WIP Critique "Pinned Like Rats" - The defence of Rorke's Drift

Nap · Mar 25, 2014

Hi Richie ,

Blimey this is going to be stunning mate and what a great subject , packed so full of details , its is so full of action you can almost smell the sweat and fear of battle .

Brilliant stuff , a real pleasure to follow this WIP ...looking forward to seeing the colour appear ...it will be AWESOME for sure ..............

Is this destined for a museum ..perhaps the SWB in Brecon ?

Great modelling .more bannana's for the chimp

Nap

T-34/85 · Mar 26, 2014

Richie, this is coming along beautifully! It must weigh a few pounds by now too.
Tom

Grod · Mar 26, 2014

Great stuff mate.
Gordon

smudger1960 · Mar 31, 2014

Just catching up again mate, its all coming together beautifully now

Brian

mil-mart · Mar 31, 2014

Richie very impressive work mate , everything looks spot on.

Cheers Ken

Richie · Mar 31, 2014

Hi - Chris, Keith, Matthew, Colin, Ray, Nap, Tom, Gordon, Brian and Ken,
Thanks lads for the very nice comments, apologies for the late reply I have been trying to chip away at this. It's my plan to take this to the Sword & Lance and put it on our club table, so if you are going come and have a closer look. I still need to sort a few bits out on figures and undercoat the changes. I am not too happy with my last figure, the Natal Native Contingent firing, I have rushed the arms so I am going to redo this figure again.

I have more or less finished the wounded figure with the assegai in his back, just some clean up and an undercoat. I have sculpted the bald head and face of the wounded figure proping up the wall. I have also modified a couple of Martini's, these are for the two figures reaching out for ammunition. I have ground down the breech block and drilled a hole for the cartridge. I have also removed the cocking lever and put this in the down position, the new lever is only made from lead foil so might be a touch soft!!! I will have a look for something more suitable.

On the groundwork I have added a few bits of scrub, some mealies coming out of the bags, changed the textures in place and added some slight graduations, I have also put an initial coat on the wall, mealie bags and ground just to add a bit of colour. Apologies for the awful pictures, hopefully you can see the variations in ground colour and textures. I will take some better photo's when I have daylight. All this pins sticking up in the groundwork is so I know where the figures go.

I'm still undecided about the wall colour but I think about this later on.

cheers
Richie

Mat Lambert · Mar 31, 2014

Following progress - and it's looking great. Think this will be a classic when you're done. Like the mounted police figure and the variety of others you're getting in.
Cheers
Mat

tonydawe · Mar 31, 2014

Superb Richie. You can see the care and attention to detail in every aspect of this piece. A true labour of love mate. Well done and crack on.

Richie · Apr 1, 2014

Mat Lambert said:
Following progress - and it's looking great. Think this will be a classic when you're done. Like the mounted police figure and the variety of others you're getting in.
Cheers
Mat

Hi Mat,
Thanks, it was my intention from the outset to represent some of the other unit who fought at the Drift, just a pity I could not make it bigger to get a few more in. I have noticed I did not post what the N.M.P. was converted from, he was converted from the Napoleonic Chosen Man as I liked he basic pose.
cheers
Richie

tonydawe said:
Superb Richie. You can see the care and attention to detail in every aspect of this piece. A true labour of love mate. Well done and crack on.

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the support mate, it's certainly going to test my endurance, but I'm really enjoying this project. Hopefully the work rate will improve as the nights get lighter over here.
cheers
Richie

Blind Pew · Apr 1, 2014

This whole piece carries a good sense of urgency which is very fitting.
Top stuff mate.

Wings5797 · Apr 1, 2014

Hi Richie,
Great progress mate, you must be pleased with the way this is going.
I am and it's not my project

Keep at it Mate.
Keith

ChaosCossack · Apr 1, 2014

Looking great Richie...
Come on, let's see some colour! :playful:

Colin

prhayes68 · Apr 1, 2014

Richie,

Looking really good. Can't wait to see the figures with some paint on.

Pete

taff edwards · Apr 1, 2014

Hi mate this is coming along fantastic as mentioned wonderful sense of Detail subtle variations in colour , all the the figure contributors tell a personal story the sign of a well planned diorama this would when finished by an outstanding quality museum piece .
Cheers Chris

JonG · Apr 1, 2014

Really is a pleasure to see this all coming together.I don't have the vocabulary to express all the things I wanna say too be honest.
The work on the shields and the mealie bag texture are real stand outs for me.
My only real critque, maybe to break up the wall a bit, was to maybe add some ammo/biscuit boxes to it.
I did attempt to try this, but only got as far as buying the Verlinden 24th Sergeant and gave it up, I just never thought their was anyway of filling it out with enough Zulus.......how wrong was I.
Wish I had spent more then a lazy Sunday afternoon looking into it now

....the amount of those 28mm dudes I got is a joke.I do actually have enough Brits to model the entire garrison...
I am so happy to be seeing this all coming together, hat is off.
Jon

Richie · Apr 5, 2014

Hi Anthony, Keith, Colin, Colin, Pete & Chris,
Again apologies for the late reply lads and thank you for the continued support and your gracious words.

Hi Jon,
Welcome aboard mate

, I suppose the reason I did not add any biscuit boxes etc was pure laziness on my part, once I had my hands and fingers stuck up with DAS and PVA I just wanted to get the wall done.

Hi All,
I have made some more progress on the base, I have also added a splash of colour to the wound N.N.C. figure on the floor as I needed to do the groundwork between his legs. I have painted the wooden shutter and hinges, might go back and tinker with this a bit more. I've decided to spray each of the bricks brown as I am going to white wash the wall which is just started. The firing N.N.C. figure and the figure with the assegai in his back are finished!!!! and everyone is now undercoated. :facepalm:

I have pinned all the figures back in place as a test fit, there are still a couple to tinker with and alter bits but hopefully I'll have these done before next week.
cheers
Richie