Sunday 9 September 2012

Bercheny Hussars.

Have cast and painted up some cavalry for the French in the shape of the Hussars Bercheny.


 
These are slightly more rotund than the older Holger Erikson figures and a bit harder to cast , the molds needed a few vents cutting into them to make sure the metal flowed to the extremities of the molds .
 
 
The Officer is from a different mold to mark him out and the Trumpeter is a conversion from the same casting.
 
 
I cast the figure removed the sword and arm and repositioned the arm , pinning it and using 'green stuff' for the joint . I then cast up a mounted trumpeter figure cut off the trumpet and hand and affixed to the Hussar . Then I  painted him - at this point I was very proud of myself -but 'pride cometh before the fall' and in this case literally - I dropped the figure on the floor and the horses ankles (fetlocks or whatever horses call their ankles) snapped off !. I leave it to my readers imagination as to the language at this point (my wife covered the younger cats ears up). But necessity being the mother of invention, when I had calmed down I drilled through the base and inserted a bit of brass rod , I then drilled a hole in the horses stomach and cut the rod to size and glued all together, a touch of green paint and a drop more varnish and all is well !
 
 
 
 

7 comments:

  1. I wouldn't have noticed the brass rod unless you mentioned it.

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  2. Oh I've been there! Good repair!

    Also nice conversion. I've always thought Hussar trumpets look better dressed as Hussars. I chickened out on my 1st regiment and followed the books I had even though it was technically a fictional regiment from a fictional country. but I think my next hussar trumpeter will be dressed like an hussar!

    Very nice painting btw.

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  3. Must admit musicians for this regiment should be in brown uniforms and tricorns - thought about it but it looked a bit weird !

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  4. Mosstrooper

    Well done -they're a nice looking unit. I've seen this regiment in many scales and eras over the years, but they always look good.

    I've done similar things both with dropping figures and fixing my boo-boos.

    Cheers
    PD

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  5. Painting 12 Hussars myself - based on Favrats Frei Corps.

    My next batch of 9 (when I Cast them) will need trumpeters, officers and standard bearers - so will try some of your ideas

    Cheers

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  6. Great idea, Mosstrooper! I´m always annoyed about the lack of trumpeters and standard bearers in the Prince August collection and that´s the erason why I add now some Manske figures to them. But I need also some trumpeters for the Russian and Prussian hussars, so I can go on with some work on them, inspired by your transformations. Thank you very much!
    PS: The Bercheny had a very beuatiful banner, btw.
    Peter

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