"A Waterloo Dispatch, but from Westfalia!" Topic

Finally got this project finished today.

Percy and his naval captain colleague deliver the Waterloo dispatch, plus a brace of eagles. I have tried a few night photos, with the original building involved (now the East India Club) in the background. Not sure they have worked as well. All to do with White balance…………

The curricle, indeed most of the models and figures are Westfalia, even down to the dog. Major Percy is their drunken British general, with a new head from Niels R and altered legs. My lads still insist he will fall flat on his face. The naval rig is an almost unmodified Saxon artillery officer. Perrys' Picton has been demoted you will see. The light bob officer is Front Rank, part of their new and, anatomically, vastly better ranges (with his hand swapped to hold a Westfalia glass of course). I ask you to believe that he is much better painted than the washed out lighting suggests here.

Even the post chaise uses the Carriage base/ wheels etc, designed for the Tsar, but with a totally scratch built cab. The horses are mostly Saxon artillery draft animals. Flags GMB of course.

Gas lights in 1815? Yes, surprisingly. Piccadilly and Mayfair were lit up even earlier than that!

Lots of pictures here of varying quality; imageshack.com/a/bG94/1

But a few samples;

Very nice! Great job, thanks for the details on the minis various components.

You are a true artist Deadhead, respect!

Very nicely done!

Jim

Top class , well done a lot of time and effort put in and this shows in the result

Beautiful work Deadhead! Thoughtful presentation, lovely paintwork.

Great and timely dio!

Wonderful work!

Lovely!

Great painting!

Very nice indeed!

Great Work!
Where are the cobblestones (road) from?
Where is the man in the top hat riding the horse from?
Thank you

Must thank you all for such encouraging feedback. The surprise for me was how well the Light Infantry officer worked out, but how badly he photographed. There is shading of his coat and breeches that I am really pleased with, but you just see it washed out here.

The postillion is Perrys'Picton, but with a riding crop instead of an umbrella. No other conversion needed.

The cobblestones and the pavement flag stones are from a model railways series. Plastic sheets of many surfaces, wall types, even roofs..all easily cut. I'll check the origin tonight.

Heard from Niels at Westfalia too. I'd stress that even the post chaise is 50% theirs'. The undercarriage and wheels are anyway!

Meant to check this earlier.
A large range of plastic sheets 13 X 7.5 cms. Wills OO scenic materials packs.
I get mine from Monk Bar Model shop in York but I imagine most railway modellers have a source. A little small for 28mm but I use them a lot. About £3.50 GBP for four so dirt cheap. Easily drilled and cut and of course glued with polystyrene cement
Produced by Will Kits, Ratio House, Buckfastleigh, Devon TQ11 0NR (or so the packets say

Thank you, great work!

Brilliant Deadhead, great company for your Russian coach!

The post chaise used the same undercarriage. I just added the C springs and the cab/trunks. Leaving the doors open created "challenges" though!

Pure chance I got a second Landau. I ordered the curricle with the British officer, but he came with the landau by mistake. Well, they sent on the planned vehicle but insisted I keep the landau…….so I suddenly thought…what a resource.

The plan had been to have the officer greeting a captured Lefebvre Desnouettes with 10th Hussar escort. The top hat looks very Peninsula to me. Niels kindly sent me a spare officer then to convert into Percy jumping from the carriage….and yes, he will fall flat on his face when he lands

Of course another factor was realising that this chap's vehicle, his bonhomie and his rig was hardly compatible with winter in Central Spain!
I took a couple of pictures during construction of the post chaise. The cab is just a basic box shape. The undercarriage, the "rolling chassis", of the Landau was a Godsend, with some minor additions. The C springs though………easier than last time when I did Boney's carriage but………

One thing that worked well was the rear window. Glazing and cutting was too much to face, so I just added the frame, painted in three shades of grey and finally a few coast of gloss varnish

It is really just Napoleon's famous Dormeuse/Berlin/Chariot from Genappe (no one can agree what the chimera actually was called)) but slightly smaller;