Friday 2 July 2021

Paraguay: 4th Infantry

 


This is the first unit using Perry figures.  There are two packs of firing line Paraguayans in the Perry range, and of those twelve figures only two wear a chiripa and none have blankets.  The advancing and charging packs have many more figures in chiripas (or with blankets), so one senses a different approach with those later releases.  There are two painting mistakes with these figures.  The first is that I failed to do my research properly and assumed that the long curved object on the back of one of the firing figures was some sort of metal trumpet.  In fact, it's called a "turu" and it's a traditional musical instrument made from bull horn.  So not bronze or other metal in any way.  I only realised the mistake after I'd based the unit, so I didn't bother trying to re-paint it.

The second mistake is on the coloured cockade in the centre of the caps. This cockade should be blue, white, and then a red centre; but I've instead done red, white, and finally blue.  Most of the sources/pictures I've seen have the former, although I see the plate on Paraguayan infantry in the Esposito Winger Hussar book has the latter - maybe a mistake by Guiseppe Rava (he gets in right in the relevant Osprey MAA).  This is an error I've carried over to all units I've painted since this one.  To be honest, I find it's the decoration on the hats that's the trickiest part of painting Paraguayan figures.

20 figures.  Painted November 2020.  Flag by Flags of War.




The magic bronze turu

1 comment:

David said...

These are splendid! Who but a bean counter would even notice, or care? They are not ACW though...😁