WIP 42nd Highland Infantry Regiment "Black Watch" at the Battle of Quatre Bras, June 1815

[Steve Ski]

Class Photos

Here we have the entire crew, all eleven faces done minus a few touch-ups. It took a bit longer than expected, but now it’s time to review each face in detail. For the most part, I think they came out acceptable enough to continue on to the next stage.

Baby Face Drummer Boy is done for now. His left eye looks like someone socked him a good one, but that will be feathered out. These photos really bring out the errors in blaring color, lol. After a few attempts with dismal results, I decided to just let er rip and paint his face like all the rest. Without prominent features like the others, I improvised to give the face just a little more character. I tried not to overdo it, but I think he’ll do just fine.

Looking closer at the eyes I see there needs to be more definition at the lower eye lid areas, they’re too washed out and not defined worth a hoot. When the oils are completely dry, I’ll go back with a very thin line and correct that and maybe whiten them a bit as well.

After this face dries for a few days, I’ll go back and check each face for needed corrections. Feathering, or filtering, with oils is not too difficult and helps correct most areas of concern. Just make sure you don’t get carried away with too much thinner. The layer you are trying to adjust may become too thin and actually rub off. It’s a delicate operation and I have had issues in the past.

The hat checkered section is up next. Now that is gonna to be a hoot. This will really test my “straight line” abilities. We’ll see soon enough. Thanks for watching.


Cheers, Ski.

 

[1969]

They look great in the line up.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Warren SMITH]

You are a perfectionist Steve, picking faults from blown up photographs.. You should be well proud... We are all awestruck...

 

[Nap]

You are a perfectionist Steve, picking faults from blown up photographs.. You should be well proud... We are all awestruck...

Totally agree there

Great to see the guys all together

Great project and of course I'm following with appreciation

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Stevo.

Thanks, Warren. We are our own worst critics, as they say, always room for improvement.

Thanks, Kevin.

 

[Steve Ski]

Battle of the Tartans

I'm still working it, but right now I'm fighting the good fight. I've had to repaint once and will redo it again, the shoulder kilt, that is. This is proving to be tougher than the Denison Smock pattern, lol, who'd a thunk it? At any rate, I'll post em when I got em.

Cheers, Ski.

 

[Peter Day]

A lovely set of faces Steve. Good luck with the tartan!

 

[Henk]

You are nitpicking the lower eyelids, on a 54mm figure?? Show off...

Seriously, judging our figures off of blown up digital images is the road to madness.. I'm looking forward to your battle with the Tartan

Outstanding work Steve, keep at it.

 

[Steve Ski]

Thanks, Peter and Henk.

I think I finally beat the bugger, pics coming, we'll see soon enough.

 

[Steve Brodie]

brilliant faces for small figures

 

[Steve Ski]

brilliant faces for small figures

Thanks, Steve!

 

[Steve Ski]

Battle of the Tartans

After working the tartan pattern for a few days, yes, a few days, I have finally arrived at a pattern and color scheme that will work. Like you all know, I am “NOT” an acrylic fan other than undercoating, so this was more than just a real hoot. Several attempts at filters came to abysmal failure, so back to the drawing board. This is the fourth attempt, so it stays! Of course, I will work in the lines that crisscross the pattern, but they won’t be accurate, the 0000 brushes and thinned acrylic are not cooperating enough to take on that fight. Whatever I do here has to be repeated for all the tartans/kilts that are in this bunch.

The portion of the tartan that is posted on the right is much closer to the actual pattern required, but I prefer the pattern painted on the Officer.

More to follow and thanks for watching. Cheers, Ski.

 

[1969]

Looking good Ski, nice work on that Tartan pattern and looks like you nailed the hat band pattern.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Old Pete]

Sory to nitpick but the centre dice on the bonnet should be blue not green as the 42nd are a the Royal Highland Regiment

 

[Nap]

Sory to nitpick but the centre dice on the bonnet should be blue not green as the 42nd are a the Royal Highland Regiment

Perhaps Steve has seen this box art from Pegaso ( unsure of artist )

Tartan look good ...will you put a wash over Steve ?

Thanks for sharing

Happy tartanning

Nap

 

[Steve Ski]

Looking good Ski, nice work on that Tartan pattern and looks like you nailed the hat band pattern. Cheers Steve

Thanks, Stevo. Forth times a winner, cause that was a frustrating day, for sure.

Sory to nitpick but the centre dice on the bonnet should be blue not green as the 42nd are a the Royal Highland Regiment

Thank you, Old Pete. Some of the ref pics were not easy to discern, but it's always good to have clarification. Most of the pics show green, like the painting Nap posted earlier, but his latest post shows blue. I just found out the sash along his hip is actually a red tone, not tartan pattern, woof! I will continue on with this figure till the end, so I'm scouring pics right now to make sure colors are correct. I will run with the blue squares/dice as you suggested, more color contrast anyway, imho. Thanks again, Old Pete, I greatly appreciate the correction. I

Thanks for the additional ref pics, Kevin. I toldj yall I was out of my element, HA! Just wait till I have to do Drummer Boy's sleeves, ......................won't that be a hoot, lol. So far it looks like I will be on this through the summer, so I will be digging into this much, much more deeply.

Thank you, Gentlemen.

 

[arj]

Very nice work on these figures Steve.

Since I know nothing about the highland bonnets, I decided to check out C.E. Franklin's 'British Napoleonic Uniforms'.
This is a scan of his Highland bonnets (No. 7 shows the dicing for an officer of the 42nd.).

Cheers,
Andrew

08 May - Looks like C.E. Franklin has been proven incorrect ... see post #140 by 'jakbwrhr'.

 

[Old Pete]

I am Sorry but this scan may be from a book on Napoleonic uniforms but it is wrong ALL Royal regiments have red white and blue dice and all others have red white and green except the 93rd which has only red and white when the 79th became the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders their dice was changed to red white and blue
George

 

[arj]

Hi George,
I did a check on the 42nd, and found that the title 'Royal' did not appear until 1881.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/42nd_Regiment_of_Foot
Could this be a reason for the dicing being green at Waterloo?
Just a thought.

Cheers,
Andrew

08 May - Errata
I failed to read the whole article.
The intro paragraph in the Wiki article contradicts a statement further down, which states:

'During the French and Indian War, at the first battle of Ticonderoga, also known as the Battle of Carillon, the regiment lost over half of its men in the assault in July 1758.[19][20] At that time they were already officially recognized as a Royal regiment.'

 

[jakbwrhr]

Please... don't rely on Wikipedia when you have the regimental site as reference: https://theblackwatch.co.uk/history/

For the record - Following the Battle of Ticonderoga in 1758 where during the attack on the fort of that name saw more than half the men became casualties, the Regiment had been allocated the numerical slot “42nd” in seniority, a number which it was to render illustrious all over the world. In recognition of its worth it was now granted the title “Royal” and was allowed to raise a Second Battalion. In 1786 this battalion became a separate regiment in its own right, the 73rd, and was much in action in India and Ceylon, playing a prominent part in the capture of Mysore and Seringapatam.

As has been indicated above - a lot of the references regarding the bonnet dicing are wrong - it should be royal blue as with the collars and cuffs. The piper would not have worn the Stuart tartan either in 1815 - this did not come in to fashion until later that century.

As a former member of the regiment I would be delighted to help out with reference material or to answer any questions you may have.