I just couldn't give up and produced more Austrians. All of these are conversions/scratchbuilds: three cavalry artillery cannon with the 6pdr barrels from the Zvezda French artillery set; a unit of 16 Grenzer, Italeri figures with their helmets switched to shakos; and eight cuirassiers, Zvezda Saxons, this time on their proper horses, with helmets from the Italeri infantry set.
The saddle cloth is not the most accurate, but the horses and riders look OK.
The first Austrian cuirassier unit has proven itself well recently, so these fellows have someone to look up to.
I have improved the sculpey wheels, with better sculpting and more detailed axles, and added strips of paper to the carriage for extra detail. The officer is a HäT Landwehr figure, the crewmen are Italeri figures stripped of their firearms. The ammunition wagon is scratchbuilt, with a Zvezda GNW nag and a Strelets powder keg on the same base.
These are the 'useless' poses from the Italeri set, as a more mobile Grenzer unit they don't stand out that much I hope. The shakos are made from plastic sprue, the decorations on them from tiny pieces of wood.
They wear the colors of the 14th Székely grenz, their straps should be black but black straps on brown coats look dull, so I've taken some liberty and painted those white.
Next I will be painting a 24-man Hungarian foot unit, with mixed fusiliers and grenadiers, and I have also been thinking about a rocket artillery unit.
Austrian Hussars are really nice!
ReplyDeleteI know, they're the next purchase :)
DeleteWonderful additions. I really like the cavalry and artillery pieces.
ReplyDeleteGreat work on these. The Austrian is probably my favourite Napoleonic army after the french, and they run the french pretty close! I have just one Cuirassier Regiment - the 8th Hohenzollern-Hechingen - and that has over the years accumulated a considerable record. Their one defeat - half the regiment only - came after having just seen off an enemy light cavalry unit, and were still rallying. Could happen to anyone...
ReplyDeleteThey more than made up for it later in the campaign...
Thank you. This fresh unit will be soon tested in battle as well.
DeleteJust one comment I think I ought to make, not that it matters a whole lot.. It is better to have the gun barrels (not so much the howitzer) near horizontal. I read somewhere that in action they were rarely elevated to more than two or three degrees above the horizontal. Mind you, I prefer them near horizontal anyhow!
ReplyDeleteI know it looks odd, but repositioning the barrels would mean tearing the paint off the entire thing... I'll think about a less radical solution.
DeleteGood Job, and creative as usual. :D
ReplyDeleteGood Job, and creative as usual. :D
ReplyDelete