Thursday 16 April 2009

Hohenzollern Cuirassiers

The first figures that I 'successfully' sculpted were a cuirassier and his horse. I have now cast and painted the first figure from this master, as is shown in the photo below.



I have painted him as a member of the Hohenzollern cuirassiers, a unit of the Reichsarmee. From the references I have seen for this unit, it is not certain as to whether the cuirass was worn over or under the coast. I chose to model the latter as this makes for a greater difference in look from the Prussian cuirassiers that will oppose them.


The figure still lacks a musket - I haven't made a mould for one yet. It's therefore not yet varnished, nor have metallics been painted. I usually add the musket at this stage - the varnish adding a little more strength to the bond given by the glue - so the figure will not be completed until a musket is available.

8 comments:

Martin said...

Hi Andy,

That is one fine looking trooper. I am slack-jawed in amazement, and I envy your talent!

He will be impressive when viewed in large numbers on the tabletop. Say...speaking of large units, I've always been curious...how do you control the urge, when the figures are popping out of the mould of, "Just 10 more, and that'll give me a regiment of 72 Cuirassiers!"?

Andy Mitchell said...

I have three constraints:

1) I paint at a very slow rate.
2) I haven't gotten the casting process right yet: getting the metal to the right temperature is still a matter of luck, so I don't get many usable figures.
3) With very limited storage space I know I have to limit the number of figures I own.

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Really great work there Andy. When I brought up your blog, my first thought was, "Oh, he's working on some Tradition (Stadden) figures." Impressive equine and human proportions. Can't wait to see them all painted up.

Best Regards,

Stokes

John Clements said...

I think that's an amazing figure for a first go, both at sculpting and casting. Anyone would be pleased to have these in their army. A whole unit will be very impressive.

Fitz-Badger said...

Looking good. Nice work on the reins!

old-tidders said...

Wow, super looking cuirassier.

If you want to take a short cut for the musket you could use the Front Rank part EQ29 - Flintlock muskets (x8).

Mind you I expect you would like to cast your own, then you can have the satisfaction of having done the whole figure

-- Allan

DC said...

I like both figures - the horse is particularly impressive. I hope you persevere, and look forward to seeing further creations.

johnpreece said...

I suspect that you have the mystery ingredient - talent. I like the size relationship between the rider and the horse and he seems to be sitting in a suitably 18c style. I also lie the fact his legs are not dangling way below the horses stomach.

I would encourage you to continue with this project. I speak from the heartfelt experience of buying tols and greenstuff and emerging two days later with a figure that looks like Morph. I guess you either have it or you don't.