Monday 30 January 2012

A Flag 'Quickie'

Just a brief note on how I do flags in answer to Simon’s comment. Now, I’m no flag expert. There are plenty out there who do flags expertly. Doing flags for the Sedgemoor regiments came about years ago when there were no flags commercially available ( I still think today they may be limited.) and I had to do my own. This is how – I still do it like this today for these new regiments you've seen on this blog. The sample below (after cutting out from sheet) took about 20 mins - if that.
  The results are a little crude but don’t look too bad, I think.

Initially I photocopy the flag (black and white) from a souce i.e. book, magazine ... and scale to a suitable size. You usually need 2 copies to give each side of the flagThese are slightly larger as I wanted them to stand out on the table.
Then I cut out and group the photocopies onto a single sheet and photocopy (scan and print..) this sheet so I have a single sheet with most of the flags on. I keep a 'master sheet' so I can make as many flags as I want!

Next I cut out the flag I want:
Block paint the flag: Here I used Vallejo Flat Red, Foundry Arctic white B and Vallejo Yellow Ochre. (The bit on the left is to hold whilst painting.)


  Next highlight with Vallejo Scarlet, Foundry white C and Vallejo Light yellow


  Glue to pole with Pva glue or Pritstick and fold to shape


  When dry tidy up edges and a final/light highlight on creases etc.




And there you are – a little basic but not a bad overall effect. Remember this was done quickly so may come across as a bit 'rough and ready.'
Usually when I use commercially available flags I still paint on some highlighting to make the flag/ colours stand out more.

More on flags another time.

Sunday 29 January 2012

Harold and his Huscarls (close-up pics)

As requested here are some close-up pictures of the Saxons shown in the last post.














Thursday 26 January 2012

Harold and his Huscarls

A slight deviation from the Sedgemoor stuff while I get the next unit ready!
Crusader Miniatures Saxons. Part of a Saxon Army (1066) I have been working on. In my 'metal mountain' I have loads of Normans and I will be doing a Norman Army to match these using Crusader Miniatures and Gripping Beast Normans.

These were painted using a black undercoat – more of that later – this is just a ‘taster’ for now. Shields painted by hand with occasional LBM transfer (which I highly recommend!)
Crusader Miniatures are a pleasure to paint and much of the inspiration for painting these came from Tom Weiss – a truely remarkable painter!











Monday 23 January 2012

Dumbarton's Regiment of Foot 1685

The Royal Regiment of Foot (Dumbarton's) as at Sedgemoor 1685. This is my third regiment of foot for the King's army at Sedgemoor.




Full regiment based to 'Beneath the Lily Banners' by Barry Hilton







Pike company









Musketeer companies





Command stand


Although the mass of unpainted castings is only going down very slowly I have now created some useful units and there is a real sense of satisfaction! All painting (including flags) by me.