Sunday 16 January 2022

Spanish Trastámara Italian Wars Ordinance- Army of Gonzalo de Córdoba, "El Gran Capitán"


All miniatures are from The Assault Group and can be purchased HERE.

Apologies for the slightly serious nature of this post. I've been a very difficult 21 months with having to deal with isolating during the pandemic; I'm sure many of you are experiencing something akin to this to one extent or another. 

Due to a serious medical condition I have been shielding since March 20th 2022. Unable to see in person another human being except when I went to get my three vaccines. Suffice to say the isolation has been emotionally devastating digging deep into my psyche. It has definitely taken a heavy toll on my mental health. I was so ill/hyper anxious last year I was unable to take part in the AHPC. Although I have lived with quite a high background level of anxiety most of my adult life, this was something very new, much more intense and crippling than anything I had experienced before. I just couldn't find the strength to go about my daily routine never mind paint. 

Gradually over the months things have improved for me. With the help of some serious therapeutic interventions I was able to drag myself forward. I'm very far from being where I want to be and there have been many times when I have really struggled and painting has felt impossible which I usually find quite meditative activity ergo helpful for anxiety related issues. I made a promise to myself that I would take part in The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge this time around after missing last year's challenge. Starting in 2021 would be a perfect time to challenge myself, but more than just putting the brush to a miniature; to challenge myself psychologically too, to challenge the hyper anxiety. I am constantly experiencing. The sense of companionship, humour and sense of community that the challenge always provides will hopefully be enough to keep me going. Community is everything; we are social animals.

Soooooo, I started prepping miniatures for a Late Roman army way back in early November of last year  struggling a little through some quite rough castings, mostly pitted, lovingly cleaning them up and filled in the many gaps with ProCreate putty. Then primed. I had all the units ready for the go come December 21st and made a good start with the brush. Starved of the varnish I use all the time during the "Great Windsor and Newton Professional Matt Varnish Drought" I did some shopping around and was assured that a certain matt varnish spray was a "dead flat matt" by the vendor. That is where my troubles started. To cut a long story short, the varnish was far from matt and after spending two weeks painting up my first unit of Cataphracts, ready to make a "bang" with my first post, the final layer of varnish penetrated not only the solid brush on DIY Enamel Humbrol Gloss coat (left a week to fully cure which has never let me down) but down into the paint, blistering and cracking the finish. The result was extreme frosting with the paint cracked, then flaked and all my hard work went down the pan. Devastated does not even begin to describe my feelings. With the first unit of the project now ruined, and only large units to paint, I had no time to paint anything else up to reach the deadline so opted to box up all the Late Romans and save it for another year when I can face stripping the Cataphracts down to the metal. 

A couple of pics of the varnishing disaster can be found at the bottom of my post. Curt suggested to me that I might include a few as a precautionary tale! I am not going to mention any names but the results are plain to see. I have never had such a varnishing disaster anywhere near as bad as this and I'm just shy of painting for three decades.

The composition of of the gun, crew and accoutrements were all worked out in the picture below. I wanted to emphasise the discussion between the Leonardo da Vinci miniature and the chap with the linstock as if discussing the maths of the matter at hand! I think that this was largely achieved. 



Now to the heart of the matter and the pictures of the gun and crew in action:

(Argh! I've just noticed that I've splashed some of the basing colour on one of the sleeves of the guy holding then linstock.  I just want to get my fist entry underway at present so that error will be fixed tonight.)
















And the varnishing disaster of almost losing faith.....


19 comments:

  1. Looks great! Glad to hear things are getting a little easier

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  2. Glad to hear your on the mend , a fantastic looking gun and crew there !

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    1. Thank you Svek. On the mend but baby steps. One foot forward :)

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  3. Great work on the artillery Darrell. Hope 2022 picks up for you.

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  4. Hello Bedford,

    A new superb unit !!! A pleasure fo the eyes !! Courage !!

    Nikkobourges

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  5. very nice that base of "artillería española" ;)

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  6. G,day Darrell

    It sounds like it was not so much the varnish but ab issue with one of the layers of paint not being cured properly. The old adage with paint is that "If you can still smell it, it's not cured". One week may not have been enough for the gloss or the paint under it. Any way, they look good. All the very best for 2022.

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    1. A week is usually easily enough time for the gloss to go off mate. It was being forced to change varnishes and having to use a sub standard substitute that was the problem. The paint was definitely cured. I would not dream of varnishing a miniature if the paint had not cured. Also, I paint in quite thin layers so the chances of the paint not being cured are very slim.

      All behind me now. All the best for 2022 for you and yours too mate.

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  7. Great work .. sorry I did not catch the manufacturer in the above?

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    1. Ah, Need to edit that is. The whole shebang is by The Assault Group mate.

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  8. An I reading it right that you painted (and I have to say beautifully) with acrylic and used enamel varnish? I have been warned off all combinations of acrylic and enamel - varnishing can be a sore point for me too. I regret when I don't and ponder over the results when I do.

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    1. Not on this piece. i had to have it ready for the last day you can contribute to The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I had a whole Late Roman army prepped, primed and undercoated then the varnishing disaster happened and I lost heart, then switched over to a different project. This has slowed me down considerably as I've had to clean, prime and undercoat all over again. A real bummer but after the first Late Roman unit dying a varnishing death- I just couldn't look at the miniatures.

      These just have a few sprays of Winsor and Newton Pro Matt and no gloss.

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  9. The TAG offers great figures and I love them a lot. The gun looks stunning and one splash doesn't ruin it at all (I wish I would be able to paint it that way). I'm sorry for your ongoing problems with the varnish and that you haven't solved it yet.
    I'm also glad that you are making small steps forward with your personal life. I'm hundred per cent sure, that we will finally meet in real life soon, somewhere at the table (in the club or on the show).

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    1. I've fixed the gunner's arm since the pictures were taken so at least that is sorted out.
      The whole Late Roman army, prepped and ready to paint has been put into a box. Although I can laugh about the varnishing incident now I'm not ready to paint the army. Probably sometime next year.
      Thanks for your kind comments about my painting :)

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