Miniatures Missouri Guerrilla

rebel brit

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This is a 1/10th scale Bust I made of a Missouri Guerrilla.
The 2 figures are the same except for the fact they are wearing different hats.

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I made the body out of Super Sculpey clay, the pockets, lapels, belt and neck-tie out of A+B putty mixed with Duro/ Greenstuff and for the hats I used Magic sculpt. I then cast the figure in resin and supplied it with 2 hats that are interchangeable.
Missouri to cast.jpg
 
Excellent work in getting the flow of the material of the shirt. But couldn't you have sewn up his torn pocket??

And is that a badge on his chest? Or something like a brooch like Billy the Kid wore?
 
Beautiful. I think you said before that when you make a piece like this, you usually send it to someone else to paint it, correct?

Roy B.

Thanks, sometimes I'll have a go at painting it myself, sometimes a friend will volunteer. I've never got around to this one but personally I quite like it sprayed gray. ( shows off the detail ).
 
I think this may be your best work yet , which is saying a lot ! Have you considered producing these commercially ? This is as good as anything I've seen from any vendors. Great job !!

Thanks Kurt, before I became obsessed with making Flat figures I did produce quite a few Busts, this being one of them which I sold at model shows here in the U.K. It was at one of these shows that I met Chuck Robinson of Red Lancers who bought a batch off me , so I know that it was available over there in the U.S
 
Excellent work in getting the flow of the material of the shirt. But couldn't you have sewn up his torn pocket??

And is that a badge on his chest? Or something like a brooch like Billy the Kid wore?

Regarding the heart badge, these were often embroidered by wives, sweet hearts or sisters as mentioned in the film "Outlaw Josey Wales" when the kid says his daddy did the needle point because he didn't have no Ma .
 
Thanks Kurt, before I became obsessed with making Flat figures I did produce quite a few Busts, this being one of them which I sold at model shows here in the U.K. It was at one of these shows that I met Chuck Robinson of Red Lancers who bought a batch off me , so I know that it was available over there in the U.S
I never saw these and used to buy a lot of figures from Red Lancers . Sadly both Chuck and the shop are gone .
 
Yes I too was sad to hear Chuck passed away. I know there was a range of my figures shown in the auction when his shop closed, not sure if any of the Guerilla's were amongst them.
 
Another GREAT Piece, You, Gill and the Shiloh diorama will be missed next week. But the magnets and the framed piece you sent are very much appreciated :thumbsup:
 
Not to hijack the thread from rebel brit, but perhaps if he were to paint his figure, it might look something like this:
IMG_20200920_203452.jpg

I purchased rebel brit's bust from the Red Lancer in 2016. My main interest in the CW is the Missouri guerrilla war, so how could I resist? After I painted it I posted a picture here on the forum and r.brit contacted me and said that he sculpted the bust, and that's how we met and became friends. It's a small world, isn't it? I have to honestly say that the figure, or bust, is really well done, but by now if anyone has been following r. brit's work, doing really well done work is one of his trademarks.

A word about the Missouri guerrilla's.
The shirt that he is wearing would have been known as a "bushwhacker" or a "guerrilla shirt", and is an adaptation of a hunters shirt. It's the closest thing the guerrillas had to a uniform. During the "Bleeding Kansas" period, many Missourian's wore such an item, and normally they were red, but other colors of shirts were also worn. I chose to continue the red theme on mine, but I think by the time of the Civil War, it would have been prudent for a guerilla to wear a more muted color. The shirt had oversized breast pockets on them, some say they were to carry extra cylinders for their revolvers', but that's a myth. When you live in the saddle, the large pockets would have come in handy for carrying something to eat, perhaps extra caps for your revolver, or certainly something that you wanted to carry with you at all time. Anyone who's reloaded a black powder revolver would attest that to remove and replace a fired cylinder while on horse back is impossible, that's why the guerrilla often carried multiple revolvers on themselves, in the case of this bust, he has two navy colts in his belt. Also on many of the bushwhacker shirt, a loved one, a girlfriend, sister, wife or mother, would often embroidery different types of flowers on the shirt's lapels. In the mid 19th century, different flowers had different meanings (look up floriography), and they conveyed a language, such as today where a red rose means love, and a yellow rose means friendship, in the 19th century a daffodil meant "unrequited love and chivalry," and a yellow primrose meant "young love." A shirt with different types of embroidered flowers on it might mean something like "everlasting love," "courage," "faith," "loyalty," etc. that the one who did the embroidery was conveying to the wearer of the shirt. The shirt wearer was literally wearing someone's feeling for them on their shirt. If anyone has seen the death picture of of "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they would noticed how heavily embroidered his shirt was. He was truly loved by who ever gave him that shirt. (at the time of his death, he had two sisters and a wife, and any of them could have done the embroidery). Since the guerilla spent most of his time outside and in the woods, he would have worn a large hat to protect himself from the sun and weather, and that's why I chose to give my figure the larger hat. But some of the guerrillas were from some of the more wealthy families from Missouri, such as Cole Younger, or the Maddox brothers, so it wouldn't be out of place for them to wear a more formal hat. A feather plume in the hat was almost mandatory.
All in all, I think it's a very handsome figure, and when ever I get around to painting my embroidered flowers on his lapel, I think I will make him my avatar. I'm going to try and paint embroidered flowers on my figure's lapel, so I painted it in white so the embroidery will be easier to see against that background.
 
Not to hijack the thread from rebel brit, but perhaps if he were to paint his figure, it might look something like this:
View attachment 375308
I purchased rebel brit's bust from the Red Lancer in 2016. My main interest in the CW is the Missouri guerrilla war, so how could I resist? After I painted it I posted a picture here on the forum and r.brit contacted me and said that he sculpted the bust, and that's how we met and became friends. It's a small world, isn't it? I have to honestly say that the figure, or bust, is really well done, but by now if anyone has been following r. brit's work, doing really well done work is one of his trademarks.

A word about the Missouri guerrilla's.
The shirt that he is wearing would have been known as a "bushwhacker" or a "guerrilla shirt", and is an adaptation of a hunters shirt. It's the closest thing the guerrillas had to a uniform. During the "Bleeding Kansas" period, many Missourian's wore such an item, and normally they were red, but other colors of shirts were also worn. I chose to continue the red theme on mine, but I think by the time of the Civil War, it would have been prudent for a guerilla to wear a more muted color. The shirt had oversized breast pockets on them, some say they were to carry extra cylinders for their revolvers', but that's a myth. When you live in the saddle, the large pockets would have come in handy for carrying something to eat, perhaps extra caps for your revolver, or certainly something that you wanted to carry with you at all time. Anyone who's reloaded a black powder revolver would attest that to remove and replace a fired cylinder while on horse back is impossible, that's why the guerrilla often carried multiple revolvers on themselves, in the case of this bust, he has two navy colts in his belt. Also on many of the bushwhacker shirt, a loved one, a girlfriend, sister, wife or mother, would often embroidery different types of flowers on the shirt's lapels. In the mid 19th century, different flowers had different meanings (look up floriography), and they conveyed a language, such as today where a red rose means love, and a yellow rose means friendship, in the 19th century a daffodil meant "unrequited love and chivalry," and a yellow primrose meant "young love." A shirt with different types of embroidered flowers on it might mean something like "everlasting love," "courage," "faith," "loyalty," etc. that the one who did the embroidery was conveying to the wearer of the shirt. The shirt wearer was literally wearing someone's feeling for them on their shirt. If anyone has seen the death picture of of "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they would noticed how heavily embroidered his shirt was. He was truly loved by who ever gave him that shirt. (at the time of his death, he had two sisters and a wife, and any of them could have done the embroidery). Since the guerilla spent most of his time outside and in the woods, he would have worn a large hat to protect himself from the sun and weather, and that's why I chose to give my figure the larger hat. But some of the guerrillas were from some of the more wealthy families from Missouri, such as Cole Younger, or the Maddox brothers, so it wouldn't be out of place for them to wear a more formal hat. A feather plume in the hat was almost mandatory.
All in all, I think it's a very handsome figure, and when ever I get around to painting my embroidered flowers on his lapel, I think I will make him my avatar. I'm going to try and paint embroidered flowers on my figure's lapel, so I painted it in white so the embroidery will be easier to see against that background.
Great job . How did I miss this from the Red Lancers ?
 
All in all, I think it's a very handsome figure, and when ever I get around to painting my embroidered flowers on his lapel, I think I will make him my avatar. I'm going to try and paint embroidered flowers on my figure's lapel, so I painted it in white so the embroidery will be easier to see against that background.

Many thanks Dan, that's a great write up about the shirt and a nice idea to add some embroidery. Must say having seen your painted version with my own eyes gotta say the photo doesn't do it justice.
 
The shirt that he is wearing would have been known as a "bushwhacker" or a "guerrilla shirt", and is an adaptation of a hunters shirt. It's the closest thing the guerrillas had to a uniform.

Nice job painting this piece. I think painting it has brought out the expression on the figure's face. Also, it's great to read your comments about the details of clothing and arms -- thanks so much for writing this up!

Roy B.
 
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