The next army on the rack for Operation Flock was my new 1870 Prussian Army. Like the last army, I flocked everything and then had to go back and paint all my guns that I had not gotten to. This particular army has a lot of gun miniatures, but fortunately, they are easier to paint.
All the troops in the army are Old Glory 15s, with a few Rank and File miniatures to fill in the gaps. The troops were actually painted by Fernando in Sri Lanka, to my instructions. The are using a base black with main colors painted on top with the black left as shading. I had to fill in a few missing models and all the artillery myself, but that was the choice I made.
Next step was to mount all the figures on bases. For this period, I use pre-cut plastic magnetized bases from Shogun Miniatures. The bases are 1-1/4″ wide by the appropriate depth. This is an in between size, to allow us to play different rules (normally Bloody Big Battles or Rank and File). I spray these dark brown and glue the figures on using white blue. I was no as careful on the artillerymen as I should have been and have some gun fitting issues (I always seem to make this same mistake). I’ll have to decide if I can live with this or if I need to remount some crew. However, that will wait for after I clear all the other 15mm basing of my backlog.
The next step was to add flags. In this case, I went to Warflag and printed out what I needed to scale. I dip them in water and then put on white glue. I then fold them over the flag staff and form them with my hands. After they sit for a while and start to stiffen, I shape them some more.
Once the glue had dried, I went back with green paint (Howard Hughes Geo Hex Green) and painted the base tops (leaving the side boarders brown) and flocked them with Woodland Scenics blended turf.
The last step is to dull coat the figures with Testors Dull Coat. This puts a final seal on the figures. Hardens the flags that much more and better seals the flock. I will sometimes go back and gloss coat the bayonets, but it did not seem necessary in this case. Everything dried and my troops are ready for the table!
- Manteuffel