KGL figures light infantry for la haye sainte

[RAMCSEARCH]

I would like to make up a unit of KGL light infantry for defending La Haye Sainte. My Napoleonics collection are currently Elite Miniatures with some Front Rank , any suggestions as to availability of suitable KGL lights to match these please. I could convert some portugese cacadores but the 'bow tie' at the base of the plume is wrong, and the 95th rifles figures haven't got the KGL lights shoulder rolls. Help !

[Anonymous]

It's worse than I though, on re-reading osprey KGL (2) 1812-1815, The officers of 1st and 2nd battalions KGL were different, carrot plumes for 1st and Mirltons for 2nd , and both battalions were present as 1st battalion sent in reinforcements later in the action, also mentioned were a hanovarian battalion and 200 Nassau with their all important kettles to put out the fires... Help

[Guest]

My initial reaction when faced with such a challenge is:

Out with the scalpel and the Milliput! How many of these guys do you actually need because if it is a realtively small number you may be best to do a little converting. Sounds like relatively minor differences in uniform(although I have not looked exactly at the differences you have mentioned).

I am not really familiar with all the Napoleonic ranges so there may well be figures out there that fit the bill but....

cheers


B

[Anonymous]

I will be doing 400 men of 2nd battalion (20 figs), then for the 1st battallion reinforcements about 200 men (10) figs including one officer so a single head swap with a suitable figure wearing a mirleton should not prove to difficult, and scalpels are not a problem as I'm a Dr ! Any tips on using miliput as I've never used it before ? My Nassau are already done and I am reasearching the Hanovarians now...

[barr7430]

Fantastic, we have have a Doctor in the House! (SORRY! ) Welcome!! .

Milliput is a two part putty which has a working time of about 20-30 minutes. It is a little messy but can be shaped and blended with small tools lubricated with clean water. For small conversion work - plumes, hair, packs, swallows nests etc etc it is very usable. Buy it for £2.50 -£3.00 in a model shop or hobby shop. There are various different grades: standard(Yellow and grey) is the cheapest, super fine, terracota but the first and original will do just fine.
An alternative is a similar modelling material known as 'green stuff' used by many figure designers. I hae never personally used it but it is very widely utilised by almost all of the 'names' these days(so much soi that preliminary sculpts and masters are often termed 'greens'). Maybe someone more familiar can give you a better description of the technical characteristics.

My recommendation would be for you to GO FOR IT . Have a bash, I'm certain you will feel a huge sense of satisfaction if you do these conversions yourself!

All the best and good luck

Barry

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information Barry , i'll give it a try. Please no 'bad back'questions, after 2-3 hrs of painting mines killing me...

[Anonymous]

I personally have used greenstuff for adding bags/rucksacks etc to minis and found it at first a litle strange to work with.I followed advice from the sites listed below. When I get the new camera I will send Bary some pix and hopefully he can put them up or send them to you.Regards Lindsay

Ah little nudge in the I hope right direction.
http://www.lyonstudio.com/Sculpting/Scu ... xtures.htm

http://www.lyonstudio.com/Sculpting/Tools.htm

http://www.lyonstudio.com/Sculpting/Lippman1.htm

http://www.lyonstudio.com/Sculpting/Tips.htm


http://www.lyonstudio.com/Sculpting/Sculpting%20101.htm

http://www.lyonstudio.com/Sculpting/BobbyJackson.htm

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/loa ... 22593.html

[Anonymous]

Thanks for those websites Lindsay they are inspirational! I'll talk to my model shop soon City Centre Models Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, one of the few remaining proper model shops left near to me. I remember as a mere youth rumaging through boxes of Hinchliffe figures that the shop kept as stock, ahh those were the days...

[Guest]

I have had the same problem looking for suitable figures for KGL Light Infantry. Peter Gilder had a couple of figures in his Connoisseur range, one firing and one advancing. These are currently available through Bicorne Miniatures at http://www.bicorne.co.uk/

I have recently purchased some Prussian reserve infantry figures from Peter Fitzgerald’s excellent Calpe Miniatures Prussian range.

Prussian reserve infantry uniform (c), PR49 to 56, have British supplied uniforms; rifle jackets (with shoulder rolls) British stove-pipe shakos with bugle–horn badges. On the down side they have calfskin backpacks with Prussian water flask attached and do not have rifles (perhaps OK for the Peninsula). There is a picture of them at http://www.miniatureservicecenter.com/msc-calpe.htm about a quarter of the way down the page.

Wargames Foundry also produce Prussian reserve infantry in British rifle jackets, you may want to investigate them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information, I'm still checking out figures before I start conversion work, found a picture on mike siggins gallery section www.czapska.com/ the other day ! You have set me thinking again now, elite miniatures do some prussian reserve infantry figures so i'll check them out and get back to you. Anybody know a 28mm figure with a nice mirleton for the officer ? Simon

[msk]

Seeing all this mention of Calpe reserve infantry, it would be remiss of me not to mention that there's now an official Web site at http://www.calpeminiatures.co.uk/ where there's a growing number of pictures.

I should know because I made the site for Peter Fitzgerald (AKA Mr. Calpe). Naturally, we'd welcome any comments, feedback, ideas etc for the site.

Thanks,
Martin

[PMcC]

Wargames Foundry do a nice Rifles Officer and the Connoisseur KGL Light officer has a mirlton.

[Anonymous]

Thanks , i'll try out the officer with the Mirlton, I checked out the Elite miniatures range yesterday. The make I and II battallion 20th Regt Reserve infantry in British uniforms with stovepipe shako but shoulder straps not wings, what would be needed is III battalion 20th Regt with rifles uniforms and wings, i'll e-mail and ask if this unit is planned, especially after what i read yesterday...

I'd pretty much decided on Front Rank Portugese cacadores and Front Rank Rifles as the basis for the conversion work for the men of the units ( I only need 3 or 4 officers) when I read in the Wellingtons Infantry 2 that 'of course only the sharpshooter companies had rifles the rest of the KGL light Battalions were MUSKET armed'....Sigh....

I was so mad I finished off the Belgian Regt I had been working on for ages!

But then again the rifle armed would have been the first to be detached and sent to defend La Haye Sainte, triumph of hope over despair

There are some excellent comparative black and white Knotel sketches of 1st and 2nd KGL Light battalions in the Osprey 'Hanovarian Infantry of the Napoleonic Wars'

Thanks to all for your help and encouragement, I'll try and post a picture when I've finished, but don't hold your breath.

[Anonymous]

Just finished drooling over a new website for calpe miniature at www.calpeminiatures.co.uk and they make a Prussian Reserve figure wearing british supplied uniforms (c) , ie Rifle style uniform with shoulder rolls and musket armed , stovepie shako with hunting horn badge, figures PR 49 to 58 , one of each should make a fine centre company , now where's my credit card !

Warning if you like Prussians do not look at this site until you have been to see your bank manager...