Numidian General's Light Horse Element(June 2002)
(I just can't seem to paint faces...) Pretty simple conversion this. The head of an HaT8020 African Infantryman (specifically one of the "numidians with a hat") was plonked atop the body of a HaT8022 Gallic Cav rider with some Bostic Clear Bond glue and a little PVA/White Glue around the join. Nothing so sophisticated as pins and such - so far the glue seems to be doing the trick. Presto - a Numidian Prince who just happens to look exactly like a picture of one that appears in an Osprey book about Rome's Enemies: The Desert Frontier (if you are thinking of buying it, I'd suggest going through the DE BELLIS BOOKSTORE). The standard is simply a cows head from an Esci Barbarian standard bearer glued atop the existing HaT8024 Numidian cav rider's javelin. Upon further reflection, it may have been more appropriate to give him one of the Carthaginian standards from the new HaT8056 Cart Command pack, but [Young] Stan only pointed it out to me after I had painted the jolly thing! The more astute of you might notice the result of not cutting/slicing off the mould lines on the horses... I'm expecting that the Cabots stain will work well with these fellows due to their mainly warm colours (that's the shot below. Hmmm...). Ah, but what colour should I flock the base? I want to be able to use elements from my Numidian army both in North Africa as part of my Numidian and Later Carthaginian armies as well as in Western Europe as part of my Marian and Early Imperial Roman armies...so I guess that the same flock would have to be applied to these Roman armies as well. Any suggestions will be gratefully considered.
And here's what it looks like after the Cabots stain was applied. Just keep in mind, when comparing this photo with those at the top of the page, that they were taken mid morning, no flash needed, this one was taken last night. The flash has brung out the different shading that I had applied on the flesh better than the naked eye can pick out! On further reflection, the stian didn't seem to improve the paint job that much (though, again, I like the way it's finished the horses), and it has made the finish quite glossy, but it has also made the paint work very robust, even in comparison with using PVA as an overcoat. Especially when you compared this with using nothing at all. Which of course is why I'm using it in the first place. I think I'll stick with it, perhaps looking for some "matt ing" stuff to apply afterward... 
Get your own Free Homepage |
