Many thanks bob for your kind words

Another small update,i have now completed the musket sling assembly,this comes in 2x parts,the first half of the sling is cast in resin and the 2nd half must be made up from the strip of lead foil within the kit,i opted to use aluminium sheet kindly provided for me by my good friend Ron Clark.
The musket rod was replaced by piano wire,the kit part was too soft and easily bent,there is a bayonet included in the kit but I have opted not to use it for this project.
I shall now prime the musket and start the painting of it in the next update


Brian

I’m knocked out by this, Brian, it’s amazing. There’s only one niggle for me and it’s a tiny one – isn’t the colour of the tunic a bit too red for a trooper? From what I understand (mostly from reading posts on pF!) the rank and file had a rather orange-y one and only the officers sported bright red. (Better quality fabric from their tailors, don’t you know.)

Jeff

Hi Jeff,that's only the acrylic undercoat mate,it won't look anything like that when finished,I work with oils over acrylics,I like my British napoleonics to have that faded look to their jackets
,a campaign look to them

I've made a start on the musket today,this was base coated in medium acrylic brown and then different stages of fine lines with differnt acrylic colours including black,orange,buff with some of the wood edging getting a lighter colour to represent wear.
I then finished the whole wood section with a burnt umber oil stain,this was umber lightly applied over the wood areas and wiped off leaving the wood grain visible through the oil stain.
I do not use washes for this !

That really is superb (I knew it would be).
Many thanks for the s.b.s.

Cheers,
Andrew

Many thanks Andrew,for your kind words

Just a little refining on the musket completed,will now finish the hand and strap and just some tiny lights to the brass areas



Brian

Hi there Smudger/Brian? First off, got to congratulate you on your work so far on this great bust. I'm afraid that as time and my eyesight have conspired against me, the grey army will soon have to go. However, as a bonus, I now get to spend that spare time as a 1:1 scale modeller (I'm a Coldstream Guard re-enactor) and was one of the 5,000 lucky enough to participate in 'Waterloo 200' on the actual battlefield a few months ago. Thought you might appreciate a few pics of repro kit and uniform. Hope it's all helpful and self explanatory . Apologies for the layout but I'm still waging that battle against technology. The 'tunic' pics show the pricker and brush detail. It's a small but vital bit of kit, used for clearing powder residue and the musket's touchhole. The 'pack' shots, show some of the backpack detail. As you can see, the mess tin actually has an unbleached linen or cotton cover. They didn't become black covers until the 1830's. Finally, you've got my two Brown Besses. The darker one is the one I used at Waterloo. From a modellers point of view I think the lighter coloured one is more aesthetically pleasing and closer to your excellent paintjob. Anyway, hope this all helps. Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see the finished article. You've come close to inspiring me to pick up the brushes again with this one!

Many thanks my friend for your very kind words,I also really appriciate the photo's you've added,that's a great point about the mess tin,I will correct this straight away on my next painting session,I'm sure you must have had a great time last year at Waterloo,I have been a few times myself and I always enjoy myself there,many thanks for your post and contribution to this project with these excellent images

Coming along nicely, Brian,......especially like your wood-grain technique -- something else I can pinch from you. I'm gaining so much from your SBS's. Just shows, however long one has been dabbling, there's always something new to learn. Thank you.

Cheers,
Alan

Many thanks Alan,hope you're keeping well mate,these are techniques Alan that I learnt many many years ago from reading lots of articles,it goes way back to my early painting days learning from my heroes at the time Shep Paine and Francois Verlinden

This is coming on a real treat Brian,

And it's a pleasure to read such a helpful thread to everyone

Cheers

Paul.