Some Minden Austrian Cavalry

Esterhazy Hussar Regiment in Austrian service

I have been busy working on a painting commission for some Minden Miniatures SYW Austrian and Prussian cavalry figures. You can see the early results in a couple of photos taken with my iPhone, so I apologize for the dodgy quality of the pictures. I was setting up a photo shoot this evening when my camera battery died and had to be recharged. I wanted the client to be able to see the pictures today, so I had to resort to the iPhone as a Plan B.

The commission also includes a dozen Prussian hussars in mirliton, which will end up being the Black Hussars on white (greys) horses. I primed the hussars this evening so they should be ready for painting on Thursday evening. With the long holiday weekend coming up, I ought to be able to knock the Black Hussars out in a couple of days and get the lads sent on to their new inhaber.

Leopold Cuirassier Regiment in Austrian service.

I had a little bit of trouble getting my hands around the task of painting the Esterhazy Hussars. Given their bright colors, I primed them in grey rather than my normal black primer. This results in a brighter looking figure for light blues or reds. The one draw back is that after priming and laying on the base coat of uniform colors, I then have to go back and paint ALL of the equipment black - and this can get a bit tedious until you hit your painting rhythm.  Equipment gets an under coat of black so that the brown (muskets and hair) and the cross belts (grey or white) have more depth to their final colors. This is the exact opposite of painting with reds or light blues.

Eventually, I figured out how to paint the hussar figure in the most efficient manner, and then, they really started to roll off of the assembly line. The cuirassiers painted up much faster as they have less detail (lace, van dyking on the horse furniture, etc). The cuirassier picture is slightly blurry so it doesn't give you a true look at how the final product looks.

I wanted to terrain the bases, but the client wanted them just painted green so that he could apply his own basing material and have his new figures match the basing of his existing SYW units.

I particularly like the Austrian cuirassier figures in red. I have one unit for my own Austrian army in blue facings, but I like the red much better. I think that I might have to order some Minden castings for myself and paint a unit of Austrian cuirassiers for my army.

I kind of hate to see these fine figures go, but they were fun to paint and the commission provides more funds for my Fife & Drum range of AWI figures.

I will post more pictures within a couple of days after the Black Hussars are completed.