4th King's Own

[thomaspicton]

Dear Forum members,

Here is my next square, the 4th King's Own Foot. They are mostly Airfix with a few others in the mix. I know Airfix aren't as good as the best modern figures but they hold a certain nostalgic pleasure for me and I have quite a few so wanted to use them. Hope they pass muster!









And here are all ten of my completed squares;



More pictures here at:
http://generalpicton.blogspot.co.uk

Many thanks!

[Rosbif]

Amazing work there, Mr. Picton!

Those squares en masse are brilliant!

[Wiking]

A well defended woodtable.
In these sound of silence you can hear, Ney`s attack is riding on.

tomaspicton write:
They are mostly Airfix with a few others in the mix.

In your anthill it is only possible for me to identify red, white, blue,black, British flag.

Nice paintwork.

[Susofrick]

Oh my! Love it! Remember when I bought my first box of these Summer of 1975.

[Kekso]

It is always nice to see so many painted figures at one place.

[tomikd]

Great job, I feel the power....

[davbenbak]

Great job with these old favorites!

[DickerThomas]

Wow .. Great ..

[junij]

very nice

[Peter]

Impressive is the first word that comes to my mind!

Can't wait to see when you start with the French cavalry! Just 10.000 riders to go!

[thomaspicton]

Hi Peter, if you look at my website, you can see my French cavalry

[Peter]

Hi Peter, if you look at my website, you can see my French cavalry

I tried, but I couldn't find a proper label to them! It could help if you label them as French cavalry, British infantry and so on.

Found the cuirassiers!

[thomaspicton]

There are all the Guard cavalry regiments, Cuirassiers, Carabiniers, Hussars, Chasseurs, and Lancers. The only ones missing are the Line Dragoons

[sansovino]

Wow, what an army! What will you make with it? A huge Waterloo-diorama?
How many hours did you invested to paint these thousands of soldiers which are really well done.

[thomaspicton]

Thank you! Yes, it has taken rather a long time and I'm not finished yet. My units are about 400 strong (so half the strength of a full battalion) and I don't intend to paint every French or Allied battalion present on the battlefield. But it should still come to about 40,000 troops.

[Cryns]

Dear Sir Piction,

For several months now I am watching your impressive masses of painted figures.
I like the huge numbers of them and your special additions like drumbands, NCO's, sappers and so on. Realising how many figs you painted, and looking at the straps and pipings, its realy an incredible lot of work you have done.

Now I wonder what plans to have developed (since joining this forum) about how to present or use all this. Will you build a mega-diorama like in the English museums you mentioned somewhere? Or will you use it for gaming?

[thomaspicton]

Thank you very much Mr Cryns, I am flattered that you think so well of my modest efforts. I don't paint as well as some of the amazing talents on this forum, but my thing is scale - BIG SCALE! I do intend to find a museum home for them in due course and have some ideas about where this might be. My dilemma is that if I let this happen too soon, what will I do for the rest of my life? But if I leave it too late, it could be that I never get to see the fruits of my labours. Advice please!

[Cryns]

I do intend to find a museum home for them

It seems like you missed the finest hour for this: the 200th anniversary of Waterloo. Because of that, in Belgium and The Netherlands some huge, surprising Waterloo diorama's popped up during 2015 in some of the greater history museums. One was at the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam. Another in Liege which was four large tables in four different rooms. These were all only temporary though. But I have no idea about the situation in England.

if I leave it too late, it could be that I never get to see the fruits of my labours. Advice please!

With a huge mass of figures like you have, it will not be easy to find a place to expose them permanently. But you have to find that place yourself while alive and don't pass that quest through to your wife or children after your death. Your family will probably pay respect to your work but they will have other important concerns in life themselves. So I advice you to accept any temporary or permanent possibility. As soon as there's a plan where to expose your work, it will give you a focus on improving it, the bases of the figures, the landscape, the composition etc.

My dilemma is that if I let this happen too soon, what will I do for the rest of my life?

That should not be a problem at all. Start another collection. From another battle. Another period in history. Or may be a smaller project in which you pay attention to the quality in stead of quantity. That may seem less exciting to you. But I can tell you from my own experience (after painting 3500 Napoleonics in very simple, basic colors only) it was refreshing to start doing ancients in much smaller numbers but much higher quality.

[thomaspicton]

Dear Mr Cryns, wise advice, I am sure, although I am a bit pushed to get going an Ancient army given my Napoleonic efforts. I will try harder to improve my quality. PS why the bunny ears?

[Cryns]

I am a bit pushed to get going an Ancient army given my Napoleonic efforts.

Not sure what you mean here. I hope you don't feel pushed in any way.

I will try harder to improve my quality.

With the masses of figures in mind your quality of painting is just impressive.

Building a landscape that does right to your figures (i.e: A landscape that is as impressive as your figures, not diverting from it, looking realistic and historical correct) must be a whole new chapter in your work and may take months or years to build. Also I think the screaming, chemical green paint that covers most of your figures plastic bases should be removed or covered before you can add your figures to a permanent, realistic colored underground. At least, if you want to achieve what we call 'museum quality.' And that's what you have in mind, right?

I just finished reading the book by Wolfgang Meyer about the making of the Crobern 1813 diorama. Do you know this book? There is an English edition available. I can recommend it to you. The idea's of Meyer are very clear, every step and decision about what materials to use, what scale of landscape and buildings and what composition of masses he takes made sense to me.

PS why the bunny ears?

viewtopic.php?f=103&t=18819&p=203168&hilit=konijn#p203168

Good luck with your project!