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Men in Boxes: Carthaginian Cavalries

I've recently turned my attention to the cavalry elements for my Warmaster Carthaginian army, namely models from Hat's Numidian Cavalry, Italian Ally Cavalry, Spanish Cavalry and Italeri's Celtic Cavalry. Each box has 12 riders and horses so I went ahead and opened a box of each except for the Italeri plastic. Italeri's set had 15 riders, 15 horses and 2 foot figures. Not to keen on a big lot of unpainted plastic on my workbench, I only selected 6 figure/rider combinations good for two warmaster units and set aside the rest back to storage. All in all, I'm facing  4 units each of Numidians, Italian Allies & Spanish Cavalry with 12 figures/riders per cavalry and 2 units worth of Celts.

After washing in water & dishwashing liquid, I start by cutting off the figures from the sprues and trying out different rider/horse  combinations. Riders are cleaned of flash then glued to the horses (also cleaned of flash) using undiluted PVA glue. I usually don't bother pinning the contact points. The models are then given a thin coat of diluted PVA and left for a night or two. 

While painting models, I've grown accustomed to the habit of temporarily stowing them in paperboard set-up boxes. These are made with paperboard patterned, scored and die-cut to make trays, with one tray slightly larger & fitting over the other as a lid/cover.  You could usually find these as gift boxes in different sizes and paper thickness. I use the slightly thick paper, mainly because they're cheap and easy to store unfolded. These boxes serve as the model's temporary holding area until they're finished painting. A note outside the box let's me identify which set I'd like to work on when the painting mood hits as well as visually aiding me in keeping track of the projects currently in production. Plus, storing them in boxes keeps dust and the errant dog hair away from models and keeps my workstation relatively clutter-free for other projects.

When the PVA dries, the models are sprayed with grey automotive primer. I prefer using gray mainly because black primer strains my eyes. Then I break out the acrylics and paint away assembly-line fashion. The pictures show the Numidian cavalry nearing completion. I usually wait a few days after the acrylic dries before I use washes, so this batch will probably stay in their box until the weekend. 

 

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