Austrian Cavalry and the Wealden House

 I always seem to end up painting Austrians, an attraction the Mem (who didn’t enjoy her short stay in Innsbruck) cannot fathom. Does that make me another misunderstood Austrian painter?

Anyway, one cuirassier and one dragoon regiment done. Austria seemed to have a greater proportion of cuirassier to dragoons in the WSS, so another one is on the cards but I need a break from assembling Warlord plastics for a bit and these were the last of my prepped figures, so I crawled into the loft and dug out my box of unmade Innovate ‘Masterplan’ kits. I find terrain modelling very relaxing (which helps while I’m taking some enforced rest from work) and I’ve been eying up the Wealden House for a while. The original is in the Weald and Downland open air museum and features a garde robe (a khazi, Darren) which is faithfully reproduced in the model. However, Innovate has not included a miniature of Jeremy Lobb, who was rather cruelly shut in it on a St Annes school trip in 1976 (nothing to do with me). The only other strong memory I have from that visit was Jonathan Cox and his sausage sandwiches, which he would not shut up about. But I digress…

I was unaware that Innovate did a few ‘specials’ to go with their generic range, assuming this one was designed specifically for the museum. I’ve not seen another on sale since I got this, so I have probably upset the kit collector gang again, but models were made to be made. I’m still kicking myself I missed out on Thomas Hardy’s Cottage when it was on evilBay a few years back. Never mind. I’ve another Tudor house and some of the other kits will suit the WSS well enough for my purposes.

The Wealden House is one of the more challenging kits and needed more attention than my usual modelling MO tends to allow, but the end result was worth it. I always repaint these kits (cheap craft acrylics are best) as they have some rough edges that need smoothing, but they are good enough ‘in the raw’ and make sturdy buildings for wargaming. You can still get them, mostly on eBay, but they are becoming increasingly rare. I know I’ve said that before, but sadly it is true.