British 54mm Napoleonic Horsemen.

[Dave Ward]

I've really stalled on the build of my Bronco Bishop SPG, but still feel like benchtime, so I decided to try a couple of 54mm horsemen, the Airfix Hussar & the Historex Scots Grey. The horses come first, I've assembled them & added plastic card girths, and are ready for priming.

I've drilled & added metal pins, and CA'd them to the horses, and drilled corresponding holes in the bases, dry fitted - now I can spray them easily.
Airfix horse left, Historex right. Historex horses were supposed to have been modelled on racehorses, when they should have been based on hunters -and the Historex horse is leaner than the Airfix. I would think a bigger horse would be better suited to carry a hefty soldier & all his gear.
I've never painted a grey, before, and the dappling is going to be a bit of a new experience!
Dave

 

[rtfoe]

Hi Dave, nice pair of horses. I have attached this link which I did for Neil as well on painting a grey. Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
You certainly do not shy away from the difficult. I've never painted a horse but from what I've seen they are not straightforward. I'm sure you'll do a fine job.
Jim

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Hi Dave, nice pair of horses. I have attached this link which I did for Neil as well on painting a grey. Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Richard

I stripped my first attempt....
best of luck, Dave!

 

[Deleted member 6559]

Good for you Dave. I shy away from painting horses.

 

[Dave Ward]

Thanks for that, Richard, It's going to be a bit of a learning curve - I'm not sure if my airbrush skills are up to it, but I will find out................
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

One of those days - I'd primed both horses, found a suitable pale grey for one horse, and what I thought was a suitable red-brown for the other.............................

I'd tried a patch test for the red-brown, and in a small area it looked OK, but - when overall on the horse it looks really bad. The picture doesn't do it justice - in daylight it looks more purple! I'm back into the paintbox, to find something a little less garish!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

A quick respray - not quite the colour I'd envisaged, but I can work with it.........................


I've watched a couple of YouTube videos on painting a dapple grey horse, looks easy!!
Dave

 

[Jon Heptonstall]

Lovely base coat on the horse Dave.Oils are great for horses and a lot easier than figures.
Jon.

 

[Dave Ward]

Jon,
I'm using acrylics only on these two figures - I find oils not as easy to use - I keep on forgetting that they don't dry quickly, and I have a bad habit of putting paint on in too thick a layer! Just a matter of what you are used to................
Dave

 

[yak face]

Great project dave , i really enjoy the airfix 54mm kits , never done a historex though . To me the airfix horse looks better sculpted , cheers tony

 

[Dave Ward]

Historex Kits were the first 54mm kits - they always were a niche product, there are no real instructions, at first no colour picture, just French language colour call outs. A slight knowledge of uniforms was a great help. The sprues were small, white plastic only & mix & match - you could buy sets of legs - at attention, marching, etc, the same with arms, torso, heads, as well as complete sets to make a single model ( like my Scots Grey ). There is only one UK agent - Historex Agents in Dover! They do appear on ebay, but never at good discounts! The Airfix 54mm are very nice - I was looking at the Black Watch Highlander the other day, but the thought of painting tartan put me off!
Dave

 

[yak face]

The Airfix 54mm are very nice - I was looking at the Black Watch Highlander the other day, but the thought of painting tartan put me off!

Go on Dave you know you want to !

 

[SimonT]

You can still buy all the parts from Historex Agents Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Simon,
yes, I've got the catalogue - I bought the Scots Grey direct from them
Tony,
sadly the highlander auction finished on ebay, and there seems to have been a run on the Airfix 54mm figures, normally KIngKit has about ten in stock, today only one - a mounted George Washington, I'll just have to wait >sigh<
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

I've learned a few things about horses today, the difference between a chestnut and a bay, so, the Airfix Hussar horse is a bay.


More work needed, including painting the leather tackle, but getting there.

And the Historex Scots Grey Horse.................................



I was going to try the airbrush, but realised that I couldn't do anything that small....................
I don't think that brushes are really going to work, so I'm going to try bits of sponge, in tweezers dabbed onto the surface. I'm finding it difficult to get consistent sizes, so maybe a sponge is the answer.

The dappled grey comes in all sorts - like white over grey (top), and more grey over white ( below ).
Either way, mine is not good. I'm not going to strip the paint, I'm going to go over the existing finish & see what happens ( I'll probably end up respraying anyway )
Not the easiest paint job - at least Luftwaffe Mottle Camo is on reasonably flat surfaces!
Dave

 

[Neil Merryweather]

try a cocktail stick for the dots , Dave

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I forgot to say the Bay looks good

 

[adt70hk]

Dave

The horses are looking very good indeed l. Keep up the good work.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

An option I used on greys at 28mm scale was to take an old round brush of a suitable size and cut the bristles down to about 5mm. I then used it as a stipple brush . It’s also worth getting the coat underlying colour and shading right first and dapping over that.
Your bay looks the part.