Lord Hill | 25 Mar 2018 12:56 p.m. PST |
I will be buying lots of the new Perry plastic chasseurs a cheval and was just wondering what might be done with the spare torsos and legs which each box will contain. My chasseurs will all be 1815 so the questions is: what can I make in terms of conversions with all those spare Kinski coat torsos? I was wondering if the torsos could be used for Britsh heavy cavalry, but the problem will be what to use for the heads. I make my own saddle cloths etc using greenstuff, so that shouldn't be too big an obstacle. Anyone got any other ideas to turn them into anything else either French, Belgian, Dutch, or British? |
deadhead | 25 Mar 2018 2:31 p.m. PST |
French Horse Artillery….remember they did not spend all their time firing the guns….no one ever considers that for HA of any nation. |
HairiYetie | 26 Mar 2018 2:44 a.m. PST |
I was wondering if marrying Carabinier helmeted heads from the Perry French Heavy Cavalry with the Chasseur a Cheval bodies and mounts would make accurate Line Lancers? Of course the helmet would have to have the band added above the peak and the arms modified to carry lances. Am I on the right track or am I missing something critical? |
deadhead | 26 Mar 2018 5:24 a.m. PST |
You are not far off. The Perry figures come with two types of coat, the Kinski and the Spencer. The Kinski is the planer one, central row of buttons as single breasted with no lapels. I gather that is what you have left over. Snag is the lancers generally used the one with lapels. On those, the Perry crested helmets with a fur turban would work fine. Indeed adding the turban would enhance the heads, which I always think too slender in the coronal plane Shako rouleau from Hussars and you suddenly have 2e Eclaireurs in plastic, but you would need ACW horses. |
Garde de Paris | 26 Mar 2018 7:20 a.m. PST |
As I recall, there was an interim dark green uniform for the Lancers of Berg in Spain, with a conventional shako of rose body, white bands, etc. The Kinski was also allowed, and the line light cavalry lambswool saddle cover. GdeP |
setsuko | 26 Mar 2018 7:41 a.m. PST |
Would they be usable as any of the non-French light cavalry on Napoleon's side in 1812? |
deadhead | 26 Mar 2018 8:56 a.m. PST |
I have been looking through uniform books and the kinski look seems fairly unusual. Those with lapels could become Saxon Chevauleger or many a Confederation unit indeed. But I have not found many uses for the simpler coat. Artillery drivers, things like that, yes….. |
Lord Hill | 26 Mar 2018 9:15 a.m. PST |
Artillery drivers, things like that The books I have show even the horse artillery and artillery drivers in 1815 in the Bardin style "buttoned back" uniforms. The search for a use for Kinski coats goes on! |
deadhead | 26 Mar 2018 9:29 a.m. PST |
Agree entirely. However I meant to say Guard Artillery Drivers……….."ah, I have you now" to quote Master and Commander (or Darth Vader as he closes on Luke's six). Below a Perry figure, not sure who posted it. Mine was not this good!
Now really clever would be some Austrian shako heads, on a kinski thorax, but with shoulder rolls instead of fringes… and what have you got? Even better give him a red coat with a colpack for the same unit and a trumpet…..and what have you got? |
Footslogger | 26 Mar 2018 11:26 a.m. PST |
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Lord Hill | 26 Mar 2018 12:01 p.m. PST |
Great idea, Deadhead, many thanks. I was looking at the wrong drivers on Cent Jours. PLUS, these are a way to use the legs in boots! Double winner. Now I just need to buy dozens of standing horses from Front Rank! |
setsuko | 26 Mar 2018 12:44 p.m. PST |
Deadhead: since I'm adding various regiments from Grouchy's III corps, Saxon Chevauleger would actually be a nice addition. :) But looking at the various German states, the hurdle seems to be the shabracks. |
Three Armies | 26 Mar 2018 1:35 p.m. PST |
Somehow when I see things like this I cant help thinking we've all gone backwards. Why convert from plastic what you can get in metal? The labour time for all that building doesn't even make sense. |
deadhead | 27 Mar 2018 1:40 a.m. PST |
I could not agree more. The great thing about plastics is the simplicity of conversions…but only to make something that you simply cannot get in metals (yet anyway). Cost hardly comes into it, when you factor in the time investment that is going into the work and the painting. The shabraques are indeed a problem and not readily available in plastic. You'll need to persuade some lancers or chasseurs a Chev de la Garde Imperiale to dismount……by then cheaper to buy those nice Saxons from Black Hussar But if you want to create something like this…..so what is he?
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Lord Hill | 27 Mar 2018 2:30 a.m. PST |
The labour time for all that building doesn't even make sense It does if, like me, making unique conversion figures is the part of the hobby you most enjoy! Personally, I would like EVERY figure in my armies to be in a different pose etc. Making conversions adds an uncountable number of variations which would be impossible if I only bought metal. |
Footslogger | 27 Mar 2018 2:31 a.m. PST |
I'm STILL agog. Put me out of my misery. |
deadhead | 27 Mar 2018 2:38 a.m. PST |
Oh you can do it…………. He is a trumpeter to the two characters either side of him, in reversed colours. The clue is the guy to the right with the red and yellow shoulder rolls and (arguably) he might be wearing a shako with a peak at the back as well as front…as indeed might the trumpeter if he was slightly different nationality….which his king would have argued did not apply anyway. a clue from Mt St Jean (thank God to have it back again!) The whole point of course is whether he is Belgian or Dutch, certainly not "Holland"……when the two were Netherlands anyway, like it or not!
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Footslogger | 27 Mar 2018 3:33 a.m. PST |
OK. Got you now. It just underlines the need for a sprue of plastic horses with pointed schabraques. |
Lord Hill | 27 Mar 2018 10:38 a.m. PST |
It just underlines the need for a sprue of plastic horses with pointed schabraques. Amen a thousand times. |
deadhead | 27 Mar 2018 1:24 p.m. PST |
and if we ever do, please without the sheepskin exposed. Dead easy added, but much filing to suppress. I would be grateful if Perrys would do boxes of just horses, even in metal. Ideally not charging hell for leather. Let's say you wanted their line lancers or hussars at rest; the only solution is to go and buy some metal chasseurs or some of the latest releases in The Guard who have such mounts. Quite an expense for riding figures you may not really want. Front Rank horses are a complete contrast to the stocky riders. Even the heavy cavalry horses are tiny. Just thought of another possibility….. They look very like the trumpeter above. Perry Hussar colpacks (actually there are some in this set) on Kinski trunks, for Polish Chasseurs a Cheval. Makes for something different! |
Lord Hill | 27 Mar 2018 3:16 p.m. PST |
Another possibility? 11th Cuirassiers? Presuming you use spare heads and arms from the heavy cav set, you would only need to fashion an eppaulette for the left shoulder. link |