lazyschnauzer

More pics of the Landsturm...

I started this one several months ago, but after having quite a lot of difficulty with the 1888 Mauser rifle, finally this vignette is complete. Actually, not quite, I still have some rifle buckles to do and a thorough cleaning. This figure is a German Landsturm in 1915 on sentry duty in a quiet part of the front. He's bored, thinking about home. Maybe he's musing about the local beer garden, his little farm and wondering whether his frau is managing to get the crops harvested. Unless I've given John something impossible to cast (!!!!), this will be the third The Old Contemptibles kit. As you can see, you can build it with one of two head-and-hat choices, either the Landsturm M1861 schako or the M1813 Landsturm oilcloth visor cap. In 1915, the Landsturm were mostly issued with obsolete equipment and uniforms. The Litewka coat he is wearing is the 1903 version. As I mentioned, he's armed with an 1888 Mauser rifle, but he also has a wicked-looking Pionierfaschinenmesser (I hope I'm not butchering the German!) bayonet, one side of which is a blade and the other is a sawtooth. The bayonet can be slide-mounted on and off the rifle. Unlike most bayonets, which fit below the rifle barrel, this one fit sideways and below the barrel. There is one ammunition container, a brotbeutel bag and a water bottle (canteen), a trench head-breaker - wooden with embedded metal studs, and a "potato-masher" grenade. In the trench observation wall, there is an armored metal plate with an observation slit, a piece of cloth used to cover the slit when not in use, and - two apples he picked and brought with him from his last rest period in the rear. Unfortunately for our hero, one of the apples has a little worm in it. I know you probably can't see all this in the photos. Sorry! As soon as John McNenney has this one cast, our good friend Ulrich Biroth will be painting the box art. Hope you like it! All the best, Dan

To answer Lorenzo's question (which I now realize I never did - duh!), this is a one figure vignette and hopefully model kit. But it includes alternate heads (the uniforms would be the same, except for painting details), a potato masher grenade, a leather cosh or sap (billy club), a wooden trench club with metal studs, and various other extras. The Landsturm is scheduled to be painted by my German figure sculptor and painter friend, Ulrich Biroth. I didn't complete the rifle over the weekend as I thought I might. A couple of problems with the finish of the putty on the gun are bothering me. Stay tuned. All the best, Dan

I'd like to be able to show you the painted version. It was completed, but the painter has not sent me any photos. All the best, Dan

Yes, Leigh. One head with oilskin cap and one with the 1861 Landsturm cap. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever done a German Landsturm kit in 1/16th scale. Back to work on the 1888 Mauser rifle... All the best, Dan

Thanks for asking Lorenzo. Yes, I added the circle. Eventually this one will be a model kit released by The Old Contemptibles. You will be able to buy it on the Military Miniatures Warehouse web site. Right now I only have one kit completed, Tommy of 1915. Roger Newsome is painting the box art for the second one. This will be a re-creation of a cobbler fixing boots in 1915. I really like the idea of showing soldiers doing things behind the lines. 95% of the time they ate, slept, drilled, trained, fixed equipment, went on work details, etc. You'll be able to complete the cobbler in two versions - a Seaforth Highlander with the unique Seaforth tartan (Mackenzie?) kilt or a Black Watch with 'Government' black and green kilt. Two heads, of course - each with regimental badge and a different cap. It contains a kit of six or seven cobbler's tools also. I had great fun making it! The Bored Landsturm will follow the cobbler. In it I've added a trench club (wood with metal studs), a leather cosh (sap or blackjack), one of the wicked-looking 1871 Pionierenfaschinenmesser bayonets with saw teeth on one side and a blade on the other, a potato masher type grenade, and a couple of apples (one with a worm coming out of it!). I'm just finishing the last piece, an 1888 Mauser rifle. I'll post the whole vignette when the rifle is completed. All the best, Dan

Lorenzo - I'm really sorry to disappoint you and possibly others. I'm interested in a specific historical period - about 1870 to about 1930. I'm not saying WW2 is not of interest, but I know the uniforms, equipment and infantry weapons of the First War pretty well. I've done a couple Russo-Japanese War conversions - A Russian sailor on guard ashore won my first gold medal. I completed a commission for a Russian Civil War train guard ca. 1919. I've recently just about completed a commission for a US Marine in North China ca. 1932. Roger Newsome is in the process of painting that one and I'll post him when complete. My figures are mostly Great War however and that's where my interest continues. I'm not saying I won't do another period, just my preferences. All the best, Dan

Lorenzo, Thanks so much for going back and looking at the oldies but goodies. All the best, Dan

And another picture... Hope you like it! Dan

Hey, Lorenzo - Many thanks! Here's the finished product painted by my good friend, Roger Newsome of Yorkshire. All the best, Dan

Thanks for your comment, Lorenzo. No "battle buddy", although the observation point is perhaps large enough to accomodate one. Everything is almost finished. I'm making an M1888 Mauser rifle, the bayonet fitting, a grenade and the hand on the alternate head. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this kit will come with two heads. I'm not quite ready to show you the other head. He's semi-modelled on a character in the 1930s All Quiet on the Western Front, "Kat" played by the character actor, Louis Wollheim. Not a great likeness but an interesting-looking head anyway. This head is wearing the M1860 shako or tschako (depending on how you spell it). All the best, Dan

I'm eager to see the finish also, Lorenzo! I conned one of my brother-in-laws into sending me photos for reference on the way the hand will look cupping the chin, with beard around the fingers. He has a very full beard. Just received the photos and this weekend I'll see what I can do with that. I haven't been at this very long, but I know that little things can often make the figure look more realistic. The hat is not quite right either. I'm in the process of correcting it. I've sanded the sides to make it more conical and will add some very thin slices of putty on top and the sides. Since I took these photos, I've completely re-done the trousers - which were much too bulky. And I'm working on two pairs of hob-nailed boots. This is all in 1/16th scale and I think it will be released as a commercial kit by The Old Contemptibles. My business partner (caster, retailer, advertising manager, alchemist and resident problem solver extraordinaire), John McNenney is busy casting our second release, a Seaforth Highlander cobbler. I have to correct one thing I said above. Although Landsturm were assigned to both the Western and Eastern fronts, they were used mostly for guard and light duties behind the lines on the Western front. On the Eastern front, they did most of the normal jobs soldiers do. So probably showing a Landsturm on sentry duty would be more accurate for the Eastern front. Attached are some reference photos of Great War Landsturm. They wore a bewildering variety of clothing and were issued mostly obsolete equipment until 1916. All the best, Dan

"Village people leather man hats?" Hi Chris - LOLOLOL! Pretty unique hat, isn't it? The M1914 oilcloth, felt and leather visor cap was worn until enough Stahlhelm were available for third class units - my guess would be 1917. But it's just a guess. To the best of my knowledge, they never wore pickelhaube type helmets. Some units wore Jager style leather and cloth helmets instead of the visor cap. All the best, Dan

This is WIP on a one figure vignette, a German Landsturm sentry in a 'Live and Let Live' part of the Western Front during WWI. There is a small viewing port in an armored plate which has been built into the trench (often done by both sides). The sentry is leaning against the trench with one hand on the side of his chin, his elbow on the top of the support post, holding a pipe in his other hand. He'll be in a double-breasted (dark blue?) Joppe coat with grey or blue trousers with stripe down the side and boots. As you can see, I've almost finished the head and unique Landsturm hat with oilcloth cover. I would have said finished, except upon taking the photos I noticed a small chunk out of the side of the hat! He'll have two old large leather ammo holders (Anybody know what year those would be?) and he'll be armed with an 1888 Mauser rifle, which I've just started, but not photographed. Haven't decided yet whether to convert this to one of the Old Contemptible figures or not. Comments and critique welcome! All the best, Dan

Snoopy and Nesredep - Many thanks, gents! All the best, Dan

Thanks Gordon! I agree! I do aggressive poses too, but it's a change of pace to show soldiers being tradesmen, cooking, eating, darning socks, etc. Check out my blog...http://heroesonthewire.blogspot.com/ All the best, Dan

I forgot to include the photo of the cobbler. The original photo was a black and white, but it was colored using photoshop by one of the guys on Great War Forum. All the best, Dan

Here's the second The Old Contemptibles piece - Hope you like it! 1916 2nd Bn. Seaforth Highlander, 10th Brigade, 4th Division, BEF in Mackenzie tartan cobbler in 120mm or 1/16th scale Alternate head ? 1st Bn. Black Watch, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, BEF with government (black and green) tartan ? Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) MK III 0.303 caliber rifle ? Small canvas haversack for carrying anti-gas PH helmets ? M1914 leather field harness and ammo pouches and belt ? Canvas musette bag and haversacks ? M1902 khaki putties and brown half boots ? M1908 khaki haversacks and entrenching tool helves ? M1908 entrenching tool head in leather carrier and 2 pint water bottle covered with khaki cloth and leather webbing ? Wooden crate, leather cobbler?s tool satchel, cobbler?s tools The pink stuff is Super Sculpey just used for displaying things. I've included a "colored" photo of a portion of the original photo of Seaforth Highlander cobblers working in a circle. The original bxw photo was posted on the Great War Forum. The main difference in the photo and the figure is that the cobbler in the photo is wearing shorts, not a kilt. I decided to have the cobbler wear a kilt because I always wanted to try my hand at sculpting one, plus I thought the painters might enjoy painting it more than shorts. In this case you can complete the figure with the alternate head and paint the kilt the black and green "Government" tartan or you can use the head shown on the figure and complete the kilt in a Mackenzie plaid. Comments and constructive critique welcome! The kit will eventually be available for purchase at: http://www.milminwh.com/theoldcontemptibles.htm All the best, Dan

Jean-Baptiste: Well observed and thanks for your comment! I walk a tightrope between artistic license and historical accuracy with a lot of my pieces. I try to stay on the side of "what could have and would have happened", in other words, realism, but I admit to being tempted with the issue of the skull on that particular figure. This vignette was built in 2004 and 2005 and it was one of my first. I've learned 3 or 4 things in the years since and would probably re-pose this a little bit if I were re-building it - which so far I have no intention of doing and would only be tempted to do so if a collector wanted to commission it. I would also have spent much more time on both uniforms. Even tho they are both meant to be rotting away, some details should have been included which were omitted. All the best, Dan

SSgt Luna, Many thanks for your kind comments! You're right - it's creepy! All the best, Dan

Leigh - That would be a cracker for certain! Frankly, I have way too many other pieces either underway or in planning to consider another. Not all my stuff is this dire of course (far from it!), but I do not flinch from showing such detail - after all it's reality. I took a lot of stick from some modellers about On the Wire. They felt it was beyond the bounds, etc., not part of the hobby, just unnecessarily gruesome, etc., etc. And the rhetoric would get a bit red sometimes. Theirs not mine. I always thought that with pieces like this if I didn't get reactions like that I wasn't doing my job. I'm not the only one who's done such pieces - Bob Tavis in Texas has regularly shaken the tree altho in a much different way. Here's a link to his works on Planetfigure.com. http://www.planetfigure.com/blogs/avbench.php?name=2066 And he's gotten some of the same reactions. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Bob's work. All the best, Dan

LOLOL - Your eyes, mine and everybody else's! That's why I only work in 1/16th scale! I invite you to try a large scale figure and see if your eyes can handle it. It's by far the most fun hobby I've ever been involved with. All the best, Dan

This vignette is now finished and being painted by a very talented figure painter in Madrid - Rafaelaga Aquayo. Yes the cap badge is RFA. Most of the uniform is the 1902 but the trousers are the artillery version, putties with the tie-ups at the top, and a 1915 'Gor Blimey trench cap. Once I get this back painted, I will probably start on a version to be made into a model kit for The Old Contemptibles product line. All the best, Dan

Good point, Leigh. Incidentally Rod Allison in New Zealand is painting this vignette and I'm eagerly awaiting some photos to show you. All the best, Dan

Leigh - Well - I don't know. You'd have to ask Mr. Gilbert Rogers about that. In the original painting, I don't see what you're suggesting. There's nothing wrong with your interpretation, but it's just not what I see. What I see is that the stretcher bearer was killed in action. Some infantrymen kindly put his body on his stretcher and covered his face. You're just as right as I may be wrong and vv. No problem. That's what art is about isn't it? All the best, Dan