92nd Gordon Highlander during Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland 1799

 This is quite a challenging project.

I can’t just use a Waterloo highlander because that uniform  appeared after 1800, so I had to do a lot of research to create a 1799 Highlander.

 The 92 nd Gordon Highlanders landed together with British and Russian troops in the north of Holland in 1799.

After searching on the internet I found some illustrations of Highlanders of that time

Then I realized that I had to make the figure almost completely new from different parts.

Basicly I used the Airfix Highlander, the American soldier and a head from the spares- box.

At first I used the  upper half of the Airfix Highlander but that felt wrong. It was possible that some regiments already had the new uniform, but my guess was that old uniforms had a "long life"in the army. So I decided to use the upper part of the American soldier. That needed a lot of reworking.

The bonnet is made of Green Stuff. Soldiers didn't have the great plume of feathers they wore during Waterloo. Instead I used a bunch of feathers from the spares-box.

I used a new method for the straps and belts: Insulation tape. I read something about on FB and thought of giving it a try.

It worked fine for me. Because it's self-adhesive it sticks to the figure quite easily and I only use some super-glue at the ends.

Next time I will use white tape.

In an old Airfix Magazine I found an interesting article about the Scottish uniform. Turned out to be a great help.

I wanted to make my Highlander" "fully loaded"wit backpack, canteen, haversack etc. All items from the spares-box.

After completing the figure I gave it an undercoat of grey primer. So I could check for things I overlooked.

Painting is a challenge! The checkered  bonnet and trousers, the kilt, the face

Painting is done entirely in acrylics and contrast paint

Highlander is ready now.

Painting was a challenge because of the red white pattern of the bonnet and the trousers. It’s not perfect but it’s okay for me

Jos Fontaine figures

  Recently I purchased a nice collection of metal figures.

They are made by Jos Fontaine and are figures of the Kingdom of Holland 1806-1810. These figures are beautifull sculpted using parts of models from Bruno Leibowitz/Atelier Maket.

This collection is not available in any shop . I got them from a legacy my modelclub could get hold of.

 

Huzaar motorrijder WW2

 In may 1940 the Dutch army had Hussars with motorbikes. Their task was reconnaissance.

Figure is from https://www.modelfiguren.nl

Painting is done in acrylics and Citadel contrast

May 1940 Dutch trench

 This little dio represents a part of a Dutch trench  in the middle of the so-called Grebbelinie. The maim line of defence of the Dutch army. In my home home town there is a true replica of  a trench. that was my reference for this dio.

Figures are from https://www.modelfiguren.nl

Painting is done in acrylics and Citadel contrast

Kingdom of Holland part 2

 Here I'll show pics of the other figures of this little diorama

This is a figure of the Dutch foundation for Modelfigures https://www.modelfiguren.nl

A Cuirassier 2nd Cuirassier regiment in their old uniform.

The sitting figure is a trumpeteer of the 2nd Cuirassier regiment

I used Historex parts. The legs are made from two different parts. Using Magic Sculpt and Liquid Green Stuff.

New dio Kingdom of Holland part 1

 

Recently I bought a lot of Historex spare parts from a fellow-modeller. Good for me, because I'm interested in two parts of Dutch military history: The Batavian republic ( 1795-1806) and the Kingdom of Holland( 1806 - 1810). I also bought a figure of a trooper of the Light Dragoons from the Batavian period of time.

Now, you can make several individual pieces of work, but this time I wanted to combine three soldiers of the same period of time together.

This is the idea:

A dragoon of the 1st regiment  of the heavy cavalry on horseback talking to a  cuirassier of the 2nd regiment. The sitting figure will be a trumpeter  of the 2nd regiment of cuirassiers.

On the picture a test setup to see how it will work out. At first I created the underground. In that way I could test fit the basic figures.

The base of the diorama

 

I use a suitable piece of plywood. terrain is made of self-hardening clay and polymer filler for walls. I sprinkle  ground catlitter into the wet surface.

After drying everything was painted in dark brown acrylics.

This is my collection of powder pastels

I covered parts of the underground with static grass and tuffs of grass fron scenery workshop

The wooden underground is covered with yellow masking tape. Only at the last stage of creating the dio I will remove the  tape and paint the plywood.

Stage two: making the dragoon and horse

The horse is made of Historex parts. I didn't have the downwards bent neck, so I did some plastic surgery. Gaps were filled with  Magic Sculpt.

It took quite a time to make the neck right. After sanding and using  Magic Sculpt again I used Green Stuff to remove the small gaps that were left behind.

I then added a sadle and blanket and all the stuff a horse used to carry.

After I was satisfied with the conversion I painted the horse  brown with Humbrol paint

Then I let it dry for 24 hours.

The horse was then painted in a very dark brown oil colour: Windsor and Newton sepia.

Most of the paint is removed then with a large brush, leaving a thin layer of oil paint over the lighter  Humbrol brown. That way you get the dark brown sheen of a life-like horse.

Be sure to wipe off almost all the brown paint. I repeated this process several times. Make sure the previous layer is entirely dry before you apply paint again.

Saddle and cloth are painted in Valejo acrylics. I use Citadel contrast paint to give depth to the base-colour .

The trooper is made of Historex parts and painted in Vallejo acrylics. Again finished with Citadel contrast paints