Hey all

I have been taking a shot at reposing plastic horses, trying to get some action out of them.

The first one is an Airfix Life Guard horse. Pretty static pose. I cut a repositioned the rear legs and cut and bent the raised front leg for a sharper bend at the knee. The head was turned a touch and the jowl resculpted.


The next is an Airfix Cuirassier horse. I only turned the head on this on and reworked the jowls.


The last two are Historex horses. Halves and necks were bashed together with shims for width. On the leaping horse, the only cut was on the grounded hoof to get a better angle. I think I need to put a little more "beef" around the shoulders and rump.

This guy was assembled and shimmed like the other. Then I cut right thru in front of the pelvis to give the rear a compound twist.


All of these are in various stages of progress so any comments or suggestions are most welcome... that's why I posted these

The idea is to get a handle on the whole horse conversion thing as I am brainstorming a diorama with a number of horses in combat.

I will definitely be looking for help

Colin

Looks like an excellent start Colin. The first one though just doesn't look right to me with the right foreleg straight up and down. I'm not saying that it is wrong, just my impression. The other three especially # 3 looks top shelf. Keep it up.

Thanx Jay, This is exactly what I was looking for... I wasn't 100% sold on the grounded leg on the first horse either. It is too "up and down". I think I will draw the leg back some so it looks to be just about to come off the ground.

Thanks Jay

More thoughts?

Colin

Great start Colin.
I don't know why I have not done more horse based figures. I do enjoy converting them.
For me the trick is to make them 3d. Most castings are for an aft. That is a central join that runs through the center of the beast. Get away from this and you are owner of a unique horse. Your start with bending the neck is exactly what I mean.
To go to the next level try to do the same with the body of the horse. Here the is greater articulation and by cutting through the middle of the back enables movement both up and down and side to side. For example your rearing Airfix Cuirassier horse. where the head and neck are curved to the left you could continue that arc back to a little before the back legs. With this the rider could be trying to cut with his right hand and wrestle with the horse to reign it back to the left to get a better hit.
Easy to do with a thin saw and filler. Basically cut a V into the left flank and open up the right. this means that the flesh left will be compressed into ripples of skin and the right pulled tight over the rib cage. think of this when you do the filling. On the Aifix horses you may find some benefit to gluing a wire or such like to hold the two halves while you animate the position you are looking.
Enough for you to think about, I could go on for hours.
There is a lot of horse anatomy stuff on the internet that will help you out.
You know just to shout if I can help.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/appaloosa/1951099916/
Take a look at this horse, I plan this to be my next horse conversion in 120mm scale. Not too unlike your Life Guard Charger.
Cheers,
Keith

I would agree with others that the first pose doesn't quite work ; I think the straight leg has to be angled further back and the folded front leg opened out forwards.
The greatest reference for horses in motion is still Eadweard Muybridge's "Animals in Motion" which you can get quite cheaply from Dover publications. I heartily recommend it, because it takes apart all the various speeds and gaits into stop frames, so you can see the exact relationship of the legs . I expect the pics are also online nowadays .

On horse No 1, maybe ground the other front leg and then you have a passable pose with the rear legs kicking out, something which cavalry horses in the Middle Ages and Renaissance were trained to do in battle. Good work, though, takes me back to my Historexing days...pause whilst I go all misty-eyed.

the best in this situation is to check Muybridge pictures available on the net

Muybridge took the pictures of the animal in motion and you can check if your anatomy is correct or not, here an exemple of gallopping horse

Hi Colin,
Nice set of conversions, horse 1 certainly looks like picture no 2.
cheers
Richie

Here on the original French Historex NCO Site they still sell kits with the choice of horse parts Richard.
Indeed they have kept the full spare parts catalog of horse and human parts and equipment. reasonably priced too.
Cheers,
Keith

This is one of the great advantages of this group. Honest and helpful feedback. I think that I need to get that Muybridge book. Colin, now that The Master Ivo and others have joined in , you have a lot to consider! Bon chance.

Thanks guys, this is some great advice. Exactly what I needed. I do believe that as soon as I get home from work, the saws will be coming out for a little equine surgery.

Cheers

Colin

Hi Colin

Good work on the horses - look forward to seeing the results of your forthcoming equine surgery.

Cheers

Huw

Great job !

Stopped by Chapters on the way home from work and and the best I could find was a book about drawing horses. Actually not bad, some basic anatomy and it goes through the various stages of movement and has a nice section on facial expressions.

It may help some. Amazing though, not a single "picture book " of horses

Colin

Richie I think I'll aim for #18 in your set of pics or #12 in Ivo's set. They have the same rear legs and the front grounded leg... I just have to straighten out the raised forward leg.

Colin

... and watch the "bow" of the neck. It is just a small change but the head will be raised a bit to the front and the curve of the bow is not that strong. Great work so far and a very good idea to change the poses of the very nice Airfix horses from the past.
Cheers, Martin

when I've to built some galloping horse I search what are the best base available on the market...

in this period my favorite are the pieces of Fabrice Eisembach, just less than 80 different quarter of horse can be assemble together
http://www.eisenbachfigurines.fr/in...180bda8349e1=30601732e353e37cb5aaf318e73a1c40
to obtain any pose you need

here a couple of example

Great work Colin!! This is something I want to try, but I'm kind of afraid to do it!
Seeing you work around this made me want to try this
Good luck with your studies

Regards
Pedro

I was thinking the same thing about the first horse, the right front leg, and Muybridge's studies. The foreleg perpendicular to the ground is correct, anatomically and in terms of motion--the leg certainly passes through that position. But if you angle it back a little, I think you increase the dynamism of the pose. I see it as akin to the conventions of drawing cartoons. To show a two-dimensional figure moving at great speed, you angle the lines in the direction of motion, and have as little contact with the ground as possible. Of course, you can't add a little cloud behind your horse, but I hope you get my meaning

Prost!
Brad

Ivo, I do love the Eisenbach horses. I've seen the great results that you and some others have gotten using them. I will definitely be using them very soon. Right now I'm just practicing working at reposing horses, changing the legs and heads, sculpting the musculature etc. I've never really done it before and REALLY need to practice. I had a bunch of Historex horse parts and last year I bought a dozen Airfix kits for $5 each so I figured they'd be good for practice because they are super cheap and if I screw up it's not a big loss money-wise... I'm pretty cheap

Thanx Pedro, it's been kinda fun chopping up the horsies and trying to put them back together. If you have some plastic horse pieces, give it a shot... what have you got to loose

Thanx Brad, I agree, the grounded leg is jut too straight up and down... just a little tweak should make a huge difference. Of course, the other front leg will have to adjusted to suit. As for the cloud... there's always one following me around... why not the horse too. And yes, I meant that exactly like it sounds

Hopefully I'll get some work done on them tonight... the Stanley Cup playoffs really distract me from the workbench

Colin