I have coded the method to draw the maps in antique style: the images below shows part of a map printed in various optional settings. The next task on the list is to add towns. Initially I'll give each town only a name, population and position. However that's just a framework within which all sorts of extra detail can be added.
The universe seems to operate by a set of rules that are, at times, perverse. When I paint soldiers I struggle and fail to paint straight lines. When I draw rivers on my maps I want wiggly lines, and its straight lines that are easy. Either someone would have to get outside and straighten up all our rivers, or I had to write a more complex algorithm for my map editor. It took most of the day but, as the images show, wiggly rivers are now accomplished.
On the figures front, I've started painting a cuirassier trooper. There's an occurrence that's becoming annoyingly frequent: I start painting and then discover a feature that needs adding to the figure or something on the figure that needs filing off. Inspection by eye before I start painting seems to fail me, its 'inspection by paintbrush' that spots the problems. So, if its a figure I'm unfamiliar with, its best I start by painting one test case. I've found that the cuirassier figures do not have pigtails, a thing not to be tolerated by a pedant like me. My first attempt to add a pigtail convinced me that I wouldn't be able to use milliput - milliput pigtails are just too thin and fragile unless they can run along the figure's back for support. On the cuirassier figure that wouldn't look right to me. It took a while to think of a solution, and the best I could come up with was to run cotton thread through some epoxy glue and then attach that to the figure.
The Suren figures come with separate swords, but I think they are far too fragile for wargaming, and they'd be tricky to fit to the figure's hand anyway. Probably the best thing to do would be to leave the figures without swords - I doubt cavalry would spend the entire battle with swords drawn anyway. However, I decided I did want shouldered swords, so I went for Alte Fritz's method of using pin swords. These were epoxied onto a slight notch in the shoulder and then soldered onto the hand. After that I added a hilt made of milliput to the hand.
He's now added to a growing number of figures awaiting varnishing and metallics
4 comments:
Hi Andy,
Well, your cuirassier looks lovely. Well done!
Best Regards,
Stokes
Nice looking cuirassier - and your photograpy is improving. Yes, get a tripod, which I have found to be of the greatest help in eliminating blurry pictures.
Don't worry about turnbacks on officers. Sometimes they fasten them and sometimes they don't.
regards,
Fritz
A lovely looking picture - could I beg a slightly bigger version to see the detail? :o))
As the expression goes, the devil is in the detail. One of the advantages of my poor photography is that the detail can't be seen. Sadly, my failings in that department will become all too visible soon.
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