smudger1960
PlanetFigure Supporter
I have just completed this latest work which depicts the Eagle Bearer of the 8th Wisconsin regiment at the siege of Vicksburg during the American Civil war, the bust is a truly brilliant sculpt by Carl Reid with excellent attention to detail, the whole piece except for the standard pole and cord is all cast in resin with very good fit of parts and minimal filling required.
I first saw this piece back in July and completely taken with it, I do love ACW subjects and this has to be probably IMO one of the best sculpts from that period and a unique one as well.
The box art was painted by Ernesto Reyes and is superbly painted, Ernesto did a truly brilliant job on the weathering and it really brings the piece to life, as some of the members here on PF know im a big fan of weathering my subjects as I do like to bring that battlefield feeling to the piece and this bust was no exception.
I wont prolong this post by going into the siege of Vicksburg but ill just give a few brief notes on the eagle itself, Old Abe as she was affectionately known was a female Bald Eagle who lived for 20yrs between 1861 and 1881,in that time she was wounded twice in two separate engagements and survived the war, a remarkable achievement for a bird of prey, she was originally kept by the McCann family but because of her growth they gave her to a militia company and became their mascot, this militia company later mustered into the 8th Wisconsin infantry, the bird was named after Abraham Lincoln, she saw action at Corinth, Vicksburg and the red river campaign, she was known by confederate soldiers as the Yankee crow, she was carried into battle alongside the regimental colours, her image later became adopted by the 101st Airborne Division for their shoulder patches, she died after being caught in a fire from smoke inhalation on march 26th 1881.
The bust was painted in acrylic colours and finished in oils with Andrea Gold paint set for the buttons and belt buckles, I also decided to paint the eagle in GW acrylic colours with washes of oil, the American bald eagle is primarily a dark feathered bird with white tail feathers and head so I wanted to keep the bird looking as dark as I could get away with.
The shield under the perch I researched and found different types of the period, some had 24 stars and others had 14 and 11,i also found out that some historical records have the shield as plain black,in Don Troiani's Civil War book the painting on page 77 doesn't show the shield at all, in the kit instructions it does say that the shield doesn't have to be included, it just depends on the painters preference, for me I think it adds something extra that why I decided to add it.
The kit is available from Stuart at Stormtroopers, item number PPST12 - www.stormtroopers.co.uk
Many thanks for taking the time to look,all coments and crtisism are welcome.
Happy Painting
Brian
View attachment 143809
View attachment 143818
View attachment 143822View attachment 143823View attachment 143824
I first saw this piece back in July and completely taken with it, I do love ACW subjects and this has to be probably IMO one of the best sculpts from that period and a unique one as well.
The box art was painted by Ernesto Reyes and is superbly painted, Ernesto did a truly brilliant job on the weathering and it really brings the piece to life, as some of the members here on PF know im a big fan of weathering my subjects as I do like to bring that battlefield feeling to the piece and this bust was no exception.
I wont prolong this post by going into the siege of Vicksburg but ill just give a few brief notes on the eagle itself, Old Abe as she was affectionately known was a female Bald Eagle who lived for 20yrs between 1861 and 1881,in that time she was wounded twice in two separate engagements and survived the war, a remarkable achievement for a bird of prey, she was originally kept by the McCann family but because of her growth they gave her to a militia company and became their mascot, this militia company later mustered into the 8th Wisconsin infantry, the bird was named after Abraham Lincoln, she saw action at Corinth, Vicksburg and the red river campaign, she was known by confederate soldiers as the Yankee crow, she was carried into battle alongside the regimental colours, her image later became adopted by the 101st Airborne Division for their shoulder patches, she died after being caught in a fire from smoke inhalation on march 26th 1881.
The bust was painted in acrylic colours and finished in oils with Andrea Gold paint set for the buttons and belt buckles, I also decided to paint the eagle in GW acrylic colours with washes of oil, the American bald eagle is primarily a dark feathered bird with white tail feathers and head so I wanted to keep the bird looking as dark as I could get away with.
The shield under the perch I researched and found different types of the period, some had 24 stars and others had 14 and 11,i also found out that some historical records have the shield as plain black,in Don Troiani's Civil War book the painting on page 77 doesn't show the shield at all, in the kit instructions it does say that the shield doesn't have to be included, it just depends on the painters preference, for me I think it adds something extra that why I decided to add it.
The kit is available from Stuart at Stormtroopers, item number PPST12 - www.stormtroopers.co.uk
Many thanks for taking the time to look,all coments and crtisism are welcome.
Happy Painting
Brian
View attachment 143809
View attachment 143818
View attachment 143822View attachment 143823View attachment 143824
