"Perry Miniature's Gordon Highlanders" Topic

I finally finished the Gordon Highlanders for the Sudan Campaign: link

Nice looking troops! I'm presently working on the 72nd for Afghanistan,1880, using Perry Brits in "Indian" uniform.

Very nice job!! They look swell!! Sal Sr out!!

I have some these myself that I bought for some VSF games. I love your paint job and makes me want to get mine out and finish them up.

Nice.

Really well done! Looks like they were a LOT of work, but the final result is worth it.

sweet!

Nice work

Splendid unit! A few random comments or observations --

The 1st Bn. Gordon Highlanders would have been, before 1881, the 75th Foot; the original Gordons, the 92nd Highlanders, would have in fact been the 2nd Bn. after the 1881 Caldwell reorganizations. Just to keep the regimental tree accurate.

No diced hosetops? They're a pain to paint, but you did such a good job on the tartan, surely diagonal lines on the hosetops wouldn't have been beyond your brush talents. (The Gordons wore red/black hose at this time.)

And I have to ask -- where's the piper? I see a drummer, but shouldn't these fine Highlanders have a *real* musician to play them into action? (Ahem. Blatant partisanship on view.)

But these lads should give you sterling service! I pity the Dervish who meets up with them.

I just got Perry's to paint as the 72nd for 1879-1880. I am concerned about the tartan trews. I can paint the base tartan (scarlet, by the looks of it) color but the thin lines are a huge stumbling block for me. Does anyone here think that I could use the Sakura Ink pens to create the lines. I feel that I could handle the project with that approach if they in fact do flow smoothly on a painted metal surface.

I have painted the 72nd Highlanders for 1879-80 in the past year (I used old Ral Partha late British infantry as the closest match I had on hand, the equipment is too late but the trousers/puttees are what I mainly needed; and with an old MiniFigs piper). They were a to paint but look splendid. (If I could make PhotoBucket work on my old browser, I'd share some pictures) But I can see why this unit is seldom seen on the tabletop. Painting a reasonable facsimile of that complicated tartan (Prince Charles Edward Stuart) on trews and puttee wrappings is a nightmare. I have no experience with those ink pens but good luck on your attempt!

On the trews, I started with a base scarlet as you say; then added parallel sets of dark blue stripes, not too broad, not too thin; Over the sets of blue stripes I painted a very thin white on alternate blue stripes and then a very thin yellow overstripe on the remaining blue stripes; and then, in between every other pair of blue stripes I painted a very think white overstripe.

Note that on modern trews like these, the sett is arranged vertically/horizontally, not on the diagonal like in the old days, or with kilt hose even still.

The puttee wrappings are impossible -- the tartan pattern is broken up by the thin strips of material used. Photos/pictures show the puttees as sort of a muddle of colors, broken tartan lines and bands roughly on the diagonal, with more of the base scarlet color showing. So I just overbrushed broken lines of dark blue, with infrequent overbrushed lines of white or yellow to suggest the colors of the tartan, without trying to reproduce the tartan pattern as on the trews/kilt. Let the edges of the puttees break the lines. It's the best I could manage in this scale.

If you include a piper, he should be in the kilt -- same tartan, with tartan hose tops and bag cover. Sporran was white horsehair with six small black tassels, in two rows of three. Black leather cantle with brass top edge.

The 72nd had their scarlet tunics or serges with them for cold weather wear (yellow facings), so you could use a few of these if you like and make a really gaudy display. I painted my Lieutenant and Sergeant in these to make them easily identifiable. The piper, if not in khaki, would wear a doublet of dark hunter green.

Thanks Piper909 for the breakdown of the process. It is far to difficult for me and I do not have the patience to pull it off. Looks like this might be a task for Fernando Enterpises in Sri Lanka.The 72nd on Mad Guru's Maiwand Day look so good and I now I must have a regiment. I did paint a unit of KOSB some years ago but just left their trousers a dark blue and dabbed some green paint randomly on top. The tartan trousers they wore looked very dark in a reference picture I had and it was very hard to see the tartan pattern so I wasn't too worried about it. The 72nd however will just not work without the tartan.

Good luck!
The KOSB did not wear tartan at all until after 1881, of course; as the 25th Foot they were in normal line infantry uniform, but they did have pipers in Highland uniform (Royal Stuart tartan kilt) before and after the 1881 reorganization. After 1881 the rank and file were in Black Watch ("Government") tartan trews until they were authorized to wear the Leslie tartan in 1898 (but may not have been issued this until 1904).

I painted a 25mm platoon of the 72nd Highlanders (Duke of Albany's) for service in the Second Afghan War (TS&TF colonial games) and can share sample images of finished figures:

Trews are harder than kilts! And those puttee wrappings are impossible; all one can do in this scale is suggest colors, the patterns are all broken up.

I used mainly old Ral Partha "late" colonial British infantry (for the puttees and pugris) with old MiniFigis for the officer, sergeant, and piper. Since the 72nd wore a distinctive mix of service dress khaki/sun helmet with home service trews, they make a unique outfit. They also had their scarlet serges and/or dress tunics in their kit and wore these in colder weather, so I put the leaders in red coats to make them stand out and give the unit an even brighter touch.

I think you have done a cracking job, Highlanders are a real pain in the ass to paint,

Just one question why are the hands a different flesh colour than the faces ?

Hmm. They really are not. They are more visible is all. Possibly some are more "sunburned" on their hands than others as a result of my washing technique. Or possibly being laid down on the scanner brought their hands into more direct contact with the scanning bed or closer to the lamp and the colors have distorted. My scanner tends to add a slight yellow tone unless I manually adjust the settings every time I scan, which I rarely bother with. The officer is wearing his dress tunic with yellow cuffs and these might be bleeding into what can be seen of his hands.

PS: to above postings: some sources say that in cold weather the 72nd wore the khaki Norfolk jacket OVER their scarlet serges and in hot weather, they wore their white order of dress dyed khaki.

And again, pipers in normal service dress would have archer green doublets.

Published photographs from this war show the 72nd on campaign in all manner of variant dress, from full dress (except with foreign service helmets) to extremely improvisational.