Bill Slavin | 15 Nov 2020 8:56 a.m. PST |
About a month ago I finally received my long-awaited British Dragoons from HaT, both heavy and light. I have written up a review of the light dragoons for anyone interested. These fill a needed void in 1/72 plastics for anyone gaming the Peninsular Wars. They are far from perfect, but if you are willing to put some work into them, they can serve. link
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PaulB | 15 Nov 2020 12:04 p.m. PST |
Why do they have so many of them looking sideways rather than ahead? |
Brian Smaller | 15 Nov 2020 2:54 p.m. PST |
Why do they have so many of them looking sideways rather than ahead? For the same reason most Elite miniatures are staring up at God. |
Glengarry5 | 15 Nov 2020 3:16 p.m. PST |
Nicely done but I don't think British light dragoon trumpeters wore reverse colours but blue like everyone else. |
Fred Mills | 15 Nov 2020 4:10 p.m. PST |
Love the work. Very nice. |
Bill Slavin | 15 Nov 2020 5:08 p.m. PST |
Glengarry, you may well be right. When I researched it I wasn't able to find anything that was certain other than an army Order of 1812 that forbade reverse colours for trumpeters which would seem to imply that before that they may have existed, at least with some regiments. |
GurKhan | 16 Nov 2020 8:55 a.m. PST |
On trumpeters' colours, here's a previous TMP thread with links to even older threads… TMP link |
Green Tiger | 16 Nov 2020 9:15 a.m. PST |
Hi Bill – looks great!I think you are right about the reverse colours before 1812 – certainly that is how LD trumpeters dressed in the 1790's. |
Widowson | 17 Nov 2020 7:14 p.m. PST |
They look to the side because of the molding process. What's it going to take to get HaT to provide more than two horse poses? What? |
deadhead | 18 Nov 2020 2:26 a.m. PST |
Really good review. We see far too few of these. Nice to see somebody other than the excellent Plastic Model soldier site. You commented on the water bottle and the emblem in white. It is not a bird it is the arrow emblem of the UK War Department; link Much debate over the years about what emblems the water bottle did carry and how much the whole idea owed to the Crimean war in practice. Dumb question. The pinning is obvious but what adhesive did you use for the arms? (and how reliable is the result?) |
Bill Slavin | 18 Nov 2020 7:05 a.m. PST |
I agree PSR is my go-to for reviews. What would do without them?? Thanks for the information on the emblem, Deadhead. I was sure someone here on TMP would know the answer! The raised bit on the HaT canteen doesn't really resemble that (the picture reference does), but it may well be the sculptor wasn't sure what he was representing either. As for the pinning of the arms, I essentially carved off the existing pin, carved down the upper thickness of the arm a bit so it fit more flush to the body, inserted a new pin (tricky to get it short enough!) into the torso, redrilled the hole in the arm and crazy-glued it. Finally I took some two part putty and encased the entire joint to hold it in place! |
von Winterfeldt | 22 Nov 2020 6:37 a.m. PST |
I have to say they look excellent when you painted them, congratulations, otherwise I do understand your feelings, this is on of the problems why I left 1 / 72 scale years ago. |
4th Cuirassier | 22 Nov 2020 11:17 a.m. PST |
Based on how well yours have come out I just bought 2 lots of these to use as volunteer cavalry. The Lambeth Loyal Cavalry and the London & Westminster Light Horse Volunteers both wore red dolmans faced black with red turbans; the Loyal Londons looked like the RHA; and the Surrey Yeomanry wore light blue jacket and breeches. These guys look perfect for all those. |
Bill Slavin | 22 Nov 2020 12:10 p.m. PST |
Yes, I know someone else who has bought these as volunteer cavalry. Just be sure to put in the time up front! Good luck with them. |
4th Cuirassier | 22 Nov 2020 12:30 p.m. PST |
I'm used to having to prep plastics thanks to all the Airfix I've painted…good reminder / tip though, thanks. As a way of indicating they're not regulars, I was thinking of mounting them on some unusual horse colours – blue roan, palomino, and what not (hmm…were there palominoes in Europe in 1808?)… How did you prep for painting BTW? I have been getting good results using neat PVA. |
Bill Slavin | 22 Nov 2020 2:48 p.m. PST |
My prep is to base coat with a plastic bonding spray (I've been using the Rustoleum plastic friendly spray paint) and then coating the bendy bits with white glue after everything is painted. I confess I only mentioned the up front prep time because I am hugely impatient and generally end up paying for it down the line. |