Because I was to duel every month, I did not want to have too many projects going at once. So I made it a rule for myself that I would never paint a figure for the next duel until the previous duel was over. However, I would at times soak the figure, trim the flash and extra plastic, mount, prime, and most importantly, research while other duels were in progress, to ensure that I could complete the entries each month.
I focused my research on this famous image:
I also wanted to make sure my piper was in a Scottish unit that was actually deployed during the North Africa Campaign. I really liked the sound of "Black Watch," and so I did some research on that historical unit and found out their regimental kilt was black and green. I was really happy with the way my figure turned out. Here is a link to the duel itself.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=20692
My entry roared out to a big lead, but then Sho caught back up and passed me. On the last day, I was trailing 13--14. With only an hour left in the duel, I noticed that Sho was on the forum, as he posted in another topic. The last vote came in, and it was for me, resulting in a tie. Sho will probably never admit this, but I suspect he magnanimously cast the last vote for me.
So what went wrong? Sho's entry was really good, especially the face, and, as FredG gleefully pointed out shortly after the duel finished, I had painted the kilt the wrong color. FredG built his case with images from an actual Black Watch piper. Ironically, I had looked at those very same images during my research, but the regulation about the red kilt just went completely over my head.
I was pretty sore at the time, and couldn't defend myself without blowing the secret of Mr. X's identity. And of course there was the little problem that FredG was right. I made the unwise decision to enter the thread and throw gasoline on the fire with some snide comments. I am pretty sure this is the only dueling thread in the history of the forum to be locked by the mods because of all the bickering. I hereby apologize for my inadvisable contribution to that bickering.
So it was on to July, now with a record 3-1-2. And there was more disappointment and frustration ahead. But I was determined to forge on.
