Wheat’s Tiger, 1st Special Battalion, Louisiana Volunteers, Battle of First Manassas, 1861

[Ran]

Hello everyone,

I like to share some pictures of my 1/6th scale scratchbuilt, modified and kitbashed Louisiana Tiger of the American Civil War.

The headsculpt was totally repainted and whigged with mohair and attached to the body with a sculpted neck of apoxie sculpt.

The red fez was scratchbuilt by dampening felt and stretching it over a form. While being laid out to dry, modge podge was evenly applied to the surface to slightly stiffen the fabric.

The first version of the fez was made by my friend, Juma Moss.

I was greatly enticed to create a similar fez with tassel which you can see in the closeup picture.

The blue stripes were hand painted (twice) onto zouave pantaloons by BattleGear Toys (BGT).

All uniforms and accoutrements are by BGT and were heavily weathered.

The Louisiana State pelikan buckle was built from scratch with apoxie sculpt and acrylic painted.

The scratchbuilt D-guard Bowie knife was built from the plastic of an expired credit card, with balsa wood hand grips, again all were acrylic painted and weathered. The leather sheath was scratchbuilt.

Many thanks for viewing.

Ran

 

[Chrisr]

Very well done indeed.
Chris

 

[MoboSchreuder]

Excellent done

Mobo

 

[Power Elephant]

Very lifelike.

 

[Ran]

Many thanks, gentlemen. Much appreciated as always.

The most famous Confederate Zouave unit was the Louisiana Tigers which existed within Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat’s 1st Special Battalion, Louisiana Volunteers. They were reputed to have developed into fierce and fearless shock troops.
They were known as cannon killers, performing the extremely dangerous function of knocking off enemy cannon batteries to create a window for the rest of their force to come closer without engaging much with artillery. They were at the battle of First Manassas, the 1862 valley campaign, and the Seven Days Battles which included the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, the Northern Virginia Campaign and the subsequent Maryland Campaign. During these events, their force was heavily depleted, as they suffered severe casualties.

One of the most infamous battalions to fight were known as “Wheat’s Tigers.” The battalion was established when Chatham Roberdeau Wheat returned from serving with the Red Shirts in Italy, seeking to raise a battalion to support the Confederates during the Civil War. The company soon grew in both reputation and size.

Wheat, a native of Virginia, originally focused on developing a full regiment in New Orleans. The company was called “Old Dominion Guards,” a homage to Virginia’s secession from the Union. Wheat originally recruited 50 men, and his notable successes and experience of fighting in Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Italy attracted four other assembling companies to join Wheat’s outfit.
Unlike Wheat’s original 50 volunteers, the men of the assembled companies were considered scoundrels and lowlifes – many worked as ship hands, dockworkers, and laborers, and were described as “the lowest scum of the lower Mississippi…adventurous wharf rats, thieves, outcasts…and bad characters generally.”

The company included many Irish immigrants who did jobs considered too dangerous or risky for slaves (who were considered more valuable and costly to replace). If an Irishman got severely injured or killed, there would be no cost upon the employer, but if a slave became disabled or died, the cost to replace them would be several hundred dollars.

The Louisiana Tiger’s proved to be one of the toughest, most dedicated battalions in the Civil War and were the only Confederate soldiers to break through the Union line at Gettysburg. The group fought in every major battle in Virginia throughout the Civil War and suffered high casualties. At the end of the Civil War, only 373 Tigers were left on active duty

 

[Edorta]

Extraordinary work, the face looks real, very fine detail all over, I love it.

Military miniatures painted by Eduardo Garcia

 

[Ran]

Thank you, Eduardo!

Ran

 

[Blind Pew]

Ran this is excellent. The highest compliment I can pay is that I thought the first picture was of a re-enactor. Superb stuff, nice detail on the belt buckle too.

 

[Nap]

Ran this is excellent. The highest compliment I can pay is that I thought the first picture was of a re-enactor. Superb stuff, nice detail on the belt buckle too.

I too thought the same BP

Great to see figures like this , love the use of a credit card

Great weathering and very natural facial tones

Nap

 

[Ran]

Many thanks, gentlemen. Your comments mean a lot to me. Take care, stay safe and healthy!

Ran

 

[Dimonikus]

Excellent job!

 

[Steve Ski]

You'd be hard pressed not to say this was a real individual standing there, impressive to say the least. Awesome work Ran!


Cheers, Ski.

 

[blaster]

!!

 

[Ran]

Many thanks for the compliments, gentlemen. They mean a lot to me.

 

[ModelCellar]

Ran,

WOW ! Absolutely AMAZING !! As others have said: It looks so real. I thought it was an actual person or reenactor too.

Paul

 

[Nap]

Many thanks for the compliments, gentlemen. They mean a lot to me.

As you can see from the comments we all appreciate seeing your work do continue sharing


Nap

 

[santi fernandez]

Art!!!!

 

[Zim]

Amazing work very well done.

 

[Len K.]

How did I miss this. The face and beard are so life like. Really cool!

 

[KenBoyle]

I agree with Len, how did I miss this? Simply amazing work, especially in this scale.

Well done Ran.

Cheers,
Ken