My 1/72 Nappies

[MikeRC97]

Hello. Your work is amazing on converting these figures, and I feel kinda bad for asking this here, but I feel like you could help me a lot. You might remember me from another post a while ago, where I was asking for the best way to create french line infantry with the pre-bardin uniforms. Basically, I bought some head replacements from franznap miniatures and put them on the Italeri set 6092. But the heads are just a bit smaller than they should, even though both products are at 1:72 scale, and so they look kinda weird. What comes to mind now is buying the Hat set of French chasseurs and putting those heads on my fusiliers. But do you have any better suggestions? I would be glad to hear.

or even better, use the Zvezda French voltigeurs set

Thank you for your kind words.

An unfortunate aspect of our hobby is that manufacturers interpret 1/72 scale very differently, not only from each other but sometimes within their own line (just look at the size discrepancy between the horses in Italeri's Hussar and Dragoon sets I posted above).

Plastic Soldier Review does include average height in their reviews which is very useful. For example I have all of the Hat French Light Infantry sets and I can tell you that the figures in the Carabiniers set 8220 are visibly smaller than the figures in the Chasseurs sets 8219 and 8251. PSR gives the average height of the Carabinier figures as 22.5mm and the average height of the Chasseur figures as 24mm.

However, average height doesn't always give a good indication of how figures compare in terms of the proportions of the parts of the body. For example the average height of the Zvezda Voltigeurs is also listed as 24mm but I can tell you that side by side with the Hat Chasseurs, the Zvezda figures are "beefier." I don't have Italeri set 6092, but I do have Italeri set 6066 (I believe both were done by the same sculptor as both have the odd chin inside the collar) and those figures are very, very beefy. I think the Hat Chasseur heads would look odd on those bodies much like the Fraznap heads do. I would use the Zvezda heads or the heads from Hat set 8095. In addition to Plastic Soldier Review, this message board is an amazing repository of information on this hobby - you're not the first person to attempt this conversion:

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14301&p=163613#p163613

I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have but if you wouldn't mind please send me a private message using the PM function of the message board. It's not a huge deal but I'd prefer not having too many replies about this question posted to this thread. I'm looking forward to seeing your thread with pics of the figures you are working on.

I will have an update to this thread soon, I'm very close to finishing my Zvezda French and Russian artillery units for Sharp Practice. It's been a lot of work but a lot of fun, pics and write up soon.

[Bendy_Straw]

Thank you very much for the reply. The height inclusion is indeed very useful. I don't know when these figures will be ready but when they are I will definitely make a post about it.

I will keep it in mind next time and send a message if I need anything else instead of posting here. I am also looking forward to more of your own work. Best regards

[MikeRC97]

I finally finished some French and Russian artillery for my Sharp Practice 2 Napoleonic forces. Once again all of the miniatures are by Zvezda.

Below are the French gun crew, an NCO, an officer, a medium gun and a heavy gun. I also painted up a limber and a caisson (ammunition wagon).



Close up of the gun crew from set 8028 French Foot Artillery. The gun crew includes (from left to right) a loader, a spongeman, a firer and a ventsman.



The Zvezda figures are beautiful, but the poses show the crew in different phases of firing a gun, so they look a little odd when all grouped together.



A French eight-gun battery was commanded by a Captain and consisted of two half-batteries (each commanded by a Lieutenant) with two divisions (each commanded by a Sergeant). Each division had two guns (6-pounders in a divisional battery, 12-pounders in a reserve battery) or howitzers; each gun was commanded by a Corporal who issued orders and aimed the gun.

Here are the Corporal (Caporal), Sergeant (Sergent) and an officer. The Caporal is the fifth member of the five-man gun crew specified by the Sharp Practice 2 rules; his rank distinction is two reddish-gold stripes on both lower sleeves. The Sergent will be a level I leader attached to the artillery unit; his rank distinction is a single gold stripe on both lower sleeves.



The officer figure (with resplendent sideburns) could be a Lieutenant or a Capitaine. A Lieutenant’s shoulder boards had a single stripe along the length of each shoulder board; a Capitaine’s shoulder boards had none. The stripes would barely be distinguishable in this scale; I have not painted any so I can use the figure for either rank if I want to attach a higher-level leader to the artillery unit.



Side-by-side view of the guns. The smaller gun on the left is a 6-pounder from set 6810 French Foot Artillery. The larger gun on the right is a 12-pounder from Set 8028. I finished one base big enough for either gun. Artillery is very powerful in Sharp Practice 2; I don’t plan on fielding both guns at the same time.



The French began the Napoleonic Wars with the pre-revolutionary Gribeauval artillery system. Gribeauval field artillery consisted of 4-, 8-, and 12-pounder cannons and a 6-inch howitzer. In 1803 a new system was developed called the Year XI system which replaced the 4- and 8-pounders with a 6-pounder cannon. The gun in set 6810 is a very accurate model of a Year XI 6-pounder which had a distinct smooth barrel without the reinforcing rings found on most gun tubes of the period.



Set 8028 includes two Gribeauval guns – an 8-pounder and the 12-pounder below. I did not paint the 8-pounder as the Year XI 6-pounder had replaced the 8-pounder in the Grande Armée by 1812.



Set 8028 includes a nicely detailed limber with a six-horse team (standard for the 8- and 12-pounders included in the set). A four-horse team will suffice for my French force as I plan to primarily field the 6-pounder as pictured below.



I painted a second 12-pounder with the gun tube in the rear trunnion position used when moving the gun (the front trunnion position was used for firing). It should be noted that the Zvezda models are snap-fit and as such the carriage cheeks have been modeled with cap squares on both sets of trunion positions (on a real gun there would only be one pair of cap squares). It’s very easy to cut off one pair of cap squares as I did on both models, just be aware of which pair should be removed depending on whether the gun is to be modeled firing or limbered.



Set 8028 also includes a Gribeauval caisson that I painted just for fun. The caisson serves no purpose in game, but it was pointed out to me on the Too Fat Lardies message board that the model could be used as an objective in certain missions.



Here is the Russian artillery with the same elements as the French artillery above.



Close up of the gun crew from set 8022 Russian Foot Artillery.



Some of the crew have been modeled wearing a bricole, a leather crossbelt with a length of rope attached with a hook at the end. Bricoles were used to drag a gun back into position after it was fired, which threw the gun back several feet.



A Russian twelve-gun artillery battery was commanded by a Captain and consisted of three divisions. Each division had two platoons, the first platoon was commanded by a Lieutenant, the remaining platoons were commanded by Second Lieutenants. Each platoon had two guns (6-pounders in a light battery, 12-pounders in a position battery) or howitzers and four NCOs (two NCOs commanded the guns, the other two NCOs commanded the ammunition supply).

In Russian artillery companies, Corporals were called Bombardiers and Sergeants were called Fireworkers. Bombardiers were senior members of the gun crew not gun commanders like corporals in other armies of the period. The Bombardier below wears the waist pouch of a ventsman; his rank distinction is gold lace on his cuffs.



The Fireworker will be a level I leader attached to the artillery unit; his rank distinction is a quartered pompom, gold lace on the upper and side edges of his collar and on his cuffs. The figure is from set 8045 Russian Guard Heavy Artillery. The officer figure is a second lieutenant (which I equate to a level II leader) called a Podporuchik; his rank distinction is a silver gorget with a gold rim.



In the picture below the smaller gun on the left is a 6-pounder from set 6809 Russian Foot Artillery. The larger gun on the right is a 12-pounder from set 8045. As I did for the French, I finished one base that can be used with either of the Russian guns.



Here is a view of the 6-pounder in action. Set 8022 also includes a 6-pounder but the model in set 6809 is made from hard plastic and has finer details.



Set 8045 includes the “medium” 12-pounder pictured below as well as a "light" 12-pounder and a 20-pound "unicorn" (howitzer), neither of which I painted. There are no rules for howitzers in Sharp Practice 2 and all 12-pounders fall into the “heavy gun” category.



Set 8022 includes a four-horse team and a limber for the 6-pounder included in the set. The Russian light artillery limber had an ammunition box mounted on it; the heavy artillery limber did not. Set 8045 includes a heavy artillery limber which I did not paint as I plan to primarily field the 6-pounder as pictured below.



Set 8022 also includes a three-horse ammunition wagon which I painted to use as an objective.



Apologies for such a wordy post but there’s a lot to say about these wonderful miniatures by Zvezda. While it took a lot of time, I really enjoyed painting them.

[Peter]

Your "wordy post" is excellent. I like the painted figures but also all the information you have given in this post! And yes those Zvezda sets are wonderfull!

[Minuteman]

Thanks for sharing these images. This is a splendid example of what can be done with the excellent Zvezda (and some Italeri) figures in the hands of an artist. Well done!

I have all these figures (and more)...but have not painted many of them yet; so your pictures are an inspiration.

You may have said in your text (and I may have missed it) but is the basing of all figures on round bases because these are display models? Or because these bases fit into a 'unit tray' for wargaming purposes?

[Minuteman]

Ignore my question on the basing, I have now seen in your text that these are for 'Sharp Practice'.

[Konrad]

You put a lot of work into the figs and a lot of work into a great presentation.
Unfortunately, you don't show any close-ups.
Maybe later.
Otherwise a very nice and professional job.

[C M Dodson]

These look beautiful although the pixilation spoils the work as you try to expand the picture.

It would be an idea to get closer as then your skill can be enjoyed to the full.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bill Slavin]

Nicely painted figures and an interesting write up. The Zvezda set is very good, and the only one in 1/72 suitable for pre-1812.

[MikeRC97]

These look beautiful although the pixilation spoils the work as you try to expand the picture.

It would be an idea to get closer as then your skill can be enjoyed to the full.

Best wishes,

Chris

Thank you all for the feedback. Previously I would take pictures of my 1/72 figures with my phone much closer to the miniatures but lately I have been zooming out more to give a better sense of how small these figures are in reality (about 1 inch/25mm). But I agree that these pictures did come out very small. Part of the reason is that before uploading I save the images as 800 x 600 which is required for some message boards (Benno has asked that we keep the width of images posted here to under 650 pixels).

I uploaded some new images where I cropped the picture before saving as 800 x 600 which enlarged the image.

Close up of the French gun crew. This image gives a better view of the firer's portfire (porte-feu) and the ventsman's waist pouch which contained the priming tubes and had straps on the front to hold the "pricker" he holds in his right hand.



Better view of the French crew manning the guns.





Enlarged images of the French horse team and limber.





Close up of the Russian gun crew. The loader wears a satchel to hold rounds of fixed ammunition, one of which he holds in his hand. The firer is modeled with a linstock with a slow match.



The Russian crew manning the guns.





Close up of the Russian horse team and limber.



Hopefully these images give a better view of the figures.

[Minuteman]

Thank you, these figures give a better definition and allow us to see the high standard of your painting!

Both of these Zvezda artillery sets are excellent, not least for the thought that clearly went in to the poses and what the men are actually doing to serve their gun. It is simply unfortunate that Zvezda persisted with loading the gunners up with packs and (in the case of the Russians) rolled greatcoats. It is extremely unlikely that gunners would have served their pieces so encumbered unless this was in a real emergency, or perhaps to fire off a couple of rounds before resuming the march.

But, for all that, great figures and even better guns and gun teams.

[MikeRC97]

Thank you, these figures give a better definition and allow us to see the high standard of your painting!

Both of these Zvezda artillery sets are excellent, not least for the thought that clearly went in to the poses and what the men are actually doing to serve their gun. It is simply unfortunate that Zvezda persisted with loading the gunners up with packs and (in the case of the Russians) rolled greatcoats. It is extremely unlikely that gunners would have served their pieces so encumbered unless this was in a real emergency, or perhaps to fire off a couple of rounds before resuming the march.

But, for all that, great figures and even better guns and gun teams.

I do wonder if Russian infantry and artillery crew kept the rolled greatcoats and leather crossbelts on during combat. I can think of one reason why they might have - the greatcoat and crossbelts would offer some protection against musket balls penetrating some of the vital organs in the chest and midsection.

I think it is far less likely that the French crewman would have kept their muskets on their backs as Zvezda has modeled them. But it is easy to overlook such minor faults when the figures are so beautifully sculpted.

[Andrey]

Отлично, аккуратно, по игровому раскрашены миниатюры. Прекрасно смотрятся, мне понравились , удачи в росписи!

[wilberforcefrog]

You are such an excellent painter, and the bases are so good too. I really enjoy seeing the limbered up guns

[MABO]

Very good artillery pieces and crew. I really like those Zvezda sets. For me the best in plastic!

[MikeRC97]

When I painted the unit of French Dragoons in the original post of this thread it was for 1:20 figure scale wargaming rules in which each unit represents a regiment of cavalry. In Sharp Practice 2 a unit of Dragoons is eight troopers plus a leader and optional support figures, so I needed to add more troopers. Here is the updated group of French Dragoons with four additional troopers.



In the picture below the figure on the left was the elite company trooper with the bearskin in the original post, but with a new head. This figure will be a level I leader, a Maréchal des logis (the French cavalry equivalent of a Sergeant). The figure to the right (the officer figure from the original post) is an option for a higher level leader. The two figures in the back row are optional support figures – a Color Party and a Musician.



The unit of eight troopers includes the four multi-based troopers from the original post as well as four new troopers from the same Italeri French Dragoons set based singly. For the new figures I used horses from the Zvezda French Cuirassiers set. French medium and heavy cavalry mounts were equipped with the same horse furniture.



One of the things I discovered about these figures is that the plastic has “memory,” meaning that if you twist a part of the figure’s body it will stay that way. In the picture below you can see the trooper holding a carbine on the right is looking straight ahead – the figure on the sprue actually looks slightly to the left as you can see on the unmodified figure to the left. I simply twisted the new figure’s head gently to alter the pose.

The figure in the middle got a head swap as the original head is looking up at his sword in a very unnatural way.



Close up of the other half of the unit.



The reason I used horses from the Zvezda French Cuirassiers set for the new troopers is that I wanted more variety in the horse poses and the horse figures from the two sets are very compatible. One thing to note is that the Zvezda Cuirassier horses have been sculpted with the rolled-up cavalry greatcoat (called a manteau) strapped to the portmanteau behind the rider. This is not the case with the Italeri Dragoon horses, although the painting guide on the back of the Italeri box shows the rolled up greatcoat. The greatcoat was off-white but the inner edges were lined with fabric in the regimental color and the greatcoat was rolled up in such a way as to display that colored fabric (as seen in the figures below).



The other thing to note about the horses in both sets is that the horse-cloth is sculpted with a flaming grenade symbol on the bottom rear corner. This symbol was used by all Cuirassiers but only by Dragoons of the elite company. For the Dragoons in the other companies the horse-cloth bore the regimental number on the bottom rear corner. I painted over the grenade symbol on all of the horse figures but I didn't attempt to paint a regimental number as painting free hand numbers that small is a nightmare.



With this unit complete I now have the complete French Light Column force from the Sharp Practice 2 rulebook.

As usual any comments or feedback are appreciated.

[Minuteman]

Nice work!

I have just completed a couple of hundred French 2nd Dragoons for the 'Waterloo in 20mm' diorama, and I also used some Zvezda French cuirassier horses for some of the conversions that I created for the project.

Suffice to say that your figures look very good, although I would observe that - with the exception of the Guard Dragoons - an eagle would rarely if ever have been carried by dragoon regiments in battle.

[MikeRC97]

Nice work!
Suffice to say that your figures look very good, although I would observe that - with the exception of the Guard Dragoons - an eagle would rarely if ever have been carried by dragoon regiments in battle.

Thank you Minuteman. I concur on the presence of the eagle, this is even addressed in the Sharp Practice 2 rulebook entry for the optional Color Party support unit:

In a skirmish game, Regimental Colours and even battalion Colours will not generally be present. However, a player may wish to bring them along in an attempt to add some valour to a Unit.

As I mentioned in previous posts in this thread I originally painted this unit for 1:20 figure scale wargaming rules such as Lasalle. I probably won't use the Musician or the Color Party in a Sharp Practice 2 force but the figures were fun to paint.

[Bessiere]

Nice work on the French and Russian artillery Mike. Good to see you back and still at the nappies. Some close ups would be nice as others have mentioned. Excellent job documenting these units, always helpful to have such information.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[k.b.]

Like other forum members I am extremely impressed with your painted figures which are beautiful. Fortunately you posted larger photos which helps to give us a better idea of how precise your brushwork is. However, what impressed me even further is how you describe your chosen units and point out the accuracies and inaccuracies of the figures. Like everyone else interested in the 1/72 scale we can never sing the praises of Zvezda figures enough - they are each and every one of them little miniature masterpieces….. I, for one, think they made a huge mistake in changing their direction towards smaller boxes of figures …….but that’s digressing…. .
Let me end by saying a huge thank you Mike for your lengthy submissions which show us how serious and dedicated you are to your hobby and inspire all of us to research more and paint better.
Ps/ I love your bases too…