Cart Blanche or in this case Cart Vert

I recently agreed to preview some newer products from an MDF company (whom I'm sure you know). A fairly hefty parcel landed on my doorstep soon afterwards and here is some of what came to follow. They are all suitable for 28mm figures.

I first looked at the Engineers Cart, a Warbases production endorsed by Two Fat Lardies (hi Rich) and priced at £6.

The kit comprised of a couple of sheets of laser cut MDF and a lump of resin cunningly formed into a wagon load of engineering goodies.

The MDF easily broke down into a number of components.

These parts went together quite easily but I did spot one little hiccup (which is the bane of many MDF models). The planking of the cart sides could be visible from both inside and outside the wagon body. I put the planking detail to the inside as this is the most visible at tabletop height.

The kit comes sans chevaux but that is easily solved by the selection of one of several suitable horses available from Warbases. This adds another £2 or £2.50 depending on your choice.

A coat of paint transforms them thus.

Note: The planking is only on one side of the MDF so I marked the blank side in a similar fashion with a lining pen.

I painted this one in French Artillery Green as I expect it to join a friends Napoleonic French Army but it is sufficiently generic to enhance many armies and periods.

So, what do you think of my Cart Vert?

The next pack I looked at was a French 6 pdr artillery piece including a limber in the Gribeauval style. It is priced at £4.50.

This glued up very nicely, only took a few minutes.

I made one small addition to the gun. I added a couple of little brackets over the trunnions. I made these from spare pieces of card from the other kits. It adds just a little bit of detail which improves the appearance enormously.

The gun and limber paint up nicely.

(Painting Tip: I basecoat bronze gun barrels in a chocolately brown before dry brushing with bronze and highlighting with gold)

I'm not sure yet whether I am going to complete this model as limbered or unlimbered.

I'll need to source some gunners. I think there are some in the Perry range.

I also added a couple of horses as you do!

All in all a nice little kit. (Wonder if there are 12 pdrs in the pipeline?)

Of course Artillery doesn't last long in a game if you don't have an ammunition supply.

A problem easily solved with an Ammunition Wagon (£3.00).

Or even some Caissons (£4.00 each).

Of course you'll need some more horses (£2.00 to £2.50 each).

All these horses need a bit of shoeing from time to time.

No problem! Call for the Blacksmith.

Sorry, but the Blacksmith isn't quite available at the moment but his Field Forge (£4.00) is.

I made a couple of little changes to the kit. I changed the screen between the bellows and the coals from a rectangular shape to a curved shape. All the illustrations I could find supported this. I also added a few small pebbles with a cunning little paintjob to suggest a hot coalbed.

A nice little set which can be modelled both limbered up and deployed ready for forging.

Since the Artillery get all these nice support vehicles the rest of the Army also gets into the act.

There is not One:

Not Two:

But Three different Baggage Wagons (all at £4.50 each).

Again, they are an easy build.

And, they paint up nicely.

All the based models above are on MDF bases, from Warbases and are 50mm wide and a variety of lengths from 100mm, 110mm and 120mm.

The paintjobs are very simple (apart from the horses). None of the MDF was primed or undercoated. A straight basecoat of French Artillery Green (Howard Hues), metal parts base coated black, dry brushed gun metal, canvas in, well, canvas colours, everything washed in Army Painter Acrylic Soft Tone and matt varnished with Winsor & Newton Galeria Artists Matt Varnish.

My painting style for horses is detailed here:

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/a-troopers-tale.html

Gravel and Sand from a wee box in my bottom drawer and static grass from Kallistra.

Now is a good time to browse the many new products which many of the trade suppliers and manufacturers are diversifying into. There's a whole new world out there. A good place to start would be Warbases, I'll be at their stand first thing this Saturday morning coming at Carronade.