[Norrington516]

I've been an anglophile for as long as I can remember and when I was younger I'd look longingly and wistfully at the Miles Gates 1:6th figures in my model/hobby store. Now I've been able to collect a very humble squad of Coldstream Guardsmen (my favorite British guards regiment forever!) and hopefully that squad grows, perhaps even to platoon size as the years go on.

I got this jacket - it was the last one too - aftermarket from one of the big 1:6th scale online stores. When I got it I realized that it was missing both of the shoulder strap buttons and - a problem sadly very common to these Guards tunics - the actual front buttons were falling off. So I put this in storage for a while until I could find a suitable subject to model.

As I've searched for spare Palitoy or Dragon British guards stuff I've seen the older Palitoy Grenadier Guards figures and was thinking it would be kinda nice to swap out their headsculpt and put it on a nice up-to-date body, paint it up good and put a good uniform on it. Well, I had these two older figures - one I'm planning to make into SS Panzer general Heinz Harmel, because he kinda looks the part - and I thought this spare one would look good as a British guardsman. He had a big head but then I thought, that would be nice and intimidating. It reminded me of this British Grenadier Guards drill sergeant on the BBC documentaries - forgot his name but interestingly, his 'deep dark secret' was that he actually hated drill. So I put on some green putty, sanded it down, painted it up and got my Guards uniform out for him.



I wanted to make him a Lance Sergeant, a special rank in the British Foot Guards above the rank of Corporal, apparently given to the Guards by Queen Victoria when she noticed that mere corporals were taking charge of posting sentries around Buckingham Palace. The Lance Sergeant wears three white stripes in full dress uniform so the 'Miles Gates' tunic stripes got a bit of fabric paint demotion. A full sergeant, like 'Miles Gates' wears gold stripes (and hence is colloquially referred to as a 'gold sergeant') and a red sash to distinguish them from Lance Sergeants.



I'll probably find some small random gold buttons for the shoulder straps, sigh...

Here's my little guards squad. I only really lack a Corporal (two white chevrons) and maybe another squaddie (hopefully a boxed Malcolm Parks) for this bunch to be able to post sentries around Buckingham Palace.



Since my wife got me an actual boxed Miles Gates figure for Christmas my little Guards squad is actually almost complete. Now if she would only get me a boxed Malcolm Parks for next Christmas!


"Your dressin's *bleeping* awful! Your dressin's awful!!!"

Now all these guys need are some medals and they can go on parade!

 

[s_j_i]

Wow amazing dedication to a theme.:bravo I hope we get a chance to see your full squad soon.If I may expand a little on what you have said about the rank of "Lance Sergeant", Foot Guards aside to the rest of the army a Lance Sgt is a "only" corporal and they get treated accordingly as such but because they wear three stripes always it is hard to tell for an outsider if they are the real deal i,e a sergeant or a corporal playing on it . As ARRSEpedia put it a Lance Sgt is "A Corporal who has the privilege of receiving Mess bills without the equivalent pay scale to support it.":lol

 

[FirefighterUK]

Great stuff!!! Love this subject.

 

[uramegak]

Great figures

 

[ActionMan]

Great figures! I love seeing Coldstream bashes, and these are great. (My Father was CG 1940-1946 and remained an active Coldstream Guards Association member right up to his death in 1997).

One of the Spanish collectors did a great tutorial on how to make a bearskin out of lambs wool - search for 'bearskin' on here and you should find it. (BTW, the real ones are remarkably light. The standard bearskin of the British Foot Guards is 18 inches tall, weighs 1.5 pounds, is made from the fur of the Canadian Brown Bear, and is dyed black. This is because the brown bear has thicker, fuller fur. The British Army purchase the hats, which are known as caps, from a British hat maker, which sources its pelts from an international auction. The hatmakers purchase between 50 and 100 black bear skins each year at a cost of about £650 each. Proper maintenance of the caps allows them to last for decades. Some bearskin caps in use are reportedly more than 100 years old.

Both officers' and OR's bearskins are mounted on wicker or bamboo frames.

Guard's officers' caps are taller than the OR's (Other Ranks = Guardsmen and NCO's). This is to make them look taller because there is no minimum height limit on officers*, but there is (or used to be) on Guardsmen.

Officers' bearskins are made from the hair from female bears which is supposed to be finer than that of the male bear, which is what the OR's are made of.

Officer's plumes are also bigger.

The tree-huggers are trying to do away with real bearskin and replace them with nylon!

*The only minimum limit on officers is on private income!

The broadcloth used for the tunic is the same as the baize used on snooker/pool tables).

There's an interesting video here of a Mick getting ready for Trooping the Colour - you may find it interesting - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8096105.stm

I'm trying to get the parts and a good HS to use to bash GSM 'Perry'' Mason

 

[Norrington516]

Thanks very much guys, I really appreciate all the comments! Thanks particularly for the info from those in the know =) I've tried very hard to do my homework on these guys so I hope it's up to scratch what I've kitbashed and posted.

Yup, I've seen - and saved - 'Perry' Mason's page from trooping the color as a reference for a future Sergeant Major bash. Right now I'm using the 21st century toys British paratrooper head as my RSM head, though if I was doing 'Perry' Mason I'd probably go with a Jake Hanlon HS and broaden out the chin. What I'm kinda planning to do - since I can't find anymore aftermarket Miles Gates or Malcolm Parks tunics/trousers/bearskins/etc. - is to use a spare Palitoy Household cavalry (Lifeguards) tunic as my base coat and do that up as a RSM uniform. I wish I could find the same fabric/colour as the Dragon Coldstreams but after 2 years of searching I've about given up. Though... would they have the same colour in a pool table supply place I wonder? Might try that out.

I've got material for bearskins and I actually want to make this Lance Sergeant an appropriately sized cap as the headsculpt is rather larger than those of the squaddies. I'd keep it at O.R. height still of course. Eventually I'd love to do two officers - a lieutenant and an ensign (plus two Colour Sergeants) so I could actually 'troop the colour' but that's just me dreaming. What I would need to figure out though is how to make a chin chain for these blokes as well as for my Household Cavalrymen - the spring method kinda works but it still doesn't look legit enough - certainly not next to the Dragon bearskins.

Another project I've got kicking around actually that would use a bearskin of sorts (busby type though) is the goat handler for the Royal Welch - I've even got a sixth scale goat all ready! And as kind of a whimsical project, I've got a headsculpt that I've set aside for a certain Captain James Hillier Blunt who will take command of my Household Cavalry troop - when he's not strumming his guitar.

Aside from these chaps, I've got two policemen (loosely based on Edward Woodward's Wickerman sergeant and Simon Pegg's Hot Stuff sergeant) to keep those crazy tourists away from the queen's guards (I'm still trying to find a good beard-and-moustache-less headsculpt of Christopher Lee to go with my Britt Ekland Barbie), two Lifeguards (in the works - they're proceeding much slower since their kit and horse furniture is vastly more expensive and harder to find - not to mention their horses which I'm modifying to the appropriate height) and a couple of royals - Prince Harry (in Blues and Royals uniform), Prince William (using my only Grenadier Guards Palitoy tunic for his Irish Guards colonel's uniform - he'll have his RAF Flight suit and blues as well), Princess Diana (a very lucky thrift store find in 1/6th - Barbie scale) and (crossed fingers) H.M. Queen Elizabeth II (I'm gonna use the Alder Fischer headsculpt for her majesty: http://www.echobasetoys.com/Dragon_...Pics/German/German_Headsculpts/DRHS-Alder.jpg )



Meanwhile, my Coldstreams would really love to have a sentry box to mount guard from so now that my Lance Sergeant's done I think I'll work at that for my next project!

Cheers!
Tom

 

[Norrington516]

By the way SJI - I would LOVE to do a bash of Nigel Green's Colonel John Harker as well as George Peppard from Tobruk someday - Nigel Green's just an awesome actor for a soldier, though right now I'm hoping to at least do him as one of his most unsoldierly (after a fashion) soldiers - Colonel Masters from Play Dirty - I've already got Nigel Davenport, Michael Caine, even Harry Andrews as Brigadier Blore! They each need a few bits of uniform so I've not posted them up (except for Nigel's Captain Leech) but I will soon!

 

[TOMMYG]

Nice Figures and a subject close to my heart, Now Being an Ex Grenadier Gold Sergeant of 24 years I have to be a little picky- only a Grenadier Sergeant is refered to as a Gold Sarnt and all other Guards regiments are refered to as Full Sergeant, and lance sergeants and below do not wear gloves in tunic order, other than that great figures and get them to pull thier shoulders back and more polish needed on them boots.

martin

 

[ActionMan]

Sorry to go slightly of topic but former Garrison Sergeant Major Mason was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010.

 

[Norrington516]

Thanks for the info TommyG, good hints there for me! Didn't know that was only for the Grenadiers! I didn't realize that the ranks below full Sergeant didn't wear gloves in tunic order - is there any time that they would wear gloves, like any special occasion/parade?

Terrible news about former GSM Mason! Who knows, perhaps if you finish the kitbash in time you could show it to him!

 

[TOMMYG]

gloves were only worn with greatcoat for Lsgt and belowbut these were a woolen glove and a Gold sgt would also were wool but his tunic gloves were cotton.

martin

 

[ActionMan]

A couple of CG* full Sergeant reference shots from the Diamond Jubilee Muster at Windsor:

*Coldstream Guards

 

[Norrington516]

You guys are a godsend!

Quick question though... what medals would be relevant for our Lance Sergeant? I'm thinking he would be a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns and would have been decorated for gallantry.

 

[TOMMYG]

top picture is a colour sergeant as he is wearing the csm badge of rank over his gold chevrons, and i would say any up to date conflict medals plus golden and diamond jubille would look ok , you may one to throw in a QGM. youve given me the bit now im diggin out some guards bits for one of my own.

martin

 

[Norrington516]

Haha, hope it's no bother, Martin! I'm gonna do the medals as papier mache printouts like I did for Sgt.Howie:


The cap badge and shoulder numbers are papier mache that I did myself.

I'm thinking of Afghanistan and Iraq (the Coldstream served in both places would I be correct - I'm pretty sure about Afghanistan.) plus the Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals and the QGM. The squaddies would get the Jubilee medals and either the Afghanistan or Iraq medals. Would that sound about right?

 

[TOMMYG]

yes mate those would be about right , theyve served in all the recent conflicts.

martin

 

[kvasir]

... Princess Diana (a very lucky thrift store find in 1/6th - Barbie scale) and (crossed fingers) H.M. Queen Elizabeth II (I'm gonna use the Alder Fischer headsculpt for her majesty: http://www.echobasetoys.com/Dragon_...Pics/German/German_Headsculpts/DRHS-Alder.jpg )

I've been looking high and low for royalty-related 1/6 figures. So far I've found the Diana and Kate wedding dolls in barbie scale which I'm sure you are familiar with. The bonus is that they come with Charles and William dolls -- in uniform! Most of the head sculpts are naturally not as good as the 16" doll versions. There's one Kate doll with an acceptable head sculpt and I hope can be put on a Hot Toys or Barbie body.

There are plenty of Diana outfits from Danbury and Franklin mints. Any luck finding alternative ensembles for the 12" dolls?

There are multiple versions of Diana and Kate dolls around but I have had no luck with QEII in any form. I guessing the Palace hasn't given permission to produce dolls in the likeness of H.M. There are plenty of porcelain / resin figurines though. How would you account for the shorter body though? HM is now around 5'2"? Modelling H.M. in her youth maybe another option.

I'm definitely looking forward to see how your custom head sculpt of H.M. turn out.

cheers,

-j

 

[Norrington516]

Hi there,

Sorry for the rather late reply! Been on a bit of a long modelling holiday spending time with the wife.

I utterly ENVY the 16" Franklin mint dolls the Diana dresses - the one I'm gonna try and do is the 'Inspecting the Troops' Blue dress. I actually bought one (which naturally doesn't fit - I may just get a 16" Diana so it doesn't go to waste, lolz) and I'll use it as a model to sew up my own. Sadly the best I can think of is to use Barbie/Ken stuff as a base and go from there.

I actually was rather lucky in that my wife had a bunch of Barbies and among them was one which I think approximates H.M. - I think (and this is just a pure guess) it was a Princess Leia figure before. Another figure kinda looked like Mitzi Gaynor from South Pacific so I may be able to add a US Navy nurse to my WW2 forces.

 

[Big Guy]

Outstanding.

Remember "SECOND to NONE" as they pre date and actually served on the RIGHT side than the Grenadier Guards who think themselves the Premier Household Division Guards.

 

[TOMMYG]

Steady BIG GUY .


martin (24 years a Grenadier)