Next Brit Conversion... Sneak Peek!

Here's a sneak peek at what's up next for the Brits.... once the conversion is finished that is!

As you can see it's going to be a Screw Gun on it's travelling canopy for the Royal Artillery. I'm thinking of adding an officer leading the force on a camel but i'm a little worried about the base size of the unit being very large as it is. Time will tell.

Darrell.

Corp Camel Artillery Train Conversion Part One

Not exactly a great leap forward but after consulting someone 'in the know' about matters concerning Uniform I have learned that the Artillery would have been in- direct quote verbatim from the Perry site:

"16. Royal Artillery
This is their probable uniform at El Teb. A Forester’s drawing of the battle of Ginniss depicts them in what looks to be a mix of home service dark blue trousers and either dark blue or khaki frocks. Puttees are either dark blue or khaki."

So. I've decided upon using the existing Camel Corp packs for the sake of simplicity and the following mini's:

Whilst it does mean cleaning up another couple of camels and four figures it is certainly easier than filing away at the Empress Royal Artillery mini's that I had started to think of using and will save on putty time too so I can put aside the hour a day I do for putty use for one or two days! Hurrah! I'm trying to do a little putty work converting mini's for an hour a day with a view of building up to doing full sculpts. I realise that this may be a long way off but if you don't start somewhere, where will you start?

Well, that's the components of the vignette sorted out so the next time you see these mini's 

(assuming I don't have a drastic change of heart about the mini's accompanying the gun) they will be painted up and based.

Bye for now. 

Looking for 'in scale'Ammunition boxes for Sudan Royal Artillery Camel Train- any idea?

Hi folks,

Just a quickie as I'm pressed for time.  I've got Sick of it All in Newcastle as part of my Birthday do from last week tonight (NYC Hardcore Band- we toured with them in the early 90's). Have to prepare for that- cut hair, pretend balding pate is not there- pretend I'm fitter :>)

OK, I'm looking for some ammunition boxes that I can attach to the sides of the camels, something like the pictures below:

If anyone can think of a source then I 2ould be a very happy man as it will save me having to sculpt them. (I only have my metal sculpting tools at present and a lot of my modelling gear is in my ex girlfriend's garage!).

Here's another pic of what I've got thus far. Mini's are from Perry Miniatures British Camel Corps Command and British Camel Corps,rifles on hips the gun is an excellent resin casting from North Star form their North Star Arsenal which has some great stuff including a Maxim Gun that will be seeing service a later battle that I plan to put on. It is of course Omdurman. but enough of that for now. Let's stick to the Second Battle of El Teb for now!

Also, if anyone has any ideas about what miniatures I could use as troopers, either mounted or dismounted for the vignette then please do speak up as I'm a bit stumped on that one, the only pack thus far is the Perry Miniatures Naval Brigade Command pack below:

There are a couple of miniatures that could be feasibly used but the uniforms are obviously well out. What I really need is some British Royal Artillery chaps walking along with the camels.... again, i don't mind converting (I actually like it!).

Cheers for now.

Conversions- Mounted Kings Royal Rifle Corp and RN Camel Screw Gun Train

I've had a pretty busy day today so I'm pleased with the work that I've got done tonight. Basically I've cleaned up the Perry Mounted Camel Corp troopers which will be used as the Mounted versions of the Kings Royal Rifle Corp for the Second Battle of El Teb. They will be accompanying the 19th and 10th Hussars as part of Rear Admiral Sir William Hewett's Cavalry Brigade in support of the Infantry Square.

I've started with the cavalry for one simple reason, although I love painting horses, they do take up quite a lot of time and as the Cavalry Brigade had been re-mounted on Egyptian Ponies (they suffered the rigours of the Sudan much better than the original British horses). I'm guessing that there wasn't much leeway for finding mounts of a similar colour so the horses will all have to be painted in different colours which adds to the time it will take to paint them up.

I've got to put in an order for the rest of the Cavalry Brigade which I'll be doing very soon. That of course leaves the infantry, rather a lot of them at that (taken from Warlord Games, Blood on the Nile supplement for Black Powder):

1st Infantry Brigade:
Commander: Brigadier General Sir Redvers Buller
3rd Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corp- 16 mini's.
1st Battalion The Gordon Highlanders- 20 mini's
2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers-16 mini's

2nd Infantry Brigade:
Commander: Major-General J. Davis
Royal Marines- 16 mini's
1st Battalion The Black Watch- 20 mini's
1st Battalion The York and Lancaster Regiment
Gatling Gun (RN Crew)

So, back to what I was saying, for me it will be easier to get the cavalry/mounted infantry done and dusted first then move on to the infantry who do not require Egyptian Mounts!!  I'll be adding some KRRC on foot in the event they see fit to dismount- that will be in my next order to Perry Miniatures

In the pic below you can see the mini's prepped ready for some putty action tomorrow:

As well as the KRRC I've been working on a vignette style 'unit' which will depict a Royal Artillery camel train carrying a 7pdr Screw Gun. Again, I've collected the component parts including a really beautiful resin 7pdr Mountain Gun from North Star (I'll be ordering a few more too as they will be more than useful on the NWF!!), the camels and I'm still deciding whether or not to try to convert some of the royal Perry Miniatures Navy Command pack into troopers assigned to the Camel Train or to go with Mounted Models. Time to sleep on that one methinks.

Cheers for now.