A slightly dusty legion
I entered a small painting challenge with some friends a few weeks ago. My commitment was to a small group of partisans for my London Calling project, which I managed to paint.
Except for the one that I missed, but we'll get to him.
I also added a 1/32 scale Prince August Black Watch Colour Party as part of my painting challenge commitment.
And that is why, with time running low on the clock, I have painted fourteen Egyptian artillerymen while the Scotsmen kick their heels in the painting queue. I was very pleased with these fellas, as I will be adding them to my Crimean Turkish army (albeit without their Krupp guns). It would appear that Kinch's favourite thing to paint is whatever he shouldn't be painting right now.
Unfortunately, shortly after finishing them, I decided to varnish them out in the shed. I reached for the varnish and brought it and the figures outside. I then put the figures down, moved some rubbish and picked up the spray can and varnished away.
Sadly, I had reached for the wrong can and had picked up a can of brown spray. I am normally a relatively polite man, Mrs. Kinch being a theatrical type is the infinitely more swear-y of the two of us, but some choice words were uttered soon after this. Fortunately I realised my mistake almost immediately and the figures got nothing worse then a dusting of brown, but still it made a frightful mess of their nice clean paintjobs.
Just dirty.
The damage wasn't too bad and truth be told, I've already fixed four or five of them by repainting - but even so, it was a bit of a kick in the morale.
"Muhammed, did you see the camera flash?"
"I'm not sure, keep still, I don't want this to look weird in our passport."
Fortunately, two very nice things happened today which took the bad taste out of my mouth. Firstly, Steve the Wargamer who is a bit of an authority on the Sudan in the late 19th century answered a question of mine about his library. Rather than just answering a comment, Steve went above and beyond and wrote a post giving capsule reviews of his entire Sudanese library.
If you are interested in the subject or have a mind to dip a toe in colonial wargaming, I would recommend giving it a look.
Some Peter Gilder figures I believe.
I often have my elders shaking their heads and asking themselves questions, usually questions like "What is the world coming to?" or "What shall I tell the children?" But not on this occasion. Apparently my near total ignorance of Peter Gilder spurred Robbie Roddis to some deep thoughts.
As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, put it in the Hound of the Baskervilles,
""Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.""
I am a Watson to his Holmes. Robbie is considering trying to put a book together about Peter Gilder, but I think you should head over to his blog and have a look for yourself.
Your Egyptian/Turkish artillerymen look no worse for their experience. I suspect your misfortune of spraying with the wrong can of paint is not singular. Did it myself, ONCE! I was so taken aback by the experience that the unit of Frenchmen with white spatter remained untouched for months before I gathered the courage to make the repairs. That was many, many years ago and now I always check the can twice before depressing the nozzle.
ReplyDeleteYou, my friend, have a strong constitution and got right back onto the horse to return the world back into balance.
I finished them this morning and did two Krupp guns too. If it were done, better t'were done quickly - otherwise I'd never attend to it.
DeleteThank you very much for your kind words. Something I hope never to do again.
Any blog post which quotes Sherlock Holmes always makes the day on which it's posted a little brighter :)
ReplyDeleteAlways glad to be of service Sir.
DeleteOh no, no, no! I think I might have been moved to utter the odd expletive too! On the bright side they do have a sort of 'campaign' look to them now.
ReplyDeleteI've fixed them up a bit, but they won't have that clean, brightly coloured look that I had achieved the first time around. They'll serve though.
DeleteConrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteWe all have such disastrous tales to tell regarding spray paint/varnish ... which is one reason why I avoid using both these days. At least you realised before too much damage was done ... and from what I could see the figures don't look too bad.
Peter Gilder was a great figure designer (I found the figures of his that I owned easier to paint than their Minifig rivals) even if they tended to be a bit bigger than everyone else's. His games also looked spectacular, and even now I look at articles about his Sudan Campaign with respect and envy.
All the best,
Bob
We shall soldier on Bob. I must see if I can get a look at some of these sudan games - they seem to have turned a lot of heads.
DeleteThe spray accident is awful - the stuff of nightmares - even here, across the salty sea, I was forced to sit quietly for a moment to regain my composure. I am pleased that you are able to recover the situation.
ReplyDeleteI was briefly tempted to write some drivel about how this must serve as a lesson to us all, and to pretend that there is some fake silver lining detectable here. Not so - a disaster is a disaster - only the scale is variable. Apart from anything else, you would be more than justified in sailing over the salty sea to kill me for my stupidity, to purify the breed.
We shall overcome and discover further opportunities, possibly opportunities for new disasters.
DeleteI would have sworn a bit too had I done that!
ReplyDeleteAnd how.
DeleteCK - very kind - but definitely not an authority.. :o) I will admit to having enjoyed the whole process though, and may well do the same for the other projects over time... it has also caused me to update/refresh and review the project page, another good thing.. so thanks for that!
ReplyDeleteWell I found it very useful Steve. It also got me to thinking what I might do myself in that line. I hope you crack on with it.
DeleteThe figures turned brown and the air turned blue!
ReplyDeleteIf it helps ...... I am decorating and put the last of the paint in the roller tray, there should just about be enough to complete the job. Then a number of movements happened on an over stacked window ledge, result in said tray hitting the floor ..... Upside down of course.... So the carpet turned Jasmine White and the air turned blue.
Norm - my condolences, it is a lousy feeling.
DeleteGo Strong into the Desert by Mike Snook is an excellent source, if you buy only one book, get that one :)
ReplyDeleteMrs. Kinch got it for me for Christmas. I haven't done anything more than dip into it yet, but so far it looks excellent.
DeleteThanks for the plug Conrad. By the way, the SYW figures attributed to Peter Gilder, are actually mine, which is an enormous complement.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Gilder idea, I need to recover from my latest bout of illness, but intend to give it a go. Every man needs a project.
That they do.
DeleteYou're very welcome, I hope the project goes well.
Nice looking turkish gunners, it is always a chore to have to do things again after you'd already finished them, I have not yet had the spray experience all I had was a box of figures drop over 8'0" onto a terrazzo floor the end result was not pleasant, I admire your determination to repaint immediately I on the other hand took some time to get around to it.
ReplyDeleteBest Iain