Hinton Hunt Painting Instructions

After a significant amount of work I have now finished transcribing all the sets of original Hinton Hunt Painting Transactions I have or which people have kindly sent me.

These originals are typically slightly (at least) fuzzy carbon copy type documents. They don't reproduce well when posted so transcribing them seemed to be the best way to preserve them and make them accessible and usable.

Marcus Hinton was not entirely consistent in style or spelling but I have tried to remain as true as possible to the originals, avoiding editing and keeping as close to the original text and layout.

All are for Napoleonic figures.

I have grouped them in seven separate documents:

A - Index - a list of all those included in the transcripts

1 - AN Codes - Austrians (16)
2 - BN Codes - British (24)
3 - FN Codes - French (51)
4 - PN Codes - Prussian (11)
5 - RN Codes - Russian (9)

6 - Smaller Nations - includes Bavaria (1), Brunswick (3), Netherlands (1), Hesse-Darmstadt (2), Nassau (1), Portugal (1), Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1), Wurttemberg (1)

These documents are pdfs. I hope there may be some additions in time as people may send me scans or copies of sets I don't yet have.

As there is the potential for these documents to change I am not making them available at the moment for download. Instead, you can send me a comment (which I won't publish), giving your email address and saying which of the seven documents you would like me to send you.

It may be that more recent research has overtaken some of this information but Marcus Hinton was serious about his research and they give the authentic answer to how he expected his figures to be painted in the 1960s and 70s. Having transcribed them all I can confirm I think they will be very helpful for anyone looking to paint these vintage figures (provided, of course, the particular set of instructions you need were available to me and are included in my list0.

As I am doing this because once I had done it for myself I thought I would share the information with others, this is all on a good will basis so I make no guarantees about how quickly I can deal with any requests I receive, but I will do my best to respond quickly.

This information is provided on condition no commercial use is made of it, and on condition you do not copy and send to anyone else. If you know of anyone who would also like them, please direct them here to obtain them from me.

PTN 17 Portuguese Cacadore marching

I had not previously listed this figure and had not seen it before, nor was it listed in either of the original catalogues I have seen. It is lsited on Vintage 20mil and from its code number was obviously a later addition to the range.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese reinforcements

Recent figure swaps with two different people have resulted in a timely boost to my Cacadores battalion (some Der Kriegspieler, David Clayton and even some vintage Hinton Hunt castings), and an additional nine Der Kriegspieler line infantry (the officer is a spare David Clayton casting) I also hope to have an additional 24 man Der Kriegspieler Cacadores battalion arriving soon - when finished this will give me three and a half line and two Cacadores battalions, nearly enough for two Portuguese Brigades, a great contribution to the Allied Peninsular forces.

Iberian Contingent

Ever since reading C.S Forester's Death to the French, the Peninsular Campaign has been my primary interest for the Napoleonic period. After completing the Prussian contingent, my thoughts turned to what to do next, as a quieter time with work has given me a bit more time to paint. The contingent approach seems to offer the satisfaction of completing something, in reasonable manageable chunks, - so long as I leave the British and French out of it for the moment - so I fixed on the Iberians, the Portuguese and Spanish allied force.

I had already completed around 30 Spanish Guerillas (mainly David Clayton castings) and 12 line infantry (original castings), together with a marching Portuguese officer painted as Spanish. I had some further David Clayton castings (a more recent acquisition) and still have unpainted three original figures, including two further muleteers. I also had two painted muleteers and two mule teams. The set up is completed by a mounted colonel, a field marshal, lieutenant general and brigadier from the old Rose Wellington figure, of which I have around 30. This seems to be an appropriate command element for fourty or so line and and thirty or so guerillas! I am currently hopeful of secuting a further 12 Spanish Line (David Clayton) and 18 Der Kriegspieler Spanish Light infantry, which would give me a brigade of three weak battalions. Cavalry and artillery cover will need to be provided by the British.

On the Portuguese front I had the Der Kriegspieler battallion already posted here (whichhad packs added to give them a different look. I was surprised to see I had based these in sixes, rather than threes as is my normal practice for British and allies - I will probably rebase this battalion. I also had acquired two further battalions from Tony, which he had replaced with other figures. These had been painted in a Plaka blue in the 70s, and as this did not match my existing battalion and I had some additional figures to add and paint, I hdecided to repaint the blue on these figures. This has now been completed. I only have 6 original Cacadores (I am currently hoping to acquire some Der Kriegspielers which would complete a battalion) - also have some S Range figures in barretina which will be posted shortly on the Lone S Ranger. So at the moment I have a brigade of three line battalions and a scattering of cacadores; eventually I hope to have a brigade of two line and one cacadores, representing Collins' Portuguese Brigade in the 7th Division, and a reserve independent line battalion. The Portugues contingent is completed by an ox cart.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Brigade

My Portugues brigade in its current format. I'm hopeful of acquiring enough Der Kroegspieler cacadores to make a full battalion - I'll then field a brigade of two line and one cacadore battalions, with the Der Kriegspielers as a reserve battalion. Logistics are loooked after by the Hinton Hunt Ox Cart. I will be adding a dedicated driver using a spare (as yet unpainted) original muleteer figure.

Currently with no commander, this seems to be a likely job for one more of my surplus Rose Wellingtons.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Line Battalion summer trousers

The ensign and drummer are Tony's conversions with replacement heads - the ensign is S Range, I believe the drummer may also be but not so sure.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Line Battalion winter trousers

The ensign is Tony's conversion of an S Range figure with a replacement head.

Iberian Contingent - Portuguese Cacadores

Portugal 1812-15

The original catalogue description states:

Portuguese Infantry of the Line 1812-15

The Portuguese Infantry of the line were excellent and gave fine support to their British allies. They wore "stove pipe shakos", and medium blue coatees and breeches.

Portugues Cacadores (Riflemen)

Equipped and trained like the British Rifle Regiments, the Cacadores were Portugal's crack troops uniformed in shakos and rust brown coatees and breeches.

PTN 15 Portuguese Cacadore firing

PTN 14 Portuguese Cacadore charging

PTN 7 Portuguese Infantry marching

PTN 6 Portuguese Infantry Officer marching

PTN 5 Portuguese Infantry firing

PTN 4 Portuguese Infantry charging

PTN 1 Portuguese Infantry Officer charging