Uniform rethink

Imagine these chaps in yellow and we are close.

Sometimes delays that (at the time) seem disastrous prove - in fact - to be fortuitous.  Happily some suppliers' inefficiency has had exactly this outcome for Beimbach-Schönau!

In late 2010 I decided to document the uniforms of the 1740 army.  In part this was tailored to the figures I was awaiting from Northstar.  I had decided that their Austrians were just the ticket for my military due to the State's close proximity to Wien.

Whilst waiting and waiting (plus some waiting and a bit more waiting) for the delivery, I designed my colour combinations and worked on a whole host of elaborate schematics.  During what turned out to be an epic struggle to get my goods, I came to the conclusion that the uniforms didn't "feel" right.  This was due, in part, to my preference for the somewhat simpler "cuts" of uniform.  Additionally the different styles (Hungarian, German and Grenz) seemed to over-power a relatively small military comprising only 13 Regiments of foot.  Finally, it seemed an uninspired and predictable choice.  I want a distinctive force not an Austro-clone!

As this is an ImagiNation and my painting progress had been stymied by late deliveries, I found myself in a serendipitous position - with lots of unpainted Austrians that could be quickly resold.  So I took the plunge and decided to go with a Russian/French look.  Thus the uniform plates will be redone -  laborious but necessary.  The regimental histories, standards and facings are going to remain largely unchanged.

Simple yet attractive!

The general rule for the mid-C18 is that "German and Foreign" Line Regiments wear a French style coat (either open or closed) with the Senior Regiments wearing a Russian coat.  There will be a couple of anomalies in the "Freiwillige" Regiments and these will be noted where applicable.  The "Grenzer" Regiments will be far more "wild and wooly" as I think this appearance better differentiates them from their more "civilised" brothers-in-arms.  Grenadier Regiments will also rear their mitres (or fur caps!) and will constitute the elite "Leibgarde zu Fuß"

Happily, I have plenty of mid-C18 French figures and these will now be worked on to create the first painted units.  In fact dedicated readers will recall IR.10 von Klingenbach (WIP) was already exhibiting a Gallic flavour and is close to pre-painting completion!

However, this will not commence immediately as today I will be working on getting the first fort building completed...

Building "Fort Kalypso" - Stage 1a

Coffee stirrers make great planking in 28mm and larger!

First up, apologies for the delay in posting this installment.  My chest/throat infection matured and my generous children donated a bout of conjunctivitis for good measure.  Thus I have been feeling awful for a few days.  Symptoms persist but the severity is lessening so it's time to get this thing built!

The latest work is fairly simple stuff but well worth outlining.  I made some doors from "coffee stirrers".  The stirrers were trimmed (off-cuts saved) to a width that looked "right" and then glued to cereal box card with slight gaps between the planks.  These assemblies were pressed overnight to ensure a good bond.  I am aware that these gaps are large if "scaled-up" but you cannot escape the fact that the doors just look better with them in situ!

A quick note on stirrers.  You can buy a box of them as I did 5 years ago (catering suppliers have them at very low prices) or you can take a few (dozen) extra next time you buy coffee or a McBurger.  I greatly prefer them to balsa as they are harder and rougher in texture.  That said, if balsa is your thing - go for it!

Cheap pre-mixed filler is used to obliterate the various gaps.

Whilst these doors were drying I filled in all the gaps between the now dried oasis chunks.  This was effected with a cheap ready-mixed gypsum style filler.  I prefer the ready mixed as it dries faster than the stuff you mix yourself - from the smell, I think it contains some form of alcohol!  This was pushed into the cracks and smoothed with the wet pastry brush.

At this juncture we are NOT looking to add the final texture, we are looking to ensure the "skeleton" is sound. Obviously, had I carved the building from one giant block of oasis the filling would be unnecessary but big blocks cost a bomb and I am a father of three expensive children!  After fixing the dome in place with two-part epoxy, I applied more filler to the joint.  This was smoothed to better resemble the lines of the real thing.

A door trimmed and fitted.

Once all this has dried (overnight) I trimmed the doors to fit the apertures.  Fixed in place with a blob of PVA or hot glue, they should be a fairly tight fit.  You can see from the pencil-line that I adjusted my measurements during fitting.

Now is the time to add any window bars - if your plan calls for them.  I used the off-cuts from the door planks and gently "roughed" the edge to give them a "rustic" look.

The strongest way to add window bars.

Cut a slot (top and bottom) and then apply some filler to the window well.  Smooth this out with a brush ensuring there is minimal build up in the corners.  Then simply slot your bar in and smooth the filler into the remaining slots.  When dried, this will give you the appearance of a bar situated mid-wall but will be far stronger than simply glueing a piece of wood against the sills with a butt-joint.

When all the bars are fitted, put the structure aside for another evening.  When this is dry its time to roll with the creation of the textured surface.  The structure will then look much better and be ready for painting.

You don't have to be mad...

Clearly these fellows went crazy looking for Sepoys!

A fast update for my readership.  I am still feeling rank due to a throat and chest infection but I hope to be well enough to get the next stage of the fort completed this weekend.  In fact I am hoping that it will prove to be a distraction from the tickling and wheezy cough.

This week I have begun to go crazy regarding the desired marching Sepoys. Four weeks back, I had hoped Parkfield would be the solution and I placed an order only to get an email telling me I needed to add 5% to the order to cover Paypal payment.  Although not a great sum, I got miffed.  Nowhere at their site was this mentioned and I found the whole affair distasteful.

I then turned to Redoubt, who had a very interesting figure in their Renaissance Range.  He is a marching "Turk" with matchlock.  Ideal I thought, so I ordered some samples plus a selection from their "Wellington in India" collection.  After two weeks, nothing.  Calls and emails resulted in the weak assurance that I "should" be dealt with in the next week or so and that delays were due to staff being on holiday.  I was appalled by this attitude.  Of course I am aware that many wargames operations are small but to take your money and not even try to process an order (or offer a convincing apology) in three weeks is unforgivable. I duly cancelled.

This has left me in the lurch for any marching Indian/Arabian types.  There is a chap from Dixons and he may have to do but I would prefer something a little bit more interesting.  Foundry have some lovely marching Indians but there is no way I am coughing up the ludicrous £2.00 per figure plus some outrageous S&H charge.

At the moment the very simply attired "marching Sikhs" from Old Glory are the leading contenders.  I think I can just about get away with their short jackets, passing them off as some sort of Colonial dress.  Perhaps someone has better ideas?

The ladies of Dulahlipur celebrate!

On a different and happier note, I was pleased to see I have passed the 10K hit mark - for this I thank the readership and I am glad that the articles are something that you wish to peruse.  Such support encourages me to carry on posting and improving the content.

Anyway, time for bed I really need some R&R.

Oasis properties

Another quick posting today - I am unwell and don't feel up to much else.

Some folks have suggested that even when treated, floral oasis is too fragile for wargames use - they are wrong!  I have made a couple of videos showing the materiel before and after a soak in PVA (using an unfinished Spanish mission)  My wife kindly dropped a hammer on the samples to show the effects.

Granted, she didn't wallop with much force but this is more trauma than your average gamer will cause unless he is akin to Aunt Petunia's favourite nephew!  There is a slight indentation from "take 1" but this is minimal damage.

Remember the treatment is just phase one of the process and that the next stages serve to strengthen the structure further.

With some luck I will be able to get the completion of Fort Kalypso documented on the blog this weekend.

Building "Fort Kalypso" - Incidentals

The well method.

Just a quick posting today.  I want to illustrate both the "well" for pouring glue into a building and just how rough the basic oasis structure can be whilst remaining workable!

Cutting a large cavity into the base of a structure enables the gloop to enter from inside as well as out.  This aids absorption and thus speeds up the process.  If your construction isn't too fragile to invert - I would advise doing this.

As can be seen, I used some offcuts of oasis to build this little tower and had to use a goodly amount of cocktail sticks to pin it all together.  It looks messy and indeed it is - however the end result will not betray the hodge-podge nature of the skeleton!  I hope this shows anyone giving this a try that they need not panic if the base structure looks rickety.

Tower built from waste.

The look I am working toward is a definite pastiche.  I want the fortress to look "Eastern" or as they would say in the C18 - "Turkish".  Thus I am thinking of a period production of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" rather than an architectural model of such and such.  In fact this tower appears a bit "Hittite" to me!  That said, it will look perfectly good once coated and it was built from waste materiel that would otherwise have been trashed.

The other face of the building is more interesting with Ogee arches and a balcony but I didn't manage to snap it before the camera battery went flat.

On a tangent, a TMPer suggested foamcore buildings are much faster to produce.  This is true, as far as the skeleton is concerned, however it misses the point of this method.  Foamcore is great but it is flat and straight (unless you buy it from Hobbycraft UK) I want buildings that are not truly straight and that have undulating surfaces.  Anyone who has been to a real fortification in the East will be aware that whilst straight from afar they are far more "organic" close-up.

This roughness would be hard to model on a foamcore base and adding lots of filler to such a skeleton is also a real pain in the rump.  But if you are content that your structures are box-like with a sprinkle of sand or a thin layer of plaster filler to roughen the surface - then clearly the "Oasis Method" is not for you!



Incidentally, I ordered some of Mega Miniatures' rather excellent "Arabian Nights" figures to dress the set!  At only $1.50 they are a steal.


Proper posting to follow shortly along with a new review.

Building "Fort Kalypso" - Stage 2

After allowing the pinned components to dry for a few hours I had another look at the structure.  I decided that the main upstairs apartment needed more height.  Not hard to rectify, I merely cut a piece of oasis to the desired thickness and pinned it in place.

"It slimed me Ray" - Pour on the gloop.

Now we come to the first truly messy bit!  I would advise those of you with live-in womenfolk to buy a few things in advance or alternatively make sure they are out enjoying themselves at H&M/Gap etc when you start to play with their kitchen equipment.  

You will need a funnel, a large shallow dish or pan (the type used for roasting meat is great), a kitchen jug, a cheap brush (I use ASDA/WalMart pastry brushes 29p a time), an empty plastic pop bottle - 2 litre or above, a whisk or hand blender, a cookie cooling rack, an old carrier bag and preferably a turkey baster.

Firstly mix PVA glue (This time the kiddie stuff is fine - but woodworking is still better) and water into a smooth single-cream like consistency - important that this is not too thick.  You should make every effort to avoid any lumps - they cause minor problems later.  Old PVA glue will have these in abundance.  Mine had a few - annoying as this was to be a tutorial!  Just take it as a "what not to do"!  Once you have a smooth creamy gloop decant it into the pop bottle (hence the funnel)

Brush the emulsion into the oasis.

Now pour a little of the gloop into the bottom of the shallow dish and place your building on top of the liquid.  The oasis (being the absorbent "wet" type) will begin to slurp up the liquid.  If you made your emulsion too thick this will not happen and you will have an island floating on a sea of white.  Once it is absorbed start pouring the gloop all over the building, concentrating on natural reservoirs in the structure.   

The oasis will suck up copious quantities so don't be mean with your glue mix.  When the structure is drenched start brushing the collected gloop onto the structure concentrating on apertures and recesses.  This is why the turkey baster is so useful, you can shoot jets just where you want them.  My turkey baster had perished so I had to use only the brush.  If you are unlucky enough to have lumps gently brush them away - or in severe cases - pick them off.  Be especially vigilant of lumps in door/window areas as this is where they congregate.

Dipping each facet speeds absorption.

The aim is to completely saturate the oasis with gloop.  You can see when this is effected as it begins to repel the emulsion and oozes glue if gently prodded.  The absorption can be achieved more speedily if the structure is rotated whilst "basting" with each facet taking it's turn in the sea of glue.  Another way to accelerate this stage is to cut large "wells" in the building's underside.  This reduces the density of the oasis and allows the glue to enter "from the inside" as it were.

Now prepare your drying/cooling rack.  Wrap it up in a plastic carrier bag - securing the plastic with tape.  The bag is there to ensure the model does not stick to the rack when drying - it can happen and is very demoralising when it does.  Make sure the bag is sufficiently loose that you can create little recesses to collect the run-off during drying.  Now gently lift you magnum opus and place onto the rack.  Make sure all important areas are adequately supported as the oasis will now be quite heavy and any delicate parts will be liable to fracture under their own weight.  To give you some idea of this medium's absorbency, this little building drank close to 1.5 litres of gloop.

On the rack waiting to dry.

Unless you live in a warm area, you will need to use an airing-cupboard or similar to dry the building.  Do not attempt to accelerate the process in an oven as this will cause the whole thing to become brittle, fracture or indeed melt!  Depending upon the size of the building drying time can take anything up to about a week.  I expect this one to be ready in that sort of time frame.  

The end result will be a very durable but lightweight version of your original.  It will be firmly glued together and ready for the next stage.

In the meantime you can make the other structures in your complex and get to work on window frames and/or doors ready for insertion when the structure is dry.