"French Line Infantry - A Year On " Topic

Hi All,
I just posted a few pics of a unit that has been "almost" done for a year or so…and now is rather closer to "almost" done than it was before: link

But now I'm wondering if a light wash with dip would improve it or not…

Malc

I like um, not sure about dips I don't do that. And the skipping of painting metal I posted that question a while ago that I didn't always paint swords or bayonets but after that I do now.

Well that white undercoat is rather standing out for me on the bayonet and gun barrel…As for the dip – I'm in two minds.

I like "the dip" but I tend to use it fairly early on in painting – like just after the basic colours – then dip, highlight and then matt coat

If you can get a micro pen, try doing black line along the edges of the belts and clothing. I think it will bring out the figure detail a lot.

No matter what you decide to do, it will be a bit tricky with everyone mounted.

Magic Wash would work pretty well on these, I think, and could be done even with the troops based without mucking things up too much – try a test figure first. I "retro-washed" a horde of based Foundry French Line last summer, and I though they came out quite well:

link

Recipe for the Wash as used is towards the end of this post:
link

Peter

Gosalvo- I am getting same result for each link, so cannot see Magic Wash recipe. Nice figures though!

Littlearmies-like what you have done with the AB figures. Any tips on painting the collar and cuff piping? I am painting AB Poles at the moment and finding it really difficult to get thin piping lines, even with an O brush. I use acrylics (various brands including Vallajeo, Tamiya, GW and cheapo craft paint). As for dips, I find it works well on these AB figures, but I always brush it on (ArmyPainter dark tone) and use quite sparingly, then touch up highlights afterwards. It's worth the experiment.

Hm,m, maybe because I used the search function…Recipe is at the end of this post:

link

but here is the excerpt:

Following feedback from the originator of the formula I based my first trials on, I used Distilled water instead of tap water in the wash, prevarnished the finished figures with the Kamar Varnish (my usual), before re-reading the instructions which called for gloss *acrylic* varnish, so I sprayed over that with the Krylon Clear Coat, a gloss acrylic varnish. I then applied the magic wash. Unfortunately, I still couldn't find any of the "cheap acrylic drawing ink" the recipe calls for at the nearby Michaels or a local art store, so I used a fresh bottle of cheap India ink. I knew from my previous trials to use the India ink very sparingly.
So my final composition for this wash was 60ml Distilled Water, 60ml Future, 2,5ml Jet Dry (which is a surfactant made for Dishwashing Machines), and 5 drops of cheap India ink. Once again, once mixed up in the bottle, this mix looks dark as midnight, but is almost colorless on the brush. Given the dark nature of these uniforms, I used this mix on the Fusilier and Voltiguer stands, and a darker formula (Mixture "C" from my earlier trials) on the Grenadier and command stand. On these rather dark uniforms, I think I actually prefer the darker wash on these particular uniforms, which isn't surprising. Neither seemed to significantly grey the white piping this time out! After allowing the wash to dry overnight, , I applied the relatively glossy Kamar varnish again (I happen to like a medium to high gloss finish).

Original Magic Wash post:

link

Sorry for any confusion!

Peter

Malc,
Excellent info presented here.

You can use dip and paint it like Paul has done and go back and highlight them.

link

@steamingdave47,
Not trying to steal anyone's thunder. But an easier way of doing piping is to paint the piping color first and than cut it with the collar and cup colors. Allot easier to do on an AB figure.

John

"@steamingdave47,
Not trying to steal anyone's thunder. But an easier way of doing piping is to paint the piping color first and than cut it with the collar and cup colors. Allot easier to do on an AB figure"
Which is just how I mostly did it (going back and actually painting the piping when I made a mess – which was frequent).

And Paul was the inspiration for dipping 15s in the first place. It's actually the highlighting I'm a bit wary of – mostly I either block paint or use washes to get colours at this scale.

Malc

@ vonBlucher- thanks John, I will try that. Got a lot of Russian gunners to do as well- black, piped red- so that will be a useful tip. I sometimes think I should stick to 28 mm at my age, but the AB figures are beautiful.

@ Gonsalvo. Thanks for the recipe. Not sure if " Future" sold in UK, but no doubt there is a comparable product. I have several bottles of black
acrylic ink, so that bit is easy. The ArmyPainter dip is convenient but it is expensive and tends to skin up in the tin, plus brushes have to be cleaned in white spirit- lots of nasty VOCs.

I heard that the UK version of Future is Kleer. It is acrylic floor wax.