"Question about painting cavalry." Topic

I have started painting some Saxon cavalry. How does everyone hold their riders to paint them?? I am new to cavalry and struggled with painting the rider because of the lack of a base to hold. That's generally how I paint foot figures, one hand holding the figure by the base. Any tips or advice is appreciated. There are some pictures on my website of my efforts. Thanks!

battlesinthesnow.com

I glue the rider to the horse before painting. That gives the glue a good bond.

If you really have to paint the rider before gluing it to the horse them drill a small hole upwards through the figure and then temporarily glue the rider to a straightened paperclip stuck into a piece of cork.

I have seen pictures where someone had attached a dowel to where the rider would sit on the horse. Attach either with water bases glue or maybe some wall tack the people use to put up posters with.

Matthew

White glue it to a horizontal pencil. The flat sides of the pencil will help prevent it from rolling around like a dowel would when you set it down.

Drill a hole in the figure and mount it on a piece of heavy wire.

I use "floral wire," available cheap at any hardware store.

Also drill a corresponding hole in the back of the horse.

For painting, you hold the figure by the wire/pin. Afterwards, I clip the wire with a wire-cutter and use it to pin the rider to the horse.

Here's a picture – not my figures, but you can see how it is done.

Same as JimDuncanUK. Glue together first then paint.

Agreed, paint after gluing on the horse.

I paint before gluing to the horse. I resolve the glue issues by using latex rubber as a frisket to mask the areas where the figure will join, to ensure a good glue job.

Damon.

I do what Scott S does, but I use finishing nails and hot glue or double-sided tape to attach while painting.

There are pros and cons to both methods.

Always glued rider to horse first. No extra steps for this boy….

I, also, do as ScottS, but I use round toothpicks.

Thank you guys for all of the tips! I think I like the way ScottS does it. I will try it out tonight. I don't like the idea of gluing the figure to the horse first because it makes it more difficult to paint the figure for me. again, thank you so much!

I drill a small hole and mount figures on wooden cocktail sticks with glue, sticks can be cut off flush with the figure when painted

I used to use the "dowel method", but I think that gluing the rider to the horse is best way- gives stronger bond between horse and rider- metal to metal instead of paint to paint.

I glue riders to a wooden skewer for painting. To ensure a good bond when the time comes to attach them to the horses instead, I ensure a metal-to-metal join by scraping away the paint from the join area before supergluing.

i simply drilled a 1/16th hole in the figures bottom and inserted a toothpick. It fits well enough that no glue is needed. thanks again for the help. It worked a lot better!