Tuesday, 3 August 2021

New Arrivals and some GNW Gunners

 I have had a couple of small packages arrive in the last few days. Ironically enough, after moaning about their £10 postal fee, the Anvil Games female heads in parade caps for use in my RCW project arrive din 8 days from the UK - that would have been quick two years ago! Next day, a slightly larger pack from Col Bills also arrived - that took maybe 13 or 14 days. Now, I am receiving emails from Hasslefree and Brigade Games, telling me they have just shipped orders that were placed on the same day as the two that have already arrived - so maybe that is something new to complain about!?



Here are the three Swedish gun crews for my GNW project, supplied by the excellent Nick at Ebor, sculpted by Paul Hicks I believe.

I decided I would do a montage on how I do my basing technique, so here we go


Painted gun crew 


Gun crew positioned around a spare base



Base of figure painted


Basing product - flock and model railway ballast - is added whist paint is damp


The figure with basing added



Crew sitting in correct position on a spare base


Products I use - above filler for the base texture and below, glue to hold figures and scenic "bits" in place



Coffee stirrer is used to apply the basing texture



A selection of tufts etc ready for application


Using the spare base with figures as a guide, I apply tufts and flowers to areas not occupied by one of the gun crew


Then, the gunners are added



All three gun crews then sit over night to allow the basing to set


Next day, I use a commercial paint test pot to add watered down colour to the base


Whilst still damp, flock is applied to the base



A few hours later, the final stage - loose flock is knocked off back into the storage container and I use white glue to apply the final touches to the base.


And the three gun crews are complete! This is the same technique I use on all my basing, whether an individual figure or a base of six like the Swedish infantry.



Crew 1 including officer with telescope


Crew two


Crew three.

I think the grey coat faced in light blue is a very attractive combination for the Swedish artillery.

26 comments:

  1. Fascinating to see how you go about your basing Keith and the methods and materials used. The end result is very effective:)

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    1. Thanks Steve, I hope it was of interest! To be honest its copied from my friend Andrew although I think he possibly does a better job - but I am happy with what I am able to achieve!

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  2. Nice work Keith, and that uniform colour combination works very nicely. I can normally forgive a supplier taking a week or two to ship an order, but it is annoying when you are half-way through a project and attempting to keep the momentum going.

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    1. Cheers Lawrence - yes, probably being a bit picky there - but when you compare it to specialist on line retailers, they can have stuff packed and ticketed within a few hours! And Anvil and Col Bill managed in a day or two - the Hasslefree order, for example, is only three figures - should not tale very long to pick and pack you would think.....have your replacement flags ever turned up??

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  3. Very interesting, especially as you prepare the figures and the base separately, food for thought. I glue everything up onto the base and then add materials!

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    1. Thanks Norm - I used to glue the figures to the base, slap on cheap matt black paint, then dip the whole thing in a tub of static grass...then add some gravel etc using white glue. I only changed a few years ago when I started using the polyfilla type compound on my bases....

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  4. Quite nice result. You have an interesting process for basing.

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    1. Thanks Joe - I often think its probably too fiddly and I could achieve the same result with half the effort (or time) but I like the how they look and I am not really in that much of a rush, so probably wont change!

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  5. Hi Keith,
    Good to see the Airmail getting through there - it is so slow here- last time I ordered anything from the UK it took 29 days...presently waiting on Dwarfs from Scotland and the UK - the waiting is driving me absolutely nuts! Cheers. KEV.

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    1. Cheers Kev.....yes, that one was a bit of an anomaly, most of my stuff has been taking about a month too. Let's see how quickly the remaining four orders turn up!

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  6. Great looking guns and crew, Keith. Like the look of the grey coats and light blue facings. Basing artillery & accompanying crew is always interesting too!

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    1. Thanks Dean. I generally do not fix my guns to the base, which means I have to make sure of the placement of the crew without the gun being on the base for reference.

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  7. It’s always nice to see what techniques other people use on their toys…

    The gun crews stand out really well…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, yes I like to see how other people do things too!

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  8. Grey coat with light blue is spectacular! I want armies of those guys.

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    1. Glad you approve Jon.....if you want an entire Swedish army in this attire, it will need to be artillery heavy!

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  9. They do indeed look good, interesting to see your basing technique, it works well 👍

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    1. Cheers Matt, it works for me, which is the main thing!

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  10. Love the basing..going to give it a try!
    Thanks for the idea!

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    1. Thanks John...hope it goes well and look forward to seeing your version

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  11. Nice job illustrating the basing techniques. I like seeing how how people do stuff. I use a concrete patch for my ground cover. The gun crew looks great. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew, yes it's akways interesting to see how other people do things.

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  12. I love the Swedish Artillery, Keith. The basing looks great, although way more time than I am willing to spend on it myself! :-)

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    1. Thanks Peter - yes it can be a bit of a scutter but I dont mind too much!

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