54mm Charge of the Scots Greys

Neil Merryweather

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I'm going Napoleonic as well-throwing my Shako into the ring with an ambitious 3 figure vignette based on this painting of the Charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo

58-ScotsGreys-and-92nd.jpg

They were famously accompanied by members of the Cameron Highlanders(92nd) who held on to their stirrup leathers. This is something I have always wanted to depict and I have just acquired the necessary Airfix figures.
IMG_20190601_130254919.jpg
There will be some serious surgery required for the poses- especially the fallen Cuirassier , so that will be fun. I plan to try as far as possible to replicate the painting, unless I need to cheat a bit to hold the highlander in the air.
I will need to alter the highlander's lacing to that of the Cameronians- And then there is the tartan to paint ........not looking forward to that as I haven't done that for well over 40 years :flushed:
I'm not going to start just yet, otherwise I will never get the riflemen finished in my Cosford build, but I thought I would just announce this to commit myself - I should be able to manage it in 6 months............
Cheers
Neil
 

Steve Jones

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I will bookmark this and look forward to the start.
 
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SimonT

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Should be interesting Neil

A length of paperclip drilled into the horse and through the back of his hand should sort the flying Scotsman :smiling2:

He looks to be holding onto the stirrup so all wired together should look ok.....
 
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Peter Gillson

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Neil

A great subject, I am sure you will have fun.

One thing to note is that the Scots Grey wore their foul weather covers over their headdresses, unlike the paintings.

Am I right that the set of Highlander infantry is the soft polythene plastic type? If so you may be better getting hold of the Airfix collectors series highlander:

97643EC7-761C-468B-B82B-6764B1979A75.png

Simon is right about the paperclip. A few years ago i attempted a similar project. Using a Dremel I carved out a channel the whole length of the outside of the infantryman's left arm, including the back of his left hand, I also carved a channel up the cavalryman's leg. The infantryman's arm was positioned holding the stirrup leather so the back of his hand was against the outside of the cavalryman's leg, and a paperclip was glued into the channel going down the cavalryman's leg, turning through 90 degrees and into the channel of the infantryman. It was not as complicated as it sounds! This photo may help - sorry for the rotten quality.
FDE0A9F7-730A-4446-BC30-BEA513A53398.jpeg

Peter
 
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:nerd: :nerd: A couple of things:
The Highlander in the picture is from the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, yellow facings. The 79th Cameron Highlanders had green facings.
The famous charge attacked French infantry, not cavalry. So more accurate and less work would be downed French infantrymen. It was in this action that Sgt. Ewart of the Greys took the eagle of the French 45th Line infantry.
 

rtfoe

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Looking forward to this Neil.

Cheers,
Richard
 

JR

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I'm in , looking fwd to the surgery :nerd::smiling3:.
A master class in chopping and hacking, followed by much bending:thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:
 

Neil Merryweather

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Thanks for the interest, Chaps
Simon and Peter;- yes wire is in the pipeline- luckily with plastic the weight will not be too much of an issue. I think I can also rest the 'flying scotsman'(like what you did there,Simon
:thumb2:) on one of the horse's legs. Looking at it more closely, the Scots Grey's horse is actually flying too, so some fun to be had there.
Peter; it IS the hard plastic highlander, just a later packaging. And I will be doing the foul weather cover for the Scots Grey.
George; you are right. I had a feeling the Camerons weren't the 92nd as I typed, but the picture is called 92nd so I went with that. I now have to decide which to go with -it might come down to which tartan is easier to paint...... :flushed: The 79th ,apparently, did not wear the sporrans on active service, so there's a decision to be made there in the future as well- I might need it to distract from the crappy tartan painting.
As for the cuirassier, he is one of the things that drew me to the painting in the first place. Also, he's the reason the Scotsman is flying , and to my mind the most challenging part of the conversion. So he's staying, accurate or not.
cheers
Neil
 

Windy

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I'm in. Looking forward to seeing how this one develops! George is right, the leaping Highlander is from the 92nd Gordon Highlanders. The painting is by Stanley Berkeley and is called Gordons and Greys to the Front. As for tartans, Gordon is a lot easier to paint - basically government (Black Watch) tartan with a yellow overstripe. Cameron of Erracht, as worn by the 79th, is a nightmare!

Edited to add: sporrans were not worn at all on campaign at this period, by any of the Highland regiments. So you can safely leave it off.
 

Jon Heptonstall

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I think the only real problem would be changing the button hole loops from single bastion loops to square paired loops.
Great plan .Yes the painting has a few inaccuracies but so do most of them.
Jon.
 

Neil Merryweather

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Ok, I've done my homework now and it's clear the Flying Scotsman should be 92nd. I don't know where I got the idea that it was the 79th. :rolling:
My bad ( as the kids used to say).
Jon, I think the lace will not be a problem as the cross belts are designed to be added afterwards from the white styrene sheet.
Welcome aboard Alex
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Can of worms, this Napoleonic uniform business Neal!

I do remember those white styrene sheets supplied with the Airfix figures - almost impossible to use when you're twelve years old. Will you use them or revert to foil?
 

Neil Merryweather

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Can of worms, this Napoleonic uniform business Neal!

I do remember those white styrene sheets supplied with the Airfix figures - almost impossible to use when you're twelve years old. Will you use them or revert to foil?
I never found it to be a problem,, I don't know why. If you curl it with a ruler or back of a scalpel it behaves a bit more. I don't know how I learnt it at that age -possibly from Sid Horton's articles on converting the 10th Hussar into a 17th Lancer in Airfix Magazine?
Will I use it?l'll see how I feel at the time .Of course what I have is now at least twenty years old, so it may not be that good anyway- it does deteriorate with age, even though it's plastic.
Neil
 

Peter Gillson

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Hi Neil

Glad it is the same figure as I was thinking of.

In case you need a reference for the hat cover, here is a copy of an illustration from one of the Osprey books "Wellington's Heavy Cavalry".

image.jpg

I do like the Airfix Scots' Grey kit, To my mind it has their best horse and one which I think is as good as Historex horses. The only problem I have has on occasion is that inserting a pin to hold it to a base has weakened the ankle resulting in it breaking. The last few times used the horse I have carved out a channel up the inside of the leg and inserted a paperclip up the full length of the leg. Whn filled with putty it is invisible but very strong.

Peter
 
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