Stage 3
So here's where things start to get interesting, the colour 'red' has always been a challenge to me in painting terms. It may just be me but I have found it difficult to find a good red paint that covers the surface of a model,giving the right amount of vivid colour and the capacity to provide opaqueness and pigment in enough depth to avoid having to do several coats of paint.
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| Musketeers and Pikeman in Scarlet Coats |
Any way after years of trying different manufacturers I now always use Citadel red paints, on these models I have used 'Evil Sunz Scarlet' and 'Wazdakka Red' The rank and file are done in the brighter Scarlet colour but I have used the darker red colour on officers, sergeant an drummer to give an indication that these figures are wearing a better quality cloth.
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| Officers and Sergeant in Red Coats |
As with other stages the key thing here is to apply the paint as neatly as possible, avoiding splashes of colour on areas that have already been painted or are about to be painted. That said don't worry if this happens, it will but being careful saves time later....
After the red coats are painted in then I add in a dark brown for the musketeer's weapons and a light
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| Wood is coloured in for musketeers and pikemen |
yellow paint I got from Army Painter to represent the pike, flag and Halberd shafts which would have bee stripped ash or similar wood in real life. The dark brown, I also used to paint the handles of swords and any bayonets modeled on the figures.
Finally at this stage I add in flesh tones for faces and hands, using a fast running out supply of Citadel 'Dwarf Flesh' paint. This flesh colour does dry to distinctive shade, but as I will be using the Army Painter shading varnish,this colour will be toned down to a more natural colour.
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| Officers and Sergeant with pole arm shafts painted |
It is also worth pointing out that the same is true for all colours used on these figures, once the shading varnish is applied all colours will be muted somewhat, so what appears to be a very bright scarlet coat will be less in your face once shaded....
At this point I put the figures to one side to dry over night. Another thing about red paint is that it tends to bleed into colours painted over it, 24 hours drying time prevents this from happening.
Stage 4
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| Men with Buff Leatherwork and dark brown shoes & Scabbard detail added |
Once thoroughly dried It s now time to paint in the buff leatherwork on the figures. For musketeers this is the hardness for the 'ten apostles', bullet pouches and leather straps for the powder horn. For most other figures this is limited to scabbard fobs, waist belts and shoulder straps etc.Again the key here is to take a little time to be neat and tidy.
Next on the list is to paint in the metalwork,musket barrel, matchlocks and pike & halberd heads etc. I use a Citadel 'Mithrel Silver' paint for this and rely on the Amy Painter to tone this down appropriately when this is applied.
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| Sam stage for Sergeant and Officers |
The biggest chore ranking alongside the 'ten apostles' for this period is the coat buttons, upwards of a dozen to do on some figures. The answer is to take your time, use a fine brush and ensure you have enough paint on the brush to get each button first time. I find I make most mistakes on buttons when I have to go back to complete a partial button or I have too much paint on the brush to start with. You will miss some, you will get silver on the coat but just correct it later and relax.
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| Buttons and other metal work added and 'fixes' applied to earlier mistakes1 |
On the officers I painted their braid Gunmetal - to give it a contrast to the silver buttons, for teh sergeant and the drummer I did their braid in white to reflect their lower rank.
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| Again same stage for Command Group |
The final piece of the jigsaw at this stage is to add in colouring for shoes, scabbards and powder flasks. For this I use Citadel 'Rhinox hide', this is a very dark brown. In the 1680s period,getting a black finish to leather goods was very expensive and from a painting point of view using a base black colour leave no room for shading. The Dark brown can be shaded to near black.
Stage 5
So having stressed the need to be neat and tidy when applying paint all the way through these articles, being realistic paint does stray...
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| Painting pretty much finished... |
You get splashes of one colour on another, your hand wobbles and the paint for the straps ends up on the coat etc - well we're all human!
So this stage is about going back and correcting all your mistakes as best as possible, take your time, one colour at a time the more accurately you apply the colour the better the finished product.
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| ... and ready for the shading and scenics stages |
Once happy you have corrected mistakes then continue adding detail - various browns for hair colours, brass for sword hilts, bayonet details, musket and powder horn details etc. Blue sashes for officers and fringes on the pikemen's sashes. Dark grey for the 'ten apostles', add on red ties on the breaches, red laces on the shoes and a suitable colour for the matches each musketeer has in their hand.
The detail makes the figure so again spend time here, you 'll be surprised at how quickly such detail can be added and it pays dividends once the unit is completed.
Next time I'll talk about applying the Army Painter shading products, basing the figures and adding the final detail - the unit's flags
