Spanish Royal Guard Music Unit

[Ben90]

Looks great! Did you use a slightly lighter blue?

[Santi Pérez]

Looks great! Did you use a slightly lighter blue?

Thanks, Ben90.

In fact, for this figure I have used the same blue colour as for the previous test figure.

According to the Spanish Royal Guard's own website, their dress uniform (a replica of those worn by the Spanish army during the reign of King Alfonso XIII in the early 20th century) consists of 'a turquí blue jacket with a scarlet collar, white placket and cuffs; trousers of the same colour and fabric with a double scarlet band 25 mm wide; as headgear, the traditional white ros with red feather esprit.'

While researching what colour turquí blue is, I found the following reference on Wikipedia (translated from Spanish):

'Turquí (from the Arabic turkī, and this from the Turkish türk) or turquí blue is a dark, deep shade of blue, sometimes violet.
The colour turquí is not precisely defined, so it can refer to any very dark blue, similar to indigo, indigo blue or Prussian blue...
...It is currently common in the uniforms of the Spanish Royal Guard.'

With this in mind, I used Vallejo's Prussian blue (reference 70965), which can appear lighter or darker depending on how the light hits it, just like the uniforms, as can be seen in the following images:





As you can see, another aspect I love about our hobby is the whole research process aimed at achieving results that are as accurate as possible.

Best regards.

Santi.

[Ochoin]

I somehow missed the photos. These are coming along splendidly.

donald

[sberry]

The trumpeter plays a fanfare to announce the other figures who are still on the workbench. Very nice, and I will eagerly watch the progress one by one!

[Iceman1964]

Great work Santi, and great explanation of the process !
As a lover of history, for me too the research and documentation before starting the work is one of the exciting parts of our hobby !!!

[C M Dodson]

Good to see these gentlemen coming to fruition .

A long way from the Airfix guardsmen packet!

Best wishes,

Chris

[Santi Pérez]

I somehow missed the photos...

Don't worry, Donald, they'll stay here as long as the image host doesn't fail me.

The trumpeter plays a fanfare to announce the other figures who are still on the workbench. Very nice, and I will eagerly watch the progress one by one!

Great work Santi, and great explanation of the process!...

Thank you, friends. I'm afraid this story still has many chapters ahead of it.

Good to see these gentlemen coming to fruition.
A long way from the Airfix guardsmen packet!...

That's the intention, Chris, that when they're finished, it will be difficult to find any resemblance to the original figures.

Here comes the second figure of the band. This is its colonel conductor. I chose him because his uniform has some small differences from that of the musicians.




The truth is that the small size of the figures (which is why Airfix marks them as 1/76 scale instead of the more common 1/72) is making it quite difficult for me to paint the smaller details and is slowing me down more than I would have liked.

Santi.

[Ochoin]

Worth the effort IMO. They have a charming 'toy soldier' look about them.

donald

[Santi Pérez]

Thanks, Donald. I suppose the 'toy soldier' look is due to the hieratic poses of the original figures, so half the credit goes to Airfix when they created them.

Santi.

[Iceman1964]

We start viewing the results in the classic "Santi style" , go Santi go with the rest of the band

[Michael Robert]

Hello Santi, so nice to watch your project progress. I love the musicians. They come out really nice, even better when painted.
Greetings
Michael

[Santi Pérez]

We start viewing the results in the classic "Santi style" , go Santi go with the rest of the band

I think I'm too old to change my style now, Enrico, haha. I'll take a break for the Christmas holidays and then carry on with the rest of the band... at my slow, tortoise-like pace.

Hello Santi, so nice to watch your project progress. I love the musicians. They come out really nice, even better when painted.
Greetings
Michael

Thank you, Michael. I completely agree with you: although the conversions look good, the painted figures are even better.

Santi.

[MABO]

Happy Christmas Santi,

the first figures looks once more quiet impressif. The band will play a great tune for all of us, when ready!

[Santi Pérez]

Thank you, Jan. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

I'm going to repost the pictures of the colonel, because it seems there has been a problem with Postimage and some of them have been deleted.




Santi.

[MABO]

Much better now!

[Santi Pérez]

Much better now!

Santi.

[Michael Robert]

Hello Santi,
hard to imagine that the old Airfix Gueard figures are at the origin. That is quite impressive.
I like him
Amically
Michael

[Santi Pérez]

Hello Santi,
hard to imagine that the old Airfix Gueard figures are at the origin. That is quite impressive.
I like him
Amically
Michael

Thank you, Michael. In fact, none of the 24 members of the band has escaped a minor or major conversion. With some, it's even difficult to identify what the original figure was.

At the end of the day, that was the point: for them to resemble the figures I have tried to represent more than the original ones.

Best regards, my friend.

Santi.