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Poniatovski's glorious 7

Posted by Michael Robert on 14 May 2017, 16:15

Hello,
I have just finished a group of proud poles and wanted to share them with you

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Vive l'empereur, et ses Polonais

Michael
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Michael Robert  France

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Posted by Bluefalchion on 14 May 2017, 20:01

You did a very nice job re-positioning those heads for natural variety between the poses.
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by Cryns on 18 May 2017, 18:00

Dear Michael Robert,

That is some great 'Old School' painting and modeling you show us: flat and tidy and I like it. It reminds me of old collections we see in musea with paperboard decors. Or is it foam you used, the walls (windows) have pretty much depth?

I would like to hear if you designed this neo-classical courtyard yourself.
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Cryns  Netherlands

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Posted by Michael Robert on 18 May 2017, 20:39

Thank you all for your appréciations!

As Bluefalchion has observed, most of the heads are turned. Zvesda figures are perfect - don't need to expand on this, but because of their perfectness the cloning character becomes ever more apparent. It just compells you to do something, and happily they lend themselves readily for good conversions. There are many much better examples on this forum.

Mr Cryns, all the figures are actually shaded - no flat paint. However, the blue shading does not appear at all in my photographies. It is also rather subtle shading. I do not like exagerated contrasts.

The other problem I have is that my photography is insufficiant : I find my figures much better in nature than on picture. I very much admire those who know how to valorize their minis. A lot to learn for me yet. (and be sure I read your discussions about photography!)
About the background - in fact it is a converted shoebox. I cut out the Windows and painted the whole thing. Then I fixed some elements to give some depth. It is actually rather old when I made a picture of Kaiser Franz and Napoleon meeting in Schoenbrunn (using the early Streletz sets)

Happy collecting
... and hopefully soon in Arnhem

Michael
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Michael Robert  France

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Posted by Cryns on 20 May 2017, 11:40

Michael Robert wrote:Mr Cryns, all the figures are actually shaded - no flat paint. However, the blue shading does not appear at all in my photographies. It is also rather subtle shading. I do not like exagerated contrasts.


Oh I am sorry. Except for the horses I could not distinguish any highlights. But now you told us, I can see it: there is clear color differentiation in the dark blue, what looks like the sculpting but now I understand it would not have been visible when you did not highlight it. Well done.

Michael Robert wrote: in fact it is a converted shoebox.
:-D :yeah:
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Cryns  Netherlands

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Posted by FatFather on 20 May 2017, 12:08

Zvezda made great job with these figures, but always I'm interesting in suggestion that soldiers used lances and cavalry rifles (belt with metal ferrule). Zvezda remembered about take aiglets ("aguillette") from right side to left, but what for this belt? Soldiers using lances hadn't rifles. The most ugly in this project Zvezda are banners. In real it was narrower.
I would like congratulate you so perfect painting. I'm still waiting with this set figures until I will be able to paint so much thin lines.
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FatFather  Poland
 
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 20 May 2017, 13:14

Michael Robert--

When repositioning the heads, do you cut at the neck line? Did you use any epoxy to fill in gaps? I would like to know more about your technique, since it worked so well in this instance.

The only other thing that should be changed with the Zvezda figures is the banners. They are too broad and too short. The actual examples are about twice as long, at least, and thin.
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
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Posted by Bill Slavin on 20 May 2017, 13:38

I'm currently working on these myself, but altered slightly for the Vistula Legion in Spain! Nice job.
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Bill Slavin  Canada

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Posted by Michael Robert on 22 May 2017, 22:40

Hello everybody,

I am happy to raise some interest in these minis. Many thanks

Some comments on my head conversion
I cut just above the collar (sometimes some collar gets cut with it), then drill holes well centeredinto torse and head, glue a metal wire. Very often I do fill some gap - mostly just with white glue, sometimes with green stuff.

About the banners
Actually, I cut the Zvesda flags because as Fatfather remarked the originals are just too stiff and broad. The flags here are paper. I tried to use the right size - seems they are still too broad and not long enough. I still have a lot of lancers to paint - and my plans are also to do Polish legion in Spain. I'll try to get the banner size better then.

Best ragards Michael
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Michael Robert  France

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Posted by Peter on 22 Nov 2017, 13:46

I like them very much! :thumbup:

But what did they do in Vienna? They don't have Lipizaners as far I can see! ;-)
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Peter  Belgium

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