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Private 24th Foot Rorkes Drift 1879

AndyFettes

Master at Arms
Hi all,

I wanted to go all out and do a figure for my first posting up in this section,

I saw Dave Youngquist on his Last Cavalry table at the recent Chicago show and saw that he had for sale this figure which had been partially primed for $20 and grabbed it up.

Being British I suddenly thought I had never done a British figure and saw the opportunity to expand myself, skill wise, with this chap.
The red coat and dark blue trousers would indeed be a challenge but I also wanted to do a bit more and saw the figure as a base of what I could do.

Firstly lets talk about this figure`s history a bit more,...

Rorkes Drift was a famous British Battle during the Zululand Campaign in Janurary 1879, where 150 British Soldiers and contingents fought off 3000-4000 Zulu Warriors and after the battle 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to some of the brave Soldiers.

Thunderbird 75mm sculpted by Anders Heinz

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Cast in a light grey resin with a super face, as with other Thunderbird figures the torso is complete and only the arms and accessories are separate. the sculpting is quite good but I found that the right leg was not in proportion with the leg so I decided to trim this down.The right boot wasnt very good at all so I began working on that too, I also did not like how the hair looked so I gave him a hair cut and by using green stuff putty I sculpted my own hairstyle and also gave him a beard.

Heres a few shot of progress so far,......

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So there you are the first shots in this build and a very much work in progress and I have to resculpt the right trouser leg, the boot and generally do a bit more cleaning up and gap filling before I even think about looking at paint but saying that I am already reading through my books and magazines to get some inspiration.

Andy
 
Isn't this the battle that Eric Idle said....oh nevermind...


Really looking forward to this Andy. Got notepad out and ready for some schoolin'.

:popcorn
 
Somehow the singing towards each other between the Zulu's and British reminded me on nowadays hooligans. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmoZBQN2vvY&feature=player_detailpage


Looking forward to the next steps Andy! :popcorn


Greetings,Ron.
 
Ive been on a bit of a side mission with this,...

Seeing as the figure does not have a Helmet badge which incidentally is historically accurate as shipment of helmet badges was held up and late arriving in Africa,...

I decided,stupidly, to make my own,...not for the helmet of course but for the front of the base that I`m going to use,....

Heres what the Helmet badge should look like

Picture for reference purposes only

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,.....and here`s what Ive done so far you may notice that the letters got better as time went on but I am quite pleased :D

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Components coming together,...The badge and hair looks much much better when primed

The rifle sling is paper and thin wire

I right boot gaiters and lower trouser legs has been resculpted and as you can just see they are different colours,..that is not because I have used different putties I just colours them with a dab of Vallejo so I can see where I am at when sculpting,

heres the pics,............


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:)
Hi Andy
Looking great love this figure and really like the present changes ,sort of have a connection with 24 Foot SWB my dads old regiment ...must add he was not at the Drift lol . Although at 89 and a WW11 Vet he says he feels at time like he was there lol.
There is a great Museum at Brecon which aim sure you know bit of a trip for you across the pond lol they have some great ref material and are very helpful .
Looking forward to seeing this one develop

Cheers Chris
 
Thank you Chris,

Sadly Ive been to brecon a few times but never got the chance to visit any museums,..too busy panting and huffing up Pen Y Fan,..( I hasten to add it was with the scouts and not anything to do with the famous fan dance )

Next time I am over I may take a trip up there

Even though i live in the USA I am a Londoner
 
Hi Andy
The Fan dance , helll of a name for place where your lungs come out of your ears lol,,lol wonderful part of the world ,my folks live in Abergavenny ,he'll man if get over some time we could hook up and go together ,be a blast
Cheers Chris :soldier :good:
 
Progress report

As you can see the majority of build up is nearly completed and plastic strip was added to the water bottle and I have started to paint in dark lines for the shadows later


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I have now base coated the face with Mahogany Brown a real rich reddy colour

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Next I have purely lightened the Mahogany Brown with Flesh base and have framed the face by colour blocking in the beard and hair
I have also begun painting the eyes

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Vallejo acrylics as usual Andy?

What color/colour did you use for the hair parts?

(y) :popcorn


Greetings,Ron.
 
Hi Andy
Starting to come to life now ,what sculpting product did u use for the hair ?
Looking forward to seeing this develop
Cheers Chris :drinks :good:
 
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