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


Sunday, 29 November 2015

1809 Spaniards - Regimiento de Cantabria

Flag still be be provided - otherwise complete
The dreaded Real Life has rather impacted this last week, but I did manage to finish off another battalion. Cantabria contributed just a single battalion to the Vanguard Division of the Spanish Army at the battle of Ucles (which army is the basis of my target OOB). The real unit was the 21st line regiment of the Spanish army - originally raised as the Tercio de Guipuzcoa (please don't ask me to pronounce that), they were renamed the Regimiento de Cantabria in 1715.

Since I had no idea where (or what) Cantabria is (or might have been) I did a little reading, and I learn that it is a province in the north of Spain, the chief city of which is Santander. Confusingly, I also learn that Guipuzcoa is the Spanish spelling of a Basque province, the capital of which seems to be, erm, Santander - is this just an older name for the same place?

The unit consists mostly of NapoleoN castings, but the drummer is
rather a pleasing little Falcata figure
Currently I have a further 4 Spanish line battalions in various stages of completion - these should be finished in the next week or two - I'll have a proper flag printing session when they are all ready.

Quick question, while I think of it: I took delivery of some pots of Vallejo paint this week, and two of them are metallics, which I am surprised to see require alcohol for thinning and brush cleaning - yes, that's alcohol. I am not proposing to bring the Martell VSOP into service - what is the official brew for this? - meths? - isopropyl? I have both of these - anything else would require me to sign the poisons book at the pharmacist, I think. Is there an official artists' alcohol product?
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9 comments:

  1. Ray Rousell29 November 2015 at 18:03

    Nice looking unit! Didn't know Vallejo sold paint like that, I'd be a bit miffed to be honest, I mean who wants to ponce around with cleaning brushed like that?? I'd personally go for Jack Daniels to clean the brushes....then drink it after, but hey that's me!

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    1. MSFoy29 November 2015 at 20:33

      Good plan - gives the added chance of ending up with gold teeth. I'll check with the supplier - I'm sure I've got some other Vallejo metallics somewhere in the desk which are water based...

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  2. Stryker29 November 2015 at 19:55

    That does seem just a bit annoying - lucky for you we're in the run up to Christmas but I have no idea how you'll clean your brushes during Lent?

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    1. MSFoy29 November 2015 at 20:36

      That's a thought - it does give an opportunity to save a little water, however. Speaking of which, a guy on the radio this morning was giving a general public lecture on the subject of using less water - I don't think it's a particular problem in my part of the world - certainly there was enough rainwater pouring off my kitchen roof this afternoon to supply a small town.

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  3. Conrad Kinch30 November 2015 at 05:39

    Good to see more chaps with suitably large plumes. They maketh the man if you ask me.

    I can't say I've ever had a Vallejo paint that has required alcohol to be cleaned. I should probably check in case I've been doing it wrong all these years.

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    1. MSFoy30 November 2015 at 10:01

      Good morning, sir - I'm sure you'd know by now if you were doing it wrong. I'm going to ask my local art shop - that should be a laugh - especially if it is the duty pensioner on the counter. I'll also drop an email to the firm that supplied the paints. These are little glass bottles - not like the normal Vallejo "pods".

      My grannie used to say, "No matter how old you get, you always learn something new every day - that's good - unless it's the same thing you learned the day before - that's not so good."

      Men with big plumes - yes, it's Freudian, I guess - the enemy would be inclined to think, "gosh, those guys have really big plumes, they must have lots of money to be able to afford feathers like that - I bet they can afford gunpowder which works and everything" - this was in the days before polyester, of course.

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  4. Wellington Man30 November 2015 at 07:35

    Not given up on the artists' acrylics, I hope!

    Wonder if white spirit would do it?

    Another lovely battalion, by the way.

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    1. MSFoy30 November 2015 at 10:04

      Thanks Matt - I've given up on the tubes only in the sense that I intend to think about them again sometime.

      I'm going to ask the supplier - if there is a bottle of Official Vallejo Alcohol Thinner I'm confident they will offer to sell me one!

      Cheers - Tony

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  5. MSFoy30 November 2015 at 10:16

    Oh dear, oh dear - I had a quick look on Google for sources of alcohol based paints - there's a lot of stuff out there, but the dominant bit of the market seems to be alcohol-based face and body paints - now that is a dark world...

    I found some potentially useful suppliers of thinner/brush cleaner, but I also found stuff in the accessories area like glittery false eyelashes for men - that was just the start - I hope to goodness I haven't got cookies on the iMac, or my email browser is going to be full of strange adverts for a while.

    Oh well.

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