Hi All,
This is my latest work, a slight conversion of Steve's (Valiant) brilliant little drummer boy, Colesberg 1900.
Must say a massive thank you to Steve for casting this one. Thanks mate.

My title for this gem is "Dear Mother, Just crossed the Buffalo river on the way to Isandlwana". A drummer boy of the 24th Regiment of Foot.What that note evokes.

The drummer boys were slaughtered at Isandlwana and although slightly older in age I have taken artistic license with mine. A number of eye witness accounts tell of the drummer boys hung on meat hooks by the chin that were attached to the wagons. They were disembowled and slit open and some eye witness accounts say that due to the circumstances this must have happened while they were still alive. Anyway this is my little tribute to those brave boys who stood and died on the battle field of Isandlwana.

Basically I have removed the rear tunic, shoulder and cuff details on the original. I have re-sculpted the cuff detail and Austrian knot, I have also lengthened the trousers and added the gaitors.
I did cut off the right foot and turn this slightly outwards, as I thought it followed the line of the leg better.

I was on such a roll I have even got it primed and started to block in the colours. Sorry Steve you will just have to wait for someone else's to see it in Khaki.

I am going to paint the drum based on a drum that was recovered from Isandlwana.
Hope you like what I have done with this.
cheers
Richie

WOW that was a bit quick Richie.
You really are motivated with this little beauty Mate.
I think that the the subject matter is fantastic on Steve's part and your brilliant conversion is a major tick in the box for me. As you know I am a sucker for a decent military drum. The changes that you have made are seamless with the original sculpt and the additions, gaiters , Austrian knots etc. look really good. I am following with interest to see how you deal with the brass shell of the drum and those 80 little green and white triangles.
Really great start Richie, please keep us posted frequently.
Good work,
Cheers,
Keith

Hi Keith,
Cheers mate, I will take and use your previous advice on how to paint the drum, however I think this will be the last piece I paint. I am going to finish the figure add some groundwork in the form of grass first, will update when I get the chance.
cheers
Richie

Superb, impatient to see this figure finished!
I also ordered one, and wait for it

Blimey Richie glad's mine going to be "A (very young) Gentleman in Khaki" Looks good though at this stage will be watching with interest

Steve

Hi Luc,
Thanks for looking mate, you will not be dissapointed it's a little gem, Steve has done a cracking job on the sculpt.
cheers
Richie

Hi Steve,
I am looking forward to seeing one in khaki too. Just not mine.
cheers
Richie

Hi Carl,
Thanks for the nice comment mate, I meant just the drum on this piece will be painted last. If she thought I was packing in with all these models laid about, I'd end up like one of them drummer boys........disembowled.
cheers
Richie

What ...has hanging fallen out of fashion ? .......Ritchie, this looks like a lovely piece is coming. A very emotional subject that brings to mind the sort of impact that the sadly missed Roy Hunt could bring to his figures. Really looking forward to watching this progress.
Cheers
Derek

Hi Del,
Thanks for that, I just knew when I saw this piece I wanted one and knew how I wanted to portray it. Sorry I will need to google Roy Hunt in my ignorance - I've only been in modelling game just over 2 years but will try and track down some of his work.
cheers
Richie

Hi Del,
I have just had a look at some of Roy's work, what a loss and aged just 49, I feel humbled and honoured that you think this piece emotes in the same way his work did. But the tweak was easy, it was Steve's sculpting skill that even made this possible, I just saw what I wanted it to be.
cheers
Richie

Hello Richie, I like the history and story behind your drummer boy figure. You definitely captured the emotion and mood with this piece. Best of luck with its completion. Regards, SG

A great piece, and the painting is going splendidly!
The back story is a bit more questionable, though. So far as I can tell, the youngest drummer "boy" in the 24th was in his late teens at Isandlwana, so though it reinforces the pathos of the moment (it's nice to know that he had a mom, that he knew where she lived and that she was literate!) it inadvertently demonizes a brave and formidable enemy and is based on an unwarranted assumption.
The doyen of European Caucasian might had been wiped out by a bunch of primitive black savages, but of course, it wasn't the fault of the British soldier; he and his pals couldn't get the ammunition cases open, (!) and the filthy "hottentots" who did this tortured and murdered helpless children (pretty much what the Afghans are saying about the American military, today).
The gutting of fallen enemies by the Zulus, though, was performed on the dead, so that their abdomens would not swell post mortem and cause the zulus' stomachs to swell in sympathy. This was done on a grand scale at Iswandlwana, and to assume that the boys were tortured because they were hung on hooks, is unwarranted, especially since there are no eye witness accounts at anytime (if I haven't read them, they don't exist) of the Zulus committing torture. The best discussion of this issue that I know is Ian Knight's Zulu, which neither endorses the eyewitness's claim nor dismisses it out of hand. It also contains a lot of great B&W and color pics of both armies -- no little drummer boys, though!
But still a great job on the figure!

Hi SG,
Thanks for looking in glad you like my little depiction.
cheers
Richie

Hi Phil,
It's turning out to be quite emotive, I never thought it would stir up such emotions.
Glad you like the piece but.....
At the top of the post you will see I did say I took some "artistic license" with the age, the youngest was 18/19. I also concur that the battle at Isandlwana was not a horrific defeat but a superb Zulu victory that out manouvered the British and Colonial forces. It was the aggorance of the leadership above all that sealed that fate. Maybe if Rorke's Drift had not been attacked and all the available forces that were capable turned against Chelmsford column history might have been totally different today. As for the defeat being blamed on the failure to open the ammunition cases that is as far off as the drummer boys ages being depicted as boys.
I make no analogy to any other conflict especially modern, the Zulu rituals and customs of disembowelling were their right of belief and yes there so called mutilation may seem outrages to the outside world but no worse than being hung, drawn and quartered in this country.
Probably some of the best propoganda about the drummer boys to fortify the British and Colonial forces at the time, saying that here are some extracts from personal letters etc

1) Extract from Pte: William Meredith 2/24th in his letter to his brother. Dated 5th Feb 1879.
“Even the little boys that we had with the band, they were hung up on hooks and open like sheep.”

2) Extract from Pte: John James 2/24th in his letter to his Father, Mother & Sister. No Date.
“Two little Drummer boys were hung up on the hooks of weights that were used to weigh the meat on”

3) Extract from Pte: 832 Alfred Kelly C Company 2/24th in his letter to his brother. Dated 28th Jan 1879.
“The band boys were cut open and hanged by their heels to the Commissary Scales & Waggon wheels”

4) Samuel Jones 45th Regiment
“One sight, a most gruesome one, I shall never forget. Two lads, presumably two little drummer boys of the 26th Regiment, had been hung up by butcher hooks which had been jabbed under their chins, then they were disembowelled: all the circumstances pointed to the fact they had been subjected to that inhuman treatment while still alive.”

5) Trooper Thomas Henry Makin, 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards
“The first we saw was a little drummer boy, his drum broken in, his head cut off and placed on his chest, his hands inserted between his ribs. We then came across the poor fellows laid in groups of 5 and 6, every one of which had been mutilated by those savages and all were laid naked, every article of clothing having been torn off them. We came across a large wooden structure like a double scaffold, where two other boys had been hung up by their hands to the hooks and as they had decomposed, their bodies had fallen to the ground where they lay, with no friendly hand to give them a decent burial.”

6) Charles Mason Rorke's Drift defenders. Charles Mason wrote a letter home from Rorke’s Drift, dated 9th February 1879.
"There were 5 boys belonging to the Band, poor little fellows, they were left in camp, the black buggers got the boys and tied them up by the hands to the wagons and butchered them, cut their privates off and stuck them in their mouths."

7) Drummer W. Sweeney of the 2/24th. April 29th, 1879 He says:
‘Two drummers, Anderson and Holmes, and five little boys of the band about fourteen years of age. They butchered most awfully indeed. One little chap named M’Every, they hung up by the chin to a hook’

8) Trooper Sam Jones of Newcastle Mounted Rifles:
"Two lads, presumably little drummer boys of the 24th Regiment, had been hung up by butcher hooks which had been jabbed under the chins, then disembowelled"

9) A drummer boy threw his sword at a Zulu, he was caught, tossed in air landing on the assagais.” Unknown author”

10) He had seen a letter of which sheets and sheets were written in pencil after the battle of Isandlana, and the writer said that every soldier who fell was disembowelled; that the hands, feet, and heads of many were cut off; and that drummer boys were found with their hands tied behind their backs and hung up on meat hooks"
LORD ELCHO. House of lords.

At the end of the day you take my model as it is. I'm just glad it is stirring up an interest in the Anglo Zulu war, I may get a few more models coming along.
cheers
Richie

Here's a link to the casualty roll for the battle maybe something in here?

http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/britishguide/zulu/despatch5_isandhlwana_isandlwana_casualty.htm

Maybe he's married to a Samurai lady! Del
Looking good Ritchie,didn't realise Zulus mutilated there foe's .

Ron