Robert Stuart

@Troy Smith, thank-you for sharing the link to your Friedland build, that looks good. I've started thinking about displaying this cannon. The backstory is the siege of Toulon, so the gun would be emplaced in siege works. A common feature in illustrations of the battery is a wall of gabions - baskets filled with earth or stone, often used in the same way as sandbags*. Unsurprisingly, I cannot find any photos of Napoleonic gabions - but did find an interesting reference for gabion used in an American Civil War siege: Civil War Field Fortifications Website: Fortification Images: Fort Sedgwick including the size and use of these baskets. As an experiment, I tried making a gabion - or, at least, a start at making one. *Sandbags would be an option too, they were use during the American Revolution.

That scene looks stunning, the churned water looks great.

Thanks to @dromia and @Troy Smith for mentioning this thread ... I'd add Napoleon's Army: As Depicted in the Prints of Aaron Martinet to the mix As I understand it, the plates in the book were drawn from life; the target customers were soldiers based in Paris, so very accurate in detail. Some plates were reused, but that only serves to high-light regimental differences. My copy is white with a Hussar (or Chausseur) Officer on the cover

@Planebuilder62, Toby, I'd love to see your Friedland set completed - plese feel free include a link here when it is ready. @Troy Smith, sorry to hear that you've missed the saddle cloth. It might be easier to replace the cloth than to adapt to a trooper - are you aware that Historex Agents sell spare parts for Historex kits - or conversions. Take a look at their website, go to brands, then Historex Spare Parts. I'd then do a browser search for British and go forward to Saddlecloths - Saddle with cloth, British style. The Funken Napoleonic Uniforms books are excellent. My copies are of an earlier edition with white covers (and pretty battered) - excellent reference material. IIRC, volume 1 includes British uniforms along-side the French. Has anybody mentioned "Napoleon's Army: As Depicted in the Prints of Aaron Martinet" As I understand it, the plates in the book were drawn from life; the target customers were soldiers based in Paris, so very accurate in detail. Some plates were reused, but that only serves to high-light regimental differences.

I spoke to Historex Agents yesterday afternoon about my issues with figure 2 - the one with the wrong shako. Further inspection had shown that he was a figure for a different kit altogether. In today's post, they have sent me the parts needed to correct this - a bicorne hat, together with correct coat tails, epaulettes and the correct sword & bayonet together with a few other bits and pieces. Excellent service from Historex Agents - a very quick response, so thank-you to them.

Thanks Toby Link to Planebuilder's Friedland build: Historex must have changed the spec for this kit at some point - the figures with red/brown buttons use animated torsos that were not available when the Friedland set was first released.

Thanks Toby - I tried looking for your Friedland build, but couldn't find it. From memory, the Friedland set has figures in stiff, drill-book type, poses. The figures in this kit have a bit more animation, but lack buttons on the lapels of their jackets - I'll have to take photos when I get to that stage. As to how I'll handle them, and the Historex stiffness, I've yet to make a decision - I've just realized, none of the figures in this set have bases, so I have to make a vignette if I'm to complete the build

Had a chance to do a bit more work on the cannon today ... The wheels now have tyres - iron tyres, and the barrel is (pretty well) ready for painting. That N will have to go - the Napoleon wouldn't be emperor for another ten years. A quick dry fit ...

Started working on the cannon as. perhaps, the easiest component in this build. The carriage and wheels were scraped with a scalpel to remove flash: And I've made a start glueing the carriage: The rear most strap wants attention - if I remember, I'll use heat to soften the plastic on the other side ... clearly, I'm due for a lot of fun with filler ...

Thanks again JR and Wez Just hope I can deliver

Thanks JR, Wez If needed, the horses can be filled out by packing some plasticard (up to 20 thou) between the halves - that makes the legs look spindly, so they need building up ... though for light cavalry, I'd leave the horse as supplied. And yes, I'm with you on the stiff poses and the splendour of Napoleonic uniforms.

And now for something colourful (I hope) ... Following discussion with Wez (see the chat section), I plan to build a Polish Lancer of the Imperial Guard. In 1807, in honour of the Polish nation, Napoleon decided to incorporate into his guard a regiment of Polish Cavalry, under the title of Light Horse. After the battle of Wagram in 1809, the regiment was armed the lance, and took the name Light Horse Lancers of the Guard, generally known as the "Polish Lancers". The sprue shots: Packaging Which contained a printed guide and a zip lock bag The zip lock bag contained some parts ... Before 1810, the trumpeters wore a crimson kurta (jacket) with white facings and a crimson czapska (hat), after that date the colours swapped to white with crimson facings. I'll refine the dates of this build when I decide which colour scheme to use.

A bit quicker than I expected, a parcel arrived from Historex Agents this afternoon. It contained two kits ... or seven, depending on how you count. Kit 1 (or kits 1 to 6) consist of an 18 century cannon together with five crew. NCO Hitorex have new (to me) packaging, and now use blister boxes in place of the old plastic bags sealed with a white and orange card. The blister pack contains five zip lock bags (and some instructions) Five of those bags contain figures, each in a different pose: This had just one pair of legs, some have two pairs of legs. The remaining pack contains a cannon For some reason, this contained a lot of stretched sprue - that isn't a problem, just an oddity. Instructions are classic Historex: I'm pretty sure that the modelling tips appeared in one of their catalouges. Most of the figures have bicorne hats, figure one has a police bonnet. Figure 2 should have had a bicorne, but came with a shako: Personally, I prefer the shako to the bicornes, but it is too modern for the scene; I'll have a think about how I deal with that. BTW that flash will be easy to cure, if I decide to use the shako.

Welcome to the build @Terry1954, and thank-you for the link to your F-5E build - it is a master class in model making!

You are very welcome, Steve. I'll give @Enzo Matrix a heads-up that we are over the line ...