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Post by paintdog on May 18, 2020 21:16:06 GMT
I'm happily painting the HaT SYW Austrian infantry - figures which I think superior to their Revell forebears.
My Austrian army is looking quite decent but lacks heavy cavalry. I don't shy from modifying & converting figures, so I have used the HaT Napoleonic grenadiers to make dragoons, the old Airfix British hussars for the Austrian version & the Revell SYW dragoons for allied Saxon chevauxlegers. But I would like to add cuirassiers.
Looking at what's available, the various Zvesda cuirassier sets don't have the needed two cross belts &, worse, the long tailed coat.
There doesn't seem to be any suitable metals either. Is there anything I've missed?
donald
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Post by minuteman on May 19, 2020 10:22:55 GMT
Yours is an earnest and genuine attempt to get the Seven Years War 'into the frame' with those manufacturers who appear still to be active in designing new sets. I applaud your perseverance and patience. It deserves to be rewarded one day.
I sense that HaT have lots of other projects, and that SYW cuirassiers are well off the table at present - unfortunately. Things, thankfully, might be more hopeful elsewhere with a truly-prolific 'AN Other' however. This manufacturer might well get to the SYW (I imagine perhaps in 2021), but may also beat HaT to producing figures for the AWI as well (also 2021). Such is their rate of output.
Personally, as I have mentioned before, I think it is a tragedy that Zvezda stopped short of producing a couple more sets for the SYW. They would really have done heavy cavalry of the period justice, and this time it wouldn't have been too bad if they'd made them on the large size (unlike their Prussian Hussars, who are much too large).
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Post by paintdog on May 19, 2020 11:34:31 GMT
Thank you for your kind interpretation of me being a pain in the rear end!
I am a fairly patient person, so your "one day" is of some comfort.
donald
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Post by Mr Schmitt on May 19, 2020 13:57:56 GMT
Around 50 years ago I started with Airfix' Napoleonic figures because of a lack of SYW. And I am still painting and waiting......
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Post by minuteman on May 19, 2020 20:17:24 GMT
Around 50 years ago I started with Airfix' Napoleonic figures because of a lack of SYW. And I am still painting and waiting...... Around 45 years ago I also started with Airfix Napoleonics. I also read a book by Charles Grant called The Wargame, which had pictures of massed regiments of SYW infantry and cavalry made up of well-painted plastic 30mm figures. Once I knew what these figures were I bought as many as I could afford...they were Spencer Smith Miniatures, cheap and crude but with a certain charm. I still have them! |
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Post by Mr Schmitt on May 20, 2020 8:05:44 GMT
Yes, instead I started also with Prinz August tin soldiers, but the tin was too expensive in the length of the time. But me too, I still have them!
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Post by chilperic on May 25, 2020 9:59:55 GMT
I'm happily painting the HaT SYW Austrian infantry - figures which I think superior to their Revell forebears.
My Austrian army is looking quite decent but lacks heavy cavalry. I don't shy from modifying & converting figures, so I have used the HaT Napoleonic grenadiers to make dragoons, the old Airfix British hussars for the Austrian version & the Revell SYW dragoons for allied Saxon chevauxlegers. But I would like to add cuirassiers.
Looking at what's available, the various Zvesda cuirassier sets don't have the needed two cross belts &, worse, the long tailed coat.
There doesn't seem to be any suitable metals either. Is there anything I've missed?
donald
Thanks for posting this, Donald. I am having this problem too! In plastics there are the HaT Swedish Reitars, 9 of which have breastplates and look easily convertible, if you don’t mind the fact that they are chunky early HaT... another possibility which I haven’t tried are the Zvezda Napoleonic Saxon cuirassiers, with head-swaps. But if you are as picky as me, there’s nothing in plastic that doesn’t need serious conversion work. I have converted some Zvezda GNW Swedish and Russian dragoons and am happy with the results but they took some work, as their coats are really too long and most of my picture sources (though not all) suggest the musket was carried the other way up. I tried to add some photos but the files were too large. In metal, the closest in size are Minifigs 25mm figures, which are pretty much the same size as the large 1/72 plastic ranges from HäT, Revell and Zvezda. I don’t much like the figures and they are way overpriced but you can buy the riders separately from the horses and they fit on Zvezda horses, which also gives more variety. After that the closest are Irregular 25mm figures which are bigger but within an acceptable ’wargames tolerance’, and it’s really the horses rather than the riders that make the difference. If you want your heavies on big horses they are fine. The problem is that if you go for any 1/72 plastics (or metals) from the smaller end (like Airfix AWI figures) they absolutely tower over them (thicker bases reduce the problem to some extent). There’s nothing else, really, in metal. Lancer miniatures do some nice 20mm British and French cavalry but they are smaller than the HäT etc SYW plastics, alas. I bought some Irregular Miniatures Marlburian 20mm cavalry, which might have worked but they are teeny - more like 18mm. At least Hussars are Ok, as the Revell Prussians are still available via Waterloo 1815, and if you have any, the Airfix Napoleonic British hussars are perfect for Austrian hussars. |
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Post by chilperic on May 25, 2020 11:12:54 GMT
I don’t know whether this works but here is a link to a picture of my Zvezda conversion to Austrian Cuirassiers pin.it/ourFF6h |
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Post by paintdog on May 25, 2020 12:01:42 GMT
@ chilperic Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply. You've mentioned some things I've considered....& some things I haven't. Re; size. As the HaT & Zvesda figures are on the "big" side, I prefer figures which are a bit taller & heftier than the Revell ones. I've considered the Zvesda Saxons & TBH your photo rather encourages me this might be the way to go. A bit of "surgery", a bit of green stuff & some paint. One nice thing about using these figures is when you stick the Zvesda GNW tricorned heads on, they can all be facing the front instead of the existing, to the side, heads.
I'll look into the metals you've suggested, too. donald (BTW I've used some of the Zvesda GNWs for SYW French cavalry who had an old-fashioned look about them). |
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