Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Saturday 17 October 2015

1809 Spaniards - Command Figures for Regimiento La Corona

Mixture of NapoleoN and Falcata figures - the lights show them as a bit
glossier than I intended, but they will be fine
The painting queue is shuffling along, but slowly. Last night I finished the command figures for two battalions of the Regimiento La Corona - these guys interest me because they will be (probably) my only unit dressed according to the 1802 regulations - these uniforms were still in use here and there by 1808/09, though officially they had been replaced by the better known (but less practical) 1805 white uniforms.

I have to say that (despite my paintwork) I think the 1802 version was very smart - makes me wonder why it was replaced so soon. It has been suggested to me that there was resistance to having all the line infantry dressed the same - the 1805 regs reintroduced different coloured facings. I also read somewhere that importation of indigo to dye the blue coats was a problem during the time that Spain was a French ally, since Britain had a monopoly supply. The first of these two is interesting, but I have no real basis for believing it to be true; the second seems unlikely, since the cavalry had enough blue uniforms to be problematic anyway. So I really don't know - 3 years seems a very short run for Godoy's "deep sky blue" uniforms, and I really do like them. Any further theories would be welcome.

Falcata were an odd manufacturer, some of the later products were pretty
agricultural, but this is one of the early pieces sculpted by Tomas Castaños,
and for 20mm I think this is splendid  
Falcata again - the figures were originally intended to be plastic, and you can see
it in the range of poses and some aspects of the mastering
On the bottle tops next are the command for Regimiento de Ordenes Militares - they will be in the white uniforms. Fusiliers for both units will be coming fairly soon - that's more of a factory process.

I notice from my photos that my matt varnish seems to be getting a bit shiny - better start a new bottle. It's OK, the overall effect is a light sheen rather than a hard gloss, and I like the toy soldier look. The lighting makes it look worse than it is.

10 comments:

  1. A wonderful looking looking group of figures.

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    1. Thanks Ray - when I see the big photos, I realise my gold paint has slipped a bit - I'll have to get that touched up!

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  2. Very nicely done. I see you're a lot more lavish with the blue-tack than I am!

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    1. Thanks Matt - blu-tack is strange substance - for a while I was working with a load of cheap, imitation, white blu-tack which we got from the discount store to stick the Xmas lights in place around the kitchen windows - it was rejected from that particular job because it wouldn't hold them - we kept finding the lights hanging in artistic loops, but it would never slip while you were watching. The rejected white stuff was shifted onto soldier painting duty, and it took the demon with it - figures would not stay put on it while you were painting, but when you tried to remove the finished item you were at risk of bending the legs before they would come loose. So I'm back to proper blu-tack, but I keep a sideways eye on it, just in case. I was painting a couple of ECW mounted officers last year, on blu-tack on bottletops (regulation set-up), and after I'd undercoated them I found next morning that one of them was standing on the desk next to the bottletop. Very odd. I think I may have upset a medicine-man in a former life - can't think of another explanation.

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    2. Foy,

      Those look excellent. The Falcata lads are always top notch. You've done well with them. I share your frustration with the white not blu-tack. It goes very gooey after a while and is a pain in the neck to deal with. I find it sticks to the base of the figure and then transfers to the box and then it is a Devil to get out.

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    3. Puts me in mind of this movie trailer - watch and tremble...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUsyXQ8Wrs

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  3. I suspect that they were unpopular for a combination of your first reason (not enough distinction between regiments) and the fact they were introduced by Godoy who was universally hated by everyone except the royal family (guilt by association).

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  4. Nice to see some of your own handiwork - excellent job! I've never tried blue tack as I always stick my figures to their bottle tops with PVA glue which works well, until you want to get them off of course...

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    1. Thanks Ian - do you have to file the soles of the riders' feet flat for the superglue? I don't think I could get it to work - it is a nifty idea, though - anything which avoids touching up the colonel's breeches where I caught them with the shabraque colour when I was overpainting the accidental traces of white which got on there while....

      Etc.

      I gave up painting horses separately a while ago, but sometimes I can see the advantages very clearly.

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