The Hussar - Based

The hussar is now attached to the base but there are still lots of things that need completing:
His pistol needs painting.
Shadows to be added to his trousers, jacket and dolman.
Both hands need darkening to match his face and the shadows painted between his fingers in order to highlight them.
A few minor scratches to cover.
The addition of a little brown mud and grey dust to the boots too.

And finally, sign the base.

Prussian Hussar - Taking Shape

The Hussar now has his sword and sabretache attached, just leaving the pistol to be painted. I am not too happy with the angle of the pistol as it looks as though the hussar is aiming towards the ground not far away. So that will need taking off and refixing, not a difficult job because it has not been painted.

As I was preparing to upload the hussar I realised it might be nice to leave one of the photos uncropped, so you can see my paint pots, brushes and general rubbish !

The room can get very crowded as not only do we have all my military modelling 'junk' but we also have my wife's 'artists' junk too! When both of us are working every horizontal surface is covered in clutter.

And here is a question for fellow modellers or artists. "Why is it, if you have 4 large jars full of water on the table, plus one cup of coffee, it is ALWAYS the coffee that you dip your brush into ?"

Prussian Hussar - Sabretache

The Prussian Hussar now nears completion. A red and white sabretache with leather belts plus cavalry sword are now ready to be fixed to the figure.




In reality it wouldhave been more sensible to fix the sabretache and sword to the waist belt and then add the dolman (blue jacket) over everything. But I got carried away painting all the white button lacings. Which means now I have to afix the sword belt etc in a small gap underneath the dolman. Not a disaster, but a reminder to myself plan and think ahead and then stick to the plan. Easier said than done, sometimes !

Prussian Hussar - nearing completion

The Prussian Hussar nears completion. There are a few errors still to be corrected on this model but it is advancing quite well. The pistol has not been painted and I still have the shadows to do on his jacket and trousers. His open eye, sighting along the pistol still needs a bit of work doing to it. But coming along well. The small details on this model of a Hussar - such as the belt clip, the plume - really make a difference.

Prussian Hussar - Trousers etc

The jacket was easy to paint and, much to my surprise, the lace on the front was far easier than that of the dolman in the previous post.

His riding boots are black with silver spurs. I suspect that I will dirty these with a little brown to simulate mud and a little bit of grey as he will be standing in stone when finally finished.







Note the outstretched arm - no, I have not missed a bit just inside the hussar's sleeve. That is bare metal so that when his hand (holding a pistol) is glued on the end of the arm it will be a secure joint and hold well. If you glue straight onto paint sometimes the hand falls off later taking a patch of dried paint with it.

The hussar's trousers are plain white. To make then more interesting I have 'dirtied' the seat from, presumably, where he was sitting in his saddle. The crests and troughs of the creases will need highlights to emphasise the shadows.

Prussian Hussar - Dolman

The Hussar's dolman, a coat which will be draped from his shoulder, has been given its first few thin layers of colour.

The lace and fur edging is white and the button are silver. The dolman is a specific shade of blue which will need the peaks and valleys of the folds to be correctly highlighted in different tones to emphasise them.

The Hussar's left hand can be seen. This too has just been given an even coat of 'flesh' colour. Dirt and shadows will be added to make it more life like.

I have put this to one side as I now concentrate on painting the main part of the Hussar.