54mm Charge of the Scots Greys

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The amazingly talented Neil Merryweather. I do envy your abilities.
 

Neil Merryweather

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Where were we?

Ah yes, waiting for Milliput to set.

Having established that the Scots Grey should be wearing the foul-weather cover on his bearskin, I started to think about how to achieve the look of oilskin. Screwed up tissue paper was the answer that came to me.
bearskin 1.jpg
I figured it would be easiest to use the hat from the kit, so I carved away the surface texture to leave the bare form.

Next I screwed up a piece of tissue paper, unfolded it and stuck it to a piece of double sided tape
tissue.jpg

I folded the edge over to give a bit more thickness and wrapped it around the bearskin

bearskin 3.jpg
I added a disc of tissue to the crown

bearskin 4.jpg
It’s actually quite difficult to ascertain exactly how these were made, since, being black , all the illustrations are rather indistinct. There is probably a large amount of artistic licence being taken as well, so I have done my best to make it look believable.

It seems there is another flap which wraps around the helmet and laces at the front, so I made that from more tissue , scrunched it up at the front ends where it will tie and left it at that.
Tissue 2.jpg
I started to make the tied lace from wire but gave up. I’ll try again later.


bearskin 5.jpg
In the meantime I have added a mane and tail to the French neddy and I realised I needed to reinstate the dog tooth on the shabraque.

This I did with 10 thou plasticard. I cut the teeth out first, I scraped it down and smoothed it off a bit,

and then cut the strip off the sheet.
IMG_20191126_203253255.jpg

I glued short lengths in place with liquid cement

IMG_20191126_203945611_HDR.jpg

After this I cleaned up the Historex horseshoes ready for the grey, and look what else I found on the sprue…………

1574862825902.png

My photography doesn’t do it justice, but it’s nice to think that Historex have given the issue some thought…..

Had I known I could have saved some Milliput!
 
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More terrific work Neil. The shabraque edging would be a useful technique for shield edging methinks.
 

Steve Jones

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Wonderful update Neil. The head ware has come out well. Don't forget to patent the idea and sell it on LOL
 

rtfoe

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Hi Neil...the doggie teeth is a brilliant idea of execution. Something I'll surely do with my Cuirassier.

Cheers,
Richard
 

Neil Merryweather

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Many thanks Richard.

Here’s where we are with the Milliput

IMG_20191127_211821078.jpg

IMG_20191127_211830869_HDR.jpg

I’ve reconciled the creases up the sleeve and across the chest , and I ended up carving off the lace detail because of the twist to the torso. I also built up his bum a bit, as it’s not now compressed into the saddle.

But looking at the side I decided he wasn’t leaning back far enough, so I got out the razor saw and copper wire and tilted him back a bit more.

IMG_20191127_213107626.jpg

I think I might have drop him a bit lower in the saddle, too.

While I think about it can anybody help me with the detailing? I can’t decide whether he is an officer or a trooper.
crop 2.jpg

The painting appears to give him gold braid,which to me says he is an officer. But all of them have it. We know that it is yellow for troopers- would it have been gold for officers, or is it artistic licence (or just plain inaccuracy)?

Also, he seems to have some sort of blue/silver stripe on his left sleeve. Does that mean he’s an NCO? Or is it something else?

Any help or comments will be gratefully received.

Cheers for looking

Neil
 

rtfoe

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Crikey...you'll need someone like Mr Heptonstall to verify this.

The over extended pose is much better Neil.

Cheers,
Richard
 

Neil Merryweather

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Thanks again Richard.

Today we are looking at the Cuirassier’s helmet (ooh, er, Missus!) from Historex.
I slightly textured the fur turban with the pyrogravure.

I have searched and searched the interweb but not been able to find a picture of the inside of one, so I have made it up based on my knowledge of a world war one French tin helmet I used to have BM (Before Marriage)….

how different can it be at 1-32 scale?
bl1.jpg
I cut a piece of 5 thou plasticard the length of the circumference of the helmet and measured 8 divisions. I drilled a 0.5mm hole in the centre of each division.
IMG_20191127_201930414.jpg
I cut segments out down to an arbitrary datum line
IMG_20191127_202253716.jpg

And then I rounded off all the corners with fine wet & dry paper folded a couple of times

IMG_20191127_202806194.jpg

I pre-curved the tongues over with round pliers and also curved the whole thing to fit inside the helmet, then I threaded a 0.3mm wire through the holes and carefully eased it all into a ring( Steady now lads!).

IMG_20191127_204134391.jpg

As I only broke one of the tongues this time I decided to keep this version….

I’m sure if I did it a third time I would get it completely right, but life’s too short.
IMG_20191127_205003745.jpg
I fitted the chin scales and all that’s left now is to make the horse tail plume when the Milliput comes out again

IMG_20191127_205740394.jpg

Actually I’m going to re-position the right-hand chin scale. I turned it around for effect, but it really should be smooth on the inside as it would be lined with leather.

God knows how I’m going to paint the inside- I’ll probably have to take it apart again. Oh well.

Thanks for looking
See you next time
Neil
 

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Jim R

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Hi Neil
Amazing work. You are certainly very skilled. Thoroughly enjoyable blog. This will be a stunning, unique model - perhaps I should say a stunning , unique piece of art. Work like this raises the old issue - craft or art.
Jim
 

Neil Merryweather

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Hi Neil
Amazing work. You are certainly very skilled. Thoroughly enjoyable blog. This will be a stunning, unique model - perhaps I should say a stunning , unique piece of art. Work like this raises the old issue - craft or art.
Jim
Well thank you kind sir!
I think in this case it's purely craft, since the idea and composition belongs to the painter, but I'll take the compliment!
 
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