1/72 American Regiment (Dark Blue faced White) Airfix

After buying and old box of Airfix “Washington Army “,

 and making a small unit of German Jagers with some of them …

https://modellingawi.blogspot.com/2020/03/172-german-jagers.html

…I though; what to do with the rest of figures? I thought I have betrayed the Continental figures with a German units, so…I will do a real American unit.

So I began to do it. As I said, this Airfix figures are a little small, -because their legs are disproportionately small, the upper side of the figures are very correct and expressive. Although is a very drastic measure, I decided to cut their legs and replace them with Accurate(Revell-Imex) figures. With this new legs they result even high, because their body and head are in the big side of the 1/72 scale.

I painted them in blue coat with white facing, trouser and shirt in white too, so a lot of white, I could have used more variety for these clothes…

Trying, as I did in the Jagger unit, to add some variety in the unit and in the bases, I tried to do a little composition, with lower in both sides (with the prone and sitting positions, and higher to the center (with the standing and the officer on the horse), accentuated with a small elevation on the terrain.

The central base only contain three figures, I have tried to do and epic composition with the mounted official in an elevated position framed by the American flag, and the drummer advancing…

 The group of two men evacuating a casualty is my preferred; but I have set it looking backwards, logically, but this force them out of the spotlight…I thinking about turning them¡

Thank you very much for watching¡

I have still some more figures…I´m finishing other base with…? What do you think¡?

Antonio.

1/72 German Jagers

1/72 German Jägers

Hello again,


After making my history exams, I have recovered my hobby…

I bought in Ebay a box of Airfix “Washington Army”. 

I received a box from Chicago…my Christmas present¡¡¡ It was not expensive (13 Euros with shipments), but it maintain the price it had…in the seventies¡?…58 cents

I feel they are practically an antique; I´ll fill a little guilty cutting they away…but they are done for using them; don you think so?

Figures

It´s the first time I see them physically, They have a strange proportion, in comparison with the accurate figures; short, and with a big head, and bigger hat¡¡…but with the exception of their short legs they look great. They have the unique AWI prone poses in the market…

I have seen them in internet, as part of very interesting armies. But in my case, Making them directly from the box doesn´t convince me; they feel very different in proportion in comparison with the figures I´m using…

but I will feel more guilty transforming them¡¡¡

So…with prone poses, with small legs for using the standings  poses,… what can I do with them¡?

I thought in making a small unit of German Jagers; they are a scout unit, these kinds of poses may be appropriate for this unit…

 

I thought that using not standing poses, and adding the jacked boots they would conceal their short legs. For the standing firing pose, I have changed his legs for another ones from the Accurate figures. I have transformed the Officer, from an standing to a sitting pose. I have added an arm with a telescope to one of the prone poses and I have cut the bayonets as the rifles didn´t have them.

German Jägers

According to “An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms from 1775-83”, Jägers were the best light infantrymen. They were specialized in skirmishing, scouting and ambushes. They used hunting rifles without bayonets.

In the supplement “Rebellion” of the “Black Powder “ Ruleset, they act as small light infantry units.

Uniforms

There were Jägers from the four main German contingents; Hesse-Cassel, Anspach-Bayreuth, Brunswick and Hesse-Hanau; All of them wore in the same way; “The Jägers were uniformed in green, faced crimson and their  buttons were of yellow metal. They wore the cocked hat, usually with a green cut-feather plume on the left side over the cockade.


So I did three bases… in skirmishing, scouting and ambushing…










Painted Figures 

Composition

In the skirmishing base I have tried not to do a linear composition, so I have positioned them uning among the rocks,so not in a direct way, and in three different levels; from one prone position otherone in standing and the last one above the rocks…

What to do with the rest of the figures?

It has been worthwhile to use the Airfix figures?

I have to think what to do with the rest of figures; My doubt is if to left their original legs in the standing poses or to replace them as I have made with the standing firing pose…What do you think?

Thank you very much for watching¡

1/72 American Regiment (dark blue facing buff)

American side is growing¡

This time I have build and American unit wearing a dark blue uniform coat with buff as facing color. Apart from some militia units and According to the new regulations of 1979, this facing colour was established for units of the states of New York and New Jersey. I have added some men wearing some civilian clothes, something that seems usual in the scenes of the American units. I have used generics flag valid for non specific units.

I have used a heterogeneous variety of poses, trying to give dynamism to the scene.

In the pictures while the soldiers try to fight with ferocity, one of the fellows looks at the camera blatantly¡

I hope you like them¡

1/72 Making a Continental Army¡

1/72 Making a Continental Army¡

As I commented in the entry; https://modellingawi.blogspot.com/2019/04/making-regiment.html, The uniform of  English Regiments, broadly speaking, is not very difficult to understand; with its red coats, regimental colour and white for the rest of the clothes.

Uniforms;

But…what about the American Uniforms? In the reference books and in internet we can see a big variety of uniforms; these can be copied easily, and will add a very good variety of colours to our American Army, but; if we use very specific uniforms, we could use them  only in the specific battles that these recognizable units fought. Is it possible to create a core of units with more general uniforms usable for more o less every battle?

Apart from the some militia units dressed practically in civilian clothes, that I will see in other entry, from the two main book that I´m using, we can extract some ideas;

For the Period 1977-79;

·         In the Lorenz book I can read about the Continental infantry; “When dealing with the Continental infantry regiments and the uniforms, it should be noted that the most common uniform worn before the uniforms regulations of 1779 were issued was either dark blue coats faced red or brown coats faced red. Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and South Carolina were states that furnished their troops with uniforms of these basic colors”

For the Period 1979-81;

·         In the “Rebellions supplement” we can read “ In 1779-80 it was the hope of Congress And Washington that  more standardization could be brought to the appearance of the Continental army. The infantry were to wear a dark blue uniform coat with facing colours dependent on the  colony; White for New England; buff for New York and New Jersey; red or scarlet for the middle colonies, including Virginia; blue in the Carolinas and Georgia.



So, Regiments painted in dark blue uniform coat with a variety of facing colours (being the red the more used), plus brown coats faced red can constitute the core of our Continental Army.

Figures;

As I said with the Accurate Set 7200 British Infantry (we can find them as Revell Set 02560 or as IMEX  Set 512 British redcoats)is the core for building the standard units of regular army of both, -English and American – sides. The other main reference is Accurate Set 7201 American Militia (we can find them too as Revell Set 02561American Militia or as IMEX Set 511George Washington’s Army), some of their poses wear standard regulars uniforms, other ones are made for the militia units, but we can add some variety in the American Regular Regiments adding them same militia poses in more o less quantity (as we can see in many illustrations).

About the figures you can read this entry; 

https://modellingawi.blogspot.com/2019/04/making-regiment.HTML

 

 



















American regiment had more variety in their hats, rounded, those similar to light infantry caps…but they are very difficult to obtain in this scale. we can ad blankets rolls too…I will see what can we do…¡

So I have begun with one unit wearing dark blue coats faced red. Used in the period 1775-79 and being the official color for the middle colonies in the Period 1979-81.

https://modellingawi.blogspot.com/2019/07/172-british-regiment-blue-color.html

As you can see above, the poses in this units are inspired other similar unit I made for the English Army;

Thank you for watching¡

1/72 AWI British Commanders and Staff

Hello everyone;

British Commanders and Staff. 

This time, a little but indispensable for building an Army; the Commanders and Staff.

According to my “Bible”, “An illustrated Encyclopedia of uniforms 1775-83”, (Lorenz books), Generals and Staff officers, wore read coats, facing dark blue and abundant gold lace on lapels, and began to wear epaulettes; The adjutant general wore silver and buttons. As in some illustration, the turnbacks of the coat were not fasten, important observation for getting them…

In the 1/72 awi references we can get this poses in the reference of IMEX George Washington Army, as we know is the same reference than the Accurate-Revell one, but IMEX added two staff mounted figures  (one of them George Washington). But this was only some years ago, now they make this reference without them. In the IMEX British Army the question is the same.

Figures

So, for the mounted figures I have used the mounted ones that we can find in the  Hat reference 7YW Prussian Infantry Command (http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2094 ); not the period, but with some transformations, and as I have said before with the turnbacks not fasten you can use them. For the figures on foot I have used the usual Accurate-Revell References, some figures from the IMEX Artillery, even some of the Italeri reference “French Imperial General Staff”(http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=200 ), with transformations and changing many arms…  

Figures not from the period…

Conversions (some of them i´ll use for the Americans…)

 Different compositions…

Finished…

Thank you very much for watching¡¡