Airfix 54mm Napoleonic French Line Infantry

[Steve-the-Duck]

Y'know, now it looks like the runner just ducked under the shot that took out his mate. I also like that the standing shooter is either oblivious to, or professionally ignoring the line collapsing next to him.
Coming together nicely

[Tim Marlow]

That’s a great looking composition Neil. Very dynamic . As Chris says, it looks like you’ve captured the moment as the line starts to break apart.

[wotan]

Neil

This is your composition so please feel free to ignore this. However I think the guy falling down looks like he's falling off the base and leads the eye out of the scene, at least from this camera angle. I would propose that you change places between the guy who is running from the line and the guy who is falling so that the falling guy stays within the limit of the base and the guy running completes the nice triangular form from this view.

John

[rtfoe]

Whatever the composition Neil, I can just see the action you are creating. Yes the facial expressions will be the icing in the cake which most of us struggle unless you have a bunch of Hornets...

Cheers,
Richard

[Neil Merryweather]

Cheers John, I'll try it out

[Neil Merryweather]

Whatever the composition Neil, I can just see the action you are creating. Yes the facial expressions will be the icing in the cake which most of us struggle unless you have a bunch of Hornets...

Cheers,
Richard

I'm going to give it a try, Richard. So much for this being an easy build as an antidote to the intensity of the last one:rolling:

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
A great deal of thought going into this. I do like the composition and the ideas you have come to. As for facial expression - wonderful if you are prepared to go for it.

So much for this being an easy build as an antidote to the intensity of the last one

Ain't hat so often the way it is but it does make for a very interesting blog.
Jim

[Neil Merryweather]

So let's bite the bullet and look at the heads for Fusiliers 1&2

Here’s Fusilier 1 straight out of the box

Very annoyingly at this time Airfix started making the heads in two halves, (and actually sometimes in 3 pieces), attached to the headgear, which makes converting much more painful. It’s a shame because the sculpting is quite refined, but it vastly increases the opportunity to blob the face with glue and leave your fingerprints all over it-especially if you’re 12 years old!

Our boy here suffers from a huge gap behind the ears, both of which are devoid of detail anyway. I HATE sculpting ears but they’ve got to go.

Here's Fusilier 2 before surgery

He is from the Imperial Guard Grenadier, and at least he is in one piece below the headgear, but he needs his ears doing as well

I carved into his brow a bit to create a frown, and sharpened up his lip. I also defined the lines from the nostrils to the corner of the mouth a bit more.
I left the ears to cure at this stage to avoid damaging them when I did the rest of the hair and stuff.
So here they are with their necks, their hair, and a bit of eye enhancement- hopefully- I will have to see how it looks after priming



Not the world's best photographs, sorry.
These two don’t have the extreme expressions of some of the other fellas- they are just getting on with the job like the veterans they are. But hopefully they have a little bit more character than before.
Next stage is the equipment
Thanks for looking

Neil

[Si Benson]

Looking mighty fine from here Neil :thumb2:

[rtfoe]

Neil...I must get some green putty to sculpt my figure heads. Looks fun.

Cheers,
Richard

[Tim Marlow]

Nice work Neil. Brings the heads up a notch or two .

[Neil Merryweather]

Looking mighty fine from here Neil :thumb2:

cheers Si

Neil...I must get some green putty to sculpt my figure heads. Looks fun.

Cheers,
Richard

It took me along while to get used to it after Milliput, but I quite like it now. It's very good for little things,(like ears) and rolling out like pastry. And it cures slower than Milliput. But I'm not up to Bill Horan's standard with it- he works miracles!

Nice work Neil. Brings the heads up a notch or two .

Thanks a lot Tim , that's the hope!

[Neil Merryweather]

So on with the equipment. As I promised myself, Fusilier no 1 is pretty much as Airfix intended…well ALMOST.
When I ordered the Historex spares I included a couple of cartridge pouches but this is where the size discrepancy reared its ugly head again.

Looking at re-enactors I decided to go with the larger Historex size, so I had to scratch a couple more of them, which at least gives me the option of having the flap a bit open.
Also looking at re-enactors, most of them have some form of non-regulation haversack and water bottle over the right shoulder. So in the spirit ‘of out of the box’ I just went with the water bottle for our guy.
Epaulettes were next, and they posed the opposite size problem, Airfix were twice a thick as the Historex ones, so they had to be thinned down -at great cost to my fingerprints!

As I’ve made our boy a bit taller I decided to use the larger Historex pack for him, and I just added the rolled straps- which means I will have to do THAT another five times.

I’ve added the pack straps to the figure but I’m leaving the pack itself off for painting. And he’s got a bayonet as well, which I mustn’t forget.
So here is Fusilier no 1, ready for priming, and we’ll see how well I have disguised the surgery.



I mustn’t forget the chin scales either….

And here is Fusilier no 2, ALMOST 'out of the box' but with one of my scratched cartridge pouches and a non-regulation haversack (looted from an Airfix Coldstream Guardsman, no doubt…)



So it’s on with the paint next- let’s see what a hash I make of them.

Thanks for looking

Neil

[Steve Jones]

Late on parade I'm afraid Neil. Lovin your composition and additions. Great input from the guys. Its gonna be another epic grouping. You have just gotta love that banner - did Paul actually hand paint the lettering?? If so thats one steady hand. Keep it comin my friend

[JR]

Late , sorry Neil but been gardening so much have been sleeping in the evening and rarely coming on here.
Love them, esp. the straps, the way you mould them to the body shape and the packs.