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Battle of Langside 13-May-1568


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The decisive battle of Mary Queen of Scots personal reign took place on 13 May 1568 at the village of Langside, two miles south of Glasgow. The Queen’s army was destroyed in less than an hour.

This diorama depicts the closing stages of the battle.

Royalist forces have been pushed back to a large stream called the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. With the remnants of Mary’s army on the point of a full-scale route, Lords Claud Hamilton and Maxwell Herries report that all is lost and counsel the Queen to return to France and await better times.

Mary Stuart, who was still only twenty-six, chose to ignore the advice of her loyal Lords.

 

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The figures include several converted white metal castings from FL & KP, plus white metal kits from Art Girona and Masterclass. The animals are either from the toy shop round the corner, or were picked up at duty free in Hong Kong airport -- can't remember which it was.

Flags and nameplate were done in Microsoft Excel.

The base is a miniature display table and groundwork is instant papier mâché with added static grass and various other details.

The stream is a one-part clear resin product from Deluxe Materials.

The bridge is a resin kit by Reality in Scale, and I've no idea where the trees came from. 

The mounted Mary Stuart figure was cobbled together from various bits and pieces. For details, please refer to my "Mary Queen of Scots" thread in the Figures WIP Section.

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST....

Edited by Cadman
fixed the spacing between the photos
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CONTINUED FROM MY PREVIOUS POST

 

Along with a small group of adherents, and intent on gaining an army and financial aid from her cousin Elizabeth I, the Scottish Queen crossed the Solway Firth and into England on 16 May 1568.

Almost immediately placed into “protective custody” she would endure protracted and increasingly severe imprisonment, and be complicit in numerous failed plots and intrigues. Nineteen long years after Langside, Mary Stuart was put on trial for involvement in the Babbington Plot. The somewhat hair-brained plan was to assassinate Elizabeth and replace her with the Scottish Queen. Despite Mary’s spirited defense, the verdict was never in doubt and she was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587.

 

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Mary Stuart’s half-brother, James Stewart the Earl of Moray and leader of the rebel forces at the Battle of Langside, was shot dead in 1570 by a Marian supporter. It was the first recorded assassination of a head of state by a firearm.

Her third husband, James Hepburn the Earl of Bothwell was imprisoned in Denmark and kept in a dungeon under unspeakable conditions for ten years. Still in chains and probably completely insane, he died in 1578.

Elizabeth I died in 1603 and was succeeded by James VI, son of Mary Queen of Scots, who now became James I of the United Kingdom.

In 1612 James had his mother’s remains exhumed and re-interred in Westminster Abbey. Her final resting place lies at the opposite end of the aisle from Elizabeth’s tomb in the Henry VII Chapel, and one can’t help but wonder if, wherever they are now, both ladies find such close proximity to be somewhat……awkward.

Edited by Cadman
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2 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

Fantastic build Cadman..

 

53 minutes ago, Silver Fox said:

Brilliant work on the figures, the composition of the diorama is well thought out and helps draw the eye to the key players. Tremendous work.

 

Thanks guys. I'm glad you like it.

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4 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Very nice indeed - so that's one of your "simple dioramas"?

Hi Graham,

Umm, yeah, I do tend to think of my dioramas as being fairly simple. If you were to go through them you'll notice that the groundwork is always pretty basic -- and I can't do buildings, so they're avoided like the plague.

One of the few things I reckon I can do right is the composition and layout -- and I always try to tell the story, although that's probably always a bit ambiguous -- except to me of course.

☺️

I really ought to have done a full diorama WIP thread, but have been way too busy recently, so here's a brief rundown;

 

21-June

I've always wanted to do a Mary Queen of Scots scenario, but finding suitable figures is like trying to find hen's teeth. However, I was struck by how similar Spanish Tercio's in the early stages of the 30-Years War were to Lowland Scots and Border Mosstroopers of the late 16th century. Well, they looked similar to me -- and having recently re-read George MacDonald Fraser's book "The Steel Bonnets" about the Border Reivers, I decided I could live with the slight discrepancy in the time frame between the two eras.

So the first job was to do the flags, and I must've changed all of them out around six times each before I got them right.

 

24-June

I've done a WIP on my mounted Mary Stuart in the figure section so won't drone on about how I created her like some latter-day Igor assisting in Baron Frankenstein's lab. It's enough to say an awful lot of milliput was used.....

However, I also had some kit figures that've been in my stash for years and reckoned they would work in this wee project, so a start was made on prepping and priming them. Note, I was also working on some kits for two different vignettes as well, so only the Border Heidman and mounted figure in the photo below were used for this diorama.

 

a. 24-Jun-2018_MQoS

 

30-June

Doing the figures for these projects is always time consuming, but they were coming on. That's the resin product from Deluxe Material that I used for the river.

 

b. 30-Jun-2018_MQoS

 

02-July

A bit more progress.

 

c. 02-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

05-July

The resin bridge was initially assembled with superglue gel and once it was set great dollops of two-part epoxy were ladled on for added strength -- where they wouldn't be seen of course.

 

d. 05-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

And after filling all the gaps at the span to arch joints, I had a bit of practice with the layout. Any excuse to just play around is always a good one.

 

e. 05-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

06-July

More progress on the figures, although I only used four of these in this diorama.

 

f. 06-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

And the weathering process on the bridge was started. I used printers inks for the initial washes of color.

 

g. 06-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

11-July

With the bridge about 75% finished, it was temporarily fixed to the groundwork, and the first layer of resin poured into the riverbed. Mmm, I got a bit silly with the rocks and whipped half of them out of there before the resin began to set.

 

h. 11-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

12-July

Began basing the figures into the groundwork and poured in the second layer of resin "water". The diorama base is sitting on a plastic tray out in our conservatory, just in case of leaks or spills.

 

i. 12-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

13-July

The third and final layer of resin was poured in. Remember I said the bridge was only temporarily fixed to the groundwork? That was so it could come back off while I detailed the resin stream. It then went back on and fixed in place. The Border Heidman was also located n his final position.

 

j. 13-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

So, yesterday was spent on the final detailing, adding more foliage. clumps of reeds, flowers and so on.

I also made the nameplate and then left well alone overnight.

The photoshoot was done this afternoon out in the conservatory so I could take advantage of the natural light.

Hope this has been helpful, and the members here enjoy seeing the process and final results as much as I enjoyed the entire exercise.

 

Next up? Well, there's a small rowing boat vignette to finish off over the next couple of days. I had intended to then do a small, maybe six figure, scenario featuring the Marquis of Montrose in 1645, but to be honest I might defer that one for a few weeks, cos I've a hankering for doing something with Cherry Blossom trees and Knights of Camelot in Shining Armor riding by, while Carl Orff's "O Fortuna Carmina Burana" is bouncing off the floor, walls and ceiling at full blast. And that's a blatant plug for the movie I'm going to be watching tonight....

😎

 

Cheers

H

 

 

 

Edited by Cadman
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15 minutes ago, Darby said:

Outstanding; yet again. That burn looks nice and 'trouty.

I really need to get my eyes tested.

I read that as, "That bum looks nice and trouty", and couldn't figure out what fish had to do with it....

🤤

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57 minutes ago, Cadman said:

I really need to get my eyes tested.

I read that as, "That bum looks nice and trouty", and couldn't figure out what fish had to do with it....

🤤

There's plenty of those in Plymouth

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1 hour ago, Darby said:

There's plenty of those in Plymouth

I assume there's plenty of fish in Plymouth as well.....🤣

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5 hours ago, Cadman said:

I assume there's plenty of fish in Plymouth as well.....🤣

I live on the eastern outskirts and you can smell them before you see them when the wind is in the right direction. There's genuinely a fishy smell with a W'ly wind and with a N'ly; well, the sewage farm at Marsh Mills makes it's presence known

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3 minutes ago, Vince1159 said:

Another great dio Cadman,lovely job...

Thanks Vince.

😊

Two or three additional photos I took today coming up soon.

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So, I did a tad more on the stream and decided to call this one finished. 

It's now taken up residence in the unit at the back of my office.

a. 16-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

b. 16-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

This one, depicting the escape across the Solway Firth on 16 May 1568 isn't quite completed yet, as I want to do a bit more work on the Mary Stuart figure who's ditched her cuirass and changed back into civvies.

d. 16-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

Also need to fix the getaway vehicle driver's green hair....

e. 16-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

....the driver who seems to be saying, "Nope, no way. The deal was one female passenger and her wee scottie dog. The rest of you can just wait for the next boat."

f. 16-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

The groundwork needs a bit more detail as well.

g. 16-Jul-2018_MQoS

 

Then the display table will get cleaned up....and after that, I'll on with the next project.

Cheers

H

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1 hour ago, Vinnie said:

Another fantastic presentation. Where do you find the Time?

 

It's called semi-retirement Vinnie.

I'm in the happy position where I can pick and choose work assignments these days.

😎

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3 hours ago, goggsy said:

Awesome, fantastic attention to detail.

Cheers goggsy.

As usual, I just can't stop fickering with things. I've already carried out yet another Slouch Hat to Scottish Bonnet conversion;

1. Another Bonnet Conversion_s

 

And the Drummer Boy has sprouted a new head....

2. Converted Drummer Boy_s

 

I reckon he now looks remarkably like a young Ginger Baker....🤩

Next target of my interfering little fingers? Change out the heads of the two Musketeers either side of the Drummer Boy, prob'ly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That's gorgeous!

Good show Mr Cadman!

 

I really like the little display table, it sets off the piece quite nicely.

I hope you can close up your cabinet, that looks like it will be a bear to dust!

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  • 1 year later...
15 hours ago, Adrian Woodfield said:

I love the history lesson that goes with your dioramas!

Hardly a history lesson Adrian....😊....I'd have to write a book to do that.

I do like to provide what amounts to condensed bullet points just to fill in any gaps for those who might be unfamiliar with the events I'm trying to depict.

Glad you seem to enjoy these post though.

 

Cheers

H

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