Saturday, May 29, 2010

Black Hussar (Minden) Sample Painted


My first painted sample of the new Minden SYW Prussian Hussars. This is of course one of the Black Hussars (H5 or von Reusch Hussars) Click the picture to enlarge the view.

This evening I primed the 18 Minden Prussian Hussars that I assembled yesterday and then pitched into painting my first sample. The sample figure is painted as one of the Black Hussars, which was a 10 squadron regiment that had 3 squadrons serving in Western Germany with Prinz Ferdinand's army, while the remaining 7 squadrons were primarily deployed in East Prussia to fight the Russians.

I always paint one figure to completion whenever I start on a new battalion or cavalry regiment. This allows me to get more familiar with the figure and how best to work with it (i.e. the order in which I should paint the various parts and equipment pieces etc). It also helps me experiment with some of the colors. In this case, I wanted a lighter brown horse so I tried some different shades and highlights in the lighter brown color spectrum before settling on something that I liked.

Here are some more pictures of the Prussian hussar, taken from different angles.






The figure was relatively easy to paint -- afterall, it is mostly black. The red and white "Van Dyking" that edges the shabraque was actually the hardest item to paint on this figure. Much of the braids and buttons on the dolman and pelise are artfully concealed by the positioning of the clothing items. The braid that is visible is detailed enough that you can either lightly dry brush white over it or actually paint in the white squiggles with your brush. I chose the latter option on this figure. For black highlighting, I mix in some flesh color paint with my black to get a very nice highlight that makes the uniform "pop" out at your eye. I learned this little trick from someone on The Miniatures Page a couple years ago.

I am really pleased with the way that this first figure turned out and I can't wait to start painting more figures tomorrow. While I have 17 more primed and ready to go, I think that I may work on a smaller batch of, say, 5 to 7 figures so that I can complete them over the weekend, get them based, and then take a final photograph for the blog.

I also grey primed eight of the Minden Croats (one of each pose) and will be tempted to paint a couple of these samples over the next couple of days so that I can see how they turn out. They are wonderful figures, as are all of the Minden figures.

8 comments:

  1. He looks good . . . as all of your figures do.


    -- Jeff

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  2. I like it uncle jim, though for some reason the pants don't strike my fancy not sure really why. Overall amazing paint job on an amazing mini. No sooner had I praised your postal service for delivery then I got hom to find my three infantry battalions and cavalry reg't had arrived.

    Franks figures are a most definate rare treat to be able to own that is for sure.

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  3. I think that actually looks better than the Stadden figure: I never thought I'd be saying that, not in this life!

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  4. Hi Jim,

    Your sample figure is very likely to make me get off my duff and place an order for some of these very same hussars. . . despite a self-imposed moratorium (sp?) on further purchases until the pile of lead here is reduced a bit more. And your flesh and black highlight is very effective too.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  5. I agree with the previous comments - very nice work, as usual! The black highlighting looks good.

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  6. My original intention was to hold off additional purchases of Prussians until I worked the pile of lead down. However, with the stronger dollar versus the British Pound and the fact that these hussars are too good to resist, I broke down and ordered them anyway even though I still have a dozen more dragoons and a regiment of cuirassiers remaining in my pile o' Prussians. I'm glad that I went ahead with the hussar order

    The Austrians will just have to wait until July.

    BTW, the hussar horses are just a little bit smaller, so Stokes especially will find that these figures fit in well with his existing figures.

    Jim

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  7. Really nice hussar...I have lots of trouble highlighting dark blue, dk green, and black...your highlighting is really great.

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  8. I tend to use black primer for my figures and use Reaper Elven Green for my shade and an Olive Green left over from the old Ral Partha paints. For blue I use Navy Blue that I buy at a craft store and dry brush a True Blue also from Ral Partha. For black I mix in some flesh with black for my black highlight.

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