Bavarian Blues 2

The 4th form up.

I really wasn't planning to do any more Bavarians at the moment, but having started them I just couldn't resist. The result is two companies of the 4th Line Infantry Regiment, with two more companies on the way.

The figures are:

1 x Hinton Hunt BVN 1: Bavarian infantry officer, charging;
8 x Hinton Hunt BVN 4: Bavarian infantry private, charging;
2 x Der Kriegspielers DK 174: Bavarian Infantry, at the ready (converted); and

last, but not least, a conversion of Der Kriegspielers DK 7: French Infantry Command 1809, drummer.

Drumming up the new recruits.

Er...a few too many sausages, perhaps?

Impossible Bavarian flag  number 2 is still in production.

An interesting feature of the BVN 4 figures is that a few of them are a bit ....er...wider than the others. Something went a bit wonky during casting, I suspect. However, they line up with their slimmer brethren well enough.

I'm a bit stumped about what colour to paint the helmet plumes. All of Marcus Hinton's Bavarian line infantry have them, despite the fact that it was only the the grenadier and chasseur companies that actually wore them. The plumes, therefore, should either be red or green. However, I wanted to represent fusilier companies in the centre of my battalion, so I painted them white. Transgressive, isn't it...!

The rest of the battalion should be appearing at some point during Christmas, I hope.

Auf wiedersehen,

WM

Wrestling with Redcoats

DK 176: Swiss Line Infantry Battalion

Ian's second squadron of Prussian lancers are well under way, but I'm sorry to say they're not quite finished and would have been too late to take part in the spectacular fight which  has broken out at Mont Saint Jean in any case. As a result I've decided to post something that I started working on a few weeks ago when it seemed that Ian's cavalry were never going to arrive.

One of the things one quickly begins to accumulate when collecting vintage figures are various problem castings that it's difficult to know what to do with. In my case the worst example was a set of sixteen DK 176: Swiss Line Infantry. These rather promising figures had everything going for them except one thing - a complete lack of musket butts! What made this especially annoying was that they were just what I needed to go with Chuck's 1809 French standard bearer. Even more importantly, I wanted some redcoats!

After considering various options involving milliput and superglue, which didn't look very promising from a strength point of view, I decided there was nothing for it but to have a go at making some of my own using a soldering iron. I've never dared to do this before, but having consulted an expert (yes, that's you Roy), I equipped myself with some self-fluxing solder, a soldering iron, some micro-files and a pair of flat sided pliers. 

DK 176 with modifications!

The hardest part was to get a blob of solder attached that was long enough. However, once this was achieved a bit of pinching, cutting and filing was all that was needed to get the right shape. The result of my first attempt is in the next photograph.

The next thing I had to know, of course, was what Chuck's DK 7: French Line Infantry Command, Standard Bearer would look like standing next to him. I'm not exactly sure how I managed to squeeze the lettering onto this, but let's just say that it's a relief to know I won't be doing any more of these for a while!

DK 7: French Line Infantry Command, Standard Bearer

Well, one thing led to another, so pictured below him are the DK 7 drummer and charging officer figures needed to round off the command group. The drummer has been slightly modified to create the swallows nests favoured by the 3rd Swiss Regiment.

I chose the 3rd despite the fact that, "as any fule kno", almost all the depictions of the 3rd show they had the peculiar habit of wearing their pom poms slightly off-centre and wore their shako cords even more eccentrically. My excuse is that, as neither Marcus Hinton or Duke Siefried catered for such peculiarities, I didn't have any choice, and besides, not all the pictures of them show them like this! The truth, of course, is that I just couldn't resist their snazzy black facings and white piping.

Normal Prussian Lancer service will resume in the next post.

WM

DK 7: French Line Infantry Command, Drummer

DK 7: French Line Infantry Command, Officer, Charging

The Eagles Have Landed

Chuck's very generous donation

My cunning plan of starting whichever project turned up first has been completely derailed by the arrival of numerous fabulous things simultaneously!

4 Eagles.

Chuck Gibke in the USA, gentleman, scholar, DK connoisseur and all-round smashing bloke, has donated a fantastic collection of DK French command figures, and much else besides.

Perhaps most treasured of all are these four French line infantry eagle-bearers. My complete lack of eagles was the main reason I haven't made a start on the small army of DK Frenchmen I've been collecting to fight my HH Prussians.

Most of the figures are from the DK 13 set: French Line Infantry Command 1812: 4 drummers, 3 eagle bearers, and 5 marching and 3 charging officers. The final eagle bearer looks like he might be from the DK 7 set: French Line Infantry Command 1809.

Chuck also very generously sent me 8 x DK 121: Prussian Guard Infantry advancing, which is what I need to complete the 2nd East Prussian Grenadiers.

Officers and Drummers

Rounding it off were 12 Jack Scruby French and British standard bearers. Although very simple sculpts they are very well proportioned and I think they'll paint up very nicely. I certainly intend to use them if I can find a way to reposition their flags. This won't be easy as they've been very solidly cast.

DK 121: Prussian Foot Guards Advancing

Needless to say, I am heavily indebted to Chuck for his fantastic generosity. I'll just have to make sure that my painting efforts do them justice..

Scruby Standard Bearers

Suspected Hinchliffes!

In an entirely separate package were what I'm almost sure are a set of 6 Hinchliffe 20mm-scale French field guns.  I bought these from my good friend Richard in New Zealand. I'm not completely certain what they are but they certainly look very Hinchliffe-y - to me. The inward-sloping camber of the wheels may be a bit of a clue. I have the feeling that only Frank Hinchliffe  would have bothered with a detail like this at 20mm scale!

French Gribeauval 6 pdr?

They look to me as if they might be French Gribeauval pattern 6 pounders, but they would do very well as Prussian 6 pounders as well, in my opinion. Whatever they are, I'm completely delighted with them.

So the big decision is: will it be Prussian artillery or French infantry on the painting table this weekend? I'll keep you posted!

WM