1:72 German Mercenaries (Mid XVI century)

The trade of war in the Renaissance

The German foot mercenary companies of the middle of the sixteenth century were, for their time, a business venture. The recruiter received a commission and money from the ruler, hired the men, set their pay himself and led them into the field. In return the soldiers won the right to dress as they pleased, and they used it showily: gathered sleeves with slashes, striped hose, broad hats with feathers. Their fighting value came from the combination of a very long pike, which held cavalry at a respectful distance, and a short broad sword for the moment when the formations collided. With them went ranks of shooters with muskets and a few men with a two-handed sword at the head of the formation.

Relief on an area of a few millimeters

A subject like this tests exactly what a casting can carry. The slashes on the sleeves, the feathers on the hat and the folds of gathered cloth have a depth of tenths of a millimeter at this size, so it is easy to flood them with paint and turn them into a single mass.

How to pull the relief out

The procedure has two steps and both rest on thinning. First a strongly thinned dark paint is let run into the hollows, where it draws itself into the shadows and sketches out the divisions. Then the tops of the relief are gone over with a fine, almost dry brush in a lighter tone. The paint is taken up in a tiny amount and the excess is wiped off on paper, otherwise the sharp edges get filled and the whole effect is lost.

Anyone who wants to go further can go over a very few places with gloss varnish at the end. The metal part of the sword or the buckle of a belt will then reflect the light differently from the cloth around it, and a small figure gains a depth that shades alone cannot create.