Hello All:

Does anyone have any experience with this vignette?

It depicts a postilion being transferred, saddle and all, onto a fresh mount.

My difficulty is the positioning of the bearers; it's difficult to figure out how their arms are positioned so as to hold the postilion and saddle up in the air.

Any help would be much appreciated.

H.D.

It's all what I have
The modo at Historex has always been : ... fend for yourself ... figure it out ... you're on your own ...

Yeah, you got that right! You gotta love Historex but there are times when "What the heck were they thinking?" comes to mind.

This is the picture which comes with the product and hides more than it reveals. Btw, I know as little about horses as the next person and even if these riders had stirrups which attached over the pommel, I strongly suspect that that horse having only a bridle when a new rider is placed simply cannot be correct.

Cheers.

HD

Ah ! The joy of Historex

Cuting
Dusting
Folding
Liquid Plastic
Pyrographing
Enlarging
Thining
Mix halves, cut in two for more variant
Pining
Engraving
Resculpting folds of pockets
Washing
Guessing
Filling gaps
Drilling
Forming
Warming

.... Boring .....

Hi
I am doing a Historex hack up .........Started off with a vision ..........Realizing it is another matter
Getting there ........but hard going ...doing and re-doing bits over and over
its how it goes .....enjoyable modelling at its best

Frank

Couldn't have said it beter myself.Love Historex!

Oda.

Historex can be considered almost another medium. SO many options etc that getting the best out of them can be a real challenge. That's the point though. Although we've gotten used to the latest resin kits that are magnificent, Historex has its appeal in its rawness - challenging you. The conversion possibilities alone.... Superb stuff.

Right there with you!

Oda.

It's been many years since I worked on a Historex figure, but I can
confirm what's already been said.........they require a lot of creative
effort to make them work well. Perhaps these Leliepvre sketches
might help a bit.
I believe that the relatively simple horse harnessing for military couriers
was mostly identical to that of postillions - including those large stirrups
designed to accept the special iron boots worn to protect the rider's feet
in the event of a accidental fall, the 'blinkers' to keep the horse's attention
focussed, and that ornamental collar thing with all the bells.
As for the poor bods at the relay station who hoisted him from one horse
to the next...well... it will need a bit of creative reworking of the shoulders
and arms to simulate a sense of 'weight'. So there's nothing for it but to
get out the milliput, and ask someone to lift up something seriously heavy.
While they curse and suffer you can check the anatomy.
Welcome to the world of Historex..............

Mike

The foot needs to be protected. The classic mid-foot (Lisfranc) fracture occurs when the foot is wrenched between the mid and hind foot by a foot stuck in a stirrup as is often shown on the cinema screen with the rider being pulled along the ground with one foot in the stirrup.

Mike

With military despatches speed was of the essence, so it was more common for the horse
to stumble and fall while moving fast across rough ground - the boots protected the courier's
foot from being crushed.

Mike

Not sure how much these will help, but some good refs for the rider (who were civilian rather than military) and some for the harness (as a postillion/driver rather than a stand alone courier).

The Historex harness does seem grossly simplified.




The last picture shows a blue/red livery whereas, pre 1809 it should be blue/buff (then green/red).

... a couple more from Knotel/Elting (the first is a standalone rider/courier):




... and a similar outfit from one of Fort's volumes (BNF):

Some background from Elting's Swords Around a Throne:

(note the change of uniform colour from blue to Imperial Green in 1809)

CORRECTION: looking at the first set of refs above it looks as if the Post had a much simpler/lighter harness than those shown below:



These are artillery and medical units but I would imagine that the basic harness/saddles etc would be similar for the Post.

Note the four vs two horse arrangements; looking at the harness it looks as if the saddle (with rider) would be placed first and then the harness fitted above that. They also suggest that the blinkers were only on the (unridden) offside horses?

four horse system

lead and following riders

two horse system