Many years ago, in the summer of 1995, I purchased a collection of models, that included painted Airfix figures. These figures had been painted quite some time before 1995 with enamels, and then stored out in a garage, jumbled together in a box. Naturally, some paint chipped.... Fast forward to the closing days of 2011, and my frustration at painting up Esci French Artillery, and not liking their poses much either. I decide to see if I can touch up these nice but flakey paintjobs, and pair the Airfix French guncrew with the Esci Guns. The answer is below:
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| The Esci guns are a great improvement on the Airfix originals. |
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| The view from the rear. Figures are all Airfix. |
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| A quick wash of you know what hides the imperfect colour matching caused by the repainting. |
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| A view from above. The gun crew surround the gun. |
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| All three stands have the crew working at their own tasks... |
I wanted the stands to look full as each is meant to represent 6-18 guns. So I put five figures and a ready to use ammo box on each stand. The problem arises that many of the poses are either too close if the gun is firing, as acting out of phase. This problem however is a minor concern compared to how much I like the look of the layout of the stand. I now only need to flock the stand, probably with some dried brown static grass to counter weight Frank's nice green golf course stands. I also have enough crew left to do another three stands, but I should finish off the infantry and cavalry first. Much thanks is due to the
Archduke for his wisdom on matters Napoleonic, and to Frank for helping me harvest the crews out of the drawer of French guns.
Excellent work on the artillery. Love the old Airfix but those guns were crap! The Esci guns look beautifuil.
ReplyDeleteThey look really fine, Brian! The colour contrast with the brown base brings them out brilliantly, too. And thanks for your flattering remark...
ReplyDeleteThe simian crouch of the ball carrier makes his load look pretty heavy, but also makes him adaptable, mounted upon some nag or other, as a mounted officer - a battery commander, say. True, it marks the man as no very capable equestrian - such a round back! - but that to my mind is quite realistic.
Just a point about the Airfix French guns. If you replace the barrel with the smaller (6pr?) tube from the ESCI British Napoleonic gun, you have a very fine battalion gun for, say, a Swedish army from the 30YW.
Cheers,
Ion