Young Miniatures 92nd Gordon Highlander - Part 5

What a difference some rest makes - after weeks of delay here is the finished model at last. From a situation just over a week ago when I hadn't worked on this kit for some time I've pushed the kit on to completion. As you can see, the painting is done, the parts have been put together and he has a very nice base. All in all he's an imposing figure and I certainly wouldn't want to face him. He has a passing resemblance to David Moyes but apart from that he looks marvellous.

I left him last time with the dicing on the bonnet done and after this I gave the entire kit a layer of Vallejo matt varnish. This unified the finish and the face in particular benefitted from this, but it also left the feathers of the bonnet looking distinctly grey. As a result I went over this with the same black and brown mix as before, followed by the same method of highlighting. There's clearly a lesson for me to learn here.

This was followed by a brushed application of Klear on the band around the forehead, the leather strap, the ribbon at the back of the bonnet, the eyeballs, the leather stock around his throat and the brass belt plate. This latter was applied over the black base layer in preparation for the metal colour because I wanted the opacity of the black as well as the polished effect of the gloss.

A thin layer of Klear was also applied to the black areas of the pack. This pack was deeply unpopular, both because the wooden stiffeners dug into the spine and because the strap across the chest holding it in place constricted breathing, to the extent that it caused permanent health problems. The black parts look like leather but were actually canvas painted black and this appears to have had a gloss finish. In this scale I didn't want to overdo this so I've tried to be restrained.

For the buttons, buckles for the straps and the badges on the cockade I used the same 864 Natural Steel which was used for the British Tanker. This appears to works very well in this scale.

That brings us to the brass belt plate, for which I used Alclad Polished Brass. There is supposedly an unwritten rule that 'real' figure painters don't use metal paints but instead use standard paints to generate a metal effect. Well I suppose I can't be a real figure painter then and, well, you know I can live with that.

This was masked using the Lion Roar Odd Shapes Panel Scribing Template LT0003 by placing the appropriate shape onto some Tamiya tape, drawing the shape, cutting the hole and then placing the piece with the hole over the plate. I then masked the areas around it, taking care to provide plenty of protection from overspray because Alclad is so thin that this is a risk.

Once the Alclad was applied the masking was removed and the Alclad was allowed to dry before being buffed with Micro Mesh polishing cloth. This was done delicately and briefly so as not to destroy the surface. I'm constantly amazed by images of people giving Alclad a good polish because my experience is that it is quite delicate. Once this was done it was coated in Klear, allowed to dry for a few days, and then this was again polished briefly. The result is a rich and realistic metal effect which does justice to the excellent sculpting.

Oil washes were kept to a minimum, with some heavily thinned Paynes Grey mixed with Humbrol Enamel thinner and applied especially in areas like the ends of the great coat, along the seams of the backpack straps, etc. Most of the model was left without any oil wash at all because I felt it was unnecessary.

The final stage was to join the various pieces together and to affix the model to a really nice base by Andrea Miniatures. This was bought from Historex and I particularly liked the neo-classical Regency look of this base, which I felt complemented this Napoleonic-era figure. I had drilled a hole in the stand for the figure right at the start of the build so I simply drilled a further hole in the wooden base and used CA glue and brass rod from Albion Alloys to secure the two together.

So there we are - a wonderful kit and a really enjoyable process from start to finish. I've been challenged by this kit in all sorts of ways, notably in the use of colours like white, black, yellow and red which are not the usual fare for more modern subjects. I still need to work on my face painting, but overall I think this kit is an advance on my previous efforts. Could the painting be better? Most definitely and I'm in awe of the work produced by people like Man Jin Kim and Matt Wellhouser. I can but try though and the fun is in giving it a go.

As to the future, I'd really like to do more Napoleonic kits, but it's surprising how few are available in scales such as 1/10 or 1/9. I know Young Miniatures do a couple of Prussian figures but there are so many other possibilities, whether in terms of participants from different countries (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swiss, German, Dutch, etc) as well as different arms such as cavalry, artillery, etc. I would certainly love to see a British artilleryman, a French Grenadier, a German Jaeger or a Hussar of some kind. How about someone from the 95th Rifles? The possibilities are endless.

I'm now going to bask in the glow of completing another build. It's always a nice feeling.

Zigerastica