As I just recently posted my first figure on Planet Figure (Praetorian Guard), I decided to show a couple of others completed during the last year or so and posted elsewhere on the web.

While not quite sure this is the best approach, I thought perhaps those who haven't already seen them might be interested.

I don't want to make this too long winded so I won't go into any detail, but all of the figures/bases have been modified to some degree, however slight. All of the painting was done entirely in acrylics.

Thanks for looking,
Ken

54mm IL FEUDO metal kit of Lt. Col. William B. Travis at the Alamo in 1836





Series 77 - Captain, 7th U.S. Cavalry 1876 (90mm -100mm)




Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses. 54mm Pegaso Cowboy at Saloon






"Found it!" - Verlinden Tortuga Pirate, 1726




Series 77 - Sergeant, 7th U.S. Cavalry 1876 (90mm -100mm)




Hood's Texas Brigade - Thunderbird's 75mm Resin Confederate Soldier

Great work on all of them Ken, I really like the Pegaso Cowboy!

I wish there were more 90mm ones like that, as I just cant paint 54mm these days.

Beautiful work!

Cheer's,
Jeff.

Nice, particularly like the Travis figure.
It's a great pity Il Feudo ceased trading as they had some great figures in their range.
Cheers
Derek

Very good indeed Ken. All are lovely pieces of work.

Chris

Thanks Jeff, Derek and Chris for the kind words.

Derek,
Some of the Il Feudo are still available, I think.

http://www.lafortezzamilano.com/ES/s...d_articolo=163

You can see from the box art some of the changes I made. Resculpted the right arm and hand, modified the knees and replaced the sword with a modified Historex version.


Thanks,
Ken

A fine collection Ken.
Very good painting my friend. Bravo
Keith

Thanks Keith, much appreciated!

Ken

Very sharp work!

Cheers
Adrian

Perfectly painted the figures

Thanks guys for the kind words, much appreciated.

Ken

Nap,

First, thanks again for the kind words.

Second, the rest of my rambling below is probably more than you ever wanted to know, but...

As to busts, I paint busts once in a while and have a large amount in my gray army, but right now, I prefer full figures.

Not sure about FOTM. I think it's a good idea, but now-a-days I paint only for personal enjoyment and not to compete.

On the subject of the Series 77 Sgt, Pat Bird, the sculptor, named his figures after personal friends in the hobby and created a believable, if fictional, background to go with them. Hence, this was released as Sergeant Robert J. Bryce, U.S. Cavalry, 1876. Bryce, I believe was an current friend of Pat's at the time of release.

I respect Pat's choice and did the same with some commercial figures I sculpted back in the late 70's under my own, short lived brand, Imperial Miniatures.

However, at this point in my life, I prefer to research the figure when ever possible and try to represent a real life personality. Therefore, I present him as Sgt Finley, who served with Custer and who, I thought, fit the part perfectly.

Here is some background on the Sgt.

Jeremiah Finley was born in County Tipperary in 1837 and enlisted in Her Majesty’s 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot on September 29th, 1854 at Kilkenny, Ireland under the name of Darby Finlay, aged seventeen years and nine months. Finlay’s name does not appear on the list of soldiers who qualified for the Crimean War Campaign Medal and his regiment was already in action in the Crimea when he enlisted. He probably arrived at Sebastopol when the war was all but over, in February 1856, having sailed via Malta to the Crimea with a draft of re-enforcements. Finley’s regiment sailed to Canada a few months later where it served as part of the British garrison.

Finley’s ten year engagement expired in August 1865 and he was discharged a private at Quebec. He enlisted in the US Army three years later at Chicago, claiming to have been born in 1841 and describing himself as a laborer. He joined the 7th’s Company C (Tom Custer’s) at Camp Sandy Forsyth, Kansas in November 1868.

Finley was promoted to Corporal seven months later and to Sergeant in August 1871. He re-enlisted for a further five years, as a Sergeant, on September 18th, 1873. He was killed in action on June 25th 1876 with the rest of his company, which was with Keogh’s battalion in Custer’s column. Finley’s body was found near that of Sergeant Finkle, shot full of arrows.

Finley had a wife and two children waiting for him at Fort Abraham Lincoln. He had saved $10.50 with the Paymaster, was owed $44.17 in wages, $120.00 in continuous service pay, $33.20 in retained pay and $126.58 for clothing not drawn and owed the USA $1.14 for tobacco. His net financial worth was $289.14. Finley’s widow later married John Donahue.

During his many years as a soldier Finley had become a proficient tailor, so proficient in fact that he made George Armstrong Custer’s buckskin suits , one of which can be seen at the Custer Battlefield Museum.

Figure modifications:

There were just a couple minor changes made. I decided to raise his head up so that he was looking at the attacking indians rather than down at his carbine. Doing this created a gap at the neckline.

Rather than give him a "longer" neck, which looked strange, I elected to use some Greenstuff to add more material to his undershirt. Many of the undershirts worn by the 7th actually had their own collars, which made this a believable choice.

The only other fix was a broken carbine barrel that I replaced with some brass rod.

Sorry for the long winded explanation. Next time you'll know not to ask a simple question.

Below are a couple additional views of the figure.

Thanks,
Ken

Ken,
A very nice collection and thanks for posting. They are very good looking pieces and nice touches on the changes.
Cheers
John

I like how you painted them all, good work.

Military miniatures painted by Eduardo Garcia

Thanks John and Eduardo,
You keep me motivated!
Ken

Ken,
Some excellent work. You are motivating me to pick up a brush.
Thanks,
John

Love'm all. Great work, Ken and you use blue quite often which is an artform in itself.
Great shadows and highlights. I'm working on a French Legion vignette (feels a bit like painting Smurfs) and I'm having trouble with smooth highlights. (I now use acryll). Any tips ?

Hi Ken, love the seris 77 figures, painted to perfection . I wish you could find more of them. Keep up the great work and look forward to more of your figures.

All those figures are stunning works of art Ken, but the Series 77 ones are really something else. You definitely have a knack for making older castings like them turn into little jewels, & thanks very much for the interesting backstories too - brings the figures to life even more,

More please!
Chris O.

Thanks Bob, John and Chris. I have a lot of series 77's that I have to get to. Someday soon.

Cheers,
Ken