Greenstuffing the Swedish guard and grenadiers

[Pancratist]

Ok, so as I hinted in my previous post on the uniforms of Swedish guards c. 1808, I have begun trying to model figures through kitbashing and greenstuffing some Perry figures. For the guard (Livgardet), I have used the plastic Spanish infantry as a base and added a waist belt in greenstuff and the head from the metal Värmland jägers (also Perry). the hats required some adjustment to the left hand side where there was a different arrangement of the company pompom and a brass cordon. This is partly obscured by the musket in the marching pose, so no need to be perfectionist in modelling that part :-) The Spanish figures also have different cuff flaps, so I cut away those and will paint on the appropriate buttons and button decoration lace.

The grenadiers (Livgrenadjärregementet) have the same uniform as the regular infantry. Therefore it was easy to base them on the Perry Swedish marching infantry figures. The detail that needed work on them was the hat, which has a large plume across the top of the hat, and small flame symbol on the front. This was pretty easy to do with greenstuff, after the fitting of the brass cordon on the left hand side of the hat had been removed (exactly the part that I had to add to the guard figure... :-)).

The proof will as always be in the pudding, i e it is only when these are painted that the success rate can be assessed...

[Calvin59]

Well done on these changes, judging by the photos it looks like it was a success. But as you say, we'll have to see when it's painted. 

[BeneathALeadMountain]

They’re looking really good. Nearly all my sculpting is 28mm fantasy or sci-fi with the only recognisable historical bits being WW2 (but in 15mm, which aren’t particularly difficult). I doff my hat to you for even attempting such things on large scale Napoleonics - how many do you need to do?

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[Pancratist]

Yes, it is quite insane to attempt this. I need to do at least two battalions of the grenadiers and three (smallish) battalions of the guard. Normal size units would be 24, so its at least 100 figures total :-)

[traveller]

They look really good! Much better than the ones available from Eagle:



You should offer these conversions to Perry, I would certainly buy them 

[Pancratist]

So this is what the first couple of grenadiers look with a quick paint job. I am not really sure about the uniform colors. Are they supposed to have red-and-white stripes and pattern on the trousers, or are they supposed to be just white? In a later version of the uniform, the stripes are clearly red-and-white. But with this one (1806 uniform) its not clear from the images that I have. Anyway, if that needs to be changed, it should be easy to do. I could perhaps do better on the regional emblem on the brass hat band, which is just a red blob at the moment. But for these rank and file troops this might be good enough.

[traveller]

The grenadiers are a really confusing topic. I made an attempt to describe it a while back. As I understand it, white trousers were used on parade or in hot weather, otherwise blue trousers:

Livregementets Grenadjärkår (Life Regiment Grenadier Corps) – Regiment no 61
The Livregementet till häst (Horse Life Regiment) which could trace its beginnings back to the 16th century and fought valiantly during many wars, especially during the Great Northern War, was in 1791 divided into three units, each of a battalion of 500 men. These formed the Life-Regiment Brigade and consisted of:
•   Livregementsbrigadens Kyrassiärkår (The Cuirassier Corps of the Life Regiment Brigade)
•   Livregementsbrigadens Lätta Dragonkår (The Light Dragoon Corps of the Life Regiment Brigade)
•   Livregementsbrigadens Lätta Infanteribataljon (The Light Infantry battalion of the Life Regiment Brigade)
Livregementsbrigadens Lätta Infanteribataljon was renamed Livregementets Grenadjärkår in 1808 and participated in the campaign in Norway 1808-1809 but it was not until the campaign in Germany 1813-1814 that the battalion saw some action, participating in the storming of the Grimma gate in Leipzig October 19th, 1813. Uniform 1807-1814(according to Strokirch):

Jägers:


Livgrenadjärregementet (Life Grenadier Regiment)- Reg no 29 and 64
In 1791 the Östgöta Infanteriregemente (Östgöta Infantry Regiment) and the Östgöta kavalleriregemente (Östgöta Infantry Regiment) were combined in the Livgrenadjärregementet (Life Grenadier Regiment). The two battalions of the former infantry regiment were named the Livgrenadjärregementets Rotehållsdivision(Reg no 61) and the two battalions of the former cavalry regiment were named Livgrenadjärregementets Rusthållsdivision(Reg no 64). As this regiment consisted of a total of four battalions it was also sometimes called the Livgrenadjärbrigaden (Life Grenadier Brigade). At least one of these battalions participated in all the campaigns during 1805-1814. Uniform 1807-1814(according to Strokirch):

[Ruire]

That's an excellent paint job to cap off the detailed resculpting you've done there. You call it 'quick' but it looks great to me - blue in particular is such a painful colour to get looking natural on a figure, given how dark blue (in particular) behaves on fabric. I'd suspect your painting is much closer to the reality than those prints.

Could I ask what paints you used for the blue?

[Pancratist]

Thank you both! As for Traveller's post: yes, it is easy to get them mixed up. However, for me it is the Livgrenadjärregementet that is relevant. In 1809 they were actually 6 battalions, as they had reserves (vargering) on top of the 4 basic battalions. I think that the picture in the bottom of your post shows them with the later long trousers. It looks to me like the earlier trousers (used with gaiters) were a little different. But that may also be poor drawings... It is also a shame that the drawings by Strokirch are in black and white!

To Ruire: it is extremely simple. I am using Coat d'arms Royal Blue and that is shaded using Army painter's strong tone wash, and thats it (always finish with W&N matt varnish though). I use that for all blue uniforms, such as French and Swedish napoleonic ones. It works great if you highlight it with a bit of a lighter blue mixed in as well, but just doing the wash looks good on its own. I also think its a good match for the uniform (picture from the museum in Stockholm gives an idea).

[glenning]

Looking great - very inspirational! Can't wait to see more!

[SteveBurt]

Very nice. Those lifeguard grenadiers must be a candidate for silliest hat of the Napoleonic wars

[Pancratist]

OK, so here's the next attempt, the Livgarde (Svea livgarde fr 1809 onwards). I am not as pleased with these as I was with the grenadiers. Also, the Livgarde was more difficult to model in the first place. The fact that the conversion is based on a plastic miniature may have something to do with it - I really prefer metal and have become used to painting metal figures almost exclusively in the last few years.

[traveller]

They look just great!!!