Wednesday 29 May 2019

On the Workbench: 2mm French Light Infantry Brigade

Among the terrain and 6mm WW2 another Brigade base has been completed in 2mm Napoleonic. This is a light infantry base representing a 3,500 strong brigade:


Rather than repeatedly posting bases of 2mm as they are completed, I will now await until the French force is ready for action before updating the blog. It can be a little repetitive!

Other news from the workbench: I now have a number of German AFV's and vehicles painted awaiting varnishing as soon as my decal order has arrived. I had been in two minds as to whether decals should be added given the small scale. However, upon seeing some excellent examples on the internet, I have decided to take the plunge. Providing not too time consuming and the desired appearance is achieved, I may continue with this process.

The final building bases have been completed for Grissburg. They will be matt varnished tomorrow morning following which I will begin preparing the table.

14 comments:

  1. Excellent work, Jon. Odd that you mention AFV decals. I painted up several hundred GHQ and H&R WW2 AFVs without decals. My next scheduled job after WOSS was to look into the possibility of adding insignia to some or all. If you don't mind my asking where did you find the decals as 6mm (1/300) stuff seems hard to come by?

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    1. I ordered mine from Magister Millitum who stock GHQ and Beacon. GHQ decals are a little pricey which will be another determining factor as to whether I will continue. It may be the case that I will use them on certain AFV's and vehicles but not others.

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    2. Thanks, Jon. I will have a look at these. I have a sheet of the Microscale 1/285 German AFV decals on order. They are pricey at £6.29 ($7.00 from US) but they were the only ones I could find with the red flag vehicle ID markers. When they arrive I will let you know what I think.

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    3. That's great. Thanks Kevin.

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  2. Your basing looks terrific. As you know I plan to base up the armies for Gettysburg in 2mm and am undecided on basing: I'm not sure that the peculiar geography of that battle would accommodate a single base for each brigade? Lots to ponder now.

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    1. That's the problem I had in 6mm which is why I went for small bases. I had considered not basing at all and I have seen examples where that has been the case and the battles look impressive. Even the larger blocks of figures are small though and would be a little too fiddly for me. It will be interesting to hear what you settle on.

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  3. This French Brigade looks awesome! Great basing.

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  4. I ordered 7 packs of the decals you mentioned and will take the opportunity to rationalise my WW2 AFV collection which I acquired in a rather haphazard manner over several years.

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    1. As I go through my 15mm collections for disposal I am reminded of that haphazard way in which I purchased them. Some of them I cannot even remember buying!

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  5. Jon, as promised a lowdown on the Microscale Decals. I thought they seemed pricey but you get a lot and every decal is 1/285. The sheet comprised the following water slide decals: 36 red flag with swastika ID drapes, 208 black crosses in two styles, 230 white crosses, 224 white number sets (3 digit sets), 200 black and 94 red. They are hard to find in the UK but www.hannants.co.uk have them. I paid £6.99 plus a set of 1/285 Soviet armour decals on offer at £3.87. The order form initially shows a postage cost but I paid by Paypal and p&p was free.

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  6. Oh, I forgot: the codes are, German SS13016, Soviet SS13017, which may facilitate any search.

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    1. Many thanks for this Kevin, really useful. I have ordered the German decals. I received the GHQ decals this morning and I was disappointed with them. One small sheet of German crosses and did not appear particularly good quality. I will see how these turn out and looks more promising from what you have described.

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  7. Jon, you probably know this already but I find it to be a big help with the decals to use Microscale's Micro Sol or Micro Set. Both help adhesion and soften the decal so it conforms to the contours of the model. Micro Sol softens more but is only needed where contours are pronounced.

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    1. Thanks Kevin. Yes I have those and have found them useful. Used them on my WW2 aircraft and Roman shield transfers.

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