Following on from the imperial guard project I decided quite a while back to do a cuirassier trio representing a moment from the waterloo campaign,when Graham at CGS decided to release his latest cuirassier (capturing the colour of the 69th reg't ft) this would fit the idea I had perfectly.
quite a few weeks back I started a post on here about the wearing of the cuirass for cuirassier trumpeters,although this was not seen as the norm,it appears there were instances when the trumpeters did wear the cuirass over their respective coloured jackets particularly in the years between 1807 and 1811.
I came across a painting some time back depicting a cuirassier trumpeter wearing the cuirass at waterloo,now although this was only the artists interpretation it does seem quite possible that this could have happened during the waterloo campaign during the heavy cavalry charges undertaken at the battle of quatre bras and 2 days later at mont st jean itself.
The argument may go on for years but I decided I wanted to go ahead and convert one,for this I used the cuirassier body from the CGS charging cuirassier which Graham released some time back,i would keep the left arm as well from the kit but for the right arm and face I chose to use parts from Stu's I have the cuckoo bust (stormtroopers),I removed the shako and replaced it with the cuirassier helmet and added new chin scales from magicsculp,I also decided to bulk out the hair under the helmet peak and back of the head,also added at this stage was a moustache.
the charging cuirassier body had the crossbelt cast on,this I removed and resculpted the brass cuirass straps onto the body armour,again this was completed using magicsculp,as the head was tilted back I also sculpted the collar from the neck to wear it meets the cuirass.
It seems most if not all trumpeters during the waterloo campaign wore the imperial livery jacket,for this I sculpted the chevrons onto each arm again with magicsculp and the right arm eppaulette,the left hand gauntlet is again from the charging cuirassier but the right hand and trumpet is from the CGS scots grey kit,some modification had to be completed with the trumpet from a british type to a French type,trumpeter cords were added using 0.60mm leadwire.
The bottom half of the right hand gauntlet was sculpted to match the scots grey hand.

The cuirassier with the kings colour will be constructed as per the kit with no changes.

I chose to add the 3rd cuirassier Who will be a brigadier,hence the rank insignia on the upper and lower left arm,again I used parts from the charging cuirassier,i altered the position of the right arm so the sword would be raised higher to show the brigadier urging his troops on,the left arm is again a kit part but slightly altered to show the arm further out than it would be.
I decided early on this officer would have no helmet and a head wound,the helmets would have been lost during these charges or in the heat of battle and I just wanted to give the overall piece a different perspective.
The face for this one is the CGS face from the Coldstream guardsman,again the shako was removed and the hair sculpted on with macgic sculp.

Some base coats have been added and some early stages of flesh painting completed on the trumpeter and officer,there is still some more alterations to complete before any of the major painting starts.



Brian

Bloody hell Brian, another Bust-a-thon. Its look superb and I will follow this.
All the best

great paintings and great drama

Whahey, Brian, great stuff ! Love the way you get those skin tones in. I may say that I heartily concur with the sentiments of this piece. (That'll wind up a few!)

Alan

Looks very promising,
great construction and paintwork

Hi Brian ..... Well here we go again.....just amazing ..... Keep the posts coming....mike

Fasten your seatbelts ... Another roller coaster of a bustarama has begun.
A very nice start Brian.

Cheers,
Andrew

Many thanks bob

Many thanks Jai

Cheers Alan for your comments,it will open a can of worms I don't doubt that,i'm bracing myself anyway

Many thanks my friend for your comments

Many thanks mike,might have an update next week hopefully

Cheers Andrew,i doubt it will be much of a ride as its only 3 busts this time

Brilliant start, Brian - will be watching this develop..!!

Hi Brian....I really do admire your skill and imagination/creativity mate.....only reservation...not sure the speed/dynamics of a mounted piece hold up to busts without at least the head of the horse IMHO...

Ron

Many thanks my friend for your kind coments

Hey Brian, can you stop doing cool things please?!?
Thank You

Regards
Pedro

This is gonna be as great as the one before.

Marc

Hi ron,thanks for your views,i appreciate your opinion but there's a lot of busts on the market now relating to mounted troops with no horse heads and IMO I think they're quite effective, I don't think displaying 3 is any different to displaying one and I still think the viewer can appreciate the concept sculptors and painters are trying to portray,these examples below are all very effective but they don't have a horses head!,it will no doubt be a debate where everyone will have a different view and I appreciate yours

,many thanks pedro for those coooooooooooool coments