18th Century | Jacobite Highlander - Army of King James

[fusilier1944]

I've been really bored lately (being unemployed sucks!) so I've been working on this figure for the past few days. Entirely made out of stuff I had on hand so I didn't spend any money. I made all the clothing and weapons. Start out with pics of how I built him up.

Dirk and sporran on belt:


Targe, plastic covered in poly-suede and paint:



Basket-hilted broadsword w/scabbard.




Ghillie Brogues and Hoes:


Waistcoat:


Jacket:


Bonnet w/white cockade:


Shirt:


And the great kilt:


The waistcoat and jacket are made of flannel cotton w/muslin lining. The baghoes are from a cut up pair of boxer shorts. Shirt is muslin. Brogues are actual leather. Sword is made entirely of plastic. Bonnet is poly-suede; it shouldn't have a seam since the real thing is knitted as one piece but I'll work with what I've got for now. Great kilt is just a piece of plaid fabric I had laying around, measures 9"x 27" which in real size would be 54" by 4.5yds. I was too lazy to make it accurate and put a seam down the middle. More to come in a few moments...

[fusilier1944]

And now to dress him up!

Since the great kilt is just a big piece of fabric it was reasonably feasible to dress him in the real way. Started out with pleating, slipped the belt under then laid the figure down and wrapped/belted it around.





With the excess plaid folded down I put on his waistcoat and jacket.



Not sure how to explain it but then took the corners on the excess and wrapped them around the back of the figure and tucked into the belt. This forms little pockets at the front which is really convenient when you where one for real.


Excess fabric on the left side pulled over left shoulder and the right side under the arm, across the chest and tied to the hunk pulled over the left.


And he's all dressed and ready to hack down some Hanoverian scum!





Head-sculpt is DML brian bishop (got a number relatively cheaply at Ollie's Bargain Outlet a fwe years back) with sculpey beard and ponytail. Just realized I need to paint the tie on his braid any other color than his hair, oops.

I'm undecided on if I want to make him a musket/fowling piece which would then require me to make a belly box and powder horn. Or maybe just a Lochaber axe to take the easy way out. Thanks for looking!

[Tony Barton]

That's damned impressive. I love your fabrics ( you were lucky to find that tartan ! ) and you have some really neat scratchbuilding skills. And you've done some proper research as well.

I only have one minor, nitpicky little criticism : since he's obviiously a fairly wealthy man, I think the beard might be unlikely. The Pennycuick sketches , which are the best " eyewitness " images we have for the Jacobites, don't to my knowledge show a single beard .They just seem to have been wildly unfashionable, even in Scotland.

[sharpe]

excellent

[shovelchop81]

Wow! Lovely work! Great to see a fellow unemployed scratch builder too! Being skint brings out resourceful building tricks, everyone else's junk is my joy!LOL.

[ActionMan]

Fantastic work - bravo!

[Sir Eaton Flipflop]

Wow - very well done - and cool to see the build up pics

[fusilier1944]

Originally Posted by Tony Barton

I only have one minor, nitpicky little criticism : since he's obviiously a fairly wealthy man, I think the beard might be unlikely. The Pennycuick sketches , which are the best " eyewitness " images we have for the Jacobites, don't to my knowledge show a single beard .They just seem to have been wildly unfashionable, even in Scotland.

Well you sir obviously haven't watched Braveheart enough times! Everyone in the Isles has a beard, though the Irish can't seem to grow them as bushy.

I chose to do the beard because I like the look. A little historical license on my part. Though if I were to reference the Pennycuick/Penicuik sketches then I would have had to give him horribly deformed features and he'd only be wearing white, maybe with some black stripes.

Actually I laughed when I read your nitpick, great minds think alike I guess. His obvious wealth was actually something I was thinking about when I was kitting this figure out. He has enough "money" to afford a broadsword, coat, waistcoat, nice enough dirk, and a targe. On the other hand he has a rather spartan sporran and simple ghillie brogues for shoes. Someone who can afford a sword should be able to afford a pair of cobbled leather shoes with or without buckles. Though if he were wealthier then he might be able to afford more clothing items in tartan as opposed to the plain solid colors. I chose to use subdued earthen colors for the solids because they would have been lower cost to him; the green might be a bit more due to it's depth. His biggest symbol of wealth, a personal firearm, is lacking. Even a captured Brown Bess. If he'd have been wealthier then maybe he could have sat for a portrait painter and we'd know for sure if he had a beard of not...you know, if he actually existed.

The tartan fabric actually came out of the remnant bin from the local Joann Fabrics store here in the states. Thankfully the store takes the ends of bolts or returned cuts that are smaller than a yard or so and sells them for 50% of the current price. Sometimes they even go 90% off the current price which might also be on sale for half off. I've paid pennies for hunks of fabric that should have cost me $50+ regular priced. Needless to say I buy anything I think I might like in the future when I score one of those sales. My fabric collection is filled with these remnants. Everyone should check their local fabric store or mercer, they often have discounted remnants.

Thank you all for your positive encouragements!

[artyandy]

This figure is full of character and charm. I love the textures you've gathered together and as Tony said, the piece of tartan you've sourced is just right.
As far as the whiskers go, I could add the old joke about what Scotsmen do with their old razor blades but I might be on shaky ground with the locals, even though I've lived amongst them for 33 years!

[rogerbee]

I like him,

Unemployment is forcing me to re-evaluate the hobby. After Indy and Bond are done, so am I. I just can't afford to go raiding my savings every time something I fancy comes out. Prices will go on increasing, so until my money does, there's not much I can do.

Lurking is much cheaper, and you can still enjoy the hobby!

CHEERS!

[siquisiri]

Great work!

[superado]

Wow, that's a labor of love, thanks for sharing!

[graeylin]

Nicely done, and nice tutorial on the great kilt.

I would be proud to have him in my display, very well done sirrah!

[sushimann99]

Very nice work, I did a jacobite a while back, I just didnt pay enough attention to detail like you did!

[egonzinc]

Amazing result! You can do wonders with your hands!
I find the HS is a bit retro, with or without beard, but the figure as a whole looks great!

[Kurt-Heinrich1917]

Hallo!

Some lads like to have "beards" based upon David Morier's "An Incident in the Rebellion of 1746," aka "The Battle of Culloden."

Where it is said he used Jacobite prisoners as models. If he did the facial hair may have likely been the unshaved outgrowth of capture with no razors. (Since he also put some on Barrell's grenadiers...)



Kurt

IMHO, an actual beard might have been more common for the 1689 Rebellion than the '45.

[fusilier1944]

Thank you all for your comments. It's humbling to hear anything from many of the posters above. I'm happy with the figure and have him up on the mantle for display. Thanks for following along through this...

[RainbowAvenue]

the research, detail, and hand work on this make it a work of art!