My idea of sticking to the boxart as a colour reference failed, mainly due to the bods and nags looking nothing like the ones portrayed on the boxart. After a lot of digging about on the web for a suitable colour scheme, I more or less gave up and painted them using a couple of Basic reference Points. I mean, which period are These lot supposed to portray? The "war" against the Native americans??, ACW??
PSR gives them a 3 out of 10 for historical accuracy...IMHO, a bit over generous.
Added to the lack of a fixed period, loads of bits are missing or just plain odd and no matter how hard You try, you just can´t paint up a bandolier to look like White braces or make non existant revolvers, saddlebags, neckerchiefs etc hold paint.
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| All 12 poses |
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| Command. The B/W saddle rolls are after an example found on the web |
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Why the cartridge belt Brown at the front and White at the back and not black all over? Two reasons. Firstly I´d tried that and the belt "blended in" almost becoming invisible and two, I liked the look of the Brown and White version. They are basically more or less toys anyway.
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What will happen to this lot? Even though the nags are missing a lot of their tack, they still aren´t as bad as some examples so they will get used in a future Project. The bods? Back into the box of obscurity.
*Using the listing at PSR and Discounting the farm animal set, the two zoo sets and the 5 (?)"type 1" sets.
This is bringing back some childhood memories Paul! I played a lot with these and I still have them.
ReplyDeleteI had a look to at the PSR page and noticed that this set is produced four years later as the Indians. They might be an addition to their Wild West and Civil war range.
Greetings
Peter
Now that's a walk down memory Lane, thanks for posting
ReplyDeleteOh wow, they bring back memories, but mine certainly did look anyway as good as these.
ReplyDeleteAce Cool Painting Style! I just realized that i have never ever seen this old set of AIRFIX FIGURES painted. Most gave up trying to make the riders fit the horses and then failed to get the horses to stand up. My O` My! I sure do admire your grit and determination needed to actually get them to look good. Well done Paul. BB
ReplyDeleteI think these were meant to be more in line with their ACW range than cowboys & Indians. I do remember painting one or two a long long time ago but they looked nothing like yours! Great job.
ReplyDeleteVery nice, just watched "They died with their boots on" the other night!
ReplyDeleteLove them! I painted up one of the dead horses this week to use as a casualty counter for Impetus. I have a plan to convert some of this set to be cavalry for my Airfix Romans. In the past I converted some to be Scots Greys (now I think safely lost...) and some as French Chasseurs (still in action)
ReplyDeleteRegardless of accuracy, these figures look the apart. They would be meant to fight the Airfix Indians (eh, Native Americans) which if I recall were a slightly smaller figure). There is also a fort set to go with them as well (I'm thinking F Troop).
Correction: The Airfix Indians paired with their wonderful wagon train set. Those two and the three ACW sets seem to be by the same sculptor/designer, but the US Cavalry were by someone different.
DeleteThere were three or 4 sculptors. The Early figures (I assume the type one sets an d the likes of the indians, wagon Train etc)were sculpted by John Niblett later designs by Ron Cameron who also did the Britains Deetail line. Some figures have also been attributed to Charles Stadden and his Team but there´s no definate info to be found and who did which set is, as far as I know, lost in time.
DeleteI love theses guys now as much as I did back in the 60's .just bought some ,no idea why , I will not be painting them as well as you have though , great job Paul .
DeleteWhy buy them? Nostalgia maybe..that was my reason :-)
DeleteWonderful!
ReplyDeleteNice work as always, Paul. I had this set as a kid, I remember the dead horse!
ReplyDeleteLovely job on those cavalry Paul.
ReplyDeleteThey look fantastic! I always wanted that set as a kid but never seen them looking that good before.
ReplyDeleteThis set is typical early Airfix 'fudging' in that they were meant to fight Confederates and/or Indians (in the same way the US Marines were meant to double as Army GI's), because after all, they were just toys. The size of the horses show a vast difference in sculpting between the cowboys Indians, wagon train AND civil war artillery so they were designed as a generic, stand alone set in their own right. The original Airfix US Cavalry box has no opponents visible, but the 7 on the guidon seems to indicate Custer's troopers in 1876 (even though the figures inside look nothing like them)http://www.lulu-berlu.com/upload/image/airfix-1-72-s22-us-cavalry-mint-in-type1-box-p-image-279706-grande.jpg
ReplyDeleteTell me about it Stuart. The PSR Review gives them 3/10 for historical accuracy, lack of firearms,particularily Revolvers, the hats being wrong (in fact, due to the mold, in some sets, the bugler Looks like he´s wearing a woolen hat)
DeleteStill, apart from using the mounted bods from the Cowboys set or the mounted officers from the artillery set (I will be using some ) to get a decent amount of mounted bods, they are all there is.
Like your site BTW, the pics and the vids are great.
Just out of interest, that shoulder belt is the sling for the (missing) carbine; somewhere in the process the sculptor got confused and made it a cartridge belt or bandolier in front.....
ReplyDeleteCartridge belts came in in the late 1870's and were worn around the waist with the (also missing) pistol holster while the sabers were discarded altogether. In the humble opinion of this rivet counter, the fact that nearly all are waving sabers makes them civil war troopers ;)
If this wasn´t a "old School" Project (and not my usual period of interest) I´d probably go about adding bits and pieces,not only to the riders but the nags as well, saddle bags, rolled up overcoat on the pommel etc. The set as it is is quite lively, the poses are Ok...but to convert etc is a lot of work
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