Thomas Brown 1743

Thomas Brown , of the 3rd or Bland’s Dragoons, as he might have appeared at the start of the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 .
He had an eventful battle , first having two horses killed under him , then getting into a melee over a fallen British standard in which he had two fingers of his bridle hand cut off. He returned to the fray and recaptured the flag, but in the process received eight cuts and two musket balls. He retired from the army, was given a pension and bought a pub in his native Kirkleatham ( N.Yorks ) but only survived for three years, dying as a result of his wounds.




This figure , and his horse, are completely scratchbuilt , and because of the embroidery on the housings it’s one of my most elaborate to date. As with all these large scale projects I try to use the correct material if possible, so the metal is metal, the leather real leather and so on .The figure is fully articulated, and can be posed any way you want, and all the equipment works more or less like the original and can be removed and refitted as you wish .The head and hands are scuplted in polymer clay.
The horse is a massively rebuilt Cindy horse, which I use because they are dirt cheap, and form a very good armature for rebuilding. I enlarge them by fitting plates of foamex between the seams , then remodel the head and neck in airdrying Efaplast . I had to do some research to create the saddle, of which there seem to be no survivors , and in the end followed some excellent 1:1 reconstructions used by reenactors in the USA.

Beautiful work and a great range of skill shown as well.

What can I say? Museum piece as usual from you Tony.

Colin

Excellent work Tony. Not quite as flat as my version but it has given me some tips.
I have a feeling his pub was in Yarm but I`m not 100%.

Fantastic work as always Tony.

Another classic here Tony.
Can appreciate it is tough to gauge but would be intrigued to get a sense of how long it takes to build one of your artworks?

Stay safe,

Mike

Amazing craftsmanship Tony!

-Rich

It reminds me of the work of the late Master, Eugene Leliepvre. Outstanding!

Thanks for the compliments, especially the comparison with Lelieprve : he is indeed an inspiration. I saw some of his models when I was very young, and never forgot them.
I have the advantage in a much wider range of modern materials , especially for sculpting .

As to how long such a figure takes , it's very hard to judge, but something over a hundred.

Billy Turnip, you might be right about Yarm....

Fascinating work Tony.
Is there anywhere I can see more of your stuff?
Jon

Outstanding work Tony. Truly superb. I second Jon's request. Where can we see more of this excellent work?
Regards
Chris

Absolutely! Marvellous, you are to be congratulated. Museum quality, without a doubt.

Alan

This is top drawer stuff. Please share some more with us.....

Wow, this takes military modelling to another level. Was brought up few miles down the road from Kirkleatham but am ashamed to say I never heard this man's story locally.