He Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

I couldn't resist doing this model...Absolutely, nothing to do with anything, except a bit of nostalgia about Tempo plastic soldiers (if you remember them)!

As inspiration, I guess I have fond memories of that old 1947 John Wayne movie 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'. But, I also recently bought a copy of G.I.'s 'Sound the Charge: The U.S. Cavalry in the American West, 1866-1916'.

I'm a bit happier with the way I did the rider's legs with this model, but there's still room for improvement (as usual).

Enjoy!

More Peg Prototypes - June Part 1

I'm still trying to hone my skill and style for making my little peg soldiers. Here's my latest prototypes, an 1870 Prussian Uhlan (lancer) and an 1900 British Infantryman...

I'm still learning lots as I go along but I feel I'm making some headway. The infantryman seems about there as a template for the proportions and style of painting the peg 'body'. But, I still have a little way to go with my cavalryman. Still not 100% sure about the way I model the rider's legs.

Another concern is that I'm still using aerosol spray lacquer (Wilko's brand rattlecan) and this is very wasteful. Spray-on gloss does give a lovely even coat, but it's very indiscriminate and despite the fact I use a small spray both (with extractor fan) I can fell the stickiness of the varnish on my skin when I'm done. I'm guessing about 40% or maybe even more of the varnish doesn't go on the model at all!

I've ordered a can of paint-on varnish and will knock up yet another prototype this week to test this brush on varnishing technique - will it pool and drip?

(Will have to think about getting a little display cabinet soon as my collection of peg figures is growing rapidly!)

Saturday Morning Tinkering

Love Saturday and Sunday morning modelaxing (that should be a real word). Not a lot done but felt great before the craziness of the 'big shop' with the wife begins.

I've been trying to work out how to model the helmet of my peg Prussian 'Uhlan' (lancer). All 19th century lancers from all nations seemed to have a similar style of helmet, with the strange 'mortar board' arrangement on top. It's just so weird to make though, it never looks right even when it is!

I'm also deciding just how much detail to put into my peg cavalry's saddle equipment. I want my peg soldiers to be simple, but at the same time - for gaming purposes - I want to indicate that aside from a sabre or lance these cavalry did carry a carbine. It just seems more 'realistic' when I will be directing them to 'shoot' during a game.

Aside from this, do I include things like saddlebags and blanket rolls, and what about the horse's saddle straps and reigns? Hmmmm...

Maybe I'd best look at other toy soldier cavalry to see how they have simplified the addition of horse accessories and equipment...

Beautiful traditional toy Uhlan. This leans slightly more to the 'realistic'
depiction of horse equipment.

Armies in Plastic Company's Uhlans are a little more simplistic in their
approach to modelling the accoutrements.

Finally, I have to put some thought as to how I will model the lance itself and how I will attach it to the peg soldier without resorting to the inclusion a model hand (my peg soldiers have painted on hands remember).

That will be Sunday morning's puzzle.

Peg US Cavalry, For Fun

Having worked out the technicalities of putting together a peg horse and rider, it's time to do a painting test. And, as this is just an experiment I thought it would be fun to chose a subject for my painting that's a little different from my usual theme of 19th century European soldiers...

As a kid, I was brought up on Saturday morning picture show re-runs of old Westerns and for young boy at that time the highlight of any 'B' movie Western was when the US Cavalry charged in to the rescue! :)

This coincided with my getting into plastic toy soldiers and a particular favourite of mine was Tempo's strangely creepy US Cavalry. So, as a bit of nostalgia I have had a go at recreating a soldier from the old Wild West...

In practical terms, this model should help me check whether my plan for painting in the rider's legs will work. Fingers  crossed!

Peg Horse, Final Hurdle

Sorry, this is yet another post about my peg horse tinkering. But, I still wasn't happy. I had two main gripes; the shape of the horses head and (still) the rider's legs.

Getting Ahead...
OK. I know I wanted 'simple' but I think I was setting my bar a little too low. My first few peg horse prototypes had a very unsatisfactory head shape...I just couldn't seem to capture an equine profile, but  I couldn't put my finger on why it wasn't looking right.

Finally, it clicked...Ears.

Left: My 4th prototype. Right: 5th Prototype, with ears.

An obvious omission it may have been, but I was trying not to add additional features to my peg figures. My peg soldiers have no facial features and I thought that I should carry this on with their horses. Wrong.

My first few horses looked more like the Loch Ness monster! And apart from the lack of ears I also had the angle of the horses neck wrong and I rectified this as well in my 5th prototype (I made the neck more upright and the head slightly more downward looking).

Construction Simplified
While my horse and rider's 'look' was too simple in the end, their construction remained a little too convoluted. This was particularly true with my previous attempt at modelling the peg horseman's legs, for although they looked OK I had to use a lot of Milliput to complete the figure.

In the end, the overall look of my 4th prototype was that it had far too much putty holding all the joins together and fill all the gaps in my badly measured joints. So, I thought I'd have one final go, this time simplifying the cutting of the joints entailing (hopefully) less filler...

I decided to have a go at finishing the model as a Prussian Uhlan (lancer).

The main change was the way I chose to model the rider's legs as I went for a very stylised look. Rather than sculpting a (relatively) 'realistic' form of a seated rider I broke the peg figure into two with the idea of re-joining the separate parts by painting in 'missing' upper-legs.

In Conclusion
I'm much happier with the outcome of this final prototype, having toned out al the annoying bugs to my satisfaction. So, I'll have a go at painting the model now, just to check that my bisected body ploy works!

After that, I should be able to crack on with my first peg cavalry unit.

Quickie...Huzzah!

Just completed my fourth peg horseman prototype (it's slowly getting there) and I was pleased enough with it - although it's still not perfect - to take this model to a near finished state. I decided to make a 'hussar', not any particular historic regiment but rather just a generic cavalryman...

I don't think I will go as far as painting this because I want to use this model as a template from which I will make - what will hopefully be - my final models, using the dimensions and cutting angles I have established here.

Still, doesn't look too bad.

Horsing Around...Again!

Still not happy with my horse design. I think what it is is that I'm trying to go for a more realistic look which is still recognisably a 'peg' toy. Funny enough, a straight forward 'toy town' toy horse would be easier to make as I'd just go for a rocking horse design or similar, but because I am going for something half way between 'toy' and 'realistic' it seems harder to pull off.

What's happening is that instead of a model that's just a few wooden components glued together I'm starting to have to add more and more Milliput putty in order to make the design work. I'm also having to saw, sand and carve more complicated shapes out of the pegs to get the components I want and to make these components fit. (But, most of all it's the amount of putty I'm having to use that bothers me.)

I really - originally - wanted something that just went together out of a few simple components, but now it's turning into more of a real modelling or sculpting job. Maybe I'm just being too critical tough, as - in the end - it's the final look that matters.

I think what I will do is to paint this one up to see how it fits in with my painted peg soldiers.

A Horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

As simple as the peg infantry is to make I do have a bit of a conundrum...How do I make peg cavalry and artillery?

Today I'm trying to work out the cavalry part of the puzzle, by tinkering with some ideas on how to make a peg horses and riders. What's tricky is that it's quite easy to make a 'toy soldier' horse, but I don't want these horses to turn out looking like a children's storybook or toy horse...

I want something simple and stylised which suits the peg soldier look. So I had a look around and found a nice example of what could be achieved...

Credit: Wooden Warriors

I love this stylised horse and it really suits the peg soldier aesthetic. Of course, I don't want to copy this design but come up with something that fits in with my peg soldiers. I'm looking for that 'Goldilocks' zone halfway between realism and toy

Suck it and See!!!
OK, best way (I thought to myself) to find out how to make peg horses is to just start gluing some bits of pegs to gather and hope that I come across a 'right way' to do this. So, here's some pics of the results...

Peg Horse Prototype Number 1.

Well, my first attempt was a little ham-fisted and chunky. I really wasn't pleased with the shape of the head nor the length of the body. The whole thing was a little too big really.

Peg Horse Prototype Number 2.

One of the things that worried me about my first attempt was how I was going to portray the rider's legs. Obviously, I intended the first prototype to have the rider's legs painted on, but was there a more elegant way to perhaps include the legs as a part of the model?

Also, could I simplify (stylistically) the horse even further? Prototype number 2 was my attempt to see how stylised I could make the model.

Peg Horse Prototype 3.

Well, version 2 looked a bit skinny to me (it looked like the rider was sat on a donkey), so I thought I'd work on the version 1 format and see if I could refine it.

I shortened and narrowed the body (using a smaller diameter piece of dowel rod) and worked on a better head design. Yes, this meant I was back to the idea of painting the rider's legs onto the body of the 'horse' but it seemed a quicker and easier solution.

I'm still having problems with the shape of my horse's head - I had to resort to using extra putty to get the shape I wanted - but, in general, version 3 seems to be getting there.

I'm tempted to do one more version as I like the tilted back legs of version 2 - they make the model look a little more dynamic, as if the horse is about to charge - and I just had another idea about how I could do the rider's legs. We shall see.

10th Prince of Wales Own Royal Hussars

Having been donated a lovely Prince August 45mm metal figure I've decided to have a crack at making and painting it as a one-off piece of decoration (maybe mount it on a nice piece of wood). I'll be painting it in traditional toy soldier fashion - nicely glossed - but I am having trouble pinning down the exact colour scheme of the uniform.

Left: The colour sample from Prince August's own web site - unfortunately this only succeeds in confusing the issue of what colours to use, looking at additional reference material!

I suspect the only completely reliable way of getting an authentic palette for the uniform would be a visit to the regimental museum, but that's not going to happen! And although my brother has very kindly lent a hand by supplying a few examples of the history of the '10th' in pictures the uniforms changed subtly through the years and so made it a bit difficult for me to pin down just what colours to go for.

After a bit of head scratching I have plumped for this set of pictures on which to base the colour scheme for my model...

The red trousers seem to be a feature of the regiment of the 1890 period.

I may have to accept that I may not get this one entirely right without digging into regimental histories. So, on second thoughts I may just do the best I can and transfer my horseman to the army of Molatero as a 'generic hussar'!

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Postscripts: Typically, while trawling the internet for picture reference although finding hard to get definitive colour illustrations of my 10th Hussars kettle drummer I found some wonderful pics of the 3rd and 7th Hussars kettle drummers!

Not colour, but a lovely period piece - 3rd Kings Own Hussars Kettle Drummer...

And, the vital full colour reference of the The 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars kettle drummer from 1992...

There is actually a whole host of very interesting and useful pictorial reference material on their unofficial regimental web site at: www.thequeensownhussars.co.uk

...I just wish something similar was available for the 10th Hussars!

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Update: Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter how many times you sift through Google for a subject, a random and quite insignificant change in your search definitions can produces results. So it was this afternoon when, trying again, I came across a site called www.hussards-photos.com - although not, as stated, photos the web site does include some nice period postcards showing the full range of Britain's Hussar regiments.

The site includes this wonderful illustration...

It seems very likely now that Prince August's painted model is completely wrong, as the web site shows a common relationship between the jackets within the family of Hussars regiments (except the 21st rgt., which was a lancers regiment). That common feature is the dark blue jacket and none of the depicted regiments featured any use of the sky blue tunic that Prince August has used on it's sample model.

I have a suspicion - that Prince August used the cigarette card of the 10th kettle drummer that I have included at the beginning of this post as reference for it's model. If you look at the card you can see that the inks used do give the impression of a greeny-light blue tunic - but this is simply due to the poor quality or even the age of the card. I do believe it is supposed to be dark blue.

But, I speculate...In any case I found this wonderful lithograph which depicts 10th Prince of Wales's Own Royal Hussars, Officer, Review Order. Published by Legras (Paris), late 19th century...

© Look and Learn / Valerie Jackson Harris Collection

So, I now feel a little better equipped to reproduce a reasonable representation of the 10th's kettle drummer and will now turn my attention to the metal model and it's construction.

Cavalry reinforcements from Scotland!

Fresh recruits have arrived from Scotland! Well, by way of my brother's new mini-forge works anyway. He found a Prince August mould on eBay and made me a casting of this lovely kettle-drum horse-mounted musician (sorry, not sure what regiment, but he looks like a hussar of some sort)...

Even inventive my brother scoured eBay and eventually found a cheap pewter tankard which was then melted down to provide the metal for this kit. He told me that Prince August don't do this as a stand alone figure any more, they just make the mould now.

As far as scale goes it's another one of those very loosly defined '54mm' figures - I've sort of given up on expecting a consistent standard scale for 54mm metal toy soldiers now, but this figure comes in at the taller end of the spectrum...

Here I compare one of Black Hat's '54mm' toy soldiers to the
Prince August figure. The cavalrymen's face is a little thinner but
otherwise it's a good match for this taller '1/32' scale soldier.

My rule of thumb these days is to define '54mm' as generally relating to the smaller traditional toy solder's based on Britain vintage models - as exemplified by those produced by Dorcet Miniatures and Irregular Miniatures - while I use the term '1/32' to indicate the taller modern figures made by the likes of Armies in Plastic, Airfix, Black Hat, etc. It's just my own definition, but it saves me from getting muddled!

As a nice 'one off' piece this cavalrymen will come in very hand as a mini-project to be slotted in between my more intense obsessions. I don't intend to create a complete horse-mounted band!

Many thanks go to my brother, Ian, for making such a wonderful job and providing me with this piece.

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Edit: My brother came back with the following information about the regiment of the cavalryman:

"It's a 10th Hussar ( Prince of Wales Own) Kettle Drummer. Uniform seems to be early Napoleonic. They changed to the Shako around 1813."

I'm trying to track down some better colour reference guides for this uniform, there's bound to be an Osprey book on British Napoleonic cavalry.