Verlinden 120mm Napoleonic Grenadier Peninsular War

[Deleted member 6559]

My next figure will be this Napoleonic Grenadier by Verlinden. The box art depicts him wearing the white uniform of one of Napoleon's foreign regiments. The facings generally denoted the country; red for the Dutch, red or green for the Italians etc. I'm not sure what colour they are on the box, but I'm assuming they are Italian green and I think that's what I'll go for.

He's depicted very much on campaign, with patched and ripped clothes, split seams, stowed badges and a wrapped musket breech. This is what was in the box:



Quite a few parts which are generally well cast, though the large block on the neck of the tunic created problems. There was also an unusual amount of clean-up required for a Verlinden figure.

I've now got him ready for painting:



The first, most obvious thing to note is that the head is a bit too big for the body. I would normally have swapped it for something smaller, but as it has a lot of character I decided to use it and think of him as a bit of a caricature. The casting block at the neck caused some problems, enough that I had to remake the detail like the piping and shoulder boards from lead foil.

Should be interesting to paint a weathered white uniform - hopefully simpler than that darned archer!

I'll need to put it aside now for a couple of days while I work on some box art for a new Sarnia bust (more of which in due course).

 

[Steve Jones]

Dont take too long Peter. I am a big fan of your Napoleonic work. Good luck with the weathering

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Looks good. Plenty of character. As you say the white will be 'fun'.
Jim

 

[SteveH]

Evening Peter

All that white, oooh, that will be a challenge after the archers tunic, but it does seem to be smoother, less texture to have to deal with.

Another box art project too, you are a busy bee and all the Granddad duty to come too.

A fully booked December diary Peter, good job the flu is subsiding.

Have a good day tomorrow and looking forward to all your new projects

Regards

Steve H

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Thanks chaps.

The white does intimidate me slightly, though I have done white uniforms on Verlinden figures before, so hopefully it will go better than the archer. I've done a bit more research and I think the box depicts one of the Neopolitan regiments with dark blue facings, which might be a nice option.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Peter
With ref to the “Neapolitan” uniform, as he is labelled a peninsular grenadier, I think he is a line regiment grenadier from the French “white uniform” period, brought in for a short while when indigo wasn’t available due to blockade. There were several French regiments so equipped in the Peninsular, at least one of which never got replacement uniform for the whole period....
Looking forward to him, no matter which uniform you choose....
Cheers
Tim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Thanks for that Tim, that's just the info I wanted and it has cleared things up nicely. Couldn't find a thing about it on t'internet.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Peter
Look up “Napoleonic French white uniforms”...quite a lot comes up....
Cheers
Tim

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Thanks Tim

Because I assumed that he was a foreigner, that's what I looked for. Duh!

 

[Dave S4]

White is challenging, but once you've got the idea of shading it's a surprisingly forgiving colour as there's NO highlighting required.
I'll let that sink in for a moment.
No highlighting. Bliss!!
Now yellow, that's a different matter.
Utterly dreadful experience.
Anyway, go for it, Peter. It'll be good to see how this turns out.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Hi Dave

I have done quite a lot of white before, but not a full uniform:



I had lost my fear of it until I tried it on the Mitches archer figure, where it went disastrously wrong. However, I'm quite upbeat about having a go at this one, as the folds and creases are fairly simple - just very time consuming adding layer after layer of paint.

I also agree about yellow and avoid it like the plague. Anything with a yellow unifrom on the box art has quickly been converted to another regiment.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Peter

You have succeeded with white Napleonic before,so fingers' crossed on this one.

Peter

 

[Dave S4]

I know what you mean. There's a lot of shading, and a lot of base layers, but the effort pays off in the end. As I'm sure you know!
Only done one yellow outfit and probably won't repeat the experience.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Dave - .

The head's done:



A great head from Verlinden, and really nice to paint - the sculptor has caught the look of a craggy-faced veteran to a tee. I also painted the collar and epaulettes so that I can can start on the white next session.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Nice.

 

[JR]

Glad you kept that head, it is in deed full of character. Quite frankly I can see you having any problem with the white, and agree with Peter G .
I shall sit near that damned kettle !
John.

 

[Jon Heptonstall]

I think you've got a fair bit of leeway with uniform colour here.Like the British army, a lot of local cloth was used to repair/replace uniform items.His trousers in particular could easily be locally made.
Jon.

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Ralph - Thanks.

John - Cheers. The kettle's miles away anyway.

Jon - Many thanks for that. It gives me a let out clause if I have problems.

 

[Tim Marlow]

After a little time in the peninsular he would be pretty far from white anyway, probably a light khaki with sweat stains LOL....the trousers look like they would go well in local sourced brown...with white spats to offset them....
Great head by the way...

 

[wotan]

Peter

Another nice face. I've noticed that in your recent figures you have toned down the facial lines to a paler, warmer tone. I think this has done a lot to improve the final look. Very nice job

John