Dear Planeteers,
a while ago, I purchased this great bust (1:10 scale) of a Prussian hussar (1870/81) by Stormtrooper Miniatures. It sat on my shelf collecting dust since then, waiting for the right moment. Apart from other projects, I didn’t start this bust for a reason. Despite hussars are famous for their bold colors, I knew I wanted to paint a hussar from the 2nd (Queen Victoria of Prussia’s) Life Hussar Regiments. The tunic of this regiment was black with white buttons and braiding and a white busby bag – black and white were the Prussian colors after all. The main problem, however, was not the color scheme but the fact that this particular regiment wore a silver Totenkopf (death’s head) busby. With no death’s head on the original cast, I was forced to do some conversion work, which I have no big experiences with. Here is the box art:



And here is the real deal:


And this is what I was able to create:


Let me know, what you think.
Regards from Berlin.
Sven

Nicely done so far

Imressive conversion work Sven! You nailed it!

Cheers,
Ken

That's a very good "deaths head" nice conversion too.

The “deaths head” looks dead-on to me (all puns intended). Beautiful work on the conversion so far!

Kurt

Hi Nap,

...are you not adding the scroll above ?.....

Not sure about the ribbon. You would not be able to see a lot of it and it would make the "Pelzmütze" (busby) very busy. Maybe a little too much “visual interest”…
I will finish the rest of the bust first before I decide about the ribbon.

Anyway, thank for your interest in my piece.

Sven

Great concept and looking forward to more...... Mike

Nice work so far Sven. The totenkopf is very neatly done, and I think it makes the figure. FPW is a favourite period of mine.
Interesting to study Nap's colourised photo. There is a wealth of minor detail in there.

Phil

Thank you Mike and Phil!

Nap,

thanks for sharing the pictures. I found a very similar picture too but I assume the colorization is off. The braiding should be in an off-white, no gold, regardless if the tunic was worn by officers or soldiers. The toggle-buttons, however, should be turned and not smooth as shown in the picture. Prior to 1888 both, officers and soldiers, wore the fancy type of buttons, after 1888 the soldiers used smooth buttons instead. The 2nd Life Hussar Regiment was allowed to wear a “V” for Queen Victoria on their (black) shoulder pieces. I doubt if I will be able to paint that. For reference, I use this great book with hundreds of colored photographs. Highly recommended.


Sven

Great job on the deaths head badge Sven and lovely start on the rest of the painting.

Neal

Not to hijack Sven's thread, but I would love to see a figure or bust based on this photo of Princess Viktoria Luise.

Nice work Sven

Personally I'd go for the scroll but I think the problem is that the original bust's pelzmütze/busby isn't very tall to easily allow one (they seem to have varied in height- as did the badge), so, as you say, it could get rather 'busy'.


Adding to Nap's reply to Captnemglish... two versions on this site:
https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/prinzesin-viktoria-luise.35857/
https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/the-second-prinzesin-viktoria-luise.35333/

It was a limited release from Ulrich: https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/upcoming-releases-from-ulrich-puchala.34465/

And, thanks to Nap's link (note the brown headgear): http://www.hussards-photos.com/Allemagne/Allemagne_2HR_CPA_ViktoriaLuise.htm

... and this jaunty looking duo (Russian Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana):

Thank you NeilW, I did not know or had forgotten that bust existed. I suspect it may be a bit difficult to locate now, but I don't mind a hunt.