Modelling the Battle of Borodino 1812

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Borodino1812.co.uk

September 2012 sees the 200th anniversary of the epic Battle of Borodino.  Immortalised in Tolstoy’s classic book ‘War & Peace’ and revered in Russia as the centrepiece of the war of 1812 against Napoleon’s Grande Armeé, it saw one of the biggest clashes in military history involving over 200,000 troops

 

I am building a diorama of the action to the south of the centre - the fletches: three 2 metre high earth emplacements open at the rear

 

 

 

 

Setting the scene  

 

The battle and its historical context

 

 

 

The photo gallery

 

Here I show some of the near finished

models –

generally they are lacking final metallic

paint and addition of musket slings & the

like to finish them off.

 

 

Where did it all start?

 

I will explain briefly how I started on this odyssey

 

 

 

 

 

Very few of the models used are as they come out from the box; even they have their ‘base’ removed and invariably a minor addition such as a water bottle. Generally the models have been subject to alteration by both knife and plasticine, the latter set hard by nail varnish (unwanted colours donated from my understanding wife and daughters).  This page illustrates the process at one stage or another.

 

Photographs are sometimes larger than actual: models are on average 25mm tall

98% of the figures are essentially polythene which is the most difficult plastic to glue as well as not friendly to any heat application.  They are, however, responsive to brute force and arms, legs and heads will assume a changed position if held in a new stance for at least 20 seconds.  This helps one figure looking, say, in a different direction than his near identical colleague. Sometimes too much kinetic energy and there is a break!

All soldiers sit on temporary bases and polystyrene is the easiest material for this purpose. Hence most of the pictures on this website so far have a white background.  The battle was fought in good weather though of course people think of the war in terms of the infamous Retreat from Moscow.