My First Repair Attempt (1 Viewer)

[snowyowl]

I decided to try to fix up one of my Britains. I believe this one is a member of the RHA although I'm not certain of that. They had lost the plum from his head gear, lost his sword and had general paint damage. So far I've replaced the sword using lead cane, replaced the plume using Sculpey (I made it too big) and did some touch up. There is still more tOuch up to do.

Originals


Touched-Up

 

[johnnybach]

Hi again Dan - a good repair - well done.

What you have there isn't RHA though - but the Officer of the 11th Hussars - also known as "The Cherry Pickers" - because of their Crimson trousers. The original early set was Set 12 - updated by Britains from time to time. The Officer in the set is mounted on the rearing horse - and he has the correct leopard skin saddle cover ( as yours) - and a shabraque on the horse. (The troopers in the set don't have these features - and are on trotting horses).

Good on you for repairing hand and sword - though as the arm is riveted to the body of the rider - spare arms/swords can be obtained as spare parts from some suppliers - so an easier repair would be to to replace it - and repaint - though it's more of a challenge your way. Note also that the Officer plume is slightly larger than the Trooper's version. jb

 

[snowyowl]

Thanks! Unfortunately I left all of my books on uniforms in Florida when we headed back north last spring. Interesting that they are the Cherry Pickers. I can remember my Dad talking about them. He wanted to join the regt back in 1914-1915 but ended up in the Munsters instead. I like to do as much as possible myself, it seems to make the hobby more fun. I still have quite a lot of touch up to do on this figure but I'll get there gradually.

 

[johnnybach]

 

[snowyowl]

I have the officer and one of the troopers. The trooper is in pretty good shape, perhaps needing a bit of paint touch up.

 

[theBaron]

Nice job, Dan! Isn't it fun?

On the plume, I like to use a piece of wire as a pin or armature, stuck inside the headgear, and then build up the putty around the wire. Now you've got to collector yourself some troopers to go with him.

What you have there isn't RHA though - but the Officer of the 11th Hussars - also known as "The Cherry Pickers" - because of their Crimson trousers...

Or more popularly known as the "Cherrybums", weren't they? That was Lucan's regiment at the time of Crimea, wasn't it?

Prost!
Brad

 

[4th Hussar]

Nice job, Dan! Isn't it fun?

On the plume, I like to use a piece of wire as a pin or armature, stuck inside the headgear, and then build up the putty around the wire. Now you've got to collector yourself some troopers to go with him.



Or more popularly known as the "Cherrybums", weren't they? That was Lucan's regiment at the time of Crimea, wasn't it?

Prost!
Brad

I believe Lord Cardigan bought the 11th Hussars and lead them ( with sevral other Regiments) into the Russian guns at the Charge of the Light brigade. As I recall Lucan was commander of the Heavy Brigade.

 

[blaster]

I read about the making of this movie in an old issue of Military illustrated magazine. Tony Richardson was the Director. He had all the light brigade put into red trousers for the movie, to distinguish them from the heavy brigade, much to the chagrin of the uniform specialist John Mollo working on the site.

Rgds Victor

 

[johnnybach]

I got interested in the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own), a few years ago. As I like to make most of my figures up myself from castings, I embarked on some projects to make some up. The results are shown below.

First came a mounted band - including kettle-drummer and Officer conducting out in front.

I then made up a couple of Officers, (including a version of the Officer on a prancing horse), a Trumpeter and four Troopers - which are at the rear of the band - which I tried to make similar to some of the Britains versions ( though not exactly the same).

Then, at the back of the picture - I made up a version of the old Britains Hussars dismounted set.

Note that on my version of the Prancing Horse Officer, I have given him a drawn sabre at the carry - as I felt he fitted in with the rest of my figures better that way, rather than have the arm extended - which shows how you can adapt a figure by fitting a replacement arm ( if you want to - that is!).

All of these figures were originally bought as castings from Dorset Soldiers - though quite a few have been modified along the way - to suit how I was going to display them. Great fun to do - they took a year or two to make - in three separate projects - but I hope shows what fun you can have with painting - and/or repairing and painting - and then adding on to what you have.

Great to see your Cherry Pickers starting off Dan, and I hope you will have many more such finds to build on for the future. Best of luck with your search! Johnnybach

 

[snowyowl]

Nice job, Dan! Isn't it fun?

On the plume, I like to use a piece of wire as a pin or armature, stuck inside the headgear, and then build up the putty around the wire. Now you've got to collector yourself some troopers to go with him.



Or more popularly known as the "Cherrybums", weren't they? That was Lucan's regiment at the time of Crimea, wasn't it?

Prost!
Brad

Thanks! That plume was my first time using an armature (copper wire). Unfortunately I didn't know what the plume looked like. Now, thanks to Johnybach, I do know so may try re-making it. I drilled holes in the figurews head and in a piece of Sculpey that I had formed and baked. That done i inserted the wire and glued everything together. I that roughly the right technique?
Yes, it is great fun.

 

[snowyowl]

>Great to see your Cherry Pickers starting off Dan, and I hope you will have many more such finds to build on for the future. Best of luck with your search! Johnnybach<

Thanks, Johnnybach. My present two figures were antique shop finds in Florida and I'll be searching again this winter.

 

[johnnybach]

>Great to see your Cherry Pickers starting off Dan, and I hope you will have many more such finds to build on for the future. Best of luck with your search! Johnnybach<

Thanks, Johnnybach. My present two figures were antique shop finds in Florida and I'll be searching again this winter.

Great stuff - that's the way to do it! Note that all of the Britains Hussars are really re-paints of the basic shape - and that other Britains sets feature 3rd, 4th and 7th Hussars too - (though you possibly knew that already). The point is - if you set your mind on a specific Regiment - you can just overpaint the trousers in the correct shade (by mixing paint until you get the right colour) - and you're there! So keep an eye out for other similar items too.

Many of us painters though, prefer to strip back damaged pieces to the metal - and start from scratch - both for repairs and re-painting. It's always the call of the owner, however, on what they want to buy - and how far they go with either the repairs - and the re-paints. Touching up may be fine for less damaged items - but it all depends on the amount of damage - and what the owner wants to do with them.

Best of luck with whichever way you may wish to go Dan. There's no right or wrong way - but I hope you get the fun that lots of us get - from rescuing old Toy Soldiers from their current status. looks like you're meeting lots of us along the way, from the feedback you're getting from this thread:rolleyes2: jb

 

[theBaron]

I believe Lord Cardigan bought the 11th Hussars and lead them ( with sevral other Regiments) into the Russian guns at the Charge of the Light brigade. As I recall Lucan was commander of the Heavy Brigade.

Ah, yes, thanks! I had to go look it up, and I'm confusing Lucan's appointment to Colonel of the 8th Hussars, who were in the charge.

Prost!
Brad

 

[snowyowl]

I really didn't like what i had done on the officer's plume so I removed it and made one that more closely resembles the one in Johnnybach's set.

Here's the new version and I am much happier with it. The plume is probably still a bit large but I don't think that my fingers work on anything smaller. I know that i could still do more work on the figure but I think that I'll stop there for now.

 

[johnnybach]

Your latest plume looks far more like the original figure now Dan. Well done again. You may see that the figure that I made looks more like the pic below - because I wanted mine to represent stationary figures. The feather plume blows in the wind a bit when they are moving or the wind is strong.

The picure below is by a Victorian artist called Richard Simkin, by the way, ( in case you don't know), who specialised in painting military subjects in watercolours - and is a superb source for uniform detail ( although he too got it wrong sometimes!). Note the leopard skin saddle cover, magnificent shabraque on the horse - and his sabretache. A magnificent portrait altogether, I think, - which I used for my own figure as a guide to painting. This portrait dates the figure to around 1880 - and also shows the difference in size between the Other Ranks and Officer cap plumes. Also noteworthy is the difference in colour between the grey fur cap - of the trumpeter (and musicians) - and the Soldiers - who used a dark brown fur for theirs, in this Regiment. jb

 

[bromhead]

Great stuff - that's the way to do it! Note that all of the Britains Hussars are really re-paints of the basic shape - and that other Britains sets feature 3rd, 4th and 7th Hussars too - (though you possibly knew that already). The point is - if you set your mind on a specific Regiment - you can just overpaint the trousers in the correct shade (by mixing paint until you get the right colour) - and you're there! So keep an eye out for other similar items too.

Many of us painters though, prefer to strip back damaged pieces to the metal - and start from scratch - both for repairs and re-painting. It's always the call of the owner, however, on what they want to buy - and how far they go with either the repairs - and the re-paints. Touching up may be fine for less damaged items - but it all depends on the amount of damage - and what the owner wants to do with them.

Best of luck with whichever way you may wish to go Dan. There's no right or wrong way - but I hope you get the fun that lots of us get - from rescuing old Toy Soldiers from their current status. looks like you're meeting lots of us along the way, from the feedback you're getting from this thread:rolleyes2: jb

well said,,i have done hundreds