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I made the long trek from Ottawa, Canada to Virginia for Historicon 2012 this year.

I picked up some Perry Miniatures models from the American War of Independence, mainly because they looked awesome, and I've always loved 'The Patriot'.

Anyone know where I could find some info on how to paint these models? I mostly use Vallejo paints but have easy access to GW paints as well.

And good resources on the timeline of the war would be welcomed!


Thanks in advance!

The first step to being accurate with painting is to purge your memory of the movie, everything in it is inaccurate. I would suggest some form of alcoholic beverage.

Second, try the Osprey books, they have information on the history of the war and colored pictures to base you painting on.

Third, you have to decide whether to use the Betsy flags or not. Their the archetypal thirteen stars in a circle version of the flag. While pretty and easily recognizable, they are historically inaccurate. State flags are closer to reality but tend to limit you to certain parts of the war, while the Betsy flag is more generic. It may seem odd, but using the Betsy flag is accepted even though it's inaccurate, so don't let anyone on the internet tell you otherwise.

Osyr wrote:The first step to being accurate with painting is to purge your memory of the movie, everything in it is inaccurate. I would suggest some form of alcoholic beverage.

Second, try the Osprey books, they have information on the history of the war and colored pictures to base you painting on.

Third, you have to decide whether to use the Betsy flags or not. Their the archetypal thirteen stars in a circle version of the flag. While pretty and easily recognizable, they are historically inaccurate. State flags are closer to reality but tend to limit you to certain parts of the war, while the Betsy flag is more generic. It may seem odd, but using the Betsy flag is accepted even though it's inaccurate, so don't let anyone on the internet tell you otherwise.

As much as I love the movie this guy is right. Ospery books are a great place to start.

Uniforms of the American Revolution by John Mollo is very useful.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll start hunting for the books.

I wouldn't discredit the movie too much, it did inspire me to pick up these models and investigate the time period in the first place.

Up until the movie, I had no idea there were two separate wars (Civil and AWI) lol.

No I'm not from America, and they never taught it in our schools,,,well...we learned about the War of 1812, but we were in that one.