Two Victorian heroes and a Gatling gun battery

I haven’t painted anything smaller than a house for about three years, so it’s taken me a while to get my eye in. It also takes a while to familiarise oneself with the castings and mouldings, guides to uniform and attire, and develop a work flow.

Apart form the Beja riflemen and gun crews I’ve been working on a few British personalities, the British Field Hospital, and the Gatling gun battery. I have a Naval Brigade detachment and RMLI company primed, and have got the base coat on a Hadendowa camel band.

Colonel Frederick Burnaby was almost a metaphor for the British Empire’s might, a giant for his times at 6' 4" and 20 stone, a classic Victorian heroic adventurer. Having trekked solo through a Russian Asian war zone, he made a crossing of the English Channel by balloon, and endevoured to get himself attached to whichever military expedition was going. Famously he took on the Mahdist warriors with a shot gun at the second battle of El Teb.

Here’s a an article about Burnaby, and some details of the shot gun, in Guards Magazine:

Link

Captain Arthur Wilson, RN, of HMS Hecla, was in the thick of it at the second battle of El Teb too, protecting a Naval Brigade gun detachment by holding off the Fuzzy Wuzzys with the hilt of his broken sword, a feat for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Melton Prior was an artist and war correspondent who covered many of the British Empire’s military adventures. Also always in the thick of it, his detailed sketches appeared in the Illustrated London News. I am reading his memoir at the moment.

Colonel Frederick Burnaby and Captain Arthur Wilson … both need a bit of dust adding to their boots.

Melton Prior sketching. I added reins from foil to his mount, since I plan to repurpose his servant to be an ammunition mule driver.

A Gatling gun limber on the right, showing that the lid was a single piece. A useful photographic confirmation of information I have gathered.

I have added hooks for fine chain to the gun carriages, added the handles to the Broadwell magazines, and prepared the hauling chains for the static and towed limbers.