old Poste Mil Frenchie . Nice !

Cheers
Neil

Thanx guys
I made up half a dozen random bases from my stash of "storm wood", different sizes, styles and stain colours. This is actually the tallest of the bases but I thought the colour went well with what I had in mind for groundwork and I kinda liked the groove down the front and the grain pattern on the adjoining side.

Colin

Hi Colin,
Good to see you back at it mate. Very nicely painted. I think the harmony between the figure and groundwork is on the money. As for the base it's always a personal preference thing, personally I like it.
cheers
Richie

Thanx mate, I always appreciate and respect your opinion.

Cheers

Colin

Excellent work overall. Great painting and groundwork.

Xenofon