Modelling magazines'...front covers for inspiration...Military Modelling, Wargames Illustrated and Practical Wargamer...

Greetings all...

I for one am someone who thinks now and again...as often as you can...should say thank you...

Also we should regularly salute our pears - give thanks to those who have given us the space to find our passion in life and honour those who have both inspired us and given us the inspiration to step forward into our own sphere of discovery...oh how deep is that!

Anyway...one of mine - and I say one meaning an abundant of influences - has to be our hobby magazine front and back covers...

We thoroughly enjoy reading the articles - flicking through the pages and pages of pictures, sketches, line drawings...interpretations - dioramas etc etc...but the one spark that ignites our passion is that of the front cover...

It is especially true of those of use who enjoy the 19th century history...

It is even more stimulating simply because in the days of old...pre internet...magazine editors...cover specialists - did not allow or would not give over this scared of space to Colonial, Empire bashing - late 19th Century history...thus did not cover this genres...

However, when they did...it is with such impact that I have to say thank you and commemorated...and now in this sharing world...shared!

The images below are not all that have appeared over the years - just those that I happen to own...

Military Modelling

Wargames Illustrated...

Some of the wonderful inside page images of Sudan by the late Great Peter Guilder...

Military Illustrated...

A sneaky back page of Military Illustrated April/May 1988; Fred Burnaby 1885...to finish with...

More will follow...promise

Cheers

Duncan in Berlin...working in Dubai!

Colonial - Waterloo 1815 - mounted officers

Here's a thing...one man's minus is another man's plus...

We would like to have seen the officers on a separate sprue, allowing fewer of them to be in the set...agree with the note relating to the Gordon figure...

However, too many of one thing can be a feast...I do like Waterloo's Anglo-Egyptian Army...esp. with all its officers...here's a few I painted earlier...

Artillery major and battalion commander from the Highland Regt. Arms from German WW1 infantry here and the sword arm from the Egyptian officer here...

My major of the Indian brigade appeared in an earlier post here

I'm back on my travels again...but this time I will not neglect my mates around the world...greetings dear all...hope all is good with you and your families...

Cheers

Duncan

PS - have a look here at some more Officers...this time Egyptian...from Uwe's superb models...

Egyptian (Sudanese) Lancers

So we have here some of my personal favourite cavalry figures - those from Raventhorpe miniatures...their colonial 17th lancers; ZC 24 and ZC 25...with replacement German Askari heads also from Raventhorpe.

I particularly like the officer as he is wearing gauntlets...

The standard bearer and bugler have been animated using the spare arms provided by Hat's Zulu War Command sprue...and their British 17th Lancers.

The horses are a little larger than the plastic 1/72 but on their own they are OK.

Here they are riding in support of my 19th Hussars

They are to ride with my other Egyptian Lancers...see my original post here.

Tally ho chaps...Tally Ho!

2nd Shropshire Volunteer Rifle Corps...The King's Shropshire Light Infantry

In the early 1880's the The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (formed from the 53rd & the 85th Regiments of Foot) were involved in some of Victorian Britain's numerous overseas adventures;

1882 - Egypt, defence of Alexandria, capture of Kafr Dowar and Damietta, Malta

1885 - Suakin, Cyprus and Egypt

Some of their history can be found here and here

An interesting sketch from 1885...

The sketch above is titled NIGHT ALARM SUAKIN 1885...

Also the 85th lad's were involved in other Colonial affairs too;

1868-78 - On service in India.

1879-80 - Campaigning in the Second Afghan War

1881 - On the Natal frontier, South Africa

Some of their exploits can be seen here, too.

They must have looked something similar to these chaps...

Here they are the 85th in Peiwar Kotal, Afghanistan in 1879...

Therefore with the growing need of a little versatility, some imagination...and the requirement to train my eyes to follow both my paint brush and minds eye...my eager Victorian gents have been sent to the Sudan with the wrong kit...

The No.2 company has been issued with the 2nd Shropshire Volunteer Rifle Corps uniform instead of the Serge Grey...so someone's in hot water...the 'Colonel' will hear about this...

After a major recruitment campaign - the Volunteer Rifle Corps formed ready for home service...

Only to find themselves off fighting the Dervishes...

I took the idea from the images for the 2nd Shropshire Volunteer Rifle Corps 1896 from Military Modelling April 1989 edition...

And the Shropshire regimental museum...see the link here

...although the black lace and facings did not seem to do justice to the figures - so the company sent out to the Sudan have been issued with the 1881 trial (Dunc's Taylor's & Son's Co. to his highness the Duke of Berlin) uniform of white lace and facings...

Naturally they have been brigaded with the chaps from the KRRC...

The figures are from the lovely Qualiticast Miniatures - Zulu War range..now 'apparently' defunct!

However, Qualiticast Miniatures are listed here; if they would just answer an order request...would be nice!

Does anyone know if they are taking orders...or if they are also out of business...anyone speak Italian? Anyone...!!

The only question now is - back to work or back to the paint table...

Greetings from a sunny (snow covered) Berlin.

Next up - Sudanese Lancers...