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Napoleonic Guard Drummer - Verlinden


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This 120mm figure by Verlinden will be my second entry. There are a few more parts to this one but it looks to be a fairly simple parts breakdown of figure and equipment. It has been a long time since I painted a large scale figure so hopefully this should be a good refresher before I go on to tackle something else.

 

51046326891_ae2abb8f57_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr 

 

51046092566_53d42bb367_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I made a start this morning by removing the casting blocks from the main parts of the figure, they need some careful tidiying up now to take off  the remnants of those. The lower body/upper leg and drumhead will have to be sanded flat to remove a slight step where those parts have been cast, but I have a slab of granite that I can tape some wet and dry to for that job. After that I can give the parts a wash and then, once everything is dry, prime them.

 

51117130353_16e915016c_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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Hi John,

 

this is tasty modelling!

I am an admirer of our short emperor and the uniforms of his armies are plain fantastic.

120 mm is pretty big and will allow you to paint plenty of fiddly details.

Years ago I started a Historex 54 mm drummer of the Grenadiers (like yours). Painted it at 30% and somehow lost the all-essential mojo... it is still in a plastic box on the shelf of infamy.

Drummers' uniforms have quite a lot of idiosyncrasies compared to the run of the mill trooper. That makes them even more interesting.

Keep having fun and I shall follow!

Regards to Caron and the Black Beauty!

 

JR

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On 15/04/2021 at 18:26, jean said:

Hi John,

 

this is tasty modelling!

I am an admirer of our short emperor and the uniforms of his armies are plain fantastic.

120 mm is pretty big and will allow you to paint plenty of fiddly details.

Years ago I started a Historex 54 mm drummer of the Grenadiers (like yours). Painted it at 30% and somehow lost the all-essential mojo... it is still in a plastic box on the shelf of infamy.

Drummers' uniforms have quite a lot of idiosyncrasies compared to the run of the mill trooper. That makes them even more interesting.

Keep having fun and I shall follow!

Regards to Caron and the Black Beauty!

 

JR

 

Hi Jean

 

Thanks for your comment, I hope that evrything is well with you. It's been a while since I painted a 120mm figure, but with a plan to tackle something with a horse, should a future GB get through the vote off later in the year, I thought that I needed the practice. There are lots of little details to paint too, but before I can get to that there is plenty work to do in getting the parts to fit neatly and colours to research, like that of his pantalon, I always thought that the French Gaurd's wore white but the box shows these as a buff shade.

 

I am sure that I will learn something and have fun along the way with this one.

 

Regards

John

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10 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Hi Jean

 

Thanks for your comment, I hope that evrything is well with you. It's been a while since I painted a 120mm figure, but with a plan to tackle something with a horse, should a future GB get through the vote off later in the year, I thought that I needed the practice. There are lots of little details to paint too, but before I can get to that there is plenty work to do in getting the parts to fit neatly and colours to research, like that of his pantalon, I always thought that the French Gaurd's wore white but the box shows these as a buff shade.

 

I am sure that I will learn something and have fun along the way with this one.

 

Regards

John

Hi John,

 

indeed a lot of research to do.

I spent a lot of time researching my drummer, which I intend finishing this year.

The trousers were indeed white. How long did they stay white on campaign is another matter altogether!

 

Have fun.

 

JR

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

After completing most of the main parts clean up and following some fettling of the torso and legs to improve the fit, I made a start on painting this figure. I decided the the best approach would be to paint the two main body parts first, get those assembled and tidy things up before proceeding with the rest of the model. My first job was to prime the parts with some Tamiya Fine Surface Primer and then I could start on adding some colour to the upper body, here's the progress made so far.

 

51180019001_4572d92b7f_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

And here are the two parts loosely assembled.

 

51180242078_98fd7f4865_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51180242038_8b8f6e1fe6_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

I have a couple of areas of white to touch up and then I need to try and break up some of that to get some variation in those areas.

 

John

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi John,

 

I hope you guys are all fine. Here we are good, but freezing to death!

I like your take on this drummer.

Just one thing: the blue of the uniform should be much darker.

In case you missed that bit of info, the border of the collar, the border of the white uniform front (my English vocabulary for these sartorial details is non existent....) as well as the jacket pocket borders should be striated in red and gold... On a 58 mm figure, it is not fun. You are lucky, yours is bigger!

 

Cheers and have fun.

 

JR

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4 hours ago, jean said:

Hi John,

 

I hope you guys are all fine. Here we are good, but freezing to death!

I like your take on this drummer.

Just one thing: the blue of the uniform should be much darker.

In case you missed that bit of info, the border of the collar, the border of the white uniform front (my English vocabulary for these sartorial details is non existent....) as well as the jacket pocket borders should be striated in red and gold... On a 58 mm figure, it is not fun. You are lucky, yours is bigger!

 

Cheers and have fun.

 

JR

 

Hi Jean,

 

We are both fine and had our second vaccine dose about 2 weeks ago, but like you we have had some unseasonably cold weather for this time of year. According to the latest long range forecast things should start to improve next month.

 

Thanks for your advice re the drummers uniform, I have painted the jacket with a midtone blue for the moment and hope that one of the contrast paints I have ordered will darken the colour down. I take it the banding on the collar and jacket facing should be something like this for a 1st Regiment Grenadier Drummer.

 

51205995149_91af799e1a_z.jpg

 

I have also seen plain gold banding and assume that would be a different regiment. I take it that all of the buttons are brass, are the grenade symbols brass or a bronze colour?

 

Thanks in advance for your help. Stay warm and take care mon ami.

 

John

 

 

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Hi John,

 

yes, the gold and red banding should be pretty much like on the drawing. Always perpendicular to the borders.

Musicians often had crazy uniforms... go figure. Although Napoleon codified what the uniforms of his army should be, fantasy was never far off for drummers and later buggles.  Trust the French. Grenadiers uniforms did undertake some changes after 1810, so you have to try and pin your drummer in time. Has the top of the bearskin got a white cross or a grenade on the red circle? etc...

As to whether the metal grenades were copper or bronze... I would think that when nicely polished they should look pretty much the same... I doubt vert de gris was allowed to appear on the copper or bronze.

But for the blue, it has indeed to be much darker.

 

Have fun and stay warm. My regards to Carron and the Black Beauty.

 

JR

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Hi Jean,

 

Thanks for your helpful advice, in answer to your question about the bearskin it has a grenade on the top, and the boxart shows this as a white grenade on a red circle. I have a couple of Osprey Men at Arms books on Napoleon's Guard, but there aren't too many illustrations of bandsmen and as you have said, tying it down to a date will be my best option. 

 

Things are looking up here, Caron and I actually managed to eat our lunch out in the garden today, and what's more it was that warm she took her jumper off. 🤯 This northern-lad being made of sterner stuff sat out in a t-shirt. :lol:

 

Regards

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Like a few others, I have a bit of a hectic build schedule at the moment so I am squeezing things in when I can. I have moved this one along a bit more and after darkening the jacket of the figure with a couple of thin coats of Citadel Leviadon Blue contrast paint I glued the torso and legs together, adding a pin to reinforce the join. There is just a tiny amount of filling to do and I will sort that out using some Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty smoothed out with a cotton bud. I also have a few areas of red to touch in and I still have to paint the red on the jacket facings in readiness for the gold banding.

 

51241102180_181000f6e1_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51240250463_6c0901c1db_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The charge for the line continues with the painting up of more details like the backpack, sword and the arms of the figure.

 

51258500507_9db2da2714_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

The head having had a first base coat added to most of the details was then fixed in place, that now needs a second layer, then I can start painting the smaller details.

 

51259229731_f44be2f39f_c.jpg51259970609_37f54c45d7_c.jpg

 

The drum requires further careful sanding to remove the slight lip at the top of the large section, that should then allow the head to sit into the moulded area on the leg.

 

51259970449_dfcd8f4436_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Regards.

John

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am still plodding along with this one, there are a couple of tricky jobs to do but most of the detail painting is done. Tricky job No.1 is the stringjng of the drumhead, the string is attached to the white tensioners, then runs up the outside, passes through a hole in the head and returns to the tensioner down the outside - repeat x10. The second is going to be painting the gold banding on the jacket lapels and sleeve cuffs.

 

51303324282_13dd2564a9_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51304268188_06e5c61ff7_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Anyway, time to get on with it, and should I fail to complete him in time I could ask the hosts if they would accept him in his present state as an entry in the Unarmed GB. :doh:

 

Cheers

John

 

 

 

 

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I completed the drum about 30mins ago, the thread in the kit kept breaking up as I was splitting it into strands rendering it unusable. A hunt for an alternative turned up some embroidery thread so that was commandeered for the job and as can be seen it is a bit hairy, waxed cotton thread would be better for this job but it has served the purpose.

 

51304793151_b43e82a891_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

I have also finished the banding on the uniform and Jacques has gained one arm, t'other is ready to be added once I have fixed the drum in place and established the correct position.

 

51305799960_7d7bf4f983_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

I have a couple of straps to make and paint up, then I can add the remaining equipment and that should be job done - hopefully before close of play.

 

John

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He looks great! Glad you made it in time.

 

FWIW when I use thread for rigging sailing ships ( becoming alarmingly common now at two in five years) I put a blob of PVA on my fingers and pull the thread through that. That gets me a hairless, stronger, more predictable thread

 

Regards,

Adrian

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7 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

I put a blob of PVA on my fingers and pull the thread through that. That gets me a hairless, stronger, more predictable thread

 

That's a great tip Adrian, thanks for sharing.

 

John

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On 7/12/2021 at 1:30 AM, AdrianMF said:

I put a blob of PVA on my fingers and pull the thread through that. That gets me a hairless, stronger, more predictable thread

 

I think running across the top of a Pritt stick works as well. The safety note must be to not grab the first tube of glue you find in case it's CA! Curioulsy, I don't know this from experience😬

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi John,

 

I have been lazy and not checked all the threads I had promised myself to keep an eye on...

Shame on me.

Your drummer is fantastic and looks the part. His face is really well painted. Congrats. I would suspect that you are painting frescoes on chapels' ceiling in your spare time...

This is the boost I needed to finish my own drummer.

 

JR

 

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Thanks Jean. I don't think that my figure painting will ever be up to chapel standard, some guy called Michelangelo secured that job quite a while ago :lol:, but it is improving. Here are some more photos taken against a lighter background

 

51331104052_5d128fdcb1_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51331104012_9b4f2701af_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

And a alongside the other 120mm Napoleonic figures I have done over several years. A rifleman of the 5th Battalion, 60th Foot which was my first attempt at any figure, and the Leibhusaren you may remember from a few years ago.

 

51332048983_8cd4557fbe_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr 

 

51332564614_0f4844ae6b_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51331837421_77d79ba6ed_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51331103862_3a0878fb80_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51332049098_0bd1a81da5_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Regards

John

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