They do say that it’s better not to compare yourself with others. Rather, compare yourself to how you were last week, last month or last year even. I’ve been painting figures for best part of forty years and I had fallen in love with Aventine miniatures. Witness the hundreds of amazing miniatures in the hands of master brush men. I needed Bactrian light horsemen, the Huns I’d previously bought worked out fine and Steve Dean gave me a colour scheme on a Facebook post. What could possibly go wrong?
The first thing was a slight memory lapse. I had left off all the extra kit on afore mentioned Huns and the shield off the general above stayed in the barracks. I use Gorilla glue and it has never let me down I thought. Then a glance down at the painting table reminded me why I threw out two quite expensive Aventine elephants. The bodies wouldn’t adhere, then the head fell off and then the crew needed to be drilled. It wasn’t pretty, I was out of my depth. The answer was to revert to plan B i.e. Strip the figures of everything that could not be glued on- and that was quivers, javelin holders, shields and baggage. This joined the Hun spares box which is now quite weighty.
The keen eyed will notice the lack of ammo for these light horse bow experts. Perhaps just one shot would be enough. After I had drilled the legs to the horse, and then drilled the legs to the torso, I’d had my fill of premium quality models. Give me single piece castings everytime.
I did have some success though. After Jack’s post last week I delved into the paints box and dug out the new GW paints. Red and yellow have always been a pain to get right on a black undercoat but not anymore. The “base” paint is a good cover that didn’t need two coats. The “layer” paints brought the solid shade that I wanted.
Just as a final issue, two of the horses broke off at the legs when I took them off the painting bases. Gripping Beast came to the rescue. A spray of Contrast white and a GW wash and they were ready. So full marks to Games Workshop and a note to future self- I’m a wargamer who models and definately not the reverse!
The final straw! Bonus points to Gripping Beast- although I think this particular Bactrian has stolen a stallion!
Have a great weekend all
Mike
Despertaferres 
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