New Vehicles, New Armies

The spring has been a busy one and has not allowed me much time for modeling or gaming. However, I have completed one long delayed project and started a second project.

The Bavarian Royal Coach
Years ago, Patrick gave me a fancy coach that would take a single horse and had a goofy looking driver. I decided that this coach would work nicely for Ludwig the II, King of Bavaria's royal transport.

I painted the coach cornflower blue and trimmed it in gold and dressed it with royal flags. The horses are Prince August Hussar horses. Their blankets were printed on paper then glued to the model. I added the headdress with wire and kneadatite.

The King is a copy of my original figure. The other three passengers are resin copies of figures that will be available from TVAG. All have been converted into seated figures.

The driver is one of my standard seated figures with a German cavalry head.

Army Saffron - The Troops of the Raja of Chutneypore

While building a bunch of Balkan masters, I decided tat I'd like to have some Indian troops to bolster my Army Red. The results are the troops of the Raja of Chutneypore, a small princely state wedged between Nepal and Bhutan.

Above are photos of the Raja of Chutneypore in his royal transport. The elephant is an african elephant I got from Walmart for a buck ( I can't find indian elephants anywhere ). I used a pair of sissors to trim down the ears and covered the lack of a humped back with the howdah and blankets. The howdah is cardstock and the blankets are plain paper. The patterns for both came from photos of persian rugs. The mahout and the Raja are custom built figures for this model. The two Army Red advisors are my standard seated figure, modified to sit in the howdah. I also modified the home service helmet on one of the advisors.

This is my first baggage elephant. I think I saw this type of rig in a picture I found on the internet. However, I have not been able to find the picture since I built this one so I might have imagined it. Anyway, the baggage rack is made of painted cardboard. The quilted blanket is Magic-Sculp. The harness ropes are twine and the boxes are cardstock from TVAG and some found on the internet.

Here is an artillery rig. With this one, I used Magic-Sculp to build up the back. Then, I covered that with the foil off of a wine bottle. More Magic-Sculp and twine were used to complete the harness. The limber is a cheap plastic ACW model which I modified with clothes hanger wire to fit the elephant. The gun is a shooting model I got from Patrick.

Here is the Army Saffron armoured car. It is a WWI Rolls Royce card model designed by myself. The machine gun is a plastic model. The wheel illustrations came from the Fiddler's Green Lanchester AC. The flag and side emblems are my design.

 

Here is the Army Saffron 1st Irregular Cavalry. The riders are my own design. The horses are French Napoleonic Dragoon.

These are the 1st Chutneypore Infantry. They are figures of my own design.

These arethe 2nd Chutneypore Infantry. They are the same figures as above, just different paint jobs. The flags for Army Saffron are based on several Indian designs, both ancient and modern. If there is interest in them, the may become available through TVAG.

These are not part of Army Saffron, but they are new. These are Army Red Dragoons. The riders are my orignal sculpts. The horses are imported chinese plastic.