deadhead | 29 Oct 2016 8:54 a.m. PST |
A very imaginative release here. I do just love "characters" like this. Tempted to post to Discussion too and take the flak…..if only to beat Tango to this! (grin) I know…we could discuss how long it took to train him…….or did we do that????
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Toronto48 | 29 Oct 2016 10:20 a.m. PST |
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jammy four | 29 Oct 2016 10:22 a.m. PST |
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Scharnachthal | 29 Oct 2016 10:38 a.m. PST |
Oh yes, I think this figure needs to be discussed, indeed. deadhead, jammy four – everyone knows about your "special relationship" but… Now, to judge from the uniform, this drummer is pre-Bardin. How old is he meant to be? |
Cerdic | 29 Oct 2016 11:54 a.m. PST |
Another lovely figure from Gringo 40s! Dunno how old he is but must be well over 200 by now….I reckon he is definitely fully trained! I wonder how long it take to train a drummer's dog? |
Scharnachthal | 29 Oct 2016 1:07 p.m. PST |
Now, seriously…how old is this drummer meant to be? |
jammy four | 29 Oct 2016 3:27 p.m. PST |
Scharnachthal thanks for your input………the figure represents a drummer "boy" early teens as an exact age would be hard to recreate. the lad captured at Waterloo (hugomont) was one of the inspirations….
cheers Ged gringo40s.com ps me and Deahead do indeed share a common theme..both of us are wild geese! |
Unlucky General | 29 Oct 2016 10:40 p.m. PST |
When available I'm definitely wanting this. Why do so few manufacturers make drummer boys? It's a mystery to me. |
C M DODSON | 29 Oct 2016 11:44 p.m. PST |
Very nice composition. However is it my eyes or do those drumsticks look like rolling pins? Chris |
Duc de Brouilly | 30 Oct 2016 2:01 a.m. PST |
Why do so few manufacturers make drummer boys? It's a mystery to me. According to Elting (Swords Around A Throne at pgs. 336 to 337), the "brave little drummer boy" is something of a myth, as the drums were too big and heavy to be handled by young boys. He does go on to say that the desperate situation caused by the losses of the Russian campaign led to the employment of 14 and 15 year olds as drummers but of course this wouldn't have been much younger than the 'Marie Louises' of 1814. Even the veterans of the Old Guard would mostly have been men in their thirties, not the OAPs of the Waterloo movie! |
Scharnachthal | 30 Oct 2016 3:20 a.m. PST |
jammy four Thanks for the reply. Have to admit that, in my opinion, the proportions are a bit odd. Looks a bit gnomish to me (body of a child, head of an adolescent, shako of an adult)…but ok, tastes differ and there is a specific British tradition of sculpting 25/28mm figures, as far as I know. Not to my taste, hope you won't crucify me for that. ;-) Incidentally, the figure could not be used for Hougoumont, of course (uniform should be either Bardin or surtout)… Duc de Brouilly
As for the age of drummer "boys", yes, I think this is something of a myth, depending on what you call a "boy". I don't doubt that, occasionally, underage (meaning: aged fifteen or less) drummers would have been used – there are some illustrations which seem to confirm this – but probably less often than generally assumed and only in emergencies (if they were strong enough). One also has to acknowledge that, maybe, the authors of such illustrations tended to represent the extraordinary rather than the ordinary. Officially, the minimum age for drummers was 16; enfants de troupe could become drummers at this age (Berriat, Législation). There were no "drummer boys" in the French army. When enfants de troupe became drummers, they stopped to be "enfants"… Elsewhere, we have seen that Napoleon in 1811 ordered to recruit drummers for new battalions/regiments from among "jeunes gens" aged between 16 at the least and 20 at the most (Décret impérial of 5 April). Even later, young drummers normally were between 15 and 17 old, e.g. according to this treatise: link "Il y eut des jeunes gens dans les régiments de la Grande Armée. On connaît le cas des enfants de troupe inclus dès l'âge de 10 ans, qui pouvaient devenir tambours ou s'engager. En théorie ils étaient tenus de rester dans les dépôts, mais leur participation à diverses campagnes est attestée [18]. Louis Canler, plus tard chef de la Sûreté à Paris, est sans doute le plus célèbre d'entre eux : enfant de troupe à 8 ans, engagé en 1813 à 16 ans. Par ailleurs, on pouvait devenir tambour sans passer par la voie des enfants de troupe, les régiments ont donc eu des tambours de 15, 16, 17 ans." For those who want to know for sure, I recommend they consult the French archives. Quite a number of regimental registers have been published online. There you can find the personal data of the rank and file, including drummers. All you need is knowledge of French, a lot of time, patience, and stamina :-)) : link link So, if I were a sculptor I'd try to recreate the look and physique of a teen aged around 16 when intending to represent a very young drummer. Looks like a reasonable guideline to me…
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deadhead | 30 Oct 2016 4:45 a.m. PST |
It is very much a matter of personal taste of course. I am usually the first to condemn the Hobbit style of figurine……but I do also think there is sometimes a place for artistic licence to create a "character". A single figure, as a personality For that, features are bound to be exaggerated to convey the desired image in a 28mm figure. Without this, he would just be small drummer. Ged and I have a "special relationship" based purely on his IT skills being worse than mine! I at least can convert a PNG to a JPEG and post his pictures on line………and he does come up with some very imaginative and "different" stuff eg Mamelukes, Gendarmes d'E and those Lithuanians. Otherwise, it is platonic, I stress!!!!! |
Scharnachthal | 30 Oct 2016 5:01 a.m. PST |
deadhead When I said "special relationship" I never alluded to what you appear to think I was alluding to… Actually, what I had in mind was just the rather obvious fact that you seem to welcome everything sculptured by jammy four – which I feel free not to do. Hope you can forgive me. Best :-) |
jammy four | 30 Oct 2016 7:33 a.m. PST |
just a thought on the drummer boy ….some of the "youths" used were small in statue and consequently would have looked like "boys" !! as to pre-Bardin regulations the figure is "middle empire" with the longer tailcoat and as some French ligne and legere regiments had soldats with just a short capote,1777 musket and a shako..anything was possible. !! regards Ged gringo40s.com |
Scharnachthal | 30 Oct 2016 9:21 a.m. PST |
just a thought on the drummer boy ….some of the "youths" used were small in statue and consequently would have looked like "boys" !! Plausible. Small does not mean weak, BTW. I've seen small people of extraordinary strength. |
deadhead | 30 Oct 2016 10:30 a.m. PST |
My wife and mistress both forgive you. May they never meet…….
They both have XX chromosomes I hasten to add. Ged and I have never met and any intercourse has been on line only.
But you do raise an important point. Perfectly valid criticism, as I am a huge fan.
Should one be so impressed as to be uncritical?
Right………. No one is beyond that! I have never been keen on their horses and have said so. Murawski use them too, but, from day one, some of us have expressed reservations about the front half vs back half.
I think some of the Lithuanians are "short in the leg"…some…and have sawed off their legs, added a chunk and refilled to make early Mamelukes. I "only" have to paint them. It transforms them.
I think the Genie are superb castings, but they need at least a scale 4-5 inches added to their leg length for perfection. That I will do one day.
Gringos40 tackle the stuff that will not make anyone's fortune. Minority interest…Thank God someone does it
But at least they are not the Front Rank Hobbits, which most accept without comment. (Most). I think those are simply superb castings…so sharp…such relief in the metalwork….but…until their Reinforcement Packs, they defy all God's attempts to create Mankind in "His Own Image and Likeness". I have a dozen of their Carabiniers and have no idea what to with them, as they are beautifully produced, but in ridiculous poses, all staring up looking for Stukas, with right arms that simply do not articulate with their scapula and are thicker than their thighs.
I rarely finish a product without some conversion work. Mind you…those Mamelukes from Gringos40…….now they are good. Even better if you have spare right arms from other ranges for variety.
BTW, why has no one commented on the poor dog? This is caninophobic and totally unacceptable these days. I think he/she/LGBT etc beats the Westfalia pooch for simple "cute" appeal….but theirs' has pups….AWWWWWWWWW |
deadhead | 31 Oct 2016 5:39 a.m. PST |
Why not show two more well known miniatures from the company also?. Claudette and all her "charms" clearly appreciated by her companion. Nicely painted; Not quite sure what her facial expression is telling us. Must be something he said?
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deadhead | 31 Oct 2016 7:58 a.m. PST |
Could be fun to think up an exchange between them. I should have started a new topic even! How about "I don't care who you are. Do that again and I'll go to the newspapers!" "OK, but let's talk about e mails then!" Dawghouse, here I come…… |