Help with painting Chronos Litovski Adjutant

[Steve Edwards]

Please Help! Can any kind Russian Napoleonic fan help me out with painting instructions for the Chronos Adjutant of the Life Guard Litovski Regiment Russia 1812-14:

It's been in my stash for some time and I can't find the uniform details anywhere to paint it. I suppose I've got used to being spoon-fed painting details over the years and I accept that nowadays we can just use Search and find what we need in seconds. Until you can't find anything! I have searched and searched for this one and found everything other than what I need.

I'm OK with the generality; black hat, green coat, silver sash, black boots and white breeches. After all, he's Russian army. It's the detail that eludes me. What colour plume? Black, white, any orange? Coatee facings? Red, I guess, with guards lace. Gourget? Epaulettes and cords? As for the horse fixings. I'm guessing guard stars on green cloth edged with gold with a red light. But I don't want to be guessing. I would like to get it right and I'd be very grateful for any help.

 

[svt]

I'll write the details this evening. I just don’t have time right now, although there is very little information, but writing a text is very difficult for me.

 

[svt]

black hat,
green coat,
silver sash,
black boots
white breeches.

What colour plume? Black, white, any orange?
Coatee facings? Red, I guess, with guards lace.
Gourget?
Epaulettes and cords?
As for the horse fixings.
I'm guessing guard stars on green cloth edged with gold with a red light.

But I don't want to be guessing. I would like to get it right and I'd be very grateful for any help.

- Yes, the hat is made of black felt, stitched with black silk cord or braid. In the corners there are silver or gold tassels, depending on the regimental metal (the Life Guards of the Lithuanian Regiment, like almost all infantry, have gold). Sewn on the front is a round cockade made of black silk ribbon with an orange border. There was also a button in the front in the color of the regimental metal (here gold). The officers had a hat tabs of the same color made of braid, which was fastened to the above button (for the generals it was a twisted cord).
The plume was made from rooster feathers:
in the infantry, among the pioneers (gineer units) and in the foot artillery - black, with an admixture of white and orange feathers below (the Lithuanian Life Guards Regiment is infantry, respectively, the plume is the same, i.e. black with an admixture of white and orange );
in cavalry - white, with an admixture of black and orange feathers below.


- Not just green, but dark green, almost black, especially since this is an officer, also a guard (see samples of cloth for infantry and artillery uniforms in the photo).


- Yes, the officer’s sash was silver, but with three stripes sewn along it with black and orange silk threads. The tassels inside were also made of black and orange silk laces.


- black boots
- white breeches
- I wrote about the plume in detail above.
- I can’t translate what “Coatee facings” is. Maybe they mean the lapels of the uniform? They were red.
- The gorget, also known as the officer’s badge, for junior officers (your figurine is a junior officer, judging by the epaulettes without fringe) was silver. Depending on the rank of the officer, some parts were gilded: the ensign's gorget was completely silver, the second lieutenant had a gilded gorget edge, the lieutenants had a gilded eagle, the staff-captain had a gilded edge and eagle, the captain had the entire gorget field gilded, but the eagle and edge remained silver. Senior officers (majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels) had gold gorgets with other combinations of gold and silver, but they do not correspond to this figure, because this is a junior officer. In addition, the officers of two regiments of the Life Guards - Prebrazhensky and Semenovsky, wore gorgets of a slightly different type than the officers of other infantry regiments, but they have nothing to do with this figurine.

The photo above shows the gorget of a staff-captain of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky or Semenovsky regiments, below the gorget of a major of the line infantry or guards infantry (excluding the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments).

- Epaulets are completely gold on a red cloth lining (as in the photo).

The horse harness is all black leather with white metal. The saddle cloth is made of dark green cloth, trimmed around the perimeter with double gold braid with a red lining between the strips of braid. Eight-pointed St. Andrew's stars are silver.


This is what the officer's uniform of the Lithuanian Life Guards Regiment looked like from 1814 (it differed from the 1811 uniform only in the cut of the collar and its clasp).


There will probably be more questions, so feel free to ask.

 

[Steve Edwards]

Thank you sir. That is way more than I was expecting. And with pictures, too.

Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Many, many thanks.

Steve Edwards

 

[Nap]

Hi Steve

The response from svt is excellent so thanks to him for that , very useful details for everyone

Look forward to seeing the Figure progress

Have fun

Nap

 

[Steve Edwards]

That dark green really is dark, as Svt says, almost black.

Now I'm stuffed, I specially mixed a shade of dark green, which I hopefully called "Imperial Russian Green". I mixed a big batch because I have a few Chronos models to do. I carefully colour matched my green to screen shots of the 2019 Russian film "Union of Salvation". The mixture is mainly AK Interactive Extra Dark Green and Kimiera Phthalo Green. My mixing is not very scientific and more of a "bit of this, bit of that" approach. Here's a screen shot from the film:

That's my green. Dark but not dark enough. I think I'll stick with it, but....

I'm shaking my head and trying to convince myself that the museum uniforms have darkened and oxidised over time. Yeah, right.

If you're a Russian Napoleonics fan, don't miss "Union of Salvation", it's a riot of uniform and miitary detail. I've never seen a theatrical release in the English-speaking world but it's available on YouTube, with subtitles. The film (movie) is all about the Decembrist revolt in 1825, the climax being the events in Senate Square, St Petersburg. It was actually freezing cold when they filmed it so the red noses and rosy cheeks are all natural. The actors wore thermal underwear.

 

[Viking Bob]

That dark green really is dark, as Svt says, almost black.

Now I'm stuffed, I specially mixed a shade of dark green, which I hopefully called "Imperial Russian Green". I mixed a big batch because I have a few Chronos models to do. I carefully colour matched my green to screen shots of the 2019 Russian film "Union of Salvation". The mixture is mainly AK Interactive Extra Dark Green and Kimiera Phthalo Green. My mixing is not very scientific and more of a "bit of this, bit of that" approach. Here's a screen shot from the film:

View attachment 478296

That's my green. Dark but not dark enough. I think I'll stick with it, but....

I'm shaking my head and trying to convince myself that the museum uniforms have darkened and oxidised over time. Yeah, right.

If you're a Russian Napoleonics fan, don't miss "Union of Salvation", it's a riot of uniform and miitary detail. I've never seen a theatrical release in the English-speaking world but it's available on YouTube, with subtitles. The film (movie) is all about the Decembrist revolt in 1825, the climax being the events in Senate Square, St Petersburg. It was actually freezing cold when they filmed it so the red noses and rosy cheeks are all natural. The actors wore thermal underwear.

Yes I have watched a piece from the film but want to watch more.. it's a good film for uniform buffs