Hussar Royaux (1 Viewer)

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Hi All,

There were several of these Austrian freebooters eventually recruited as French Hussars from the time of Louis XVI onwards.

I had initially made one of these figures during the pre-Cambrian period. This was mounted on a W Britains horse with real hair for the mane and tail etc. I think that I can do a much better representation now and I had wanted to redo this piece but Baron wisely advised me to start anew in case I screwed up. Then I won't even have the original figure to beef up my figure count....

So I scrounged around for some leftover bits and found a most suitable horse and mounted figure. I have decided that Historex figures look really stiff when assembled as such so I removed the upper half and decided to sculpt all of this.

The face was also completely sculpted as I wanted a unique face.

Rgds Victor

 

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More pics. Notice that I have also bulked up the legs and boots.

 

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Added more girth to the torso. Then the braiding and buttons on the dolman, the sash, followed by the outline of the pelisse. Started to sculpt an animal pelt on the shabraque.

 

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Adding a bearskin to the saddle. The back of the pelisse was sculpted.

 

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sculpted the lacing on the pelisse. Next to be added will be the buttons and then I will sculpt a draped leopardskin over this. The bearskin saddle will be enlarged.

Still finalising the hands but I am thinking of a severed head being held in one hand. I read that these units were very bloodthirsty and taking heads was part of their custroms.

 

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I worked more on this piece. Added the buttons and developed the bearskin further. Then I added a leopardskin over the pelisse. The sleeves were detailed with cuffs. The severed heads are being modelled.

 

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The basic sculpting was completed and the figure was sprayed in matt white undercoat and then painted in enamels. It looks pretty exciting at this stage.

 

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I removed the figure from the horse, carefully cleaned up and repaired any imperfections ready for oil painting.

 

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I repeated the undercoat of red and lt blue again. These seem to be the universal colours for all later pre-WWI Hungarian light cavalry. I intend to start painting with oils now before I add more details such as the sword, sabretache, heads, straps.

 

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More cleanup was done on the figure and the face was painted. The sculpting of the two severed heads was completed. I am now finalising the hair of these victims. The heads will be held dangling in the left hand.

 

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Worked a bit more on the severed heads. Here's a clearer pic.

 

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I've started to paint the costume in oils. The horse is meant to have coloured markings.

 

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Starting to paint the horse.

 

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Wow! Been a year since I last worked on this piece. I cleaned up the figure of minor defects and decided to add more detail to the fur on the animal pelts.
I like the pose and hope to finish it this time.

 

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The figure seat is completed. I worked more on the animal pelt, extending the coverage and started to paint it. I break off the awkward bits to paint underneath, then repair it afterwards.

 

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Here's the figure with the bear pelt broken off for easier painting underneath.

 

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I scrapped off the moulded lines on the shabraque and painted in the new yellow zigzag decorations with fleur de lys. This is just the start.

 

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I carefully repainted the zigzag lines and fleur de lys on the shabraque. Also added a saddle girth. Then I reattached the bear paws on the pelt. I am now resculpting the bear head (photo not yet taken).

 

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And here is the bear head resculpted. Now starting to get more involved in this piece.

 

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I finished the bear pelt and painted it. I am also repainting the Hussar. I will mount the figure before adding the final straps to this piece.