French Foot Artillery - Waterloo 1815

Well at long last the first 'piece' has rolled off the very slow production line that is my painting table! Zvezda French Foot Artillery heralds the return to 'Nappys' after 30 + years as promised in an earlier post. Hot on the heels are some WW2 Italian Artillery and a German Hanomag halftrack for the desert war.

Zvezda figures are great to paint and the sculpting is superb full of animation, great shame they appear to have stopped producing any more new sets for the foreseeable future.

The light is a little harsh on this shot but I like the 'oomph' the gunner is using to sponge out the barrel of his gun. Needless to say all the gunners activities displayed would not be going on at the same time!

The gun was painted using a mixture of Vallejo Flat Green and Humbrol acrylic 30. The uniforms painted in Humbrol acrylics suitably thinned. For basing 'plasticard'  and 'filler', painted with a wash and dry brushed for highlights. GW 'tufts' added using white glue. On the great basing debate I have decided to 'sit on the fence' basing the gun with a couple of figures with the rest of the team on individual bases. Non yellowing Varnish supplied by Wilkinson's! I am still experimenting with different methods of undercoating these plastic chaps...recently trialled the thinned white glue undercoat to provide 'rigidity' ( made mine to thick lost some detail) and a varnish undercoat...wear and tear on these figures is a concern. Comments and ideas welcome!! I am hoping the more I paint and get back into a routine the easier it will be! On a 'life note' working in a school is 'knackering'!!