54mm Charge of the Scots Greys

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks for this,Peter.
I have always liked the sturdiness of the Airfix horses, whereas the Historex are more dainty and thoroughbred-looking, so both the Airfix horses are perfect for the heavy cavalry involved here. As I say I will have to do some serious engineering to get the Scots Grey to fly as in the picture , so thanks for the advice.
cheers
neil

 

[yak face]

Wow ! ‘Go big or go home ‘as they say Neil ! This is a major remodelling job youve decided on , looking forward to seeing the surgery. Im going to be doing a black watch highlander too but just a boggo standard build for me , i have enough trouble just painting figures without any conversion!! I’ll be watching for some tips on painting the tartan too! Cheers tony

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I've made a start on this epic.
here are the Sprue Shots


I don't know why the Scots Grey is portrait...

I'm starting with the Cuirassier horse as he is the kind of base .I glued the halves together with good old airfix cement(from the starter set group build), clamped the out of it and left it overnight.


After looking at Richard's Scots Grey build I can't avoid carving out the hooves and adding horse shoes-but I'm being lazy and as I'll need 8 I'm getting mine from Historex-
That's all for now - I'm looking forward to this
cheers
Neil

 

[Deleted member 6559]

We're all looking forward to this! Great stuff Neil.

 

[scottie3158]

I will come along for the ride,

 

[Neil Merryweather]

We're all looking forward to this! Great stuff Neil.

thanks Peter- No pressure, then..........

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I will come along for the ride,

welcome ,Paul- hope you scan stay in the saddle -it could be a bumpy one!

 

[Jim R]

Hi Neil
Very interesting. Way beyond my abilities but I'm sure you'll make a cracking job of a really great subject.
Jim

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Neil,
Great that you have started on this and I'll come along for the ride. The Cuirassier will be particularly interesting as I will be working on that next when I get the chance...there is so much to do.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks Jim!

Glad to have you along Richard,|I've been keeping an eye on your Scots Grey too.

 

[Steve Jones]

Glad to see you are up and running with this one Neil. Looking forward to seeing all your adjustments and additions.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Glad to see you are up and running with this one Neil. Looking forward to seeing all your adjustments and additions.

I'm sure I can find some rivets somewhere for you............

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Sorry chaps it's been a whole month since my last post on here.
I haven't been entirely idle on this build but I preferred to spend the few stolen moments building rather than posting.
Anyway here come a few updates.



The pose of the rearing horse is actually quite good when laid on the ground, but I need to curve the neck a bit and retract the left foreleg.
The neck first- I cut v sections out of it (not quite all the way through) bent it into shape
and glued it back together



I cut the leg at the knee and inserted a piece of copper wire to help with the positioning. While it was separate I dremelled out the frog of the hoof and added a Historex horse shoe (Richard's fault....).


More to follow tomorrow
cheers
Neil

 

[scottie3158]

Neil,
The conversions look good. I have tried to modify figures in the past but they always come out looking like they got caught in a threshing machine lol.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Nice update, look forward to tomorrow's installment

Peter

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Here is a pic of the altered leg.

the next challenge is to arch the horse's back over the rider's leg, and also to give it a little twist

With the razor saw I cut another set of wedges out of its trunk

clamped it together with loads of glue





Next up is the Scots Grey Horse
thanks for looking
Neil

 

[rtfoe]

Neil, the modifications look really drastic...lots of surgery but necessary for the pose needed.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jason Crausby]

Great work Neil...got to admire your willingness to get stuck in to get the right results!
Jason

 

[Deleted member 6559]

That poor horse! Bold and brave modelling Neil.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Paul, Peter,Richard ,Jason and Peter - many thanks for your interest.
Yes it's drastic but strangely it's not this part that worries me- it's the painting where I fear I could let it down.I know if I just painted it bronze it would look fine(now there's a thought!).
So, on to the Scots Grey horse. I decided to get stuck into this quite soon as all the horses and figures interact with one another so it's important to treat them simultaneously rather than one at a time.
The kit horse is also quite close in feel to what we need for the painting.

but it still needs a bit of surgery




Not a great pic,sorry, but it shows how I cut the right foreleg and inserted wire to straighten it.
the left side needed a bit more work.

The extension of the hind leg can remain but it needs to be pivoted forward. The foreleg needs to be pivoted upwards and the hoof extended and straightened.

Next is to move the neck backwards, which requires more razor saw work

I turned the wedge of neck around to fill the space left by the tilting

But it left a funny lump so that will be filed off before the filling stage. I will be using milliput as it will give me some headway on the resculpting required.

So here he is from something like the same angle as the painting

That’s it for now , I’ve got a lot of filling and filing and sanding to do now.

Thanks for looking

Neil