Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Great War In Greyscale - British Despatch Rider


I've been having a wonderful time following the Lead Adventure Forum's Pulp Painting Club and thought I'd kick-in with this WWI despatch (dispatch?) rider which also serves as an incremental addition to my greyscale Great War project.


While doing a little reading on the subject I discovered that many of the British despatch riders were early motorcycle enthusiasts who took their own personal machines to France being that the British army was hard pressed to provide enough of their own. Intrepid fellows indeed!


This fabulous little model is from the Great War Miniatures range (28mm). I had a huge amount of fun working on it. The sign to Le Cateau is magnetized so I can swap it out with something else if I wish. I thought I could use the figure for Pulp gaming as well and so for a little bit of fun I'm making up a sign that will point to a little town in Massachusetts called Arkham...

45 comments:

  1. Interesting fact there and well done on the painting, your greyscale always impresses

    Ian

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    1. It is fun what you can learn while painting up these little blighters!

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  2. Excellent mini and photography!

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    1. Thanks Dean. The greyscale stuff can be a bit fiddly to photograph properly but I still love painting them.

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  3. Amazing paintjob! Your greyscale project is simply outstanding.

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    1. Thanks very much for your kind words, Moiterei!

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  4. "...early motorcycle enthusiasts who took their own personal machines to France..."

    That's my kind of crazy! Lovely work as usual mate...

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    1. I know, I'm sure many of them were complete loons. I love the look of these old school motorcycles - it's amazing they worked at all! Thanks for the comment!

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  5. That is one superb piece of work. Great idea re the sign too.

    I can almost smell the oil from the exhaust!

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  6. Thanks Dave! I'm sure these little beasts practically spewed oil from every seam and gasket.

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  7. What a great looking figure, and what a great idea magnetizing the sign which also looks excellent. Never new that the riders took there own bikes over to Flanders though, how amazing??

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    1. Thanks very much Ray. Yes, the British art of muddling through at its finest!

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  8. Lovely work Curt and supplying their own bikes....amazing!

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    1. Thanks Francis. It was seen as such a grand adventure in 1914 so it somehow seems to fit - but it's hard to imagine anything like that happening today.

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  9. Your greyscale work is amoung the best and this piece is no exception! Excellent Curt!

    Christopher

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    1. Hey, thanks for your kind words Christopher - they're very encouraging.

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  10. Very fine work Curt. That mini is great fun to paint and you've certainly done it justice, and you're right, it does have all sorts of pulpy possibilities. The only question will be: is he racing towards, or away from, Arkham? Bravo.
    MP

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    1. Ha! Good one. Yes, but I think he would be in a frantic racing pose if he were going away from that town.

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  11. Wow, you are really nailing this technique. Are going to see some greyscale Cthulhu in the future?

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    1. Thanks Sean. Actually I did do some Eldritch stuff in greyscale but I felt like I was missing out on the fun by not having them in colour. I'm still a bit torn on it.

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  12. Very nice, Curt. Fantastic that greyscale work!!!

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    1. Cheers Juan! It's been a while so I found I was a bit out of practice working in the blacks and greys but it slowly came back to me.

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    1. Thanks Phil! I always admire your Pulp stuff and think someday I'd love to have a 'two-fisted' game with you and your brother - that would be a hoot.

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  14. Hola
    Madre mía que chulada,magnifica
    un saludo

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  15. Nice little piece Curt, loads of caracter.

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  16. Great work. All of that shading is impressive. I'm sure none of these riders ever rode their bikes faster than they could go!

    I feel really old when I think of next year being the centennial of the Great War. I remember those veterans; my Grandfather and his cousins.

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    1. Thanks Mike! Yes, I bet these guys pretty much drove the wheels off their motorcycles. These machines didn't have much for suspension so I'm sure it was a boneshaking experience going over those rutted, shelled and cobblestoned roads. Amazing.

      Yes, I'm in the heritage sector and we're anticipating that the next four years of the centennial will be very, very busy for us.

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  17. Beautiful stuff once again dude.

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  18. Replies
    1. Yes, I'm always strangely drawn to them (Har, har, har!!)

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    2. Oh gawd.... thats a bad un!

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    3. Yes, not 'compelling' at all! (a-dum-pish!)

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  19. Excellent! I do like this work!!

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  20. Fantastic figure, fantastic painting, fantastic history! Really wonderful, Curt! I'd love to know more about Great War despatch riders -there is a wonderful scenario waiting here!

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    1. Thank you for your kind words Sidney. Yes, I can see that there would be some great scenarios to tap from this. I can easily imagine a nail-biting chase/race over the French countryside between German Uhlans and a British despatch rider. Very Steve McQueen!

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