EK Casting Hussar (1 Viewer)

[blaster]

I have had this EK casting on my shelf for some time now. It is labelled as Officer Chasseur au Cheval, 1814, Italie. However, none of my references show any Italian Chasseurs dressed in this uniform.

The cut of this uniform appears to be that of a typical French undress hussar uniform circa 1814-1815. However, the roulette shako is too short, the fur on the pelisse is too sparse, and the overalls should really have a row of buttons down each seam. I am planning to convert this piece into a French Hussar.

 

[Obee]

Victor,

like you I also can't find anything that looks like this casting in my Uniform resources for Italy.

But ... he looks like this Del Prado figure ...



He is an officer of the 3rd Regt of Gardes d'Honneur.
Hes shown in the OSPREY Men At Arms Napoleon's Guard Cavalry.
In my book "The Imperial Guard of the First Empire - 3. Mounted Troops (2)" by Andre Jouineau, he shows an officer from the 2nd Regt with a similar cockade on his shako as your figure.

So there's another choice to paint him as ....

John

 

[blaster]

Hi John,

thanks for that! I actually have a Major Pully of the Guards d Honneur from Le Cimier waiting to be done up. I am actually planning to convert this standing figure into a mounted figure.

So this EK figure will be converted into a Hussar. probably 5th hussar with white pelisse and blue overalls.

Here's the conversion of the shako into a shako roulette. This was a taller shako with a slight cone at the top. The fur is also added to the pelisse.

 

[Obee]

That's a good call for this figure, 5th Hussars, and I expect the shako will be red??

He will most colourful when completed, as fits a hussar of that period !!!

John

 

[blaster]

Hi John,

yes that is the uniform reference that I am selecting for this figure!

I Added a bit more putty to the shako and then sprayed the figure with a matt primer. I intend to sand down the shako to resemble to shako rouleau.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

Here's some references for the shako rouleau and the 5th Hussar uniform. Hence, the careful sanding of the shako to achieve the slight cone shape.

 

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I then added the leather flap on the back of the shako and also filled in the space between the inner trousers. Then I sculpted the buttons down the trousers.

 

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Added a couple of small details to the shako.

 

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Completed sculpting the headdress. Will start painting next.

 

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I glued the figure to its base for ease of handling. Undercoated the figure.

 

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Starting to add artist oils. The blue mix is winsor blue + white.

 

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Also applied the cadmium yellow to this figure. The shako rouleau came in a number of variations. This is supported by the variety of surviving artefacts on the web. I found an old reference to the 5th hussars. Lovely paintings by Doug Hagger.

 

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While waiting for the yellow paint to dry, I added some putty groundwork.

 

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I added a Historex cords part as the original casting has been covered by the added fur.

 

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Now busy painting up this piece.

 

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As I was painting other pieces, I slapped more paint on this one. Getting closer to the finish line.

 

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Tightening up the painting.

 

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And guess what? Well, I never liked the weapons sculpted by EK castings. These are very chunky and always reminded me of the old minifig wargames pikemen supplied with tree trunks for their pikes.

So I carefully snipped off the sword scabbard and substituted it with a more elegant Historex light cavalry sabre. I then fabricated sword slings and attached them carefully to the sword and belt. These were simply not sculpted in the first place. Sabretaches usually are attached by three sword slings to the sword belt. The scabbard slings are usually attached to the 1st and 3rd rings which is what I have done. I will repair the sabretache before painting.

The sword is now separated from the sabretache and gives a better 3rd effect. Hopefully the painting will highlight this point.

 

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Almost completed the painting of this piece. Will also have to add the groundwork later.

 

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I've completed painting this piece except for adding the foliage and name plate.

Most of the final work was on the shako. I added circular yellow rings with a hollowed tubing (not a bad idea, eh?) and painted the top of the shako black as it appears generally not to have been covered with velvet. I'm quite pleased with it as I initially didn't like the casting due to some errors and that chunky scabbard. I actually enjoyed substituting historex parts for these items.