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I am a member of the Lone Star Historical Miniatures group
in Austin, Texas, and a call-for-painters was made on our Yahoo LSHMAustin Group
list.
Tom Primrose of Grenadier Books was looking for
painters to paint their
Limited Edition 28mm Seven Years War British Grenadier figure.
Several painters responded, and I was one of the lucky 3 painters to get a commission to
paint the figure
along with Dave Beeson of LSHM and Ioannis Mavromichalis of Wargames-etc.
The figure was sculpted by Tony Aldrich and casted by Historifigs.
As you can see, it is an interesting British grenadier red-coat with a large mitre cap reading a book.
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As this is my first Seven Years War figure and most of my painting is in the Dark Ages, I did
quite a bit of research before painting.
I eventually found nice reproduction reenactment gear at the The Seven Years War Website
including a good close view of the British Grenadier mitre cap.
It is simply amazing to me that there were regiments with such a beautiful and expensive
cap when today such a cap costs $400.
How the British army afforded so many caps, coats,
kit, rifles, shoes and leggings,
costing so many days wages, is nearly beyond my comprehension.
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Although I knew that there would be multiple painters for this project,
none of the painters knew what the others would do.
I was surprised that all the painters came up with the same basic
red for the coat and buff for the cuffs and cap.
For me, never having painted a red coat before, this was one of my worries - that
I would pick the wrong red for the coat.
Many 18th and 19th century gamers are very particular about getting the
details and the colors on the figure exactly correct.
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The book is an interesting feature for a military miniature. I imagine some sort of military manual for officers, and so I have painted it with text and a few diagrams. It seems that maneuver and firing of the 18th century, especially between the French and British armies, was much more doctrine and formula than the battles of this past century.
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During the Seven Years War, almost each British regiment had its own design of grenadier mitres with different devices, mottos, and colors; buff being only one of them...the same applied to facing colors in lapels and cuffs...I did not guess the design I used on my grenadier, I just picked another regimentThanks for writing and setting me straight!
Another area in which the 3 painters have diverged are the hair color and the figure bases.
I decided to paint a young officer with brown hair. The other painters
have painted an older officer with white powdered wig.
Additionally, the 3 bases are different. I have made a round base
on thin U.S. penny, while the others have chosen thicker square bases.
My painting is mildly shaded.
The painting of Ioannis Mavromichalis is heavily black-lined.
I am not saying one or the other is better, but the different styles
definitely show through here.
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In those days, bullets were not yet invented.
Soldiers used cartridges consisting of a paper cylinder
encasing a measured charge of black powder.
The soldier chewed open the paper and dumped
the powder into the muzzle.
Once the powder was dumped, a round ball was
inserted, and a ram rod packed the load to the back of
the barrel.
The gun was cocked, aimed, and fired,
firing the ball and releasing a big puff of white smoke.
A good soldier could fire two shots a minute.
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Thanks for reading the article.
I thoroughly enjoyed painting my Seven Years War British Grenadier figure,
and I hope you enjoyed reading the details of its construction and painting.
More miniatures-related articles are at
Dan Becker's Miniatures and Models site.
Thanks for stopping by and reading about my miniatures.