Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Minden Samples Painted Tonight




Front Row (left to right): Holstein officer, Glasenapp musketeer, Charlottenburg musketeer, and Charlottenburg officer. Back row (l-r) Holstein and Charlottenburg musketeers

Here are the first samples of Minden Miniatures SYW Prussians that I have painted as regiments in the Hesse Seewald Army. I painted a pair of regiment Holstein in the red facings and white small clothes; one Glasenapp musketeer in straw clothes and facings (I rather like him), and three Charlottenburg regiment figures in rose facings and white small clothes.

The Minden figures are a joy to paint and I was able to finish six figures within a couple of hours this evening. You can see that I glued the figure onto a penny coin and in turn, glued the coin onto the galvanized metal base that is one inch square, for BAR rules movement trays. When I prime the figures, the metal bases are already attached to the figure. I do this because it gives the base a coating of primer that hides the bare metal of the base. This saves me much time later when I terrain the base. I don't have to paint the metal base before adding the spackle mix. There's nothing worse than a fine base with bits of bright metal showing through.


The Charlottenburg Regiment uniforms.


(left to right) Holstein officer, Holstein musketeer, and Glasenapp musketeer.


(l-r) Holstein, Holstein, Glasenapp, & Charlottenburg uniforms.


Comparison of Minden (left) and Foundry (right) Prussians both painted as the Charlottenburg Musketeer Regiment. Need I say more about which figure looks better?

The above photo compares the Minden and Foundry samples that I painted in the same regimental uniform of the Charlottenburg Musketeers. The more that I look at this picture, the more convinced I am that I made the correct choice of figures to use in my new Hesse Seewald army. The Mindens look so much better because they actually look like real people, only in 1/56 scale.

I have placed an order for two 50-figure regiments, plus mounted officers and some Austrian and Prussian artillery crews, for later use. After seeing these samples painted, I look forward to tackling the entire regiment and finishing it off. In the meantime, I have a 60 figure Minden Austrian fusilier battalion to work on, so that will keep me very happy.

20 comments:

  1. Jim,

    A couple of things . . . first, I hate you.

    Why? Because those six figures you whipped off in a couple of hours look far better and more detailed than anything I've ever painted.

    *sigh*

    Well, okay, I don't really hate you . . . but I'm quite envious of your painting skills.

    And (as before) I prefer the look of the Glasenapp uniform to the others

    Finally how did that ogre get into the Charlottenburg Musketeers . . . he almost looks grotesque (at least in comparison).


    -- Jeff

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  2. The figures are so good that you can't put them down. Hence they get painted quickly.

    The ogre was probably a former member of the Langen Karls, those deformed giants that served in the Garde Regiment of Georg Ludwig. His son, the Erbprinz Friedrich, disbanded the old giants and reconstituted the regiment with more lithe and athletic human beings.

    I think that right now, Glasenapp is my favorite uniform.

    Later, there will be two converged grenadier battalions: Von Rochling and Von Menzel and the Von Knotel Pioneer-Fusilier regiment.

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  4. If only my figures could look half as good in twice the time I'd be more than pleased.
    I bet you're double jointed or something.

    Great looking figures. They look as if they could march across the table by themselves. Superb.

    Steve Turner.

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  5. If my sums are right you have left yourself just one space to make it to your target of 100 posts in 2008. Many congratulations.

    I shall not attempt to influence what you paint as you should please yourself but if you want my thoughts - Austrians make sense, 1806 would tempt me more than imaginations.

    Duke of Baylen
    [a good general in his own imagination]

    Happy New Year

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  6. Great painting Sir! Now I would love to see the Langen Karls upon the tabletop... any chance of Erbprinz changing his mind?
    Alan

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  7. Dear Alte,
    Inspiring as always! I also think the Mindens are the best 18th century figures on the market at the moment. I look forward to seeing your completed battalions.
    Theo

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  8. Excellent painting on excellent figures! I'll get me some Mindens one day.

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  9. I wish I had seen your Mindens before ordering my first 54 man battalion of Crusador, they look really nice and proportional, nice painting. I like the Charlottenburgers best, any more thougths on flags?

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  10. Fritz,
    It appears that the minden figures all have sweedish cuffs. I have been holding off converting figures, but need Grenadiers with Prussian cuffs. Do you have any of the Prussian Grenadiers by Minden? If so, is the march attack pose with sweedish cuffs?
    hopeful...
    Chris

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  11. I'll echo the various others in envying your painting abilities, though I'm also hoping to get some inspiration out of them rather than just envy!

    Perhaps once my black gesso arrives I'll talk myself into taking up the brush again and having a go at the one sample Minden I started. I've got a single company of 7 musketeers, an NCO, and an officer awaiting me.

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  12. I seem to recall that in some 18thC armies the 'finest' looking men were placed in the front rank. If that's the case, the Foundry figure would have to go in a 4th rank all by itself.

    Have you thought about flags yet?

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  13. Happy New Year Jim,

    And yet more very pretty paiting -- I just love your work with the Minden figures. Heres to more of both in 2009!

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  14. On the subject of flags: my initial thought is to use the GMB Hessian AWI flags because they have a Prussian style to them that fits the figures and I bought every single Hessian flag sheet that GMB makes.

    Eventually, I might design, or ask someone to help me design, unique Hesse Seewald flags. One advantage of single figure basing is that I could have two different sets of flags - the actual Hessian flags and unique flags.

    I kind of like the French "sun face" as a central device. Then maybe I'd add Prussian style "rays" running from the center device to the corners. In each corner, the royal cypher of GL I surrounded by little wreaths. Liebfahnen would be white and maybe the rays would be in the regimental facing color. The regimentfahnen would have white rays or straw rays, but the quarters would be in the facing color.

    Minden figures only come in Swedish cuffs. The owner has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to have multiple cuff styles - and that's OK with me. Most other ranges don't have the different cuff styles either. Minifigs, RSM, Elite, Old Glory, Dixon, Stadden, Suren, and Hinchcliffe all come in one cuff style. Foundry has the different cuff styles, but the trade off is gnome-ish looking figures. Maybe Front Rank has them too, I don't recall. But that's about it.

    I suppose that you could use RSM figures, which have a Brandenburg cuff, or file down the cuff and paint on the buttons on a Minden figure. Or just say "the heck with it" and paint them as is and ignore the cuff. As long as the other colors are correct, no problem. If you go the imaginary route, then the cuff style really doesn't matter now, does it?

    Maybe if you offer to buy several hundred figures in Brandenburg cuffs then Frank might be swayed. My sense is that he wants to keep the number of stock units to a minimum so that he doesn't have to spend a lot of time with record keeping.

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  15. Appears you have already designed your flag it just needs executed.

    cheers.

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  16. How about using the central design of the flag to display something with a more personal connection? When I was thinking about doing this myself, I was planning to use the 'bear and ragged staff' - which is the device for Warwickshire (which is where I live).

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  17. Jim,

    How about a comparision picture of a Minden figure and an RSM figure.

    Pretty please.

    Jim
    The one in Phoenix

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  18. Herr Alte,

    Marvellous work as usual. I haven't been posting much on my own blog, but have been able to keep an eye on yours--always inspirational.

    Cheers,

    Ed v. H-F

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  19. Thanks Fritz,

    Actually I want the Sweedish cuff because neither Front Rank, nor Crusader make a Grenadier with the Sweedish cuff, and particularly the Grenadiers for the Fusilier regiments need the Sweedish cuff.
    So, your news is good as I am a bit of a stick when it comes to those details.

    Thanks again,

    Chris

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  20. Fabulous painting as usual. The uniforms look really good on those Minden figures.

    -- Allan

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