Sunday, May 8, 2016

Looking for direction


In times of trouble

Life is a magnificent thing, but often confusing and contradictory. One finds oneself looking for answers and not be quite sure where to find them. Usually the thing to do is to make the best of it and try and muddle on as decently and honestly as one can.  

Recently, I found myself find with a problem and after much reflection, I had to ask myself one question. 

Gun artillerymen in kepi 
(image tealeafed from Bob's blog)

What would Bob the Painter do? I'd been puzzling over the conundrum of what colour to paint my French Crimean era artillery and I was having some difficulty coming up with some straight answers. I had consulted my usual first port of call, Wilkson Latham's "Weapons & Uniforms of the Crimean War", but I could find nothing of particular interest there. My Osprey collection covered the British and the Russians, so there was no help there either. 

However, to my mind the premier Crimean Wargaming site, is Bob's Douglas Miniatures - 20mm Crimean war. Bob has been painting a collection of vintage and recast old school 20mm figures for this Crimean project for the last few years and they are just lovely.  Painted cleanly and finished to a high gloss, they have a charm and simplicity all their own. 

Consequently, when ever I have a question as to how I should paint something Crimean, I turn to Bob's blog and see how the maestro has done it. 


French Artillery in shakos
(image halfhinched from Bob's blog)

Unfortunately, my painting time has been quite circumscribed of late, so what painting I get to do is late at night after work or class, while Mrs. Kinch and I watch an hour of something on the telly. I had saved some pictures from Bob's blog on my phone to refer to when I got a chance to paint my guns. 


My shiny new guns

However, as you've probably noticed some of the guns are in green and some are in a light blue, a fact which escaped a tired Kinch who painted the lot blue in a single sitting. Sigh.  I shall fix that when I have time. 

It just goes to show.  It doesn't matter how good the directions are if you don't read them properly. 

But the moral of the story is - hie thee to Bob's Douglas Miniatures - 20mm Crimean war blog. It is a treasure chest of beautiful things. 


7 comments:

  1. Best of luck with the shiny new guns it appears that direction is now assured due to Bob - what a fabulous resource by the way, thank you for the link.

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    1. He runs a lovely blog - just page upon page of great stuff.

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  2. Just a kind word...the guns look terrific the way they are! Can you play with them now? Of course! Will anyone other than you know or care that the color is a bit off? Definitely not. If it relaxes you to repaint the carriages while watching an episode of Midsomers or Scott & Bailey - then do it. But remember this hobby is meant for our enjoyment, not annoyance. Just muddle through and enjoy the process, after all even if every one of your "toys" were mis-painted, there is no tragedy. They are toys from which we can always derive a bit of enjoyment.
    Best regards,
    Jerry

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    1. Jerry,

      A good point well made, but every so often I have a crisis of conscience :)

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  3. I, too, have long enjoyed Bob's Old School painting exploits. For French in the 19th Century, olive green is a good default paint scheme. Of course, the blue could be some sort of a lend-lease between Britain and France while deployed to the Crimea. Or, you could justify the situation by explaining that British supply chain was the only one in position for resupplying the French including paint!

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    1. A fellow admirer of Bob's - I'm in good company then.

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  4. Bob is the MAN!!!, with his help, advice, guidance the expansion of my Crimean ranges wouldn't have happened, BE Warned!! Sardinians now available, so expecting large order Conrad
    cheers Old John aka Evil Influence

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