20mm 7th Cavalry

painting up some 20mm cavalry tonight, good to get them started again. I always fall back to watching programs about Little Bighorn on YouTube, so it's good to get these going again.

Being 20mm, I highlighted them once and gave them a wash of brown ink. I touched up the blue again when the ink was dry.

Created for Men who would be kings, the companies are eight riders strong 

These tweaked brush bristle pistols really work well when painted up. I've been having thoughts about pushing this technique to create carbines in the same way. Flattened brush bristles, cut to shape with gel super glue to add details.

I decided this guy would make a great Tom Custer, little brother to the man himself. His tunic was the right size for a buckskin and he had a young looking face.

This great horse colour was achieved by giving a bay brown a wash of the Orange contrast paint. As Custer organised his companies with different horse colours, this trick will be put to good use later for the blood bays 

• A nice touch that was well worth doing was to paint in the bullet belts. This is done with a lighter colour and lots of little marks for the bullets. It was a lot easier once the model was turned upside down. It's such a characteristic of the uniform it had to be done...dead easy too.

Custer takes the bait and rides in to investigate my newly created Tippees.

Update, The cavalry are now based and in column.
 

Custer out front with his personal banner, leaving Lt Cooke to head F company. I've put Tom Custer in the ranks as the two like to ride together, but I might give him his own command later on.

Anither two companies getting their spurs and re-equipping for the mission.

These brush bristle pistols will be shaped once the glue is dry. 

New Line Design's 7th cavalry are not very well researched and tend to follow the Hollywood 1880s look. To get some variety in the figures I ordered a pack of Confederate cavalry from them too. Ironically, these troopers are a lot better fit when modelling the 1876 battle. They have tunics with a carbine belt etc. A good mix of both ranges is recommended so you get some shirts in there too.

These painting are really atmospheric and a real source of reference. I'm not sure who painted them, but there are a whole series of them on Pintrest. Here we see the two brothers at the head of the column. This is the picture I used for inspiration for my Tom Custer.

Custer project halted due to Kidney stone! Read all about it. Now I know what's it's like to be shot with an arrow in the side...

Blogging continues from the hospital bed, nothing can stop dispatches!

Here is the plastic brush bristle carbine test. I think it worked okay. Once painted and detail cheated, I'm sure it will look fine. That's the nice thing about 20mm, you can get away with more with the smaller scale 

The brush bristle was flattened then cut with a scalpel into a basic carbine shape