Woerth 1870 - Turcos and Bavarians

[Iceman1964]

The Franco-German war of 1870 was decided by the battle of Sedan, causing the end of the empire of Napoleon III and the birth of the German Empire.

Before this decisive event other preliminary battles were fought, one of them in Woerth, where the fight in the woods was between the French colonial troops “Tirailleurs Algeriennes” (nicknamed “Turcos”) and the Bavarians (now allied of those Prussians they fought just 4 years before in the Austro-Prussian war).
The clash was fierce, and despite their numerical inferiority the French resisted and counterattacked, but the Germans eventually won and the Turcos of the 2nd regiment remained with 450 men on 3000, a massacre.

The diorama shows a Turcos attack routing a group of Bavarians, all figures are from Massimo Costa (“42nd Black Watch”).

I spent about 170 hours to complete the diorama, the step-by-step details are shown in this forum in the section "work in progress - Turcos and Bavarians"

I hope you will enjoy
Enrico

[Michael Robert]

Hello Enrico,
saw your step-by-step before, admired. Now the finished diorama is fantastic. Everything, subject, set-up, figure painting, diorama and landscape, everything. The subject is really good, showing colonial troops, so often forgotten, the Bavarians - also quite often forgotten although Uwe in the past made a lot of publicity.
The figure painting - gives full credit to Massimo's fabulous dynamic sculpting (and 3D computer models are far away from this style) - just amazing, eve, the smallest insignia. How do you do that?
All very dynamic and interacting - the figures help - but you just organized a perfect set-up in my opinion.
170 hours well spent (it's only 7 days of around the clock modelling

Many greetings
Michael

[sberry]

Now the finished diorama is fantastic. Everything, subject, set-up, figure painting, diorama and landscape, everything.

Nothing to add! Fantastic is the word!

[Iceman1964]

Thanks Michael, thanks Sberry

it's true 170 hours are few days, unfortunately for me they are 6 months but hope to increase the daily ratio in few years , when the retirement will avoid the present waste of time due to work

Painting the smallest details is a pleasure because they are all already present very crispy on the figure, it's just to follow what Massimo made on surface !!

[Konrad]

This is great cinema.
A very lively performance.
I particularly admire the yellow decorations on the uniforms.
Very precise work with a difficult color.
The very successful photos round off the whole thing.
My respect.

[Rich W]

Fabulous stuff. It’s great to see all the figures from your WIP thread together like this. A wonderful achievement overall, including painted figures and super groundwork!

[Susofrick]

Really fabolous stuff! And Massimo's figures are great to work with!

[Iceman1964]

Thanks Konrad, Rick and Susofrick !
I agree with Konrad that yellow is a very difficult colour to manage !!!

[Bessiere]

Fabulous diorama. The figures, the painting and basing are all top notch. The figures are in very dynamic poses that bring your scene to life. Fine tribute to the brave men who fought that day.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Iceman1964]

Thanks Bessiere !
I agree that day was a real hell on earth for those men
Enrico

[C M Dodson]

Beautiful work with detailed painting, composition, terrain and photography.

Massimos figures are always excellent and you have brought them to life in this lovely diorama.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Iceman1964]

Thanks Chris and all, kind words from masters like you guys are a pleasure

[Santi Pérez]

...Now the finished diorama is fantastic. Everything, subject, set-up, figure painting, diorama and landscape, everything...

Nothing to add! Fantastic is the word!

As I am lazy, I'm just going to agree, like Stephan, with Michael's opinion, although my qualifier is going to be masterpiece rather than fantastic.

Although we could already get an idea of what the final result was going to be from the partial pictures, the truth is that it has exceeded the most optimistic expectations, Enrico. What a wonderful job, my friend!

Santi.

[Iceman1964]

Thanks Santi , I'm proud of your feedback
Enrico

[k.b.]

A truly monumental piece of work Enrico.........everything about it is stunning; the figures, the placement, the painting, the basework and the photography. If i had to find 1 thing I might have done differently it is i would have made a bigger distinction between the two uniforms, i'd probably have used a different colour for the Bavarian Blue. Nonethelessyour work is truly stunning.

[Iceman1964]

Thanks k.b. !!
for the uniform, both Turcos and bavarians had light blue jackets, and for the bavarians I collected from internet 5 different pictures with 5 different tones of blue a nightmare !!
At the end I came up with a lighter tone for Turcos, but I agree the difference is not so visible

Fortunately, at least the trousers are different

[Santi Pérez]

...At the end I came up with a lighter tone for Turcos, but I agree the difference is not so visible...:

If you look closely at the pictures, it's true that there is a slight difference in the shade of blue of the two uniforms.

Santi.

[MABO]

I also followed the step by step topic. The figures are really great and also well painted in the end. The dio in the end is very good. I am always interested in forgotten incidents of history as MIchael called them. So this inspired me to do some research.

[Iceman1964]

Thanks Santi, thanks Mabo. Me too love the neglected history periods , especially when "exotic" uniforms are present .

[T. Dürrschmidt]

I also have purchased these figs some years ago, wanted to paint it some day. These are looking great. This is the kind of diorama I am hoping to create...it´s very admirable.