Africans

Africa was further represented by two more pieces.

 I made a figure of King Maqoma of the Xhosa Tribe. A simple piece - this was a Preiser conversion mounted on a W Britains horse. The cheetah cape turn out was sculpted from putty.
This piece is now in a private collection.

 A more ambitious piece was that of the Wodaabe tribe, based on three figures. I was inspired by an article in National Geographic where these treibesmen would don fancy clothes and stand in a line with their gleaming teeth, singing songs to woo the ladies. One of the pictures showed a figure with an umbrella to shield him from the hot sun. This was converted from various bits. I used several 1/35 scale components mixed with 1:32 scale parts to represent the smaller and wiry build of these natives.
One of my all-time favourite pieces!

Red Indians

Backtracking from the Historex conversions and World War One figures, here are a couple of Red Indians. These were early explorations into ethnic figures for which there are no commercial figures available then. Both these figures were made about 30 years ago.

 The Jicarilla Apache figure was sculpted over a Historex Horse conversion.

The Crow Indian on  a Buffalo Hunt was more challenging. The bison was a very hefty metal home casting, animated with some epoxy putty. The Indian was a Preiser conversion. I got the idea of a young Indian making his first kill and dipping his hand in blood.
This piece is now in a private collection.

World War One Bombardier

An unusual subject as it involved research and sculpting of the ammunition harness, and gas mask respirator.

This piece was modified later.

World War One William Coltman VC

This vignette was scratchbuilt using some Airfix and Scalelink parts.

This remains one of my favourite pieces.

Le Sacre

This was a very ambitious diorama based on JL David's famous painting on the coronation of Napoleon started about 25 years ago. I scoured as much information on this as possible and created a template to place about 80 identified personages in this scene. There are about a 100 figures here. The accompanying photos show the amount of work required. This is very much a work in progress.

A layout of polystyrene tiles was created. To start this off quickly, I used many commercial heads inserted into basic bodies which were then placed into position. Sculpting was done in batches, I worked on the priests, the marshals, the princesses etc, as the style of costumes was similar within each group. The central figure of Napoleon and Josephine was converted from the Historex kit. As the intention is to place this scene within a box diorama, all the figures are completed only when they are visible from the front. The back of all figures remains unfinished to speed up the work. Many figures are also completed on the upper half. Groups of figures are pinned together to create groupings and provide stability to half-finished figures within the group.

I paint all the figures as I finish them, to provide a colour key for this project.

I have since dismantled this scene as the project was collecting dust. The figures are now stored and labelled in a converted suitcase for protection. I continue to work on selected pieces over time.

Joachim Murat

I really like modelling this personage. He had character and a certain panache in his dress sense. There are two Historex kits of Marshal Murat as King of Italy and as Grand Admiral of France. All of his costumes were designed by himself.

The first model was based on a famous painting by Jean L Gros. The Historex horse was converted to fit the pose.

Marshal Prince Josef Poniatowski

This is yet another Historex conversion. I sculpted the bear cape from putty. Poniatowski was made Marshal by Napoleon two days just before he was drowned at the battle of Leutzen.

Grenadier au Cheval Imperial Guard Brigadier-Trompette

This is a Historex conversion. Bicorne hats were old fashioned and were popular during the Revolutionary wars. Bandsmen used this as ornate characteristics. The rest of the troopers wore tall bearskin hats.

Chevaulegers

This model represents Major Claude L. Jolly of the 2nd Chevaulegers. Napoleon was so impressed by the Poles wileding long lances that he created 6 regiments of his own mounted lancers serving in the line cavalry. They typically wore the very impressive brass helmet with a comb. Jolly has been represented by various artists and unusually, he wore black gloves. Note that most mounted units within the Imperial Guard have the letter "N" and the Imperial Eagle badge sewn on the shabraque.

This piece was later modified.

Mameluke Officer of the Imperial Guard (Napoleonic)

This model represents Major Kirrmann serving as an officer among the Mameluke squadron. After Napoelon's invasion of Egypt, a group of Mamelukes followed him back to France and served in his Imperial Guard. They formed a squadron within the Chasseurs au Cheval Regt. This is a Historex conversion.

This piece is now in a private collection.

9th Regt de Hussards 1812

The Hussars were light cavalry dressed in very flamboyant dolmans with flung pelisses, all heavily frogged. Musicians usually added some non-regulation items to their uniforms, in this case, this trumpeter has as a white busby and a germanic (Saxony?) shabraque.

7th regt de Chasseurs au Cheval (Napoleonic) 1809

This mounted Bandsman playing a bassoon is wearing reversed colours. Mounted Chasseurs were light horsemen created and mounted on small horses for reconnaissance duties. They wore green tunics with different facings to denote different regiments. A black coloured sheepskin cover (shabraque) with pink facings is placed over the saddle. This depiction is for a unit operating in Spain.

This piece was later modified.

Tambour-Major Grenadiers a Pied Imperial Guard

This Historex piece represents Drum Major Senot, a handsomely striking figure in the Imperial Guard.

This piece was later modified.

Tambour-Major 30eme Regt de Ligne 1806-1810 (Napoleonic)

This piece was converted based on the Airfix Grenadier/Fusiler torso,arms and backpack. The other parts are Historex. Heads of columns were generally dressed in showy uniforms.

Marines of the Imperial Guard

This is a Historex conversion.

Typical converted Historex horse

Here is a galloping horse, pose taken from Muybridge's book.

A pair of Negro musicians (Napoleonic period)

These were made from commercial kits. The 18th line musician is a Nemrod kit, and the 3rd (Dutch) Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard is a Historex figure. The settings are taken from Historex kits as well.

This piece is in a private collection.

Airfix English Civil War Musketeer

The accompanying ECW Musketeer was a better kit as it had a lovely model of a matchlock. I used a Nemrod head for this piece which had character. The wooden fence was carved plastic.

Airfix English Civil War Pikeman

This was a really terrific kit. I have amassed several of them for future projects.

This conversion was made about 10 years back. One thing that I have observed is that the kit cuirass is rather compact when pictures of extant examples seem to suggest a heftier item. In my conversion, the pikeman is wearing gloves to protect his hands.

The Royal State Coach

                                                                    The Royal State Coach 

WBritains had made a great looking coach in toy soldier style.

I purchased a recast from a now defunct company SoldierPac to recreate in greater detail the wonderful looking panels on the original Royal State Coach.

The simplified casting had to be greatly improved. When the pieces were assembled, the original royal couple was found to be undersized. I decided to scratchbuild a royal pair representing King George VII and Queen Alexandra. Note that repairs and details were added to the coach itself as well.

 Painting was done in artist oils.

Conversions on Qing Dynasty figures

There are two conversions here.

The first shows a Qing official in a dragon robe. The Airfix head was adorned with a Dragon Model NVA conical hat. Red tassels were sculpted on top. The rest of the body was sculpted with putty. The cat is from Phoenix Models.

The second conversion comprises three Verlinden heads and the res of the bodies were sculpted in putty. The stone lion is a tourist souvenir cast in resin. The dog is from Historex. This is scene showing a Qing Official getting a hairtrim from a roadside vendor.

Airfix/Historex conversion of American War of Independence Drummer

These kits have vast conversion potential. The details are very good and the plastic is easy to shape.
Using the Airfix AWI British Grenadier as a basis, a drummer was created. The drum came from a Historex spare. Musicians are always a very good and colourful choice for a conversion. Drummers can wear reversed colours and have lots of lacings added to their tunics.

In retrospect, the drum may have been hung too low on this model.

Historex Airfix conversion of Louisiana Spanish Drummer

This piece was a conversion. The drum sling made from lead metal sheet, was quite fun to build and a unique and colourful miniature  can be had with the imaginative use of commercial kit parts. Head and hands from Airfix which are superior to Historex, the rest from Historex.

Napoleonic Marshals

I had bought several Napoleonic Marshals which were available as kits from a then prolific company New Hope Design. Their main philosophy was to produce figures based on paintings found in the very successful Osprey illustrated booklets. As their output was considerable, and they employed several sculptors, the quality differed between their ranges.

Six of these marshals were assembled, partly converted, and shown here. Generally the characteristics of each named marshal is well-captured in these delightful pieces, all 54mm.

Later, I also bought a Le Cimier kit and this was a better sculpted piece, about 60mm.

Rock formation bases

These unusual bases were converted from pieces of wood and cork bark, mounted onto a flat base. The wood was painted to simulate dramatic rock formation.