_Citoyen commandant, nous, les hommes du bataillon du Bonnet-Rouge, nous avons une grâce à vous demander.
_Laquelle ?
_De nous faire tuer.
If you read the article here you know I started the hobby by painting 1/72 plastic soldiers (do you want to know more?). I turned to fantasy and sci-fi larger scale (28-32mm) models some 20 years ago but I still love historical models and for some time I wanted to try an even larger scale (54 or 75mm).
The perfect occasion presented itself with my friend Pigeon du Canal’s birthday. Among other weird common interests we share an unhealthy love for all things related to the French Revolution and first Empire. Since I try to infect him with the hobby virus I decided to get him a painted mini from that era.
I went for « Le Sans Culotte » by Andrea Miniaures (see here). The naming part was easy, that heroic fellow was of course called Radoub, as a tribute to one of the greatest book ever: 93 by Victor Hugo.
_Voici, commandant. Depuis l’affaire de Dol, vous nous ménagez. Nous sommes encore douze.
_Eh bien ?
_Ça nous humilie.
_Vous êtes la réserve.
_Nous aimons mieux être l’avant-garde.
I just switched the base for a proper scenic setting (also from the Andrea range) more suitable for a gift and went went on painting.
As you can see on the face detail pic I went for the tired and bored hero (which is not at all what Radoub is in the book) but suits the sculpt well. You can listen to the song « Brave Marin » (see below) to get the feeling of what I went for: the romantic hero of the French revolution, taking no pleasure in war, going bare feet on the roads, but ready to live up to the motto « Vivre libre ou mourir ! ».
This project has been a lot of « firsts » for me: first time back to historical mini, first time large scale model and (almost) first time I was pretentious enough to consider my work being a suitable gift.
I plan on making a more complete account of the project. It was really interesting for me and I loved doing it. Changing scale is more difficult than I thought, because I have more habits and automatisms than I care to admit, but in the end I enjoyed it very much and learned a few things. Painting for someone else is also something I never really did before and I wish to tell you more about how I approached this experience.
Anyway, all of this will have to wait since September is a bad work month, but I couldn’t resist posting some pictures of the finished mini. They were taken by its new owner, the day I gave it to him (as I try to infect him with the hobby virus he tries to teach me how to properly use a camera!).
_C’est égal. Vous êtes dans la colonne. Vous marchez.
_Derrière. C’est le droit de Paris de marcher devant.
_J’y penserai, sergent Radoub.
_Pensez-y aujourd’hui, mon commandant. Voici une occasion. Il va y avoir un rude croc-en-jambe à donner ou à recevoir. Ce sera dru. La Tourgue brûlera les doigts de ceux qui y toucheront. Nous demandons la faveur d’en être.
Well that’s all for folks. Hope you liked what you read, see you soon.
Pictures by Pigeon du Canal. Quotes from « 93 » by Victor Hugo, chapter VII, part 3.
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