54mm Waterloo Cornfield Base-A Blast From The Past

[Neil Merryweather]

I've had this figure on my shelf for around 40 years, just waiting for me to retouch his left eye, repair his bayonet and to decide how to finish the base. You can see the dust very clearly.


He's a Phoenix Miniature from the seventies, probably sculpted by Clff Sanderson, I would guess by the style. The base is from an Airfix mounted figure. He was painted in Humbrol by a teenage me.
I have just read Bernard Cornwell's factual account of the Battle of Waterloo and he mentions that the battlefield was a cornfield. Coincidentally, I was looking through my modelmaking Bible by Stan Catchpol and I noticed a tip on making corn, so I thought it would be the perfect setting for my Old Guard.

We are going to have to allow some artistic licence here, because by the time the Old Guard advanced it was at the end of the day and all the corn would have been completely trodden down and mashed.There's probably a case to be made for representing the Young Guard's advance earlier in the day, but that would mean research into the uniform differences and repainting, and that's not the point of the exercise.
Another reason for this project is as a practice run for my entry into Jim& Samson's figure GB later on, which will be on a Waterloo theme.
I have already done the retouching (and cleaning...) and a bit of work on the base, but I don't have any pics yet. Will post tonight or tomorrow .
Cheers
Neil

 

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
50 years on a shelf - you're right, it's long enough Interested in seeing how you model a cornfield.
Jim

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Only 40 years Jim!
Don't age me any more than I am

 

[Jim R]

Sorry Neil. Mind you 40 years is still a fair old time for it to sit on the shelf. It looks like your teenage self painted rather well.
Jim

 

[Steve Jones]

I wasn't even born when your shelf was made let alone the model!LOL

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Wow, an oldie but a goodie. I have a box of stuff I made as a teenager that was kept by my mum. Unfortunately it's all smashed to pieces as she would insist on dusting them. Looking forward to the cornfield.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Wow, an oldie but a goodie. I have a box of stuff I made as a teenager that was kept by my mum. Unfortunately it's all smashed to pieces as she would insist on dusting them. Looking forward to the cornfield.

I feel a thread coming on- a sort of 'then and now'
I have a couple more things I could share that have survived the various moves and purges of life

 

[Deleted member 4539]

I'm interested to see what happens here Neil .

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I'm interested to see what happens here Neil .

Me too Ralph!

so I've retouched his left eye and washed him a bit- the pics show there's still some dust clinging on tenaciously.


Thanks, Jim, for the complement ,by the way- I don't know if I'll ever get back to that standard.
Here is the potential cornfield. Probably the furrows aren't big enough- I have no idea what they should be like.

I used Vallejo acrylic putty because its in a squeezy bottle which made it easier to make the furrows.
I have just taken him off the base as I realise it will get very tricky planting corn between his legs.
Here is the potential corn, as recommended by Saint Stan the prophet of Catchpol



and here are the first stems


The ears are made by dipping the tips in PVA and then dipping them in fine sand.

Only a couple of hundred more to go- this might take some time!
That's all for now, I've got a real hedge to trim today . Gardening is not something I enjoy but a grown-up has to do stuff sometimes!
thanks for looking
Neil

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Just a quick correction before anyone else points it out- at Waterloo the crop was RYE , not corn. And it was apparently 5-6 feet tall!
My paintbrush is only a scale 3-4 feet, so it will have to do.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

The rye looks good Neil .
Make enough and you can harvest them and make some whisky.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Looks great Neil. I wouldn't have the patience.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Looks great Neil. I wouldn't have the patience.

We'll find out whether I have ,Peter.......
I've done 4 rows now, but I have now doubled the number of furrows It's going to have to be a row every time I come to the bench,which takes about 5-10 minutes, rather than a prolonged session- that would be intolerable.
I've never done individual track links, but I imagine it must about the same level of tedium.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
Pure dedication for sure. The rye does look good.
Jim

 

[Steve Jones]

I get challenged over whether a rivet is in the right place or not. Your concerned about getting the crop right at Waterloo. Its a tough hobby this modelling lark

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I get challenged over whether a rivet is in the right place or not. Your concerned about getting the crop right at Waterloo. Its a tough hobby this modelling lark

I know, it's crazy isn't it? like it matters.....
I expect my wife wishes I would get as concerned over more important things in life.....

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Neil
Pure dedication for sure. The rye does look good.
Jim

Jim , it's called obsessive.........

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I wanted to get at the longer bristles in the middle of the brush, so rather than cut through to them I decided to see how much there was below the ferrule and look! I've got myself another scale foot of rye


Result!

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Well I've been cracking away at these strips of corn RYE ,one by one and I've got about ten or eleven done.
I bunched a load together to see how they would look and I think it might actually work!


The next stage is to add some leaves from raffia, according to the Gospel of Stan.
I must say this little booklet is a joy -it's full of beautifully drawn illustrations.



here's the raffia....


I cut it into 15cm lengths and bundled it together- it looks like a squid!



I shredded it with a comb



and then I unrolled each strand, cut it into shorter lengths and shredded it some more



That was the most tedious part, as they don't want to unroll.
then I put double sided tape along one of the strips of corn and added a leaf or two to each one


Doesn't look too bad, though I say it myself!
I ran a line of Evo-stick along the bottom to hold the clumps together

I used Evo-Stick as it has a more earthy colour, which hopefully will stand out less against the ground. I think I will save that stage until I have a bunch of strips and then glue the whole lot together. Hopefully then I can cut them off the tape and glue them into the furrows in rows.
Who knows if it will work? But I must admit I am optimistic, and it's not as tedious as I expected.
Stan suggests making each stem one by one which makes me slightly question whether some of the ideas in this book were thoroughly road-tested ........
I HATE repetitive tasks because boredom makes things slapdash and without finesse, so I am always looking at ways to streamline processes like this.
Anyway, thanks for looking, and keep your fingers crossed!
Neil

 

[Deleted member 4539]

These look fantastic Neil .