This is my first attempt at a resin figure and is of verlindens "private 50th bn. 60th foot, spain 1812". Still in the early stages, obviously as it has no head, the head is in the boiler room drying as ive started this with oils. The figure i have changed slightly to the uniform of the 95th rifles and the white band represents that of a chosen man. Its my intention to mount this on a nice mount and use this as a book end for my collection of napoleonic books.
The ground work is i think done, the figure is still in progress and not yet secured and is painted with vallejo acryllics.
any comments welcomed.


excuse the photos, they really make the figure look worse than it is!

So far so good. Keep us posted with pics.

~Chip :-)

Nice detail on this figure so far! Keep us posted.

As with the other comments, looking good. How did you find the resin to work with? Any problems glueing and painting? I ask as I have a resin 101st airborne figure on the "to do" list.

Looking good so far. Couple of comments on the figure (not your painting or construction), the powder horn, these were issued to riflemen in addition to the paper cartridges not simply for priming, but also for loading. The powder was of a far superior quality to that issued for the standard 'brown-bess' musket. The reason being that the Baker rifle was designed for longer-range work and quality of powder was paramount to maintain accuracy. The job of a rifleman (for the unitiated) was to kill officers and NCOs, thus weakening the effect of the dreaded 'pas de charge' of the french infantry columns, though primarily to destroy the screening French Voltigeurs who also operated ahead of the infantry columns. The great advantages of the british rifleman were his training and a certain 'autonomy' in his actions. The Baker rifle was in those days the best that was available, the French used only a smoothbore musket, even with their Voltigeur formations, hereby limiting both the range and accuracy giving a huge tactical advantage to the british riflemen. As befits an 'irregular' formation, discipline though not lax, was less rigid than that of the conventional regiments/battalions. Dress-code was therefore not as rigidly adhered to either, during any of the Peninsular or North American campaigns, the whole army would rapidly have taken on the appearance of heavily-armed scarecrows, the regulation shako was regularly lost or used for other purposes, the dye used in the uniforms was frequently of the cheapest possible and would run and fade after little use. The quality of the cloth used in the manufacture would be of the cheapest possible to maximise profits for the uniform manufacturers and would fray and tear-needing constant patching and repair.
The best contemporary account of life in a typical rifle-regiment is without doubt the "Recollections of Rifleman Harris" by Benjamin Harris. Richard Holmes in his book "Redcoat, the british soldier in the age of horse and musket" also goes into some detail on the rifle regiments. No mention of the rifleman would be complete however, without mentioning the Sharpe books of Bernard Cornwell, each one contains a myriad of anecdotal information of the British Army during the Peninsula campaign... JIm

Jimbrae,
thank you, this information is already known to me as i served in the light infantry (see my signature) for 9 years, my beret came in handy for matching the paint colour for the uniform. All of which you said is correct but also an interesting point to note is that the french did not use the rifles as Napoleon had a severe unliking of them due to the amount of time required to load the weapons. If you're interested in the Pennisular wars there is a very good "battlefield tour" book by Julian Paget called "wellingtons Peninsular war" and also a very good book which has just been released named "Rifles" by Mark Urban.
Brandydog uk-
Resin is an enjoyable project but fairly scary for the first time, ive been writing a short article whilst building this so i know where and when i went wrong and also to hopefully to take away some of the scare factors for first timers like myself. Hopefully i'll send it in, thats the intention, but i will have to see how it reads.
regards

Sorry for not noting the obvious....A constant theme, at least from british authors, is the lack of imagination of Napoleon, I've often wondered as to why the French never used the rifle. I've long had an obsession with the Rifles in the Peninsula. The well known engraving of Tom Plunkett killing a French general could have happened only a few miles from where I live, I live less than 100km from Coruña (Corunna) and live right on the line of retreat (and later advance) of the British army of 1809. In fact General Sir John Moore's tomb is situated in Coruña itself. As an ex-rifleman, you may be interested to know that there is a military association in Coruña calling itself "The Royal Greenjackets" and organises recreations of the battle of Corunna (or correctly Elviña) every year. These guys take their homages very seriously, every year on the anniversary of Moore's death, there is a service of commemoration, something which does not happen in Vitoria, Salamanca or anywhere else...Jim

Jim,
as youre living in that area and interested in the rifles then julian padgets book is a must for you, my father lives in alicante and i made the pilgrimage over to Talevera and badajoz last year and found the book invaluable, It was great looking over the battlefield ( whats left of it )at Talevera, and walking around the walls of Badajoz while refreshing my memory as to the events there. Next timei come over (xmas) i intend to visit Salamanca and Corunna.

Heres a link should you be interested in the books
Julian paget
rifles
regards