White paint pens

One of the trickier aspects of painting the MDF figures which have been occupying my time recently are the cross belts.  I'm over 70 now and the eyes are not as good as they were, so painting very thin white lines becomes a hit and miss task at best.  So I decided to try one of the newer technologies available paint pens for this.  After a bit of research (Ok two minutes reading Amazon reviews) I took the plunge and bought a pack of four from Pinturale Arts.  These are two each of 0.7mm and 0.5mm tipped pens which I hoped would create the fine lines I need for cross belts and the edging to horse blankets.  I have used permanent ink pens for a number of years but find that they are not always as light fast as claimed so I was not entirely convinced that these would do what they said on the tin.

These are they (or them?).

The pens them selves are quite slim so probably don't hold much paint but at under £10 for four that is less of a worry than with the more expensive makes.

Sorry about the image quality but, you know, a pen is a pen

To use them simply shake for 30 seconds and pump the nib a few times to prime it and off you go.  I tried out the 0.7mm nib and as expected the line was wider than 0.7mm but not by too much and once some of the ink had flowed it became a little more precise.  Coverage was good and it is easy to get a line unlike my attempts with a size 00 brush!  The label showing the nib size was hard to see so I took the precaution of writing on the barrels with a Sharpie so I can see what's what easily.  Once I have some more infantry ready to paint I will try the smaller nib on cross belts and report back.

Napoleonic reinforcements and painting confusion

 As mentioned in my last post I came home from holiday to find my order from Commission Figurines sitting on the door mat.  I wasted very little time before getting them sorted out.  Well I say wasted, does unpacking the car, taking suitcases upstairs, the washing to the utility room (AKA a cupboard with a washing machine and tumble drier) and feeding the dog count as wasted?  Don't bother answering Mrs E has firm views on these things and I'm not going to argue.  But sorted they eventually were.

The point of this order was to give the French something like parity with the British on a battalion to battalion basis.  I get less French infantry units from each pack than I do British as I base them with more figures per base, so I needed to balance things out.  Of course I completely blew that plan by also buying packs for creating British allies in the form of Portuguese and Spanish infantry.  Of course, it's the latter nation which is causing the painting confusion.

All of you Napoleonic War old hands will already have faced this particular problem.  It's the Spanish supply system, or rather lack of one that's the issue.  They had uniform regulations, but once the French controlled (and I'm using controlled in it's loosest sense here) most of Spain, Spanish uniform was, well, not particularly uniform!  I make it three sets of official uniform regulations, plus various ad hoc uniforms followed by at least one set of British supplied kit on top.  Most of which seem to have been in use at the same time or at least overlapped each other to a fairly large extent.  Oh how I have enjoyed researching the topic.  It's safe to say that my brain hurts at the moment.

First two Spanish Battalions one militia (brown coats) and one Regular Army (White)

I'm currently looking at the period before British supplies started to arrive in bulk, which was from around 1811.  So I finally decide that to aid identification old regular army and militia should be in white, but with a sprinkling of brown.  New volunteers and new militia should be in brown and later war units in blue coats.  Light Infantry will vary and any formed guerrilla units will be a hodgepodge of colours but predominantly browns.  Head gear will be Bicornes, round hats (the top hat looking things) or shakoes as required.  Bicornes for early war regulars and militia, top hats (actually stovepipe shakos as the brims don't show at 6mm) for local Junta raised militia and volunteers and French style shakoes for later war or units who pop up as wearing them early in the war.  All of which is probably subject to change as things progress across the painting table!

Rear view of the above.  The engraved detail is not bad at all.

From what I can see the engraved relief on the backs of the figures is created by laser engraving 'pecking' out small chunks of the MDF.  The detail is rather surprising if that is the technique used.  Flags are freebies from the the net sourced from M S Foy's excellent blog Prometheus in Aspic Prometheus in Aspic: Homebrewed Flags - more 1809 Spanish and another excellent site  'JJ's Wargames Blog' JJ's Wargames.  The latter being especially helpful with advice on uniforms for the Spanish.

Thankfully for the Portuguese hardly varied their uniforms at all probably as they had a decent supply system after 1808! 

Back from the Lake district

Not that you probably spotted that I was away!  Mrs E and I took the caravan to a rather nice caravan site between Keswick and Penrith for a few days R & R.  No TV very little internet connectivity and no blogging.  It was very relaxing.  The weather was kind and mostly only rained at night.  There is something very soothing about the sound of rain on a caravan roof, as long as you are inside the caravan at the time of course.  Our dog enjoyed the experience of running around in Crow Park and swimming in a couple of lakes and almost everywhere was dog friendly.  If you are in Keswick I can strongly recommend The eatery next to the Lakeside Theatre the food is really good and they have a few dog snacks available.

Brougham Castle Keep

Another view of the Castle

On the military front we visited Brougham Castle (pronounced Broom, so I suspect JBM has had a hand in this).  Carlisle Castle was closed while were there as it was before 10.00am and we got engrossed in other stuff (More food actually I can vouch for the chocolate cake in the Tullie Museum cafe).  On the History front we made our annual trip to Castle Rigg Stone Circle and also took in Long Meg and her Daughters as well.

Long Meg herself along with Mrs E and Mabel

Other than that we walked, drank beer and ate more than we really should have done.  It was horrible, honest.

'Surprise view' above Keswick.  Derwentwater in the foreground.

On my return my order from Commission figurines had arrived.  This consisted of one pack of Infantry in Bicornes to be used as Spanish in 1805 issue uniform or as militia, one pack of French Line with Grenadiers in Bearskins to be used for Spanish Grenadiers and French Line (I mistakenly thought it was a pack consisting of just grenadiers), two Packs of Infantry in Belgique Shakos for use as Portugeuse in Barretinas, two packs of French line in Shako, and some strips of Skirmishers and generals.  The skirmishers all seem to be French looking but at 6mm after a paint job I doubt anyone will be able to tell what style of Shako is portrayed.

I'm already wondering which packs would be the best bet for additional grenadiers for the Spanish, but won't be ordering anything until I have painted the 600 plus new figures that just arrived!  Pictures of those will follow (eventually).