It's, Hurrah for the Union!

[Big Dave S]

Shenandoah Miniatures' 14th Brooklyn (New York) Zouave. 54mm.

Underway...

As good as I can find where Union infantry are concerned.

[Big Dave S]

Well, it was certainly an easy assembly.

[Big Dave S]

First lick of paint.

First of many.............

[Cadman]

Funnily enough, despite being extremely interested in the ACW when I was a kid, for some reason I've never been tempted to try doing any models related to the conflict...🤔

That might well change.

I'm following this one.

[Jb65rams]

Looking forward to this one.

I have a number of 120mm ACW figures in the stash.

[Big Dave S]

1 hour ago, Cadman said:

Funnily enough, despite being extremely interested in the ACW when I was a kid, for some reason I've never been tempted to try doing any models related to the conflict...🤔

That might well change.

I'm following this one.

I love this period. Absolutely fascinating. Used to re-enact in my 20s and miss doing that, although it would need serious revision of approach before I did it again.

Modelling-wise, the pickings are a bit slim. There is Shenandoah and Wolf Miniatures, neither of whom are great. I found Minisoldiers online, but can't find anything on sale in the UK. Brexit has scuppered buying them from Germany, which was the only website I turned up so far.

In short: quite a few Confederates, of varying quality; hardly anything Union that is worth the effort.

I've had a grumble about this in the Figures Discussion section.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Big Dave S

[Big Dave S]

1 hour ago, Jb65rams said:

Looking forward to this one.

I have a number of 120mm ACW figures in the stash.

Cheers. Any ideas of where to look for decent ACW figures would be welcomed. Preferably 1/35+.

[Big Dave S]

Colours...colours.

But - oh GAWD - I should've painted the right shoulder area BEFORE attaching the rifle.

Too late now. Keyhole surgery is unavoidable.

Worked on my hernia, though. So anything is possible.

Enough information, I feel.

[Big Dave S]

I know the bayonet has a curve.

But they often did...

This is British ordnance c.1850s.

All that remains of the SOSKAN re-enactment days.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Big Dave S

[Big Dave S]

Still loading the basic colours onto Billy Yank.

He's a complex little you-know-what (very minor expletive starting with 'b' avoided there).

Not much different from the last photo.

[Cadman]

On 4/19/2021 at 3:11 AM, Big Dave S said:

But - oh GAWD - I should've painted the right shoulder area BEFORE attaching the rifle.

Too late now. Keyhole surgery is unavoidable.

 

Wouldn't dwell on it mate. It's the kind of thing that happens to me all the time.

Not modelling-related, but certainly a good example. I had a wee disaster with 5 liters of home-brew sanitizer this morning.

Got kicked out of my man-cave while Missus Cadman insisted on cleaning up the mess herself.

It's going to cost me. I just know it will.

She headed off to play Mah Jong with the rest of her Coven this afternoon, still muttering how stupid I am.

🤔...😳

Edited April 21, 2021 by Cadman
Fixed Typo

[Big Dave S]

Fifth (FIFTH!) and final coat of blue applied tonight.

First coat of red where there ain't any blue.

 

("That woman's got no clothes on..."

Hurrah for the Norwegian four-piece, too)

[Big Dave S]

The bread bag should be black.

Am kind of surprised to have made that error. Yes, they were made of black, waterproofed cotton.

I knew that.

So used to painting them a neutral beige/brown à la WW1 French army that I just did it automatically.

Dümkopf!

Oh well, it can be retrieved - to a degree - with shading.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Big Dave S
Typo

[Big Dave S]

Another coat of red applied. Hope to get time on this over the weekend.

Loads of work today/this week so modelling will be a nice break.

[Big Dave S]

 

More slapping on of basic colours.

The ensemble is starting to reveal itself.

Watched a video about Little Round Top on the Gettysburg NPC Youtube channel over breakfast. Fascinating to see the place. Really want to visit.

[593jones]

On 4/18/2021 at 8:27 PM, Big Dave S said:

I know the bayonet has a curve.

But they often did...

This is British ordnance c.1850s.

All that remains of the SOSKAN re-enactment days.

 

Looking good.  I'm interested in the Civil War, too.  Masterbox do some figures, infantry and cavalry which look pretty good.

 

Fun fact: these bayonets had an outward curved blade so that the soldier could reload his muzzle loading musket without impaling his hand when using the ramrod.  Later socket bayonets for breech loaders, e.g. the Martini Henry, did not have the curve, check out the Pattern 1876 (or more properly, the 'Bayonet, common, long') bayonet.  

Edited April 24, 2021 by 593jones

[Big Dave S]

Ah. Now that makes sense.

Having rammed my repro Enfield many times during the 90s it certainly was a benefit that the skewer curved away from my fingers.

Some bloke was desperate to buy the bayonet off me when I flogged the rest of my kit.

[Big Dave S]

Those shoes are on the wrong feet!

Good grief...

[Big Dave S]

Another small step forward.

Second coat of base flesh, brasswork done.

But he'll always look like an idiot after putting his shoes on the wrong feet.

[Big Dave S]

The modelling session looks like the previous post.

And sounds like this:

 

[593jones]

On 4/24/2021 at 6:05 PM, Big Dave S said:

Ah. Now that makes sense.

Having rammed my repro Enfield many times during the 90s it certainly was a benefit that the skewer curved away from my fingers.

Some bloke was desperate to buy the bayonet off me when I flogged the rest of my kit.

 

Fun fact no. 2.  When the Martini Henry was introduced. the bayonet used was the Pattern 53 for the P.53 Enfield rifle.  As the Martini had a barrel of less diameter, the Pattern 53 bayonets used had to have the sockets bushed, thus making them P.53/74 bayonets, and giving the Martini Henry a bayonet with a curved blade.  Pattern 53/74 bayonets are pretty scarce and I would love to get my hot little hands on one for my Martini Henry!

 

The Zouave is looking very good, shoes on the wrong feet or not 

[Big Dave S]

25 minutes ago, 593jones said:

Pattern 53/74 bayonets are pretty scarce and I would love to get my hot little hands on one for my Martini Henry!

 

The Zouave is looking very good, shoes on the wrong feet or not 

Good luck. The M-H is a smart little rifle. Quite weighty, as I recall? Cuts down the recoil.

 

And thanks. There is a LONG way to go yet.

[Crayons]

My 577/450 Mk IVa (otherwise known as Martini Henry .450" MkIV Pattern A) weighs in at around 4kg unloaded comparable to say a Remington 700. I was fortunate many years ago to get my hands on some of the original brass foil cartridges to shoot, the ones that worked was like being kicked by a disgruntled mule. I did cut one of the duds open, I don't recall the weight of the charge, but it was a very coarse powder, I would say somewhere in the Fg range.

 

It's little cousin the .310 cadet is an utter joy to shoot and the Greener GP 12 is the exactly the same.

[Big Dave S]

2 hours ago, Crayons said:

My 577/450 Mk IVa (otherwise known as Martini Henry .450" MkIV Pattern A) weighs in at around 4kg unloaded comparable to say a Remington 700. I was fortunate many years ago to get my hands on some of the original brass foil cartridges to shoot, the ones that worked was like being kicked by a disgruntled mule. I did cut one of the duds open, I don't recall the weight of the charge, but it was a very coarse powder, I would say somewhere in the Fg range.

 

It's little cousin the .310 cadet is an utter joy to shoot and the Greener GP 12 is the exactly the same.

I don't have much in the way of shooting anecdotes, but one that stuck in my mind was firing a period Springfield - with Minie balls - and there being a time limit because the landowner had honey bees and the spinning bullets used to wind them up. 

[Crayons]

Black powder is a shooting experience all of its own. Ive got a repo Parker Hale Enfield 1861 .58cal muzzle loader that I fire a 500gr Minié ball through, between that and the M-H its a hard choice to pick which one. The M-H generally wins for ease and speed of loading. Water buffalo are angry sods when you don't quite drop them with the first shot.

 

I'll add as an edit, other reason the M-H wins. Top hat percussion caps tend to fragment on firing, no one wants a face full of metal fragments. That's my personal experience anyways. And sorry to sidetrack your thread.