Whilst enjoying my week off work here at ‘Tinpot Towers’, I have been experimenting with a Zinnfiguren (also known as a flat miniature).
A colleague at work brought my attention to these interesting miniatures and was kind enough to furnish me with a couple he had spare so that I could paint some of these niche figures.
The result of my first tentative endeavours is this rather dashing fellow, a Napoleonic French cuirassier leading the charge in his very own little framed diorama…
I procured the frame from my local Wilkinson’s D.I.Y store for a couple of Guineas and the printed background was found after an exhaustive Google search for a suitable image, the original of which can be viewed here.
The frame has a recess behind the glass which allowed me to create a small diorama, set just in front of the background art and only needed a coat of paint to be applied.
After painting the figure, I glued it to the inside of the frame and used wood-filler to create a mud effect, added grass tufts here and there and finally placed cotton wool on top for the powder smoke.
I am heartily happy with the result and am even now trying to find ‘just the right spot’ in which to display it!
TinPot Revolutionary 
That’s very cool! Perfect decoration for the old gaming room.
Thank you and it has certainly found a home which I will be posting more on soon.
Awesome diorama. Truely a work of art. The Flachfiguren seem to be an entire different hobby to ours and I think on a 2D-plane it looks very convincing. I never got the guys who use such miniatures to depict 3D scenes, where you have full view from all sites. I think Prinz August sells some molds as well so you can cast your own :).
Thank you for your kind comments, It was an interesting project to be sure and it took me a while to get the finish I wanted on the figure.
Did you use oil paint for the miniature or normal Acrylics? I am asking because I heard oil would be the way to go with the Flachfiguren. I could imagine blending and bringing out the details on a two dimensional plane might be easier with oils.
I used normal GW acrylics as that’s all I had. the hose was done with GW washes, it worked quite well as it would pool in the recesses towards the bottom creating a fairly convincing 3D effect.
That is awesome mate
Why thank you, it’s surprising what I can do with too much time on my hands! 😉