More hussar horses

A French Hussar of  Rgt. Ferrari de Interani, ca. 1745

Starting from resin castings of my ambling horse mannequin (see older post), I have sculpted three more horse mannequins in the following poses: leaping, trotting, and cantering.

Leaping horse mannequin sections

Trotting horse mannequin sections

Cantering horse mannequin sections

Assembled horse mannequins: leaping (left), trotting (center), cantering (right)

Two galloping poses have come out for free by further combining the sides of the above mannequins.

Galloping horse mannequins

I then set off to complete the masters of my five new horses, sculpting the manes, the tails, the shoes, and the tack.

(Note the occasional, small cylindrical pieces added to the masters in order to create adequate air venting in the rubber mold).

Leaping horse master

Trotting horse master

Cantering horse master

Galloping horse master No. 1

Galloping horse master No. 2

Here below follow the pictures of painted resin castings of each of my six hussar horses. 

Three of the assembled castings turned out somewhat unstable, due to the thin base bending under the weight of the horse. For this reason, I added small supports in the shape of dust or dirt clouds kicked up by the horse's hooves. 

Hussars

 

When I set off to add some mounted figures to my mid 18th-Century toy soldiers range, the obvious choice fell on hussars, the wild Hungarian horsemen that served as light-cavalry skirmishers for Austria, France, Spain, Prussia, and other German states.

 

In the early-to-mid 18th Century all hussars, regardless of their allegiance, wore very similar uniforms based on the Hungarian national dress and differing only by color scheme and minor details such as the devices on the saddle-cloth and Säbeltasche. 

With this in mind, I sculpted a set of preliminary masters that would serve as a base for all hussars to come. These included parts for a mounted trooper’s mannequin, the saddle-cloth, and a set of  hussar weapons. 

I sculpted the hussar’s preliminary torso, head and arms as separate parts, allowing for simpler mold design. 

Again in order to simplify the design of the two-part rubber molds, I sectioned the saddle-cloth's preliminary master in two parts: right-hand and left-hand side. 

I sculpted the legs of the preliminary mannequin separately, intending  to make the final master’s legs, stirrups, Säbeltasche, and saber scabbard all integral with the corresponding saddle-cloth section. 

On the other hand, I made the carbine integral with the torso, suspended by means of a snap-hook to a bandolier, or broad belt, passing over the trooper's left shoulder. 

In spite of the intricacy of the scabbard and Säbeltasche suspension straps, the whole thing came out reasonably well. At that stage, I choose to characterize my figure as a French hussar, identifiable by the fleur-de-lys device worn on the saddle-cloth and the Säbeltasche.

I have based the general appearance of my hussars on the exceptionally detailed paintings by David Morier, ca. 1748, depicting Hungarian hussars in the Austrian service. These famous paintings, now in the Royal Collection (here) show all hussars wearing the same hairstyle, consisting of two side knots covering the ears, and one at the back of the head. However, other period sources show the hair braided at the sides of the head. Hussar headgear consisted of either a fur hat with colored cloth bag, or a black felt winged cap (Flügelmütze). Fur hats were worn by French hussars throughout the 1740s,  and also prevailed in the Austrian service.

I built the carbine converting a resin casting of the trade gun I had made for my Indians and Canadians. In the 1740s, hussar carbines were not yet standardized, and difference in length and detail were rather the norm than the exception. For this reason, while I based my carbine on surviving French and Prussian specimens from the 1730s and 1740s, I did not care to attempt an exact reproduction of neither of the above. 

Two pistols completed the hussar’s mix of weapons. I based mine on the French M1733 cavalry pistol. The pistols were housed into leather holsters attached to the front bow of the saddle, which are only partially visible under the saddle-cloth.

Later, as my mold making skills improved with time, I re-designed my French hussar's master so as to have it in one piece instead of three (excepting the arms). This new design drastically reduces the need for assembly, and affords much cleaner figures. 

For my first hussar horse, I wanted a rather neutral pose that would fit in most situations, and opted for an ambling one.

I sectioned the mannequin in three parts: right-hand side with head, left-hand side, and forehead with ears. At this stage, I left aside the mane, the tail, and the horse-shoes. 

In the early to mid 18th Century, hussars were employed exclusively as light cavalry skirmishers. Their mounts were small, rugged Eastern European horses, about 1.40 to 1.50m at the withers (13.3 to 14.3 hands). In the 1/32 scale, this converts to about 44 to 47mm.

This done, I made the required rubber molds and produced resin castings of the horse parts, which I assembled and completed with mane, tail, horse-shoes, and distinctive 18th-Century hussar’s tack based on Morier's paintings (omitting of course the parts that will be concealed by the saddle). 

And, finally, here is the complete master of my first mounted French hussar.

Highlanders

Independent companies of Scottish Highlanders were the first British regular units to be employed as light infantry in petite guerre operations. 

Sculpting my Highlanders has been a bit of a challenge for a number of reasons. 

The first obvious problem consisted in sorting out the intricacies of the belted plaid… 

After a few, unsuccessful attempts at sculpting the plaid directly from re-enactor pictures and illustrations found in uniform books, I decided that I needed to work from a three-dimensional model. For that purpose, I called back into service an old wooden artist’s mannequin. I cut a piece of cloth of a suitable size, and traced on it a simple grid to represent the basic lines of the tartan pattern. I then wrapped the piece of cloth on the mannequin, secured it at the waist with a rubber band, and tried to arrange it so as to reproduce the general effect shown in the illustrations and pictures found in the books and on the Internet.

Most early to mid 18th-Century pieces of pictorial evidence show the skirts of the plaid open at the wearer’s front. Almost no period representations go into such detail as to show how the skirts actually overlap, but the very few that do so definitely show them overlapping right-over-left, which arrangement I choose to follow (despite the fact that later representations, such as McIan’s well-known engravings from the 1840s, show just the opposite, and most modern illustrations follow this later pattern).

The next issue I faced was determining how the waistcoat and jacket were worn in relationship to  the belted plaid. Some early sources show no jacket, with the waistcoat tucked into the plaid. Others again show no jacket, but the waistcoat worn over the plaid. The Cloathing Book of 1742 has a soldier of the 43rd Highland Regiment, the Black Watch, wearing both jacket and waistcoat over the plaid. Interestingly, the  jacket is shorter than the waistcoat, an odd enough order of dress that I nevertheless choose to retain in my figures. The Cloathing Book also shows an unusual button arrangement for both waistcoat and jacket, but I opted for the simpler pattern shown in all other period images known to me.

I thus obtained two standing poses, the one holding his musket at ready,  the other firing. 

In order to be able to deploy my Highlanders three ranks deep, as was the norm in the British army of the mid 18th Century, I needed kneeling front rankers. To do this, I cut one of my standing figures at the waist, but kept the lower legs below the knees, which I added to kneeling legs from my basic anatomy mannequins.

When sculpting the kneeling Highlander's plaid, I took care that the arms of the standing figures fitted neatly also on the new kneeling master.

All my Highlander privates are equipped with waist cartridge box and canvas haversack. They are armed with basket-hilt broadsword, and Long Land Service musket with bayonet. 

In order not to further encumber the already rather bulky figures, I decided to omit dirk and all-metal pistol, which, albeit seemingly popular with all ranks of Highland units, apparently were non-regulation weapons and were not supplied by the Government. 

In contrast, I wanted both officer and sergeant to sport Scottish dirk and pistol, as shown in most period paintings and engravings. I sculpted separate masters for these items, as well as for an unsheathed broadsword.

I then sculpted another preliminary Highlander mannequin and produced two resin castings  that I used as a base for both the officer's and sergeant's masters.

The officer's rank his shown by the sash worn left-to-right across his chest, while his higher social standing is revealed by his elaborated coiffure (his own curled, powdered hair, or perhaps a wig). 

In contrast, the sergeant’s hairstyle and overall look are more in line with those of the rank-and-file. In order to make him more readily distinguishable from his men, I gave him a halberd, although in small-scale actions this cumbersome, obsolete weapon was probably discarded and replaced with the more useful musket…

All in all, my figures should represent typical enough Government Highlanders of the 1740s and 1750s:  soldiers of the 43rd  (later 42nd) or the 64th regiment, or perhaps of one of the many independent companies performing police duty in the Highlands of Scotland, or serving overseas. 

By removing the King’s cipher from the waist cartridge box, and painting the jackets and waistcoats some casual combination of colors rather than red, these figures may also take the field as Jacobite clansmen of the ’45, armed with captured Government muskets… 

The sergeant in the foreground and the corporals, identifiable by the white cord loop worn on the right shoulder,  are simple conversions of my stock figures.

References: 

The Cloathing Book of 1742, Facsimile reproduction, The Naval and Military Press.

Darling, A., Weapons of the Highland regiments, Museum Restoration Service, 1998.

Scott, J.G., Scottish arms – Illustrated by pieces from the collection in Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum. Armi Antiche – Bollettino dell’Accademia di S. Marciano – Torino, 1963.