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FN315 & French Hussar Horse FNH7
Yesterday I performed a roll call with the figures that arrived from the UK. It appears that they all made the voyage successfully (with the exception of one British infantryman laggard, who will be on the next voyage to America).
I had heard about the reputation for Hinton Hunts to come adorned with lots of flash, but it is a different story when you begin attempting to remove it. With the tools I have, unfortunately, some of it will have to remain for now. I am hoping that my plan for painting them will, for the most part, hide whatever flash I could not get at with my nippers, clippers and hobby knife. Most of the excess that I could not remove is on the rear underside of the horse. I am hoping that the dashing uniforms of the hussars will attract/distract the attention of the viewer from the underside of the horse (an unpopular place for viewers to look anyway).
These are Hinton Hunt recasts from John, and they appear to have retained their detail well. Someday I would like a squadron of originals to compare them with. This unit will sport one of my favorite Napoleonic uniforms. I am planning to paint them as the French 7th Hussars (the only French hussar unit to take part in the battle of Waterloo). This will be the elite squadron of the 7th. I have a line squadron on order as well to complete the regiment. Although hussars are more complicated to paint than some other uniforms, the enthusiasm generated by painting a favorite unit should help me do a decent job on them.
I was planning on priming the Hinton Hunt units with white primer. However, due to the aforesaid flash issue, with this unit I changed the plan, and now will prime the horses black and the riders white. I do want the units to look colourful, and I expect the white primer will help achieve that look. As I paint these figures, I expect that my method and style of painting to change (to help achieve the desired result). This will be quite the experiment. Wish me luck.
Flash between the back legs of Hinton Hunt horses is a very common problem, Captain. However, it is possible to remove it with a craft knife. I do this by scraping away at it, turning the blade as I go. It's time consuming, but it works.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragement.
DeleteHehre's a quick way. Use a mini drill, (Proxxon are good) and drill holes through the flash. Then follow Matt's advice with the cratt knife. This way works well on those bots that you cannot get the craft knife into!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tip.
DeleteI have a blunt old craft knife that I use to scrape the worst bits off (that way if it slips it doesn't take the top of my finger off). Then finish off between the legs with a rat tailed file.
ReplyDeleteThe flash on the recasts is not too bad, when you finally get your hands on some vintage ones you'll know what it's like to carve a horse from a solid block of metal!