Sunday, June 9, 2013

Entry #9 to the Lead Painters' League: 'If the First Effort Fails Send in Ney'

Ney leading the French cavalry to their destruction at Waterloo.
The road to hell is paved with... well, you know rest.


Yes, I had the very best intentions to have a newly painted submission for each week of the Panters' League. With this in mind, I had my 9th entry (a unit of Anglo-Saxons arrayed in shieldwall) painted, based and ready for photos - but then I decided to give the figures a spray of clearcoat. This is were my good friend Francis will groan as he'll immediately know what happened next. Yep, the spray-can that I had picked up, shook and sprayed was NOT clearcoat, but rather BLACK PRIMER.


The Anglo-Saxon shieldwall with an extra helping of gunpowder stains...
Fuuuuck. (And this, by far, was the least of the expletives that were uttered in the minutes following 'the incident'.)


To be honest it was not a complete disaster as I managed to catch my gaff during the first pass. I know I'll be able to fix the figures by touching-up the colours' mid-tones and highlights, but I knew wouldn't have the time to repair the damage before the League deadline, which loomed in only a few hours.

So I sat down, collected my thoughts and went over my options. It was obvious I'd have to forfeit the bonus points for not submitting a new entry, but I had to send in something to serve as a suitable stand-in. So after looking in my display cabinet for a few long minutes I made my decision. As the Emperor would say, 'If the first effort fails then send in Ney.' 



I created this command stand of Marshal Ney last year and it remains as one of my favourites as I really enjoyed working on it. It's composed of four 28mm Perry sculpts - all very dynamic and wonderfully animated. As the submission has to have a minimum of five figures I decided to include a casualty stand of a cuirassier toppling from his charger to compliment Ney and his staff. Again, another excellent Perry vignette which has a great sense of speed and movement. 


So there you have it. Like the unfortunate cuirassier, pride cometh before a fall. It serves me right for being in such a rush (again). 


Next week's entry will conclude the League and it calls for a Science-Fiction theme. To be honest I'm a little out of my element on this one and so I've spent an inordinate amount of time puzzling over what to do. In the 11th hour I discovered some figures that I found quite fun so I'm going to give them a whirl. Come by next week if you're interested to see what I've managed to put together for The Final Push.

(AND my clearcoat spray now has very bright red tape on it...)

34 comments:

  1. we should have a club for those that have sprayed the wrong can :) still the entry looks ace and the shield wall will be fine when touched up (that sound so wrong)
    Peace James

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    1. A club would certainly soften the feeling that I'm the only git who does this sort of stuff...

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  2. Wow, I would have been upset. But your stand in looks great.

    John

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  3. Love the Ney vignette! You've really used the dynamism of the figures well.

    FMB

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  4. OOOch Curt that has to feel so bad! I have only done this by subbing varnish for primer but was a lesson learnt!

    Ian

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    1. A hard lesson indeed! (There were many palm strikes to the head on this one.)

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  5. Ah, nightmare. Worse that the dreaded frosted varnish as it is such a silly mistake. Still, looks salvageable.

    Your Ney entry is superb, I'm sure he will do you proud.

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    1. Silly is a kind description but thanks for the support!

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  6. That must have been a real soul draining experience! A vignette was a great choice Curt!

    Christopher

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  7. I do very much like that command stand. So full of color and movement. Best, Dean

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  8. This is a wonderful vignette, full of movement (and he is Ney!!!)
    And be careful with the spray cans!

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    1. Yes Ney needed figures like this as he was such a fire-eater. Its such a great set.

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  9. Ouch! What a nightmare for you Curt. Midn you, the Ney command stand looks fab :)

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    1. Yeah, it sucked big time but it was good to have Ney in the wings.

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  10. I don't feel as bad now my friend but I do feel bad, great work on Ney!

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  11. Quite possibly my favourite entry yet!

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  12. Yeah, he's going to have a sore arse for sure but if he got hit by a musket volley perhaps the fall is the least of his concerns...

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  13. WOW! Great stuff curt, I love that mini vignette with Ney! Wonderful stuff.

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    1. Thanks very much Scott. So much of the stock Perry stuff can be created into nice dioramas - hobbyists are really spoiled for choice now.

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  14. Wow, you seem to be taking this much better than I would have! It,s one of the advantage of Dullcote; the can is so small it can't be mistaken for anything else!

    Great vignette though, love the animation.

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    1. Thanks Iannick!
      Yes! I love that Dullcote comes in the wee can. I love Kylon's finishing matte spray though. It does such a nice job on vibrant colours and tones down 'sparkly' grass.

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  15. Wow dude - another validation for the paranoia that has driven me to avoid the "clear coat phase" of painting - I almost never do it now unless there decals that need to be reigned in - between incidents like this and incidents of ruined figures courtesy of bad spray...but I can only hope sufficient ventilation of expletives will help to provide overall medical improvement :)

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    1. Yep, you would have lost your mind. I'll still use Krylon as my errors have been 'pilot oriented' but I now have a healthy dose of paranoia.

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  16. Oh no!!!! I've not done it ....yet and fingers crossed I don't, Commiserations Curt, but Ney and chums look very nice indeed!

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    1. Thanks Ray, I would not wish it on anybody.

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  17. Done it once.. You have my heartfelt sympathies.nice job on the stand in!

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    1. Thanks Dave. Believe me, misery loves company!

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