WIP C. Reid Fusilier bust color question

[Mongo Mel]

Hi all,
It's been a good while since I've posted anything here.
Hope you'll forgive me for my first post back is to ask for help

I've been working on the Carl Reid Fusilier bust from Model Cellar.
Wow..what an excellent piece. Hat's off to Mr. Reid and to Paul for the casting too.

My question concerns the ammunition pouches and belt. Every version I've seen painted (along with the box art) shows these items as leather. And the way they're sculpted, leather seems exactly right.
Problem is that everything I've found on line for this shows them as being cloth. Sort of a greenish khaki color.
Can anyone out there help me out with this? Were these items also made out of leather? Or is the khaki color the way to go here?

Anyway...here are some in progress shots.
The cloth was the second attempt to get a color that I thought looked okay. Used up a lot of oil paint but that's a big part of the fun of oils, isn't it? Still needs to get the secondary wet-on-dry highlights.
And the color around the face and hands was just an acrylic to give me some contrast to the skintone.
Also, you can see that I've opted not to use the kit supplied pedestal and that I've filled in the texture on the back of the piece. I thought the kit looked pretty cool as is but I just felt like doing this to mine.
Any suggestions or constructive criticism is as always appreciated too
Thanks,
Craig

 

[blabsy]

Hi Craig,
nice work so far.
not sureif this will help but this is 1908 pattern webbing.
Best Regards
Paul

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the picture. Pretty much matches what I found on line.
Craig

 

[Nap]

Personal Equipt

Hi Craig ,
This is indeed a great bust , like the uniform colour you are doing very nice , and also the fact that you have filled in the back , great sculpting by Carl but maybe its just me none too keen in that bit personally,but it makea a CR sculpt easily reconised .

On to the "webbing , amongst my many references I have The British Soldier in the 20th Century Vol 7 (Personal Equipt 1903-1937 by Mike Chappell . Which obviously shows all types in use ...the pouches that are sculpted on the bust are the 1914 pattern Leather set as shown in page 16 , these are larger and totally different than the 1908 set you are looking at so if you want to do the 1908 set then a bit of rework would be IMHO needed .

I like the idea of the 1908 (canvas) set as its something I have not seen done.

Look forward to additional posts on the WIP .

Nap

 

[Harry]

The "S" belt buckle means that it's the leather P14 set too.

 

[billyturnip]

Nice work so far Craig.

Everything you need to know... and more, can be found here;

http://www.karkeeweb.com/1914main.html

Roger.

 

[Meehan34]

I too like how you filled in the back, that detail is the single reason I have never painted one of his busts. i just can't seem to get over that detail but i also never thought of filling it in. I may now be freed up to paint one. BTW, the rest of your painting is coming along swimmingly.

 

[John Bowery]

Craig,
Coming along nicely.
Cheers
John

 

[red tom]

I would venture to suggest that this figure is wearing leather equipment because he is a member of a Territorial (a part time) battalion.
Tom

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the help with my question.

Nap, Changing the pouches would be an interesting conversion but something way beyond my skills
And you're right, the texturing to the back does make Carl's work instantly recognizable. If I had used the kit pedestal, then I wouldn't have filled it in. The biggest reason I didn't use it was that I didn't have a suitable base that would work with the piece without it becoming way too tall.
When I decided not to use the pedestal, filling in the back just seemed to be the thing to do.

And Roger, a special thanks to you for that link. Great site! Very helpful.
Craig

 

[Nap]

Fusilier bust

Hi Guys ,
Well this is what PF is all about , great

Roger thanks for the link ..just printed off everything , its a great site full of information .

Craig ,
The thing that I would suggest is to rework the stripes as they should be straight edged and not angles , agin after extensive referencing I can't find anything with the stripes at this angle on the edges .


Looking forward to this WIP and completed piece .

Nap

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi Kevin,
I think I see what you're talking about with the stripes.
In one of the other threads about this piece, some guys were talking about painting the stiching to the stripes and the picture below was posted.

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37136&highlight=trenches&page=2

But I'm too far along try changing the stripes now. I'm still just tryng to get things done again
Thanks,
Craig

 

[Ventress]

I would venture to suggest that this figure is wearing leather equipment because he is a member of a Territorial (a part time) battalion.
Tom

Out of intrest, what singles the figure out as a Territorial?

 

[billyturnip]

Nothing. I would hazard that territorials would have P.08 webbing. The 1914 leather equipment would more likely be worn by the Service battalions of Kitcheners New Army. I might be wrong but isn't he wearing regular army Royal Fusiliers shoulder titles and the RF didn't have any territorial bns. although some units of the London regt. were affiliated to it.

An explanation can be found here,
http://www.karkeeweb.com/patterns/1914/1914_introduction.html

Roger.

 

[housecarl]

The Fusiliers formed the first of what is thought to be a northern phenomenon, the "Pal's battalions". Theirs being the Stockbrokers.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pals_battalion
Due to the mass recruitment, modern equipment and uniforms were in short supply. As Roger says, Kitchener's new army would be still wearing 1914 pattern equipment.
Carl.

 

[billyturnip]

Just out of interest the Royal Fusiliers raised 47 battalions during the Great War. Although I can see what Tom was getting at there's no way you could tell a mans battalion, Regular, Territorial or New Army, from the type of equipment he's wearing.

Lol, I mentioned rivet counters to Mark (Gothic Geek) the other day and listen to me

Roger.

 

[megroot]

Gary,
I painted that bust, and I did the strips as showed. The bust must have that. It looks better with the painted stripes.
Be aware that there is one row that the stitches are an other direction.
This is my version: