Shiny Napoleonics... Monsieur un manteau.

Greetings...

Monsieur un manteau...In all his shiny glory.

I have removed the extra greatcoat/ comfy blanky / rouleau de saucisse...

I have of course left the small pigeon/plume ...

Thanks to the previous comment (https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2021/05/a-new-book-and-little-quiz.html ) by Jolly Broom Man I can only see it as a pigeon 😂..

He has been painted as a  Voltigeur of the 18th Line Infantry.

I think it’s going to be a rather colourful looking unit...

Now all I have to do is remove about twenty extra greatcoats... such fun😁

All the best   Aly

A New Book... And a little quiz...

 Greetings...

I was hoping to show you some more Shiny American Civil Was figures...

Unfortunately when I gloss varnished them...The varnish I use had a weird reaction with the varnish that had previously been used on them... and after four days it still hasn’t dried/cured...

It has however worked on the few areas that had new paint...

I shall leave them in a box for a bit longer and paint some fresh new toys instead....

So the book...

It is in German... but there is lots of eye candy...and of course I really had to have it...

As my German is just about basic... I asked my friend Florian to translate one of the image captions for me...

The caption for this says that the figures are about 55mm tall... Gosh!

Okay a little quiz ...

So can you spot the schoolboy error on this miniature...

I have already challenged a couple of my chums with this... I only noticed what it was as I was undercoating the unit.

All the best   Aly

A New book... And a little Shiny Inspiration.

 Greetings...

Many many years ago when I was nine or ten I remember finding the whole of the Bayeux Tapestry laid out in the back of a volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica at my Grandparents house...

I was of course mesmerised... And I still find it fascinating to this day.

Recently the History Extra Podcast has run a couple of episodes covering the possible exhibition of this wonderful object in the UK...

https://www.historyextra.com/bayeux-tapestry-exclusive-history-podcast-series/

There is also a book available... 

Of course I had a real need to buy it...

It looks very interesting and I am looking forward to reading it...

There is also an on-line version of the tapestry here...

https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/explore-online/

I highly recommend this... It feels about as close to the object as most of us will get...

I was watching a documentary on BBC iPlayer called A History of Art in Three Colours...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l9mf8

In the first episode which is about the colour Gold...

The presenter introduces an incredibly expensive diorama/artwork made of gold and enamel... I  have to say I was somewhat blown away by its shiny beauty...

I have managed to find a few images of this rather magnificent object...

These images don’t really give a sense of the size of this piece of shininess...

Yup these are super exclusive toy soldiers...

There are some more images to be found here...

https://www.theheritagelab.in/aurangzeb-birthday-diorama/

The diorama was made by Johann Melchior Dinglinger for Augustus Strong of Saxony...

It is on show at The Green Vault in Dresden.

Here a few relevant links...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_II_the_Strong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Vault

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Melchior_Dinglinger

It’s tricky enough painting fine detail on a miniature... let alone doing it in enamel 

I wonder if Augustus played with this toy of his... I know I would have.

Painting is still on the slow side... I got my second Covid vaccination the other day and it has knocked the wind out my sails a bit... the first one wasn’t too bad..

I have however spruced up another unit of shiny American Civil War figures and I am just waiting for some varnish to arrive...

All the best   Aly