"Painting ten battalions of 28mm in 2 weeks?" Topic

It is possible, but corners get cut. I have just purchased a 3-d printer (Bambu 1A mini) and while trying it out I printed out the equivalent of ten twenty-four figure battalions of Napoleonic troops. Hey, accidents happen. Rather than put them into The Vault where they would end up on the "If I live to one-hundred" pile I resolved to get them all painted within the fortnight. Sacrifices had to be made; first of all they would only get basic clean up (fortunately not much was required) second; they would be painted in a "toy-soldier" style (i.e. simple blocks of color, no shading, no highlights; third, paper print-out flags without any fancy enhancements. Staying withing those limits and working at it about four hours a day I managed it with two days to spare! More pictures here link

Scroll down to see my day-by-day progress

They look OK to me, except for the officers being out of step with the soldiers ().

Jim

They look good.

They are far better than you suggest. Those white cross belts are immaculate. Never easy to get those sharp edges and an even white. "Cutting corners?" Naw, you have grenadier and light companies painted up for each unit. 240 figures in two weeks is great work. The Swiss units are very colourful of course.

Just for me though, the cannon. Move the spongeman/rammer to the opposite side.

I am never going to criticize someone who does in 2 weeks what it takes me two years to do

Great work!

^^ This. I don't paint 10 battalions in a year.

I think they look great. I love the "Toy soldier" look.
They need a nice gloss coat or two!

They look great! I also like the classic toy soldier look, General Bonaparte would have approved. Cheers!

In this pic they remind me of "Babes in Toyland. Thank you for the great memory.

I also really like the toy soldier look.

Thanks everyone for the kind words! After my latest print run I will be replacing the "hot end" (I love 3-D printer terminology) with a .02mm one which will greatly improve quality (unfortunately it will also greatly slow printing)

In the mean time I have started to paint the guns for the artillery company that accompanied each regiment of Swiss. First up was the Neufchatel regiment, they seem quite happy with their guns. link

I got the rest of the guns painted and issued to the troops, then I held a review. With any luck I can get them into action this weekend! link

If you are going to base the gunners, be sure to swap the rammer/spongeman and the chap firing the gun to the opposite side (right side facing forward).

If not some river counter will surely comment.

28mm, these are great work and one can see the future for 3D printing only getting better. Rumour is they will come ready painted one day with different colours of material (whatever it is?)

Deadhead,
The gunners will remain loose to enhance the "toy soldier" aspect of things.

Actually my printer can print in up to four colors in the same model. With just a few bits of additional equipment I could print minis that come with white breeches, blue coats, red cuffs and facings, and black boots and shakos. And my machine is a "basic beginner" version!

Wow. I had no idea that the technology was already that advanced.

Thanks for that