"Kit-bashing Napoleonic Plastics. What would you create?" Topic

If you had as many of the plastic boxes be they Perry or Victrix as needed what would work as a kitbash to create troops?
I was thinking that the Perry French Infantry in great coat with headswap with Austrians could be Wurtemburgers? use the sabres backpacks and away you go!
What would you make?

How about French dragoon with carabinier head from the heavy cav box to make a lancer?

I have been using Perry Dragoons with Victrix Austrian shakos as Beimbach-Schönau Chevaux Leger.

I will seriously consider this when we start to see some plastic arty sets come out. IIRC, the wurtemburgers has a higher crested helmet than the Austrians. But in a pinch….lets just say they could be used on my game table!…./>)

Several people (myself included have made Spanish out of the Victrix early french and I posted mr Rifles conversions a week or 2 ago. What I want are Spanish guerilla fighters, anyone got ideas of how to do those in plastic?

Robert

It's occurred to me that using the Perry Belgic shako heads with the Victrix French Infantry 1807-1812 box would give you a passable Portuguese Legion figure suitable for Wagram and Borodino?

I mashed up French Hussars and French Dragoons for Chasseurs and I am quite happy with the result.

hmmm,funny you should ask…..right now on my work table there are some simple conversions in plastic.
Useing the skirmishing figures from the Perry plastic french as a base,I have made 2 Saxon gun crews in the post 1810 uniforms.Trimmed a few cuff flaps and the epalets..a little liqiud green stuff for a shako cover when needed.I used vitrix arms from several sets when needed as well.
I also have two battalions of saxon infantry.One Line and one light.Agian I am useing the Perry plastic french as the base figures.For the line battalion..I am useing the fusilier figures with the cuff flaps trimmed off.( I know the french figs are missing the sword and bayonete that the saxons used ,but I can live with it and maybe one person in my local group might even know the differance.I am mostly doing these for 1813 when eqiupment was short.
The light battalion is the elite figs with the cuff flaps removed,and agian some liqiud green stuff on the shako's when needed.
I have also looked into useing the victrix austrian heads(helments) as the early Wurzburg regiment.

At yesterday's Liebertwolkwitz 1813 game at our FLGS we had two different approaches to converting Russian Hussars….Dave had used the Perry Brit Hussars, with the problem being the docked tails, and Greg had converted the Perry French Hussars, the problem here being the horse furniture.

I have to say that standing on the other side of the table, both conversions were entirely convincing, as on the wargames table, unlike in real life, its the colour scheme that carrys the most weight….

Of course Imagi-Nations. Surplus heads are just the thing for that!
British infantry with French shakos, Dragoons with Tarletons (filed French dragoon heads with green stuff crests)…
If I were to make historicals out of kit bashed plastics I would undoubtedly give American Wars of Liberation a try. Helmeted hussars, hussar uniformed horse grenadiers, etc.

The Perry Hussars in shakos used with dragoon bodies are good for Saxon and Polish light cavalry

I'd love to have some Prussian guards and grenadiers, with those ridiculous huge plumes.

And Prussian cuirassiers, too. Perhaps a combination of the Russian cuirassier with the French carabinier head, minus the side-plume?

How come nobody has ever made Prussian grenadiers or cuirassiers in 28mm?

Hi
Im considering Using VICTRIX Austrian Landwher with VICTRIX French heads (wearing Shakos) to create Croatian Sedentary Battalions for French Service in 1809-12.
Very cool ;o)

How about Napoleonic Orks? I did these with my left over Perry plastics…

Also, wouldn't converted Perry French Hussars with Dragoon torsos work as Chasseurs a Cheval?

How about French dragoon with carabinier head from the heavy cav box to make a lancer?

That works.

The Lancers are great. Tha orks just don't work for me as Napoleonics. :p

Grompix…is there any way we could see some more pictures of those lancers up close ???…and explain just what you did for the conversion.I may be looking at 6 new cavalry regiments to work on.
Tim

Grompix…is there any way we could see some more pictures of those lancers up close ???…and explain just what you did for the conversion.I may be looking at 6 new cavalry regiments to work on.
Tim

What Tim said,…

I made a French Chasseur a Cheval out of Hussar/Dragoon bits:

French Hussar shako, overall legs, carbine & horse.
British Hussar right arm.
French Dragoon body, scabbard, cartridge box.
Carved off the Dragoon gauntlet and bent the scabbard to look like a sabre.

Cliff

Camcloud – that looks really neat. I'm just painting these in 15mm – your figure, to my untutored eye, looks spot on.

Grompix…is there any way we could see some more pictures of those lancers up close ???…and explain just what you did for the conversion.I may be looking at 6 new cavalry regiments to work on.
Tim

Happy to oblige: -

and

and

I could have made life easier by just utilising the carabinier head & helmet as-is and painting on the fur 'turban' but I wanted it right so I cut off the carabinier crest and glued it to the dragoon helmet.

I used the Perry hussar horses as the valises are the correct round shape for French light cavalry and the horses are indeed a little smaller than the dragoon ones. A bit of judicial filing on the dragoon horses would have done the job just as well (and cheaper!) I think.

Chris

Grompix- Chris
An I thought I was the crazy one for hacking and cutting uo figs…but what ever you do ,keep it up.Until you told me what you did with the helment,I would have never noticed.Great work.
Where did you find so many swords still in the scabbard ?there is only "one" per box of Perry Plastic cavalry that I know of.
Really nice work,,,just added some of these fellows to my too do list.
Tim

Where did you find so many swords still in the scabbard ?there is only "one" per box of Perry Plastic cavalry that I know of.

I think I utilised the swords from the foot dragoons and bent the scabbards a little to make them look curved.

I really like the current trend of 28mm plastic figures. Not only for their relative cheapness but also the comparitive ease with which they can be converted into something different.

…and my figure boxes don't give me a hernia carrying them to the club anymore either!

Thanks for commenting.
Chris

I gathered lots of plastic off casts from gaming friends and
wanted to make a British force, but as I don't like red armies very much I wanted to do lots of allies.

I wondered if I could make some Dutch Carabiniers by using the Perry dragoons with the officer head in bicorne with plume from the British artillery set. The shoulder fringes I thought I could cut from the Victrix French spare arms I have. I have enough heads to make 1 squadron of 12 if it seems right. I haven't bought the Perry figs yet.

For the Dutch Hussars I was just going to use the Perry French Hussars, and if the shakos weren't close enough, use the covered shakos from the Victrix French infantry box.

For Dutch militia I am using Victrix Waterloo British I have spare and the unused stovepipe shakos I have from the artillery boxes and shaving the lace off the chest where I can. The drummer I'm shaving the arm stripes off, and the officer shako I think I have to shave the peak off another shako and attach it to the back. I can use British arms and tidy up the cuff lace a little to be more like the buttons only of the real thing.

For Dutch line I am using Victrix Waterloo British and shaving off the chest lace with spare shakos from my Victrix French and shaving off the chin straps. For the arms I'm using spare Victrix French ones that have the same cuff style.

I haven't researched any artillery pictures yet but was really blindly hoping the Victrix British would 'stretch' to it.

Naps aren't my favourite and I don't have any books on the allies but this seems to be 'close' to me. Can anyone make some points if I can get close without button counting.

Thanks very much,
Shell

MichelleJ

Your conversion plans sound about right.

The Monte Saint Jean site has lots of plates for reference:

centjours.mont-saint-jean.com

Wow, thanks heaps :) Off I wander scalpel in hand, this could be dangerous, lol

I wanted to use the carabinier heads and put them on the French Hussers to make the units of Brigadier-General Guy Loup from Sharpes battle….I might still do this!

Id take some of the Russian & British plastics to make some of the differently uniformed Prussian units in 1815.

I'm useing the Perry plastic British for Hanovarians with a few bits of lace trimmed off here and there.I even cut off the tops of the riflemens shako's and added a small mashed ball of green stuff to make the some cap popular with german troops.Now I have some of the prussian heads from my brother for a landwehr battalion.
As for the russian figs for the russo-german legion in prussian service,,,you will need officers in prussian uniforms.

With the British-style uniforms for Prussian (ex-)Reserve units, you're on safer ground for 1813/14 than for 1815: Much as I prefer the more colourful kits myself, it seems most of those units finally drew regulation coatees and shakos in February/March 1815.

For the former Russo-German Legion (IR 30 & 31) it's a different story, so Russians with the Prussian command sprue should work for 1815.

Hey Musk, two books I have at home state one of the Prussian I.R.'s still had 2 battalions in British dress in the 100 days campaign. Dont have the books in front of me though..