1812 Campaign of Russia

[paul haring]

Wow, this is a massive and interesting project. If I had to do this I wouldn't be finished until....2025?
Succes!!

[ADM]

Mabo, the Russian militia regiment was unable to fight the french infantry regiment by themselves becauses they were poorly equipped (sometime armed with just axes or spear, no cavalry or artillery to support them) so they had more some less important duty like protecting village and communication lines from french cavalry scouting around to find food, but most of all replacing immediately the losses of the Russian infantry and this was important, so they were very often mixed together and also mixed with infantry

I have worked now on Russian and french sledges sets from Strelets (4 differents boxes) I have to say that I was very pleased by the quality of figures and horses, but much less by the too much simplified sledges (they finished to the garbage but you can build them if you want, with some work it can be good) so I decided to scratchbuild a more realistic model based on a model from an Irkutsk museum (Russia) :

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-wooden ... 69088.html

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-wooden ... 69013.html

I think this was the most common model in russian farms and small village during the 1812 winter. I've used PVC and Evergreen stripes, it wasn't very difficult and the result is far more attractive to my taste ! The 2 big wine barrels (important for a napoleonic army...)are made of wood, you can find plenty of different size in shop selling fittings for woodship. Before the primer on this and russian militia I will prepare more stuff. The Russian are in green plastic and french are blue.

[Kekso]

Wow, that scratchbuilt sledges looks fantastic

[Beano Boy]

Scratchbuilt Sledges! BB

[Susofrick]

It is good to know that you are going to paint all this! If I didn't know your work I would have thought this was a project growing too big. But it seems nothing is too big for you. Looks great!

[Cryns]

Dear ADM,

I am excited to see, after a very long period of only showing us how you spend your money, of cutting and spray painting your figures and many, many, many sexy ladies, your creative proces has finally started!

You know I love this kind of stuff: studying old, civilian objects from foreign cultures and turn them into 1/72 models. I also notice you face the same problems as I did when I build my wooden Ancient German wagons: it all turns out a little bit too big and heavy constructed in the end. We started building 1/72 models but we ended up in the 28mm range. But let that not spoil the fun for us! Its something we must keep in mind when we build our next series of models.
And I must say: I love those black wires you added, its a wonderful detail.

Good luck with the continuation.

[Peter]

:shock: Wow, that scratchbuilt sledges looks fantastic

Just thinking the same!

[ADM]

Many thanks everybody !

All the Russian militia figures and sledge train set received a primer, Tamiya XF57 Buff for the sledge/Wagon, and I've built a few airfix farm wagons from their Waterloo set (you will find them on ebay), they're really nice and everything like a diversified load and driver is included, very easy to build.

The white like a freeze on the plastic of the airfix wagons (photo 4) is the effect of the super glue, no problem it disappear entirely when painted.

Sometime I paint the wagon with the driver and the load glued and sometime I paint everything separately, it depend how easy it is for the painting, but as often as I can I glue everything before painting, because it's always stronger.

The sledge can be of different size, it depend if it's a model to carry only one person or a bigger one to carry several people and a load, mine are the size of the wagons, so it's the biggest size for these sledges.

[renikart]

Fantastic scratch built sledges! Those are pieces of art even for that scale. How did you achieved the curve in the evergreen stripes? I really like the details on the what I think is Russian militia. I can see some bend muskets and pikes. Do you straighten them out or do you leave them as they are? *sight*, just another diorama at this forum I can't wait to see the result!

[ADM]

Fantastic scratch built sledges! Those are pieces of art even for that scale. How did you achieved the curve in the evergreen stripes? I really like the details on the what I think is Russian militia. I can see some bend muskets and pikes. Do you straighten them out or do you leave them as they are? *sight*, just another diorama at this forum I can't wait to see the result!

Many thanks, curving the evergreen stripes is easy with fingers, you don't need anything else, it doesn't break easily.
bend muskets and pikes from "Hat manufacturer" is a terrible curse because of their rubber like soft plastic, it was right before painting and bend far too easily, of course I will rectify once more but I can forecast that it will bend very often after painting so the paint will turn into chips. This is why I'm buying as few Hat figures as possible, only when I really need some sets and not many of them.

[renikart]

That's unexpectedly pretty easy! I thought you had to use a heat sorce of some kind.

I have the same issue with some of the other manufacturers... I can't stand the bend weapons, but fixing them isn't always easy. Sometimes they go back to their former position or get weak at the bend. I read about the warm-cold water treatment, but not really sure how that works out. Any experience with that?

[Cryns]

I read about the warm-cold water treatment, but not really sure how that works out. Any experience with that?

How I do it:
-boil water
-throw your fig in it
-let cold water stream from the tap
-take the fig out of boiling water with a tool so you don't burn fingers
-bend the hot figure with bare hands into the desired postion AND HOLD IT THAT WAY WITH YOUR FINGERS FROM BOTH HANDS
(thats why cold water should be running already)
-bring figure with both hands under cold streaming water

If it keeps bending back a little into the wrong position after cooling:
-over-bend it in an exaggerated way when hot
-after cooling, the exaggerated bended figure will bend back only partly to the original shape and ends up in the position you desired in the first place

Good luck you guys!

[renikart]

take the fig out of boiling water with a tool so you don't burn fingers

This is probably the best tip for me

Thanks for the instructions! I'm going to try this on some of the figs who need a bit of adjustment. Let you know if it worked out or that they transformed into a zombie army...

[Peter]

I have that set from Airfix to. For those who are interested you can find it here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NAPOLEONIC-FA ... 2ee3fe8360

I see the project is growing and growing! And it looks good so far!

[ADM]

Now I'm back to my huge Napoleonic project , I've built and primed 79 french infantry and command from Zvezda manufacturer "art of tactic" range (including 4 officers on horses), one figure is missing (there should be 80 of them) because I've lost a part during the process of building them. This is the problem when you work with a lot of very small part, one can disappear or fell on the floor and you can't notice it until it's too late. But it doesn't really matter, those figures are made of hard plastic, easy to glue and work, the long rifle doesn't bend, I've cut the flag from the pole because I will use others ones. Each part fit perfectly without any problem. The bayonets are very thin but none of them broke so it's resistant, it can support a rough handling ! The horses are primed with Tamiya XF10 flat brown.

[Beano Boy]

i have just had a cruise down MEMORY LANE ,and reviewed the pages of this topic again from p1.
It`s good to see Napoleonics shown in the rough before assembly and painting.
A well worthwhile journey of effort and determination that's for sure.

Those Thick Zvezda bases are the Pit`s! ( Means`,The Worst Thing Possible!` )
Having to cut that lot down was a wise choice to make though ADM.

The farmyard type Wagon Set from AIRFIX ,1975, is a classic ,and one i have never seen painted up.

"The French look very smart in their new uniforms."

" Those pretty uniforms ain`t gonna last long."

" Yes,i agree.Winter is Coming." BB

[Peter]

Looking at the pictures above, I think you love Puzzles, AndreDM!

[ADM]

Thank you my friends !

I've finished the primer on the range "art of tactic" from Zvezda with Russian/French Dragons and artillery :

18 Russian dragons
9 French Dragons
12 French cuirassiers in winter (Strelets)
6 French gunners with their cannon
6 Russian gunners with their cannon

It's about 51 figures with their heavy guns and horses, I've bought only 2 artillery sets because I already have plenty of French/Russian artillery sets from the marvelous "Zvezda" conventional range with limber and ammunition wagon, everything is already primed. It's the same for the french dragons with Italeti set.


To prime the horses I've used 3 different Tamiya brown :

XF72 brown (light)
XF64 red brown (medium)
XF10 flat brown (dark)

French artillery : Tamiya XF26 green
Russian artillery : Tamiya XF5 green

those art of tactic sets represent quite a lot of work, all the parts fit perfectly each others but some sanding is needed, it's also more expensive but it's a nice addition to diversify poses of others sets.

Now I have some Strelets and Hat boxes to finish before starting the painting.

[Peter]

Again a lot of great work done!

[Beano Boy]

Although never ever being one to suck up to Top Brass,
i must say i am very impressed with the extent of work being carried out. BB