Airfix Waterloo Odds and Ends

So for my final post before returning to work I thought I would finish up some of the Airfix Battle of Waterloo Project figures. There were far too many to finish in the time left so here is a sample of what is in the queue.

The glue is in fact still drying on my first command stand, but here is Jack Hawkins, sorry General Picton, leading from the front "Gordon, take your bastards forward. I'll bring up the rest of the Brigade".

He started life as the US 7th Cavalry officer. The jaunty sentry is perhaps hoping the cannon carcass will offer more protection to him than it did for the original crew.

The Chasseur a Cheval is an obvious conversion. All the mounted cavalry figures have been reinforced with a pin bent to shape on one of the legs and pinned to the base. In this case the pin is on the rear left leg and once painted is pretty much invisible. Its a fiddly job though!

 Finally the good old French artillery marching figures serving (with their occasional warped muskets) as Prussian Musketeers.

Not sure when I will being returning to the painting/gaming table. My job for one of the "blue light services" means I'm being deployed against the C-19 virus. From my experience of other civil emergencies I'm going to be really earning my wages for the foreseeable future.

So keep safe indoors and I'll see you all when we come out of this the other side!

More Airfix Waterloo

Having reached a milestone of more games played in 2019 than 2017 & 2018 combined I have also been slowly adding to various collections. The first is this British artillery base.

Waterloo Horse Artillery - probably my favourite of all the Airfux sets

I have a few more weeks of shift work to go before I join the 9-5 set so I hope to increase output very soon. Rather than go bonkers and start painting everything I have I will probably stick with 4 main projects for 2019. Next up for the Airfix collection are those really useful marching French artillerymen. 

But for my next post are some 28mm ACW destined for some club games later in the year.

33rd Regiment of Foot (First Yorkshire West Riding)

With apologies for the lousy photography (I am using a back up camera) the Airfix Battle of Waterloo Project takes a small lurch forward.

Photographic special effects for that true 1970's look!

My period of being too busy with "stuff" should be over in the next couple of months so hopefully there will be a marked increase in output.

Next post should be the command bases needed to complete phase one of the French FPW army.

The Airfix 3rd Silesian Landwehr

Finally I have something to post. 

But first:

Sadly 2017 has not been a good year. I got a new job (same line of work but just a different employer in the City of London) but developed a niggling back ache. In turn this developed into something far more serious and in just over a week I have surgery on my spine. Coupled with the austerity measures for public sector workers such as myself it all makes for a less than certain future. All nasty stuff; which brings into focus that you really should enjoy the simple things in life - they are invariably the most important. 

So I give you the 3rd Silesian Landwehr:

Not a wobbly chin among these veterans!

"Back in the day" I would have busted a gut to have been able to achieve these kind of results so I am proud of this unit. A lot of them had to be completed while standing!I just hope they fulfill my battlefield expectations!

The standard is in the official Airfix box art pattern. Yes, I know!

I would like to be able to finish one more Airfix unit before I go under the knife, plus I have been re-basing my 15mm Franco-Prussian War figures which should be completed in the next two days. I will post the results and the ideas behind this once done.

In the meantime I hope you can enjoy a trip down Airfix memory lane when grand battles were fought, completed and put away over the kitchen table before fish fingers, mash potato and peas were served up for the whole family's tea!

Remember When I Said....

...I hoped to paint a couple of units a month?

Well here we are in April and I'm still working on the Airfix Prussian Landwehr!

Well they are nearly done-they just need basing.

Who knows, I may even have them finished at the weekend!

The 2017 Campaign

My campaign plans for 2017 are made in the sure knowledge that if hobby time was sparse in 2016 its going to be very much the same this year too. Therefore all figure collecting and gaming adhere to my official 2017 mantra (to all things) of "Keep It Simple".

Airfix figures will form the bulk the work; after all it was 40 years ago that I started secondary school and discovered the wargaming hobby. Back in 1977 I could churn out a couple of Airfix units a week...I hope to be able to average 2 units a month now!

I have chosen to organise and base the figures for a more traditional 1:20 ratio set of rules such as General de Brigade, Black Powder or In the Grand Manner (I have all three!). The first of the allied units has been undercoated but already their completion date has been put back until beginning of February. They are a tribute to the best performing unit of my 2016 gaming; the Silesian Landwehr. I hope they fire as well as Ian's Hinton Hunt's did in June!

A Bit Of Help Please

Does anybody know the Airfix Magazine numbers to the original articles on converting HO/OO figures for:

Napoleonic French artillery limbers/caissons

Napoleonic Prussian Army

Napoleonic Austrian Army

I was provided with scans of these articles many years ago but lost them when my old computer died.

Regards,

Matt

Proof of Life

It has been a little busy round here of late but I did manage to finish a few French Infantry for the Airfix Battle of Waterloo Project.

2 Infantry bases for "Age of Eagles" Rules

These are all "vintage" yellow figures so they do not suffer from the excessive flash that I encountered on the artillery. 

Hopefully I can get the remaining bases complete in the next week or so.

Airfix Waterloo French Foot Artillery

Finally the Airfix Battle of Waterloo Project has started. Here are the 3 guns and crew supplied in the big "new" Airfix Waterloo Farmhouse set. Moulded in a white plastic there was an awful lot of flash to try and remove showing the age of the moulds.

Nostalgia in a box.

However I have been blitzing ebay lately and have more than enough yellow plastic "originals" to make life easier next time round.

I have a lot of half finished figures in the painting queue so the next few posts will appear to be a little random - starting with those 15mm French artillery pieces for the Franco-Prussian War that I promised months ago.

The Airfix Battle of Waterloo Project

I have recently made a very important purchase. Inspired by the work on my favourite vintage wargames blogs I have decided to try once more at a major Airfix project, this time to recreate the Battle of Waterloo using nothing but Airfix HO/OO soldiers.

Its a BIG box!

 The box contains the equivalent of one box of each of the figures in the Waterloo range together with the farmhouse, a base, some rather useful carts plus glue, paints and brushes. 

The fact that such a project can be done is beyond argument, however the question is how good can the models look? Unlike the "Airfix ACW Project" which I started and then (foolishly) abandoned all those years ago these figures will be getting the "full beauty treatment". 

The French artillery have been started. The rule have been decided-"Age of Eagles" the Napoleonic variant of  "Fire and Fury".

The first figures will be up for show after a small family break in the South of France.