I’m on a roll, finishing two projects within a week! I don’t think I’ve ever done that. This is an “out of the box” diorama of some calvary troopers at the Little Bighorn. These figures are from the Fusilier line, and are in 75mm scale (1/24 I think). I did each figure pretty much right out of the box. Each figure comes on it’s own, and I merely arranged the three of them on some groundwork. Speaking of which, I scooped a couple of pieces of landscaping bark from a city park flower bed, and covered it over with some plaster of paris. I was quite happy with the result, which IMHO, closely resembles a rocky, prarie hilltop. I may add a few details like some spent cartridges, but other wise, this is ready to be handed off to the client who commissioned it. I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I did putting it together.
Cheers;
Glenn
Glenn-looks great! I’ve always wanted to do Andrea Miniatures’ Last Stand, but metal figures are tough. Are these metal? BTW-I’ve been to Little Big Horn (isn’t that an oxymoron?) and you have that scrub buffalo grass and hard clay soil well represented.
Very nice Vignette. The figures are very well painted. Thanks for sharing.
Regards, Rick
Thanks guys. Trowlfazz, I’ve done Andrea’s “Last Stand”, and it’s a treat! Well worth the investment, especially if you have an interest in this particular subject. These figures are metal as well, but really aren’t that tough to do if they’re well cast, and these were. My home province in Canada is just north of Montana, so I just copied the southern Alberta landscape.
Cool, Glenn-have you even seen or done Andrea’s 'Waterloo"? Looks dramatic-very pricey. The problem I have with metal figures is that my finger oils rub the paint off-hard to use gloves-maybe I don’t clean 'em right.
I had the same problem. What I’ve done to solve it is to pin the figure, (by drilling holes into the heels and putting paper clip sections into the holes), onto a small block of wood for painting. Once I’m done painting, I give the figure a shot of matt varnish (Model Master acrylic flat clear), and then I fix him onto the permanent base. This way, I don’t actually touch the figure during the painting process. Any paint that does rub off is easily touched up once the figure is on it’s permanent display base. I keep forgetting to clean my figures, and I never have any problem with paint peeling off using this little trick.
I agree, painting metal figures is no more challenging than resin.
I, too, did Andrea’s Last Stand (Last Rout would be more accurate!) Makes a very good display and has several historic accuracies, Custer’s firemans style shirt, no jacket and buckskin pants as well as Webley pistols. They made the same mistake just about every other Custer depiction makes, however. Before this campaign, Custer cut his hair realtively short. “Into the West” got his right, maybe the only dramatic representation to do so. It possible, accordiong to “Custer Falls” a 1930 era book based on interviews with the Lakota participants that Custer was among the first to die,. They claim a soldier fitting his description received a very serious wound before the start of the main battle.
Little Big Horn does sound like an oxymoron until you consider it was a tibutary of the Big Horn River.
BTW, very nice job on the figures. Quite evocative.
AJ-hard to pair up history and legend-but a great job on this little vignette by Glenn-obeys the classic ‘group of 3’ concept.
Regarding metal figures: first, they need to be cleaned. Take a brass wire brush (available at clothing departments in stores as a suede brush, or at firearms dealers) and vigorously scrub with turpentine. The brush will give your paint some “tooth” without damaging the figure. Now clean the figure again using an old toothbrush and warm, soapy water. When dry, spray the figure with your favorite white acrylic as a base coat.
I have done some white metal figs and have never had the paint flake off… I’ve also never had do wash the figures in vinegar or scrub them with turps… just warm water and washing up liquid… then i heat the figure with a hair-dryer before priming - which helps the primer bind… i’ve heard polishing the figure up (like with a 400-600 grit polishing cloth) before heating and priming also helps…
BTW Glenn… nice job on the vignette. This was a commissioned job? Was the client happy with it?
excellent job, this said by someone who started converting britains in the early 60’s. a few notes: the lakota/cheyenne called the river the greasy grass, doesn’t make as good news copy. i have been to the battle site and the only rock outcrop i remember is at weir ridge, the rest was that deceptive grass/bush that covered what was essentialy dusty dirt, but so what? the hats are a point of contention, there were no john waynes, the issue cover was black and flimsy and folded up. reno apparently was wearing a farmers straw hat!! oh, and the biggest fuss? there may have been no “last stand” just a squalid slaughter as they were overrun, not a good topic for a diorama. again congrats on a great job
pete saussy
Hey Pete-But the moniker 'Last Crap in your Pants" is not very inspiring. That’s why we need legends. I do remember hard pack croppings when I was at LBH-but I might have been there on a drier summer (22 years ago).