Blurring the Detail

I have a collection of 30mm Spencer Smith Napoleonic plastic figures the bulk of which were gifted to me by a very generous wargamer back in 2017. I really liked the look of the figures and soon had a couple of small OHW type armies painted up. I had opted to paint them with a simple toy soldier style with a gloss finish as it seemed to suit the figures. Their uniforms only bear a slight resemblance to those of the period, as I selected uniforms online which I liked and then painted something similar. Very reckless! 

Anyway, since then I have been able to add to the armies with a few purchases and added in a few plastic Seven Years War (SYW) and converted American Civil war (ACW) figures.

Plastic Hussars from the SYW range. I really like the movement in these miniatures.

Some converted ACW figures

There are still gaps in my Napoleonic armies, with some areas feeling understrength, for example a lack of Hussars. I currently only have one unit of SYW Hussars and just three spare miniatures, too few to complete a full unit of five. Since the chances of me finding more Spencer Smith Napoleonic plastic figures are increasingly remote, as a search eBay again, I decided to see if some 28mm plastic figures would suit to fill out the gaps in my armies.

A game in progress.

The local hobby shop had a pack of 28mm French Hussars by Warlord Games. I suspected the new figures would be chunkier and more detailed compared to the slender 30mm Spencer Smiths. They turned out to be not only chunkier and detailed, as expected, but also taller. That is scale creep for you!

Undeterred, I went ahead and glued the figures together. In an effort to help them blend in with the Spencer Smiths, which are not highly detailed miniatures, I filed down some of their prominent details, then went about blurring the remaining details on the model by applying a mix of gesso primer and PVA glue. This gluggy mixture fills in smaller areas and crevices to create a smoother surface. Once everything is dry, I started the painting with a simple, glossy toy soldier style to fit in with the painting approach used for the Spencer Smith figures.

The completed Hussars.

A side on comparison between the old and new Hussars.

A view head on.

One other pack of figures I purchased was some 28mm Prussian infantry marching manufactured by HAT. While not as detailed at the Hussars, they still got the blurring of detail treatment of Gesso primer and PVA glue. 

HAT 28mm marching figures.

Comparison to Spencer Smiths on the left, HAT on the right.

On the tabletop the new figures look fine, particularly the HAT infantry, they fit in very well. With one more Hussar unit to paint and two more infantry units, I am now eyeing up some additional artillery.