Friday, January 1, 2016

30th Lancer


Quite an imposing sight

Over Christmas, I did some completely frivolous mucking about with some Prince August moulds. This is, of course, as opposed to the very serious business of building armies for wargaming.  I quite enjoy casting, there's something quite soothing about doing something with your hands.  This was my first time messing about with a cavalry mould in 1/32 scale, but for a first effort he hasn't come out too badly. The only flaw that I can see in this specimen is that one of the horses ears is missing, but I think a little green stuff will sort that out relatively easily.
 

I'm rather happy with how the lance turned out

One thing that I've noticed with cavalry figures is that they take a great deal of metal, but they have a pleasing solidity in the hand that is quite satisfying.
 
For the most part this cast quite cleanly, though I had to have two trys at the arms, which didn't quite cast correctly. The lance is a puzzlement as it comes in two parts, but with a little care they went together reasonably well. I'm not sure I like having the pennant as a cast on part, as I think I would have prefered to add my own. We shall try it as is for the time being. 
 
The figure was trimmed and glued with epoxy as standard superglue wouldn't be quite up to the job. If the epoxy does not do the job, we might have to consider pinning.
 
The uniform is that of the 30th (Royal) Lancers, though there may be possibilities for paint conversions for other regiments.


Sitting a little far back for my taste

 
Prince August describes the 30th as follows;
 
 
"This unit was raised in Hyderabad, India, in 1862, by Captain John Gordon of the Coldstream Guards, by a treaty with the independent Nizam of Hyderabad; who was forced to give up large tracts of his land to pay for its upkeep and maintenance. According the the treaty the regiment was to provide security for the Nizam, but for the British authorities it served the added purpose of keeping his own power in check. Thus, when the Nizam's younger brother rebelled in 1929, the regiment moved into Hyderabad City and restored order. Later in 1854, the units name was changed to the 4th Cavalry and it became part of the Hyderabad contingent. During the Indian mutiny (1857-1858) Gordons Horses served as part of the Central Indian Field Force and took part in the defeat of a large rebel army near Mehidpus. It took part also in the relief of Neemuch and the capture of Jhansi. The regiment later saw action in the opening phases of the second Afgan War (1879), in several action o the North-west frontier. It served in Burma from 1887, undertaking police and anti-guerrilla activities. In 1890 it was renamed the 4th lancers, and again in 1903 it was renamed the 30th Lancers."



I shall have to correct that lean

On the whole, I'm relatively happy with this first effort, though there was a lingering uneasiness that I couldn't quite put my finger on until I looked at the photographs a second time.  I can't ever recall having seen a clean shaven Indian lancer. While I could add a painted on beard, I don't think that mere paint could possibly do justice to the magnificent facial hair sported by our brothers on the sub-continent.


I don't think paint could do justice to this.
(Image property of Amit & Naroop from their Singh Project)








20 comments:

  1. Ah! the slippery slope of home - casting, nice model., Tony

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  2. Smashing result from home casting! I am always intrigued by those who "pour their own" model soldiers. Perhaps my intrigue is a twinge of megalomania desiring to create vast armies out of raw lead?

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    1. It is rather fun and if you mess up you can just drop them back into the casting pot. You should give it a shot.

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  3. Happy New Year Conrad! I miss casting too and you're right it is oddly satisfying in a way that painting isn't. It's the act of *making* your own soldiers I guess.

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    1. And a Happy New Year to you too. There's something about it alright. I've no idea what I'll do with them though other than admire them from afar.

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  4. I'm sure he'll look fine once painted but I confess that after working with elegant Britain's and dashing HE 40mm home casts from PA, I have never been able to warm up to their 54mm horsemen, as you say, an unatural seat, too far back and no way to fix it except to grind the holsters.

    A bit of epoxy should fix the beard and a lick of paint make him bright, shiny and admirable.

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    1. I don't know about that Ross, he has a certain pleasant solidity. The HE sculpts are very nice, but I'm not sure I could justify another scale.

      I'm in two minds about the beard. I reckon green stuff will do it.

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  5. CK.. See http://www.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/images/960/97000-97999/97344.jpg you're assuming the regiment was Sikh??? :-)

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    1. There is that. But even so, your picture still shows quite a bit of facial hair on show and even the most sparsely forested of the three fellas depicted is sporting a moustache and chin beard.

      The temptation to stick on green stuff is growing.

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  6. A very nice piece of casting, I sometimes put metal riders on plastic horses to reduce the weight and save on metal, I know this is anathema to many people but it's just a thought.

    Best wishes for a Happy New Year, Brian

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    1. Thank you for that Brian. I'm in two minds about the horses. I quite like the idea of casting them, which is a lot of the fun. If I was going to use these chaps for a wargames army, I might go that route.

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  7. Pretty nice results! Oh, the alchemy of casting is totally unknown to me, so tons of respect!

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    1. Thank you very much Suber. It's a hobby of its own in a way, but the results when they work are very satisfying.

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  8. Here's an example of an Indian Lancer with just a mustache...

    http://cdn-7.britishbattles.com/second-afghan-war/charasiab/12th-bengal-cavalry.jpg

    ...and another with a clean-shaven face:

    http://www.britishempire.co.uk/images4/9thbl1910large.jpg

    But I agree with you that the beard is more iconic.

    Well done on the casting front, and I look forward to seeing him painted!

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  9. Nicely done! I used to cast figures back in the 70's. Too frightened to muck about with molten metal now :(

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  10. What a wonderful model and casting, a man of many talents Mr Kinch. Happy belated new year to Mrs Kinch and yourself.

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