I'm finishing six figures at the moment, which I had put aside into my "stash" drawer. They are all figures that I've previously partially repaired - but put away as I hadn't yet decided what they were to become yet. All however, came from various "job-lot" buys on e-bay.
The central front figure was easy enough to decide upon - as he is the wonderful "Lancer Officer sitting sideways in the saddle" - but I already had two of these - so just had to decide what Lancer Regiment he would join. As you can see - he will become a Colonel of the 17th Duke of Cabridge's Own Lancers. (Sorry - I started painting him before I thought to show you repairs). He was a bit crushed to one side - and had two horse legs missing - front left totally, and rear left below the knee. He was also missing his head and his tin-strip sword, when found. The crushing was teased out - and milliput shaped to fit. The sword came as a second hand part from a damaged arm of another old figure. These are useful to keep - as they are frequently found as a harder blade on older figures - so can often be re-cycled as this blade was, with a bit of filing. A hole was drilled into the figure's right hand - and the filed blade was glued in place with epoxy resin glue. That should hold it in place! Spares were from Dorset Model Soldiers.
The three "one-eared" horses at the rear, are old repaired Household Cavalry mounts - which look like old Britains - but are actually the old Johillco very close copies ( always unmarked under the belly of the horse). No heads or loose right arms on these figures - so I intend to re-cycle them as the early Victorian Life Guards - hence the Romanesque helmet head. Both these heads and the spares arms ( not yet fitted), are again from Dorset Model Soldiers - and will add another three Escorts when completed - to add on to my existing new set of Life Guards Mounted Band, which I completed recently (from Replica Model Soldiers). Remarkably, other than missing loose arms and head - these were undamaged - which is unusual for figures of this pre-war age.
My last two figures at the front of my pic, either side of the Lancer Officer - again came with no heads or arms - and were originally Britains older figures from the Scots Greys. (this pose of horse is frequently called the Scots Grey horse by old Britains collectors).
Now, I already have sufficient of this pose in my collection, so I decided that I would add some more Lancers to my collection instead, by conversion. This horse was never used by Britains as a Lancer, so they will become a first for me. Heads and arms again came from Dorset - though as usual, I haven't fitted any arms yet - as it is far easier to complete painting of the front of each figure - when the arm is not yet in place.
Here's a pic below of progress - so far.
