Back to Napoleonics. I think there will less Poles this year and more German states. I had these "Connoisseur" castings in stock so decided to create a wholly unique unit, so have converted every single figure in some form. No two horse and rider combinations are the same. I swapped out a few horses for Elite ones for more variation.This range also does not include a dedicated trumpeter casting (as Peter Gilder who designed them never got around to doing them for purely economic reasons – i.e. how many would he sell!). The officer and trooper castings come with the right arm cast down by the side and sword attached to the boots.
"Connoisseur" figures designed to be used en masse!
Conversion
So to list the conversion process.
Work out what I want each squadron doing! Key part of the planning.
Squadron 1
Remove right arms and sabres and solder into new position, with soldered shaped flattened pins added to replace the swords. I really liked the one turned and drawing his sword from the scabbard in squadron 4.
Reposition heads, some just turning, bent forward or back some removed and soldered back on. Turn the feet of the rider to dig in more to horse if rider position warrants it.
Squadron 2
Make trumpets from solder and wire, solder these to hands for those that will be blowing them and solder arms back into position. Add loose trumpets with cords to those with their swords drawn
Make falling horses for front squadron – cut from bases bend/cut, position and solder back to base. Model the falling riders – one trumpeter with splayed out hands (done with soldering iron) to cushion his fall – and dropped sword attached to wrist by cords. Add loose flying trumpet ,scabbards and billow out the saddlecloths.
Squadron 3
For the horses match the riders and turn heads & tails to match the riders movements.
Solder flattened wire reins into riders hand. Once the horses are painted these are soldered onto the bridle.Attach riders to horses with two part epoxy glue.
Squadron 4
Now all I have to do is paint the beggars!
Painting
Horse were in various brown shaded oils for troopers, Black for officers and White for trumpeters.
The base tunic green is Shade 5 from the "Andrea Color" green clothes set highlighted with a Vallejo Flat Green
The Red's are again from the "Andrea Color" red set used in the "wrong"order starting dark and working to lighter.
The blue lozenges on the shabraque edging were certainly fun if you like that kind of thing - along with the ciphers in the corner.
For protection they are given a coat of polyurethane Gloss varnish and then a Matt coat - as that seems to be the fashion these days. I don’t think a full Matt finish at this scale always work, so once varnished Matt the areas that should be shiny are redone in a satin varnish to give a little sparkle! In addition i did the buttons last in a neat silver after varnish to keep the shine as they are not in area that will get touched and rub off.
It is just a shame these guys never carried a standard - one of those Bavarian ones would have really added to the overall look. I did not have any decent infantry casualty figures in stock to adorn the bases - so that is another thing to add the near time purchases!
I am very pleased with these , the finished article looked how I had imagined when i started out.