"Netherlands Horse Artillery" Topic

Work in progress basically. Long wanted to do mounted Netherlands Gunners and thought the Perry Portuguese dragoons were just the thing for a conversion. Of course then they brought out the plastic Chasseurs a Cheval, which would have been much easier!

Nice thing about these is no musket/carbine to remove. Sword and right hand easily sawn off. Much work though to get rid of the gauntlet cuffs. Odd that the HA seemed to have square cuffs with a slash, not the usual pointed cuffs. I wanted standing horses but had to add the shabraque with pointed tail. The sheepskin is a bit too big, but should look right when painted.

Nicely done. Much easier than the conversions I made.

What did you do? Intrigued.

I was tempted to just cut my losses and use the new plastic chasseurs with Austrian shako heads. Pointed cuffs I could have lived with or easily squared them off. Metal conversions are not the easiest. Ruined several scalpel blades and I no longer have my "secret supply".

Any mounted HA are a challenge. RHA should be the easiest, but most riders come with "infantry style" kit, whether waterbottles, haversacks, muskets and slings etc. French Line or Garde HA should be easy enough. Just find some spare right arms without swords, or amputate the hand and replace with a clenched fist.

Because I was doing a mass build of a NL division I had lots of flexibility with the figures available and a use for the 'cast-offs'.

I started with horses from the Light Dragoons. The mounted gunners were Volunteer Light Dragoons. I carved away the 'cap lines, the carbines and the 'double-breasting'. I then swapped heads with Dutch shakos from elsewhere.

Very convoluted and a bit expensive but the final result was fine.

If the Portuguese had been available at the time I think, as you did, I would have started with them and maybe mounted them on NL light cavalry horses. Your solution has a simple elegance.

I must admit for my French horse artillery, I have been a bit lazy and left them with their swords drawn as long as they are only 'at the slope'.

RHA are difficult. Apart from the slung equipment problem, they have a sword belt over their right shoulder which makes them unique. In the end I bought the Foundry figures (I only needed a few) and put them on Perry horses.

Nice sculpting Mr D.

This may be of assistance.

link

Best wishes,

Chris

The horses I am not happy with even now. But I wanted standing or at least not charging horses. The problem is that the sheepskin is much bigger than it would have been over a shabraque.

The Volunteer Light Dragoons. Now that must have taken MUCH carving but I would love to see the result. Do you have any pics whatsoever? Never mind the quality, mine are just taken with a flash.

The swords at a slope. Just what I had planned, until about 0300 this morning. I simply could not get back to sleep and I lay there thinking about my Belgian HA (sad really). Suddenly wondered just how attached were the swords. Answer; other than the right hand, hardly at all. Tiny link to shoulder and shako and even the hand was largely free from the thigh.

I even now think how well these would work for Polish HA, with a colpack and fringed epaulettes (both easily done with Greenstuff)

CMD, thanks for that link.

Strange thing is that Pinterest. Dozens of times I have put in various permutations of Dutch/Belgian/Netherlands/Napoleonic/Artillery etc, but this never came up.

I have taken much mocking in our house, because I thought it was called "Pee-Interest". It led to huge laughter over a family dinner, as the wine flowed. I now know it is to do with "pinning" something (to which you have absolutely no rights of course…).

But I am Dad (and grandad) so I expect to be abused, even as I act as banker and financier

What did you do about the hilts of their swords in the scabbards?

Not being on Facebook or having a blog, I have a problem with putting my own pictures on TMP. I will look into it.

Ah, I did think of that. (I usually think of such things days later…like the 2e Carabiniers with their cloaks over their shoulders but also across the portmanteaux). The only snag is the sword knot is now flying at an angle that defies gravity.
Everyone that needed one has a plastic hilt superglued onto the empty scabbard.

So often we get it wrong. A trumpeter with an empty scabbard. A chap waving a sword, with second sword in his scabbard, a chap with an eagle in his right hand but not a sword to be seen.

Must be me but half the fun is spotting such howlers. The art is to learn from such info and take it positively, indeed, be really grateful, (if not Dead?)

What a labour of love! I certainly understand the satisfaction and pleasure of creating one's own unique figs from conversions but I stick with bodging plastics – not brave enough for your superior work with greenstuff and metals!

Trust me. It is the path to madness and many a sliced finger. Plastic is so much more forgiving….

Indeed modern plastics can produce better detail sometimes, I am convinced. Metal has had its day, as technology advances

Hello again.

My friend James, the good general is a Waterloo fanatic and does good research.

This may be of value.

link

Best wishes,

Chris

I thought I had managed to find everything "contemporary" on DB HA, but only this morning I put in summat on Google in Flemish rather than English and suddenly found the Dutch HA museum, which led to much else.

But this sequence has some illustrations I have never seen. Invaluable (esp as they seem to again confirm the square cuffs, which seems so odd).

Many thanks indeed

Just a brief thanks to all who responded.

Almost finished today. Square cuffs with cuff slashes. I did not want pointed, as just too difficult a conversion.

Do not imagine anyone has any idea about trumpeter's cords re colours?

Also, what is that thing on their cross belt that I tried to reproduce? Circular thing, then a cord or chain, then attached to what looks like two tubes?

Interesting that Mt St Jean site changed its mind. Originally square cuffs and black sheepskins for all. Lately, much darker blue coats (looks superb now) but now pointed cuffs and white sheepskin for most