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Rating, Royal Naval Division, Antwerp, 1914 --- Tommy's War 54mm


Old Man

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I don't do figures often, so when I do get one, it's because I really want to do one, and therefore I tend to pile straight in whatever else I may have planned or on the plate.

 

I have had some interest in the Naval Division at Antwerp since back in high school, when I came upon an article on it in an academic history magazine in the school library, and then read Mr. Churchill's history of the Great War. I was interested to discover the Tommy's War people did a figure of an enlisted man in the unit, and found I could get one from a state-side supplier.

 

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There was a pretty significant mould mis-alignment on the legs....

 

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I dealt with this as my first step, it being something I know how to do....

 

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After this comes the tricky bit (ie just about everything else...)....

 

I started with the eyes and face because if these aren't at least passable, nothing else is going to matter much. I am pretty much a duffer at figures, and will spare you the preliminaries: what is pictured here represents the result after the third complete stripping of the face down to white primer....

 

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I'm going to put head aside for a bit, so I can come at it with fresh eyes. I expect I will try and get a little more dark color at the edges of the eye-lids, and perhaps a couple more touches of glaze/wash on the cheeks and chin. But next on the agenda is putting on the arms and beginning to paint the clothes.

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Assembled the figure itself (sans head and equipment), and started in on the uniform.

 

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The trousers I am pretty well finished on, the navy blue portion shirt got a bit more paint after these were taken, and may still get a little more. Of course the tricky bit, the stripes on the neck-cloth (or whatever it is called) in particular, remain ahead....

 

I did a little more work on the eyes and face (eyes mostly), doing my best to get decent eye-lids in.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more progress on this.

 

The 'square-rig' neck-cloth and the undershirt are painted.

 

IMG_9387_zpsy3hkpahj.jpg

 

IMG_9389_zpsergo7ab2.jpg

 

After some experiment proved to me I was not going to succeed at painting the white stripes, I resorted to 'special' methods, and cut strips of white decal film as skinny as I could manage. The film itself is exceedingly thin, and was put down in a pool of Future, so it does not stand out appreciably from the surface. I am aware of a couple of points that need touching up, and will address that on the next pass. The next tricky bit is getting a red anchor on a patch on the left sleeve....

 

The cover art on the box shows the undershirt as white, but contemporary illustrations show it as dark blue.

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Inspiring stuff. 

As another infrequent figure builder I've found myself concentrating on the base and the figure minus his head, which is currently stuck on a blob of White Tac with just a pale cream undercoat while I summon up the courage to paint it. 

It may take two or three goes... 

 

John 

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7 minutes ago, John said:

Inspiring stuff. 

As another infrequent figure builder I've found myself concentrating on the base and the figure minus his head, which is currently stuck on a blob of White Tac with just a pale cream undercoat while I summon up the courage to paint it. 

It may take two or three goes... 

 

John 

 

Two or three at least, Sir, depend upon it. I'm not really good enough to give advice myself, but best of luck on your commemorative project.

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Hmm i am liking this:D.....which division? Benbow Hood Anson etc?

You can get replica division badges on a well known auction site for not much.

.I also borrowed a book on the RN divisions from my local library.....no idea what its called but im sure it was a pen and sword publication.....for what its worth. :huh:

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19 hours ago, clive_t said:

Hello again OM, watching this with a vested interest! :)

 

Thank you, Sir.

 

That is quite a project you have going with the tank crew.

 

17 hours ago, junglierating said:

Hmm i am liking this:D.....which division? Benbow Hood Anson etc?

You can get replica division badges on a well known auction site for not much.

.I also borrowed a book on the RN divisions from my local library.....no idea what its called but im sure it was a pen and sword publication.....for what its worth. :huh:

Thank you, Sir.

 

So far as can see, there was no distinction in uniform between the various battalions, at least none I could replicate at this scale. Things seem to have been pretty scratch at Antwerp, and I suspect things like badges and names on the hats came later. So this will be a generic sailor with a rifle and kit. Photographs I've seen of sailors at Antwerp mostly show men with bandoliers of cartridges, not the magazine pouches as are on this figure, but that I will live with.

 

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Nice work there, coming along nicely! 

 

I wonder, though, if the makers have made a slight error, re the bayonet in the kit.  The sailor is armed with a Charger Loading Long Lee Enfield and it appears as though he has a Pattern 1907 Hooked Quillon bayonet.  Now, if this is the case it would be wrong, as the CLLE took the Pattern 1888 bayonet, the Pattern 1907 would not fit the rifle.  The Pattern 1888 has a blade length of 12" against the Pattern 1907 blade of 17" and the hilts are a different shape, the slot for the bayonet standard on the '88 being on the lower hilt and the '07 on the upper surface.

 

Image result for pattern 1888 sword bayonet Pattern 1888

 

Image result for pattern 1907 bayonetPattern 1907

 

1.JPG

Pattern 1907 Hooked Quillon

 

 

 

I'll take off my anorak now!

Edited by 593jones
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On 8/5/2017 at 9:35 AM, 593jones said:

 

 

I wonder, though, if the makers have made a slight error, re the bayonet in the kit.  The sailor is armed with a Charger Loading Long Lee Enfield and it appears as though he has a Pattern 1907 Hooked Quillon bayonet.  Now, if this is the case it would be wrong, as the CLLE took the Pattern 1888 bayonet, the Pattern 1907 would not fit the rifle.  The Pattern 1888 has a blade length of 12" against the Pattern 1907 blade of 17" and the hilts are a different shape, the slot for the bayonet standard on the '88 being on the lower hilt and the '07 on the upper surface.

 

 

Most interesting, Sir. I appreciate the information; it is obviously something you know a good deal about.

 

To be blunt, I think there is probably a lot 'off' about this figure, regarding kit and equipment. I have looked up just about every photograph of Naval Division fellows at Antwerp that can be found on the inter-tubes, and have not seen one with that shoulder belt of clip pouches (as you may tell from my wordings, I am not literate in English soldiers' equipment...). Most show men with bandoliers of cartridges, such as one would expect on banditos in a spaghetti western. I have seen drawings (contemporary) of Royal Marines with such, but even in photographs of Marines at Ostend (in blue) or at Antwerp, that item is very seldom apparent. I'm not even certain the 'charger' Enfield you identify is right for man; there was, I have read, quite a bother about arming these people, with only an older pattern of the rifle initially available, but, as this was deemed unsuitable for active service on land, a later pattern was scrounged up in sufficient numbers before the sailors actually went ashore in Belgium.

 

Whatever the case may actually be, I will let it pass and put the thing together and paint it as is. If this were a kit of a Great War aeroplane or an interwar 'Golden Age' type (in 1/72 of course) and there was this sort of discrepancy, I would be quite certain of it and do something about it too, because such things are my subject and I know how to modify and correct aircraft kits. But even if I were sure of some error in a figure, I would have no idea how to go about fixing it, at least to a standard compatible with the rest of the item a professional had sculpted. I just hope to make a fair job of painting it and eventually some good groundwork....

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More progress on this, Gentlemen.

 

I tightened things up a bit on the face, mostly around the eyes....

 

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After these pictures were taken, I put a tiny fleck of white color into the outer corner of the left (figure's left) eye, but otherwise I think I am to a point where I really ougt to leave the head alone, at least until It is off the block and onto the figure.

 

I cleaned up in a couple of places on the white stripes, got a bit more color onto some of the kit, and some color onto the hands, and took a run at the leading seaman badge on the left arm...

 

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This is the fourth run at the fouled anchor. I scraped the patch clean each time, down to the resin.. Wound up drawing in with pencil, then painting in red, and trimming that down with blue, with a few final dabs put in with a sharpened toothpick. At this point I feel pretty good about it, though I think the left fluke of the anchor needs to be shortened a hair. If after a while I decide I don't like the thing at all, and that I can't do better, I will scrape it clean again, and de-rate the fellow to able seaman by just painting the area plain dark blue....

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1 hour ago, John said:

I've seen you using home produced decals on some of your aircraft builds, would a decal be of use for the rank badge? 

 

John 

I expect a decal would be a good way to go, Sir. Unfortunately not possible at the moment, and I can't say when it might be. The ink-jet printer we had used died. We replaced it with a laser printer, but have not worked through all the bugs with it; it is different and among other things tends to print darker than expected. The electronic end of things is wife's purview, I am doing well to switch one of these machines on and off. Her time and focus has been necessarily on other matters lately. Probably TMI, this, I expect, but....

 

It would probably be possible and, had we a properly run in printer, would be my choice. The basic shape of the patch on which the badge displays could be printed out in dark blue, with the red emblem, and then the thing worked down into the folds (where the left arm bends on this is most unfortunate, it would have been much easier were the emblem worn on the right sleeve). But rank/rating was displayed on the left sleeve, the right sleeve displayed proficiency or trade, if any --- if this man were qualified as a marksman, or a signaller, say, the right sleeve patch would display an emblem associated with those skills, and otherwise remained plain.

 

At this point, my only reserve option would be painting the emblem on decal film, which might be a hair easier than painting it on the figure, owing to regularity of surface, but it wouldn't be much easier....

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Thanks, it's my own form of rivet counting!  I may not be too hot at panel lines on a Spitfire but I'm a self-appointed expert on British military small arms  :)  Incidentally, having looked at the Tommy's War website I realise I was wrong about the Charger Loading Lee Enfield, it's actually an unconverted, original long Lee Enfield, so much for my assumptions :mental:

 

Carry on the good work!

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Got in a bit more on this late last week.

 

Just about all the color is now on the figure itself.

 

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Tweaked the rank emblem a bit....

 

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Next will be metal bits, equipment, and touchings up (needed especially at the meeting of the left (figure's left) leggings and trousers.

 

I can't stop messing about with he head. I like to think I am improving it...

 

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I will be taking it off the block and attaching it to the figure in the next pass at this. Which ought to stop me fiddling about with it, or at least put a solid crimp in it....

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Have finally attached the head, as well as other equipment.

 

But it's the head that matters....

 

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Going to let it sit a bit, and see what surfaces as needing touch-up attention, then attach the rifle and sling and give the lad his cigarette....

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you, Sir. I am improving, but I consider myself little more than a duffer at this. I can say I have found that a white coating, and very thin paint, little more than a wash, built up  over several layers, does seem to give a nice effect.

 

I have all the bits and bobs on, now, and will be putting something up in the Figure RFI shortly.

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On 7/31/2017 at 10:35 PM, Old Man said:

A bit more progress on this.

 

The 'square-rig' neck-cloth and the undershirt are painted.

 

IMG_9387_zpsy3hkpahj.jpg

 

IMG_9389_zpsergo7ab2.jpg

 

After some experiment proved to me I was not going to succeed at painting the white stripes, I resorted to 'special' methods, and cut strips of white decal film as skinny as I could manage. The film itself is exceedingly thin, and was put down in a pool of Future, so it does not stand out appreciably from the surface. I am aware of a couple of points that need touching up, and will address that on the next pass. The next tricky bit is getting a red anchor on a patch on the left sleeve....

 

The cover art on the box shows the undershirt as white, but contemporary illustrations show it as dark blue.

Loving the figure, old man. 

 

Being an ex-matelot, I might be able to shed some light on the undershirt issue? 

 

Sailors wear a white front under their blue jacket- it's a stiff cotton t-shirt, with a broad, square cut neck, white with a dark blue trim.

 

When it's cold, they can wear an 'itchy' over the white front, but still under the jacket. It's a coarse wollen jumper with a narrow round neck, finished in dark blue.

 

I suspect your reference photos show lads wrapped up for outdoor work. Going with the itchy is a good move, since painting the white front in would reveal the collar is the wrong shape! :DHth...

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On 9/13/2017 at 4:52 PM, oileanach said:

Loving the figure, old man. 

 

Being an ex-matelot, I might be able to shed some light on the undershirt issue? 

 

Sailors wear a white front under their blue jacket- it's a stiff cotton t-shirt, with a broad, square cut neck, white with a dark blue trim.

 

When it's cold, they can wear an 'itchy' over the white front, but still under the jacket. It's a coarse wollen jumper with a narrow round neck, finished in dark blue.

 

I suspect your reference photos show lads wrapped up for outdoor work. Going with the itchy is a good move, since painting the white front in would reveal the collar is the wrong shape! :DHth...

 

Thank you for the information, Sir. The pictures I saw were of men in the trenches around Antwerp. One of the illustrated papers of the day did a photo-feature on them. There was also a recruiting poster, in color.

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