Cheers Adrian.
These horses have very nice detail but they are quite boring in the pose.
Best wishes,
Keith

Hi Keith,
Nice work so far mate. You are right these do have the basics for good conversion possibilities, I have a couple of these kits in the G.A. Here is one Harry at our club converted from a Miniart kit. (photo's courtesy of Roger) Looking forward to the updates.
cheers
Richie

Very nice work and intersting conversion. Waiting for the next steps.
Francesco

That's a superb piece of conversion Keith.
Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Cheers,
Andrew

Many thanks for looking in and taking time to offer such kind comments gents.
If all goes to plan the rider will be a trumpeter. I am currently scratch building the trumpet from brass tube and freehand painting the banner.
Cheers
Keith

How would you go about doing the trumpet? This sounds like it'll be great.
All the best mate,
Scotty.

VERY nicely done! Excellent work!

Excellent conversion! I look forward to seeing your next update on this one.

Prost!
Brad

Hi Scotty
In the shell of a nut I make the trumpets the same as I would make a real one.
In my time I have played most brass instruments and have measurements for many of them.
So from that I can scale it down to the right sizes for the tubes (or rod for smaller scales). Trumpets are quite easy as the tubes are all the same diameter 1/2", I pack the tube with a plastic rod so that the tube will not fold in on bending. this I do around a suitable drill bit. This makes all of the bends. Next a tube that fits into the bends is cut to the lengths and fitted together.
The bell and mouth piece are a bit tricky. Not having a lath I use a power drill between my knees and an assortment of files.
Bugles are a different ball game.
I hope that this helps.
Cheers Mate
Keith

Many thanks Chaps. I appreciate your comments.
All the very best
Keith

Please post progress pictures of the trumpet. I would love to see that!

Don

Cheers Keith, it isn't really fair being so talented and musical. Do something about that will you?
All the best,
Scotty.

I think that I already have done something about it Mate.
Although I have good number of instruments. from an old rope tension Coldstream Guards drum to an electric guitar, Apart from teaching a Guy trombone here in La Belle France I have really stopped playing. So that's one off of the list and I question my "talent" for modeling.
All the very best
Keith

Hi Kevin,
Thanks for looking in.
As tor the trumpet; I tend to find that very often that cast trumpets. drums etc tend to be too bulky due to the casting process. So I find myself making them from scratch.
I must add that it's not just the mind that boggles when turning brass.

For You, Scotty and Don here are some shots of materials and progress. This also shows my sketch for the banner. I drew it a little larger and reduced it to size on the photo copier. I hope to get a freehand painted version later to day........If it goes well you might get a sneak peek.
All the best
Keith

As all ways you are on the money Kevin BUT there is a slight twist or two. So I think a tangerine is in order.
I think that you might be proud of me for the research on this one. More of that in a later post.
here is a snap of the banner so far.........of course there is the other side to do as well.
Hope that you like it so far.
Keith

"...In the shell of a nut I make the trumpets the same as I would make a real one. In my time I have played most brass instruments and have measurements for many of them. So from that I can scale it down to the right sizes for the tubes (or rod for smaller scales). Trumpets are quite easy as the tubes are all the same diameter 1/2", I pack the tube with a plastic rod so that the tube will not fold in on bending. this I do around a suitable drill bit. This makes all of the bends. Next a tube that fits into the bends is cut to the lengths and fitted together. The bell and mouth piece are a bit tricky. Not having a lath I use a power drill between my knees and an assortment of files. Bugles are a different ball game..."

This is so straightforward that it's downright brilliant.

All the best,
Dan

Your trumpet is much improved over the kit piece! You've gotten much better relief, compared to the cast part, and in this size, that's very noticeable. That is, the casting, no matter how crisp it might be, can't show that the trumpet is a tube folded back on itself. Well done!

Prost!
Brad

I am pleased that you like this method or producing a trumpet Brad.
In defence of the Guys at Mini Art my trumpet is an E flat Herald trumpet ( much the same as the baroque natural horn). This has only two bends where the half length cavalry E flat trumpet has four bends.
Cheers Brad
Keith

Thank you Dan,
Great to hear from another member of the "keep it simple brigade".
All tne best
Keith