ZULU! The Store House...Rorke's Drift...January 1879

Zulus !!!!!! Fousands of 'em !!!!!!

Peter

Ron I am amazed by this, it is something I have always wanted to do but never felt up to it, seeing the work you have put into this confirms it, this is fantastic.

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Zulus !!!!!! Fousands of 'em !!!!!!Peter

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Peter, yes, 4000, that's how many attacked the Mission Station. How the defenders survived beggars belief. Nearly all had wounds of some sort by the time the relief column arrived. Incredibly, there were only about 15 fatalities on the British side (mostly from rifle fire and not, as would be expected from being stabbed) - against an estimated 500 Zulus killed.

Sorry Steve, posts crossed. Thanks for your encouraging comments.....

Have you painted John melliot Chad and his second in command bromhead.

scott

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Good point.But, my dear chap, if you think for one minute I'm going to spend around £800 on some po*y plastic figures...forget it! I might push the total to 200 or so, but that's it.

For the sake of my sanity - and eyesight, let's just say the remaining Zulus will be 'Off picture'.

How's that for a compromise?

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I reckon you're missing a golden opportunity for a truly spectacular dio with all those Zulus lined up on the hillside. Still, I can't blame you for not wanting to blow your Cosford budget this year for just one dio.

Scott, they are both in the middle next to the bloke with the bugle....

Dave, I had considered having a hillside, but to be the right kind of scale the base would have been around 3 - 4ft across! Sorry, it'll just have to be around the stores building.

Thanks for the posts chaps.

Ron

I like the sounds of that,4000,a tad bit much lol,

looks great so far Ron,the layout is superb,lov it,all so well done,

Well Ron you told be you couldn't handle all that PE on KGV, but believe me I'd rather do it again than do all those figures, unbelievable patience (and great work) Cheers Derek

Quick update....

I've finally glued the defenders in position. I've tried to show them during the last hours of the battle, when they were pushed back into the small area in front of the Stores building.

Still more bits to add, then I'll tackle the Zulus. The bloke on the roof waving has just seen the relief column in the far distance. I couldn't think what else to do with him!

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Cheers,

Ron

Looks great Ron! That is a lot of figure painting.

Just in case anyone thinks I deserted Rorkes Drift when I saw all the Zulus approaching - fear not!


I must confess to not having done much to this, but thanks to Dave's (Gern) ebaying prowess, I'm quietly still collection my Zulus.


Over the last few days of rough weather, I've done a bit more painting of some of the Zulu figures I have up to now...My poor peepers!


The original brown plastic didn't look natural so I've painted the figures various shades of brown. I was hoping to get away with this bit, but the unpainted shade looked awful.....Brush painted with acrylics. The picture doesn't show the shades too well , but they are there.


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Here are some of the hide shields. You can see the highlighted 'Tie-ons' on the top few...I did these by just going over the raised bits with a soft pencil. Brush painted with Acrylics.


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I couldn't resist a play and glued a figure together! Still bits to do, but he looks o.k. so far....Got a mouth like Jagger, but hey ho, he'll do. The assegai looks a bit top heavy, but they did have a very broad 12" long blade and only a 24" staff, so it's not far off...By the time I've slung some dust over him, I'm hoping he'll pass muster.


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That's it up to date, and I promise it won't be another 6 months before the next one!


Cheers all,


Lt. John Rouse Merriot Chard....O.C. Rorkes Drift.

love it favorite film and you have done it complete justice so much so ive ordered some two officers to paint cheers for that

Nice to see you back and posting again John.


Glad to be of some sort of influence too...


Thanks for the positive comments


Ron.

Nice work on the Zulu Ron not many more to do

Looks great so far

Nice work Ron , looks like this is going to be your best work yet well until the next one that is

I'm very disappointed Ron, because I thought you would have modelled lots of 1/72 scale broken biscuits, scattered on the ground near some smashed up biscuit boxes.


No seriously, this is the first time I have looked in on this diorama and it is absolutely stunning. How some of you guys have the patience to paint hundreds of tiny figures and add so much detail is amazing. This is one hell of a diorama Ron and of such a well documented piece of military history. I look forward to its completion.


Geoff

Love it, looking very nice.


Those shields were made from "Nguni" cattle, the most prized thing many Black tribes head, they still to this day sell the hides for about 150 UK Squid.


I can still not figure out why the british army wore red coats in the bush and marched in straight lines! Just ask the Boers....it made for nice targets


Just as a matter of interest, the name of the short stabbing spear that the zulus used was named after the sound it makes when you stab an enemy with it....now that is a worrior mentality.


Theuns

Exceptional work on the figures Ron ......... Have you managed to find a 1/72 "Michael Caine" ?