"AB Jena Prussians Axe Equipped Troops? " Topic

Hello,
I bought some AB Jena Prussians with the intention of painting them as Erb Prinz Regiment from Hesse Darmstadt in the Peninsula (and yes I know they changed uniform on the way to Spain).

I've primed the figures and some models appear to have an axe on their back (on, not in their back). This is hanging with the axehead lying in the small of the back.

Two questions:

Should these figures just be used for particular companies, or can they be spread throughout the battalions?

How do I paint them? Was there a cover over the axehead?

Thanks
Malc

Malc,
These were spread around the battalion, the axe cover was black, I painted them in a wood color as they looked more like extra drum sticks to me, or spoons for cooking. I didn't notice an axe head on these figures though.

John

They are tent pegs, Malc. I just painted them a wood colour, as show below:

Bryce,
Glad you came along to clearify that, I knew you would know, what they were. :)

John

John, Bryce,
Thanks for the quick response. Bryce – tent pegs! I was wondering why so many figures seemed to be carrying spare drumsticks!

John – some of the figures clearly have what looks like an axe hanging vertically on their back with the blade of the axehead tucked under the tan breadbag. I've found a picture of a grenadier in "Napoleon's Apogee" by Bressonet / Bowden wearing an axe (with what appears to be bare metal)in this manner – but was unsure if this was general equipment or reserved for particular troops or not.

Finally, looking at Bryce's marvellous figures – should the clubbed queue hanging down over the collar be black? This is how I painted mine on my first few test figures.

Thanks
Malc

I've posted pictures of my first test figures on my blog here: link

I can see I've also erred in painting the musket strap white rather than leather, so that will need to be fixed. And my chaps are wearing darker trousers than Bryce's.

Malc

it is an field ax which was carried by some portion of the musketeers, not by all of them, it belonged to the field equipment, like field pick and field spade (in case I remember correctly they were not carried in battle any longer and not even on the march in 1806) – the queue was wrapped in a black lace and at the end of it there was natural hair, about 1.5 inches visible

Thanks von Winterfeldt. My first attempts are here (with and without dip): link

So this week the plan is to get as far as I can with them.