Completed Southern Pride - H&V Miniatures - 75mm

[Ferris]

After lying more than 10 years in a drawer, primed and ready to go, I’ve finally started on this beautiful figure sculpted by Eduard Perez for H&V Miniatures in 75mm.
The face still needs work (eyebrows, hair, catchlight in eyes, tones….) but a start is made!

Question to members who know their ACW stuff: The box art says Infantry officer, with blue sleeves and cap. Could this also be painted as a cavalry officer, with cream branch colours? Or would that not be compatible with his uniform or equipment?
Any advice is highly appreciated!

Regards
Adrian

 

[Briggsy]

Lovely looking figure and acgreat start, the face does look war weary already. Not much I know about the ACW, apart from one side wore blue and the other grey, well mostly.

Cheers Simon

 

[MalcC]

Even at this stage the face is brilliant.

There are variation so the uniforms, in a grey or grey blue.

Hopefully this may help, I'll go through my library and see if I can find anything more for you.

Malc

 

[F Troop]

Hello Adrian,

You have a lot of options with this figure. You can do him as infantry with the blue facings, artillery with red facings or cavalry with yellow facings. The cavalry yellow tended to be a medium share; not a deep yellow. If you go with buff facings you would have a staff officer. The picture Malc posted is pretty close to the imported British "Army Cloth" but I think the blue on the facings is closer to the British Royal Blue usually found only on a few imported jackets.

These original trousers were made using imported French Light Blue cloth which is also IMHO a better choice for infantry facings. The original jacket which you can just make out is most likely imported British Army cloth and is quite dark.

Keep in mind that Black was quite frequently used for infantry facings and even specified by some states is the proper color. That gives you another accurate color scheme.

Trousers can be grey, French Light Blue or even dark blue and you would still be historically on safe ground.

You have a wide range of greys to chose from. The first picture below (a reproduction jacket) is a typical jean cloth mix of a medium shade but can range lighter or darker

The second picture is an original a jean brownish grey uniform. Again IMHO a very common color produced by local fabric mills and used both for government depot issued uniforms as well as private tailored uniforms.

Since this is an officer, I would avoid the tan "butternut" color.

With the overcoat you have a lot of freedom because locally made, privately purchased overcoats, depot issue, or re-dyed capture Federal overcoats. You can even go with black and a red lining.

 

[F Troop]

A few more pics. This is an original "Steel Grey" uniform

Better shot of original Richmond Depot "English Army Cloth" jacket

Another original French Light Blue trousers (also facing color)

And finally an excellent reproduction of a brown-grey jean with black infantry facings

Looking at pictures of this finished figure I'd say his overcoat is a privately purchased item. Doesn't look like any depot issue or captured Federal overcoat so I'd say go for what you like!

 

[Ferris]

Thank you for very useful information Malc and Rick!

Great to know I can take some liberties in choosing colours.
Currently tending toward the yellow/cream of cavalry, but the black Rick mentions sounds fascinating…

Cheers
Adrian

 

[Martin64]

Taken from " the Civil War Soldier" by Angus Konstam. Highly recommended.

 

[Ferris]

Thank you for that picture Martin. Very helpful to see these examples.
I wonder if the cavalry had a different kind of sabre. It looks different from the one in the kit, which has a solid/closed cover over the hand (not sure how this should be called).

Adrian

 

[Knill22]

 

[F Troop]

The kit sword should pass for either infantry or artillery but generally speaking cavalry swords had an open basket type guard. However Confederate swords ranged from very fine to very crude and makers ranging from jewelers to plow factories to local blacksmiths. Plus you had imported, family hand downs and militia swords, any of which an officer might choose. Confederate edged weapons were far less regulated or mass manufactured than Federal troops. You can modify the guard or paint as is and dare the critics to prove otherwise. The following photos have all been identified as original Confederate cavalry swords obviously in various condition.
You have a lot of options in how to finish the scabbard: leather, steel, brass and even copper fittings

(Glad you like the suggestion of black infantry facings....I think it looks good with the grey)

 

[F Troop]

Cavalry Yellow and original Federal shell jacket but same cavalry yellow for both Confederate & Union branch colors. Some flexibility in hue

 

[Ferris]

Thank you so much for that info!

Really liking the yellow option.
For the black option: Would all the yellow bits be black (except for the swirly lining)? So cuffs and collar?

 

[Steve Edwards]

Great stuff on ACW. I really enjoyed reading that.

Here's a link for a very interesting article on Confederate uniforms by Fred Adolphus:

http://adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/basics-of-confederate-uniforms.html

I laughed out loud when I read the section on the difficulty of obtaining a fast dye for grey cloth:

Chemist and dye specialist Ben Tart of North Carolina has estimated that it took no more than a month of exposure to outdoor sunlight to fade a domestically dyed steel or cadet gray garment to a tan color.

Reminded me of when I bought a grey winter coat some years ago. It was excellent quality wool and really well tailored but at a knock down price. I asked the guy in the shop what was the matter with it. He replied that it was faulty or something. I bought it and wore it happily.

About 3 months later I noticed that the entire front was fading to a tan/light purplish colour. And this was in the winter. I still wore that coat but feeling that it detracted from my usual sartorial splendour, I donated it to the dog. He curled up on it and thought it was fine.

 

[Ferris]

Really cool info, thanks!

Great stuff on ACW. I really enjoyed reading that.

Here's a link for a very interesting article on Confederate uniforms by Fred Adolphus:

http://adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/basics-of-confederate-uniforms.html

I laughed out loud when I read the section on the difficulty of obtaining a fast dye for grey cloth:



Reminded me of when I bought a grey winter coat some years ago. It was excellent quality wool and really well tailored but at a knock down price. I asked the guy in the shop what was the matter with it. He replied that it was faulty or something. I bought it and wore it happily.

About 3 months later I noticed that the entire front was fading to a tan/light purplish colour. And this was in the winter. I still wore that coat but felt that it detracted from my usual sartorial splendour so I donated it to the dog. He curled up on it and thought it was fine.

 

[F Troop]

Thank you so much for that info!

Really liking the yellow option.
For the black option: Would all the yellow bits be black (except for the swirly lining)? So cuffs and collar?

Yes. the collar and cuffs would be Black. The swirly bit (sometimes rereferred to as Chicken Guts) were gold lace. It's not unusual to also find a thin black edging around the bottom of the jacket and on the front of the closure as seen on frock coat #3 on the previous posting above by Martin64

 

[F Troop]

Great stuff on ACW. I really enjoyed reading that.

Here's a link for a very interesting article on Confederate uniforms by Fred Adolphus:

http://adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/basics-of-confederate-uniforms.html

I laughed out loud when I read the section on the difficulty of obtaining a fast dye for grey cloth:

Reminded me of when I bought a grey winter coat some years ago. It was excellent quality wool and really well tailored but at a knock down price. I asked the guy in the shop what was the matter with it. He replied that it was faulty or something. I bought it and wore it happily.

About 3 months later I noticed that the entire front was fading to a tan/light purplish colour. And this was in the winter. I still wore that coat but feeling that it detracted from my usual sartorial splendour, I donated it to the dog. He curled up on it and thought it was fine.

I agree with Steve. Fred Adolphus has done exhaustive research on Confederate uniforms and has written a large number of articles. I get on his website and download all of his articles.
Steve makes a good point.....permanent fabric dyes were an issue for both Union and Confederate uniforms. Logwood dye which was used for dark blue was notorious for turning rusting brown within a couple of months. A lot of surviving Confederate uniforms that are referred to as Butternut are actually originally grey and have faded. (There was a Butternut color however) Be that as it may, there are some examples of grey (and blue) uniforms that were properly dyed and their colors remain true.

 

[David Spencer]

He looks like Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, who took over at Shiloh after Albert Sydney Johnston was killed.
And didn't do much. Then, or subsequently.

Why their whole names have to be quoted mystifies me.
But it seems to be the convention.

 

[David Spencer]

Thank you so much for that info!

Really liking the yellow option.
For the black option: Would all the yellow bits be black (except for the swirly lining)? So cuffs and collar?

I'd say the rank insignia was black, and there was nothing more. I think the idea was to be less conspicuous.
(Probably been said already)

 

[Ferris]

Thanks again guys. Great info. For the figure painter all this variation and fading colour is a blessing…can hardly go wrong it seems!

made some progress on the head: tinkered with some of the highlights and shades, finished the eyes and did the hair. I opted for red hair. Nice contrast to the blueish coat.
Just noted I forgot the eyebrows…

Adrian

 

[housecarl]

Lovely work on an excellent figure.