"M/C variant of French shako in The Peninsula?" Topic

Hi Gents,

I hope everyone is doing well today, and you forgive my entreating the collective intelligence of the board yet again..

I'm looking to work on sculpting some figures for the French Army as it fought in The Peninsular War. There's quite a bit of mixed literature regarding a 'typical' uniform, however. I am planning on a more or less 'regulation' set of figures, and then a 'campaign' oriented set, but I'd like to start with the regulation uniforms first.

The problem is, I can't seem to find a 'typical' shako type. Most contemporary illustrations show a covered shako ( something I'll be using for the 'campaign' set of figures ) , but I'm having difficult pinning down the regulation shako as it would have appeared uncovered.

This image nicely illustrates the evolution of shako between 1807-1812 (

) . It is easy to appreciate the wide variety of plates, cords/no cords, plumes/no-plumes, side chevrons/no side chevrons, etc. present. My question is, then, which one do I use?

Thank you for any help,
Bob

Well, I am no expert on the Penninsular War, but it seems to me that most people like to game the war from 1809 on – so the 1807 shako might work – there was a new pattern introduced in late 1810 that was taller and had brass chin scales and (in theory) no plumes or cords

At 28 mm or smaller I think the size of the shako varies very little. The accoutrements do however vary a lot. Add to that that the variety between regiments as to what they wore was quite great, you have a wide number of options for uncovered shakos. Personally I would keep the size and shape the same but consider the following options:

Shako plate – lozenge shape or eagle badge.

Cords – off or on.

Plumes (for grenadiers and voltigeurs) – off or on.

…… and all the variations thereof. No one said it would be easy.