Thanks, Johnny. It’ll bother me for the next 5 weeks, HA! No, it won’t, you’re right!
I need to borrow your specks, if you please, HA! Thanks, Chepster!
There ya go again, trying to make too much sense, Tim. HA! The French have Union Jacks on their sleeves, lol.
Tank, ya killin me man, ya killin me! Flashbackssssssssss!
Another masterpiece, Ski. Your detailing is incredible.
The result is really fantastic!!!
Tanks, Matt and Erwin!!
I think it’s time for a group photo, no?
Surely that’d be a group daguerrotype? 
Na, we’re too far gone to go back to that type, but not a bad idea at all!
Base Layout
We’re so close I had to forego the Frenchmen and get to work on the base. Honestly, it’s a bit of work to retool my brain right now, the bloomin tartans are still dancing in me head at night, HA! I really need to step back and study the French fellows a bit more before I move on anyways.
Being within a few miles of a huge lake it’s not hard to find drift wood, if you know where to look. I pulled a small chunk from my wife’s stash, with her approval of course, and did some trimming. I was actually a lot of fun making saw dust again, a break from the pattern grind, you could say.
These pics are not close up on purpose as they are only reference photos. I started out with a great chunk with the swirls and all, only to find they wouldn’t fit within the designated parameters of the layout. So, bandsaw to the rescue, with a little help from the joiner, and a miter saw, in business we are. Then it was all orbital sander from there on out. Some swirls are still visible under the Mahogany stain and they will show much better after about 5 coats of Tung Oil.
There’s a bit of blue construction foam under the air clay and all of it is glued massively with carpenter’s glue. I don’t expect any shifting within my lifetime. The figures will set with the clay drying overnight. All the locations have just been marked with a permanent marker so I can at least have an idea where each goes after the sanding. I’ll be using Hecky grass for the field work.
So, as you can tell by now, we are definitely seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and no, it ain’t no train.
Thanks for watching. Cheers, Ski.
Dags were 25 years later than Quatre Bras alas, you’d have to do a group etching. OK back up, your wife keeps a stash of driftwood…?? Does she smoke it? Great to see firm ground in the making, wondering if it’ll need some kinda backdrop (?) 
Does she smoke it? Sheesh, HA! Ya killin me Small,…
Tim, this is a test run and I’ve already received quite a few hits on the lack of tightness of the group. I’ll be working this base some more to see if I can reduce the footprint.
Stash, as in, craftwork stash. You know how girls like to make craft stuff, common, Bro. When they’re done, then they smoke it, HA!
For what it’s worth, I prefer the group slightly more open… You can see each one in better detail that way… Love the base work… Very nice 
The guy with the spontoon (pole weapon) should be beside or in front of the standard bearer (where the officer is). He’s literally the “Colour Sergeant”, his primary purpose is to defend the flag. Roughly line up the musicians and the dismounted Officer with the Standard Bearer and have the musket armed chaps in another line in front of them. I think the fellow bending over the stricken Cuirassier might be best on the right of the line (left of the photo). Speaking of Cuirassiers, there’s a story that the Scots found the breast plates useful as a cauldron for cooking up large quantities of porridge or broth, the French, seeing this, thought they were cannibals eating the dead cavalrymen…
Cheers,
M
Thanks, Johnny, but there’s a change to the change,…lol.
That is hilarious! Thanks for the input, M. I’ve tightened up the group, as you will see below, and will be keeping with the initial layout of the sculptor. I really didn’t like the “open square” look the more I examined it. It really started to bother me, so change it I did.
Base Redo
Several of the keen eyes reviewing this build log have come to the same conclusion as I have. The base was way too big and the figures really lost meaning when they were placed so far apart. This set is intended to be “up close and personal” and the base really had to go bye-bye. Great test run, though.
Taking another chunk from my wife’s drift wood stash pile I cut a section that had the most character. I had originally intended on using this slab, but passed it up, hmmm. I recon I needed some practice first, HA!
Spoiler alert: I’m intentionally not showing the front view. This is a placement test and it would be bad form to jump ahead and expose the intended final result before it’s time.
You may notice after close scrutiny that some of those delicate parts, such as a bayonet, a few bayonet scabbards, and one thumb, plus some other minor parts might be missing from the finished figs. Clumsy sausage fingers, what else can I say? This happens every time and the final punch list is standing by as usual.
There is a way to make the ground work mesh with these swirls in the drift wood and preserve its uniqueness. I’ll post SBS pics on that portion. Stand-by for the finale, it’s not far off now.
Thanks for watching and all comments are welcome. Cheers, Ski.
Base Work Continued
While working the last two figures I neglected the “base in progress” photos posting, so here they are. Sometimes we can get ahead of ourselves, lol. I also included a pic of the intentional layout soon to be. All the base work is standard practice, nothing new to see here.
Close up of the intended Royal Regiment in action. Note, the Rifleman has had his intended orientation altered to a more correct interpretation of action since this photo was taken. I think I’m revealing too much at this stage, but I’m pretty stoked at how this is playing out so far.
Thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.
Extract from fuller account in post # 48 above: “The 42nd hastily formed a square, but the lancers were upon them at full speed & some were even trapped and cut down inside the square…which wasn’t a square at all but a massed huddle around the colours”
Sure looks like a massed huddle to me – keeping superlatives dry until the finish but it’s looking brilliant already. If you can persuade your wife to smoke some wood when you take final photos, it would look great wafting across the huddle 
Hey, Brother, looking forward to seeing your ugly mug Sat, the 5th, HA! Remember the tie!
Actually, this base, I think you’ll like it, I do. There’s a ton of research I could have done beyond what I did, but this era is not my forte, so I ran with what I had, and it ain’t that bad for a Yank throwin a hardball across home plate, HA! Hey Batter, Batter, Batter, Hey Batter, Batter, Batter, …Seewwwing Batter, batter, batter,…
Ah, you get the idea, lol. Thanks, Tim!
Ski, the presentation is looking even more exquisite than the individual figures, if that’s even possible!
Thanks, Matt! It’s now imperative to get this done expeditiously, before my brain melts, HA!
Am I the only one here thinking of Bill Horan’s “Gandamak” dio? This is headed towards that high a level.
G.
I think that particular work has become one of those artistic archetypes to which all else is compared, and therefore is assumed to be the inspiration, just as the William Barnes Wollen painting of “The last stand of the survivors of Her Majesty’s 44th Foot at Gandamak” has for so many other similar scenes:
Actually, WBW also painted this:
I’m particularly fond of Rembrandt’s “The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch”:
as parodied by Paul Kidby for the cover of Terry Pratchett’s “The Night Watch”:
https://twitter.com/PaulKidby/status/1264878224649129984/photo/1
Cheers,
M