Waterloo Charge

18Jul
by patmcf

18” (45cm) x12” (30cm). 3lbs (1.5kg.)                                                                                                                                                     Well the Waterloo cavalry charge is finally finished; there are 70 cavalrymen, 64 infantry and 21 Royal Artillerymen and it took me three hours to put it all together.   As always there was a nervous start as after putting in half the infantry in the part square I realised that they should have been on the other side.  There was no changing it so I just put two of the guns over on that side.  A lot of things don’t go to plan when I’m putting dioramas together but I suppose that’s half the fun.

I did have to increase the base size by a few inches after I realised the number of horses I had to fit on, so down the track you might see a base very similar! The cavalry I have talked about before, so I won’t go over them again. If you wish to know which ones I have used you can check out the previous posts.  The infantry are a combination of ‘A Call to Arms Brits Set no.50’ plus the old Airfix set and the Royal Artillery guys (both from back in the sixties), plus some Hat Rocket troopers that had a little conversion work done on them.

Just a special note, I have a mass of figures from my youth which would make them over fifty years old and I like to slip one or two onto any dioramas I do. In this case I have included the wounded Cuirassier leaning over the dead horse and the fleeing Brit Infantryman about to be impaled by the Cuirassier.  They have stood up well but have become a little brittle so one has to handle them with care.

Just a quick mention in regards to the base, it’s very basic, just foam board and plaster but I have again used the Vallego Earth Texture I discussed in an earlier post. It’s a handy product and the 200ml jar seems to cover a good sized area.  Thanks again Ann and John.

Oh, and a big thanks to you Steve (Maenoferren) for letting me know about the trumpeters and greys! I did bugger up and put all the troops on the various horses only to be left with a black one for him before I remembered what Steve said.  AAHH, a quick sort out and your little trumpeter was a happy little fellow.

Keep well all now I’m off to paint up some Dark Alliance Corsairs and little sailing boat for my next Fantasy show.

 

33 thoughts on “Waterloo Charge”

  2. Dave Stone

    A most impressive diorama Pat, so much action going on, fully understand keeping the base simple not to distract from all the action with the figures

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  6. maenoferren22

    That looks awesome Pat. There is so much going on, it looks like a proper cavalry charge squeezing between the Guns and the square. I remember reading that Cuirassiers charged knee to knee. They might have started like that but some riders would hold back and others would push on and then there comes the point where you have to hit someone with a sword. A very difficult thing to do when shoulder to shoulder with your comrades. This is what I reckon it would actually look like as you hit the enemy.

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  8. theimperfectmodeller

    A very nice diorama indeed Pat. Plenty of detail as befits one of your models. Odd perhaps given there is so much going on but I love the canons and the canon balls on the ground. It is that level of detail that is often missed by some but which the likes of you and I really appreciate. Some great paint work going on and I can’t get over how every figure looks different, no small achievement when there are so many figures on the base. Great stuff mate and as always I look forward to what comes next. 😊

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks Dave , I was given the cannon balls by a very generous woman who runs a gun shop nearby to use on the ACW dio all those years ago, they are shotgun pellets and they really do the trick. There was a lot of boiling and manoeuvring to get the figures in varying poses but it’s worth it , and it’s payed off as your keen eye spotted it ! 😊

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  11. imperialrebelork

    Amazing Pat. The level of detail and the action you captured is terrific. So much momentum. Coincidentally I found a box of my old soldiers the other day. They’re not quite as old as yours haha but, at least, thirty years old. I might put up some pix in my next post.

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks mate , I think this one will be the last cavalry one for some time ! Yeah and when you get time show your old soldiers as I’m always interested in all the figures from yesteryear 🤔🤓.

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  12. Marvin

    Lovely stuff, Pat, as I’ve come to expect. 🙂 There’s that balance of confusion and order in a battle here that I imagine is hard to get right with so many figures involved. Great to see these classic figures getting this kind of treatment, some of them are like friends! And of course Napoleonics make for the most colourful spectacle which makes something like this all the more enjoyable to see, in tiny details and as a whole scene.

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    1. patmcf

      Thanks mate I’m amazed that you could discern what was going on after I stuffed up and reproduced all the photo three times !! Luckily The Tech Adviser phone and alerted me to it and was able to rectify it for me ! I was originally going to have the charge coming straight up but the highlanders I purchased didn’t quite fit the bill so I used the two guns on the left to try and get that balance you talked about. I don’t think Ill get all that spectacular colour on another one, my next foray into the Nappy boys will be back on the Peninsular!

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  16. Ann

    Wow, Pat, this is pretty epic and the pictures make it look even moreso. As was already said, nice detail on the individual figures as well, so that it works both when you zoom out and zoom in too. Think the grassland looks good too.

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  17. dixieflyer500

    I love it! I can thank my discovery of Airfix figures in 1973 and the gift of a book on military uniforms that started me down the road of wanting to model figures from the Napoleonic Wars.
    This is brilliant sir.

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