I've seen the light! Bigger is better!

Last week I finally succumbed to the demands of old age; I bought a magnifying light!

I should have done that years ago. Not only does my regular painting spot (the dinner table and a slab of MDF) have crappy light but well, the eyes don't get any better after 40....

Not having a fixed spot to paint and having to clean everything up after painting I looked for a small light I could place before me. This one has a circular neon lamp that throws near-perfect white light which is better than anything I have ever painted by.

It takes some getting used to. The depth perspective is completely different. It took me some time to be able to control the brush under the big lens and working with the little lens still gives me trouble. But I'll get there.

And I am finding out that while my eyesight is not getting any better, the hands are still steady. Below is a Zvezda 1/72 figure painted under the mag-light. You can see it standing on the slab on the lower left as well as below, photographed in close-up.

Not bad, huh?

Cuirassiers!

As I wrote earlier I am planning to expand my 18th century cavalry options. For this I need more hussars and dragoons, but especially the powerhouse of all 18th century shocktroops: the cuirassiers.  

Of course no cuirassiers are made in 1/72 plastic and even metals are rare. I found the Outland games ones but so far have failed to acquire any. So I turned to conversions. 

I started with Zvezda and HaT Napoleonic Russian Cuirassiers, removed their heads and replaced them with heads from the Imex AWI British infantry. The horse harness seemed appropriate enough and so a further paintjob led to the results below. The one with the raised sword is Zvezda, the other one HaT. After the headswap and the paintjob they look remarkably similar and I am quite pleased with them. Another 22 to go to finish the two Cuirassier units I have planned. 

Hussars and dragoons are to follow. These are both made by Zvezda for the Seven Years War and the Great Northern War. Wait and see!