Accurate 1776 British Infantry

Well after a lot of searching around the Net. I decided that it would be better for me to paint miniatures 1/72 scale. These are about 1 inch in height. Looking through Toy soldier Company web site I decided to buy some Miniatures from 1776 American War of Independents. The first set That I painted was the British. After a lot of confusion on what the uniforms looked like from searching on the net. I decided to paint them to match all the different uniform colors that I seen for the British of 1776. They were all red coats it was just the collars that were different colors.  Here is what the set looks like before I painted them.

 This set is created by a company that goes by the name Accurate. I thought that this would be a cool set to paint considering there was a flag bearer and a drummer to go with it. This set comes with 50 Miniatures. The number of how many comes in a cretin pose is in brackets under the miniature. This is what the set looks like after I painted them. The bases are made afterwords and I will explain how I make the bases in another future post. If you do have questions please ask!!

I think that these came out well!!! Can any one tell me what is wrong with the Flag? You can see it better on the close up picture in this post. I have not changed the flag to remind me to pay attention going forward in my miniature career. When someone finally comments what is wrong with it I will tell you what happened. Here are some single shots of some of the miniatures in this set. The first one will show the size comparable to my finger.

I hope that you all like my first shot at painting 1/72 scale miniatures. The next post It will be the American 1776 miniatures.

The First Set Of Miniatures Painted

So I received my first set of miniatures and now it was time to paint them. Where do I start? I pulled out my old box of Testors paints and sorted out the colors. I did not have much to work with so I decided to go out and buy more. I went to a Hobby shop on Dundas Street called North Star Hobbies. They had a huge selection. This is where I noticed the Enamel paints called Model Master. "Hum.... These look good." I picked up the colors that I needed and headed home to start. I started with the Napoleonic French set. This was my first set. I did not do any research on the uniforms or looked at any pictures. I just went by my High school memory and from what I seen on television. Looking back at these pictures made me realize how far I have gone in only two years of painting miniatures. The detail on these suck!!! But hey, this is my first set. You will see how I get better in future posts. I'm a little off on the uniforms.

I forgot to mention that when I was at North Star Hobbies I also picked up some fake grass and glue. I thought that it would be cool to try. It's not bad!!! Now on with the 1776 British soldiers. Same as the Napoleonic, no research except from what I remember from the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot". These were more fun to paint because there was a little more detail in the plastic. I'm starting to learn how important it is to have a good molded miniature. It matters!!! Here are the red coats!!!! Remember I'm still learning.

As I was working on the British I thought that I would paint a couple to look like the French of 1776. I needed to do something for the French of Quebec. After all it was because of that one trip that I started this fantastic hobby that wives around the world hate. Actually not just wives. I told my friend Damien about this and he called me an old man. I guess it takes a certain type of person to get involved in this type of hobby. I think I'm committed for life!!

Next post: How I changed My miniature decision completely!!!!!

The first set of Miniatures.

Now the fun begins!!! So I got home safe with my wife from Quebec city and headed straight to the couch. This is where I usually lay down, put my feet up on a couch pillow and think about stuff. I wondered to my self if I should paint these figures and sell them my self. I talked to Sandra about it and the first thing she said was. " Sounds good as long as you make money". I started to laugh and thought about how cool it would be to do it for a living. The first step to take was to research about it over the Internet. So off I went browsing and browsing. I found a lot of sites that had metal and plastic figures at all different sizes. Wow!! where do I start. The questions I asked my self were incredible. What size do I want to paint? Plastic or metal? what company do I want to buy my miniatures from? I then came across a web site called Toy soldier Company. The link is on my blog. This site has it all!!! This site breaks every thing down for you so you can find exactly what you are looking for. By company, by size, pre-painted, non painted and type of material. I started looking at the metal figures and noticed that they were quite a bit more expensive then the plastic. I was just starting out and I didn't want to sink a lot of money in to it just yet. So plastic it was. I know I wanted French and British soldiers. This is most likely because I just came back from Quebec. Now I had to decide what maker I wanted to buy from and what size. I cam across a cool British 1776 set for $15.00 from a maker called Accurate. This set the figures come in 54mm. I thought this was cool considering the soldiers I seen back in Quebec were the same size. I now decided that this was the size I wanted to paint. This is what the British soldiers look like.
Now I had to look for some French soldiers. Accurate unfortunately did not make any so I had to look else were. As I was browsing the toy soldier company I came across a French Napoleonic set from a company called Army's in plastic. This set was also 54mm tall. This is what it looks like.

All that was left to do was sit and wait until the arrived at my house. Wow what a long wait. Next post I will show what they looked like after my first attempt to paint Military miniatures. Till then.

The Hobby Begins

Let's start off this blog with a little history on how I started out with this fantastic hobby. It all started back in the year 2009. My wife Sandra decided that she wanted to have a winter vacation in old Quebec. We both decided that it would be fun to stay one week while the famous La Carnival was going on. What a great Idea!!! On the way to Quebec by train I decided to pick up a booklet that had some French and British soldiers on it. Hum... What is this? I asked my self. Reading the booklet I leaned about the battle of the plains of Abraham. I told my wife Sandra about it. Sandra just laughed and replied. "What, you didn't know about it?" Supposedly it was taught in school. So I remarked back. "Well the battle must of only lasted 10 minutes since I never heard about it before." When we arrived at the hotel in old Quebec I maid friends with an old French man that ran the desk in the midnight hours. We started talking about the battle and I had to ask him how long it lasted. When he told me that it only lasted 15 minutes I had to stop my self from laughing. I WAS RIGHT!!! I did not want to laugh in front of him because the French lost due to many dubious mistakes.
As my wife Sandra and I browsed the local shops in old Quebec I stumbled upon a shop that had so many painted military figures on glass shelves. I just had to check it out. When I walked up to the shelves I was stunned. I could not believe how cool they looked and how well they were painted. I wanted to buy 100's of them. They were about 54mm in height and they had British and French soldiers. I picked one up and looked at the bottom of it to see how much it was. $85.00 for one!!!!!! Holy shit!!! I slowly put the figure back on the shelf and took a step back. "I can't afford this." That was the end of that dream. On the way home from Old Quebec I pondered on what I can do to fill my needs to play God with little army men.
Stay tuned for the next post to find out what I did next.