Paint problems

In an earlier post I mentioned some problems I was having with the quality of Humbrol enamel paints, which have been my mainstay for the last 40 years. Some helpful comments suggested that this was due to changes in the manufacturing arrangements, and that Humbrol had taken action to rectify this and, if purchased direct from Hornby, the latest batches would be obtainable. I did this and replaced almost all of my basic paint set. I can report that some of the paints are indeed better than the earlier tins that I bought, but others are still causing difficulties. For example Humbrol 54 (brass), which even after endless mixing came out as an oily wash, which was completely useless for painting details such as buttons etc. I found that Humbrol 19 (red) was fine, but took around four days to dry properly. The other paints in the enamel range appear a bit thinner than I am used to. So I have looked at other ranges. I found Testor's paints to be very good and quick drying and a few Revell paints that I bought work well too. I hope Humbrol (now Hornby?) sort this issue out as I have always been a great fan of these paints.

Ottoman Turk Cavalry

These cavalry figures are conversions, which are available from Old John, and are mounted on Douglas Miniatures horses. This was an unfinished project that I managed to complete over the weekend. Slowly but surely my French and Turkish forces are coming together:

I also painted this Minifigs S Range (again from John Cunningham), which is from the French Egyptian campaign and was originally an Egyptian regular. I think he makes a great Turkish infantryman:

 

42nd Highland Regiment - The Black Watch

Today I finished my second Douglas Miniatures Highland unit, The Black Watch. Easily distinguished by their blue facings and famous red hackles, the regiment formed part of the Highland Brigade, within the 1st British Division. My other Battalion is the 93rd Highlanders, of thin red line fame. The officer, standard bearers and piper are Minifigs S Range figures (available from John Cunningham)

Here are the two Highland Regiments deployed together:

Fortunately Roger Fenton was there with his camera to capture the scene!

The next unit will be the Scots Fusilier Guards, again by Douglas Miniatures, plus some Turkish cavalry.

Scruby Russian Dragoons

These figures took a while to paint as each one required holes to be drilled into both sides of the nose, in order to fit the wire reins. I think the effort was worth it. These are lovely figures to paint, cleanly cast with good definition. The standard bearer is a conversion and the officer is the original Scruby pose. The other figures have their sword arm bent forward:

 

My next project will see me going back to Douglas Miniatures figures as over Easter a new box of metal arrived from Old John, which includes the Black Watch.

Scruby French Line Infantry

These figures are the first of a batch of Scruby French infantry that I have been painting for a few weeks. Production was halted for a while as I needed to find some paints to replace the faulty Humbrol gloss that I was have such problems with. I am using a mix of Testors, Revell and Tamiya, which seem to do the trick.

These figures from Historifigs are superb, with very clean castings and sharp detail. My only concern is that the uniforms appear wrong for the Crimean War. I am no expert on French uniforms, but these figures appear to be dressed in the 1860 pattern uniform, and of course the Crimean War ended in 1856. That said they look nice when completed and were fun to paint and will join the ranks of the growing French forces.

Scruby - British Staff Officer

I used the Scruby General officer figure to represent General Scarlett earlier this year. Over the last couple of days I have been painting a second figure to represent a British staff officer. He will act as an aide on the battlefield.

Although a very nicely moulded figure the Scruby offering is incorrect for the Crimean war. The problem lies with the plume on the high cocked hat and the shoulder accoutrements. General officers wore feathers on their head dress, although it seems that actually in the field all of the decorative items were removed. The Scruby figure correctly has the officer wearing the long double breasted frock coat, but this would not be worn with all of the gold shoulder decoration, this being normal for the full dress uniform. However, with a little bit of chopping and filing these odd issues can be easily resolved.  Here is the original figure as supplied:

Then the same figure is shown with a few adjustments:

Production Delays

My painting project has slowed down a little due to problems with the paint. I normally use Humbrol gloss enamel paints, which for the last 50 years or so have proved most consistent and reliable, but lately there have been some issues. This is particulalry the case with gloss enamel red (19) and black (21). With these two, no matter how much stirring I do I find that the paint remains tacky for days, sometimes a week. Some other gloss colours appear very thin, and the ratio of oil (if thats the right term) to pigment is too great so the effect is a very watery, runny paint that requires several coats to achieve good coverage. Being so thin it is difficult to paint accurately too without the paint running into all the little crevices.

I initially thought this might be a one off problem, so I ditched the paints I had and bought some more from other outlets, but same issue has occured. I am now looking for other sources of these colours as I have given up on Humbrol.

Anyone else experienced this - or is it me?