Robert Edward Lee commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point) and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, served as West Point Superintendent, and married Mary Custis.

When Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the country to remain intact and despite an offer of a senior Union command. During the first year of the Civil War, Lee served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the main field army in 1862, he quickly emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning most of his battles - all against far superior Union armies.

Lee's strategic foresight was more questionable, and both of his major offensives into Union territory ended in defeat. Lee's aggressive tactics, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years. In addition, the loss of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville – Lee’s “right arm” - arguably later cost Lee the battle of Gettysburg, due to Jackson’s corps replacement General Richard Ewell’s failing to take Culp’s Hill on the battle’s first day. Culp’s Hill became the anchor of the Union line and proved to be the superior fighting ground for the remainder of the battle.

Lee surrendered his entire army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. By this time, Lee had assumed supreme command of the remaining Southern armies; other Confederate forces swiftly capitulated after his surrender. Lee rejected the proposal of a sustained insurgency against the Union and called for reconciliation between the two sides.

After the war, as President of what is now Washington and Lee University, Lee supported President Andrew Johnson's program of Reconstruction and intersectional friendship, while opposing the Radical Republican proposals to give freed slaves the vote and take the vote away from ex-Confederates. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the nation's political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, a postwar icon of the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" to some. But his popularity grew even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. West Point barracks built in 1962 are named after him.

Here is another outstanding 120mm resin figure kit from Verlinden. The kit consists of ten resin parts, including a nicely detailed display base. The engraving of the figure is extremely sharp with the great detail afforded by the large 120mm scale.

The first step was to remove the casting resin pieces from each figure piece and clean them up. I use a razor saw and a sharp Xacto knife to remove these pieces. I also scrape the seam lines with an Xacto knife to clean them up.

I used Superglue to assemble the pieces. There was some seam filing, and for this I used Gunze Sangyo’s Mr. Surfacer 1000.

To facilitate painting the figure, I used a pin vise to drill holes in the bottoms of the figure’s boots and then super-glued lengths of straightened paper clip to each boot bottom. I then drilled holes in a wooden block and inserted the other ends of the paper clips into the holes. I used white glue to temporarily secure the figure to the wooden base so I could handle it while painting it. When this was dry, I prepped the figure with Testors flat white enamel shot through my Paasche airbrush to serve as the base coat and provide a light base for subsequent hand painting with a combination of acrylics and enamels.

The next step was to hand paint the figure. I began with the head and hands. For these parts I used Testors flat flesh enamel. As always, with figures, a major challenge is the skin tones, and then the proper shading to get some kind of expression on the face. I mixed some Testors flat white with the flesh paint and highlighted raised portions of the figure’s face and hands. I then painted the figure’s hair with acrylic Americana White Wash.

To paint the eyes, I used acrylic flat white to paint in oblong eyeballs, then some acrylic light blue to represent the irises. I finished up the eyes by applying just a “dot” of black for the pupils inside of the irises. Again, the key to achieving realistic eyes is to then paint a bottom and top lid over the white eyeball so that the figure doesn’t have that “bug-eyed” look.

For most of the other parts of the figure, I primarily used relatively inexpensive flat acrylic paints. For Lee’s uniform, I used Apple Barrel Pewter Grey, which I lightened with a little white. For the vest, I darkened this grey with black until I was satisfied with the shade. For the boots and hat, I used Apple Barrel Jet Black. Finally, I used Testors Gold for the uniform insignia and buttons.

The base is very well done, so I painted it with Apple Barrel Khaki. For the tree stump, I used Apple Barrel burnt umber. For the gloves, I used Folkart plaid. After all of these dried, I used a black acrylic was over the entire base to bring out highlights.

Verlinden has created yet another very nice representation of a significant US military figure. I have General Lee displayed on my shelf with Generals Grant and Jackson.

Robert E. Lee, Wikipedia, May 2016.

Gettysburg, Civil War Trust, May 2016.

Confederate General Richard Ewell's Failure on the Heights, Civil War Trust, May 2016.

Blair Stewart

21 June 2016

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