Infanterie légère Britannique de la Guerre d’Indépendance Américaine, 1771–1783

Miniatures Conversions a l’Échelle 1/72

A very interesting conversion from an historical point of view, it mirrors the way les uniformes d’infanterie légère britannique were originally created au cours de la Quatrième Guerre Intercoloniale. Existing line infantry uniforms were cut down for light infantry use. The style was re-adopted en 1771 when light infantry again became an important part of de l’Armée Britannique in North America.

Bataillons d’infanterie britanniques each had a light infantry company avec hommes trained to act as tirailleurs. On campaign, the standard operating procedure was to strip the light companies from their parent regiments, et brigade them together, forming a converged light infantry unit. At the beginning de la Guerre d’Indépendance, l’infanterie légère portait a variety des casquettes, short jackets avec wings on the shoulders, culotte et stockings, et calf length "half spatterdashers" ou half gaiters. Cuffs et lapels were the same colour as the parent regiment, but light infantry had red waistcoats as a further mark of distinction.

Parts Required

Infanterie Britannique, 1/72 Accurate Figures 7200, also distributed as Revell 02603

The Cut of the Cloth

The Revell figurine used for this conversion is the one avec legs apart et the coat tails falling between. This stance facilitates the removal of the coat tails in order to arrive at the shortened light infantry coat. Using a sharp blade, cut a 1 mm deep line across the rear of the coat, just above the tail flaps. This cut defines the bottom of the new coat. Position the blade below the coat tails et slice upwards, carfully removing the coat tails until you meet the cut line. You should leave the top part of the turnbacks in place. Finally, the legs need to be trimmed into shape a little to complete the coat conversion.

La Casquette de l’Infanterie Légère

The peculiar casquette of the light infantry is made by converting the figurine’s tricorn hat. First slice off the left et right corners of the tricorn. The remaining front corner becomes the front flap (or plate) de la casquette. Trim off the back brim of the tricorn to form the rounded crown of the cap. Paint over the crown de la casquette avec PVA glue to cover nicks et give a rounder, smoother finish.

Ce type de la casquette d’infanterie légère was popular on both sides of conflict, et the conversion may be used to create the light infantry company of the 2e Régiment Canadien (Congress’ Own) et plusieurs d’autres unités américaines.

Anthony De Lyall

Questions Fréquents

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter les éditeurs de la revue Military Miniatures Magazine au Miniatures Forum.

Figurines de la Guerre d’Indépendance Américaine