Conte Collectibles "French Foreign Legion" 1880-1908

            Once again, it's been a long time since my last post.Becoming a father is the most beautiful thing
but also, as it is expected , has changed radically the time schedule of my life.I spend all of my time to this  little and fragile creature and enjoy watching it learning something new every day! I'm looking forward to
the day that  she will grab a pen and starts to mess this place up!!!

         For now, I'm trying to find some time, late at night, to enjoy some painting or researching....

         With this post I will continue with  my older creations.These figures are painted sometime during 2011.
 At this point  I  would like  to  thank  all  these  friends  that  trusted  their  figures  to  me  and  gave me  the
 opportunity to work with periods and uniforms that I couldn't imagine at that time!!

        So, let's see what we' ve got here...

The Research

French Foreign Legion is an army established at 1831 and fought mostly in French colonial wars but also in WWI and II. Lots of changes have been made in uniform during the years and wars.By checking the uniform and equipment of the "Conte" figures, I concluded that these are soldiers fought in Northern Africa during 1880-1910.

 

 

    

       The pictures above show uniforms from  Morocco and Algeria and are most similar to the figures.

There were also red trousers worn during that period from the Legionnaires but I painted all the soldiers

 in white and only the officers in red.

The Figures

        I like these figures very much! Excellent faces and expressions.Very nice detail and very accurate

 in uniform and equipment.Even though my painting skill was not so advanced at that time, I really like

 the outcome. The only problem  I had with these figures was the mould lines.Fortunately, there was no
 mould lines in the faces!

 

        Here you can see the mould lines in one figure and below you can see some pictures of the finished
 project.

             This was my favorite project at that time, and I will paint it again in the future for my collection.

             Thank you for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed another small journey in the world of
painted miniatures. I would be very happy if this can be of  help to anyone who wants to paint a similar
or the same project.


            ........... 'till next time...See ya!!

   

       

 

Conte Collectibles - Vikings

      It's been very long time since my last post.Unfortunately, free time is a very difficult thing for me
to find these days.Although i will try to keep in touch at least once a month and upload some posts.
      Today i will present to you the first set of "Conte Collectibles" that comes to me some time ago.
A very nice detailed set of  "Vikings" battle figures.These figures are made in great historical accuracy
and the detail is excellent.
      On the other hand I have faced some problems with the material that are made of. This material
 is a very soft plastic ( Resin ? - I don't know what exactly ) and it bends too much and too easily....
 As a result of this, the paint on the figure is very possible to break on weapons etc.
      The solution i 've come up with is that, i used no primer ( cause it couldn't stuck solid on the figure)
and paint with one layer of acrylic as a primer.The acrylics have been absorbed better by the plastic
and so, when the figure was finished (with two or more light layers of paint) i had a more solid result.
     Of coarse i did not try to bend hard anything after finishing!!!
      

        I've decided to paint the trousers with the same colour for all the figures in order to look as the same
army's soldiers. Also for the clothing I used dark and dirty colours. I believe  that fancy medieval colours
and highlighting wouldn't fit to a dirty cruel viking army!! Humbrol No.62 has been used for all leather
 parts (belts etc).

                I've tried hard to straighten up this spear but it always turn back to it's starting position!!

                Here you can see the full project. 16 figures at total, or two sets of 8.

     One of the great things of this set is the shields!I really loved them!!! The wood sculpting is excellent!!

    Also a nice job has been done on the faces.I believe this was the first time i was satisfied with my work..

 
   The next time that an archer comes to me I will surely add some thin thread.It is very unreal without it...

     That's all folks!Thanks again for visiting my blog and i hope very much that you like it..!!!Please feel free
to contact for any matter.I would be very happy to help or answer to any question.
     Till' next time...See ya!!