Airfix Scots Grey in 54mm Scale.Finished.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day Chums,I thought I'd give one of these a go.I bought this boxful of 3 for £20 back in 2018 so I reckon one of them comes in just under £7.These kits are well regarded by anyone who's ever built one,me included with my French Legionnaire which I did last year.

 

 

Here's what's in the box.

 

 

In my ongoing quest to actually complete a kit in the manufacturer recommended sequence I started with the horse.

 

 

While I was in the mood for snipping bits off the frame I picked off the main bits for the rider.

 

 

I've found three pinholes so far,here's two of them.These have had the end of a length of stretched runner glued into them.

 

 

There has been a flurry of glueing bits together which will make them easier to tidy up and remove the part lines.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited September 4, 2021 by Alex Gordon

[PlaStix]

Hi Alex. Hope you are well. and welcome to the GB. I'm really pleased you are taking part and with a lovely choice of kit for this GB. Looking forward to following your progress. 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Robert Stuart]

Napoleonic?
I've built a few of these Airfix 54mm figures, not sure if I ever had heir cavalry.
Did these come with some 5 thou plasticard for the straps? Paper or metal foil would be better.

[GREG DESTEC]

Great to see one of these building up. I did the Bengal Lancer when I was a sprog. Looking forward to seeing it progress.

 

Cheers Greg

[AdrianMF]

Will be watching this. I built a fair few Airfix 54mm figures as a teen, but not this one.

 

Are you going to be using the red hot pin method of texturing the mane, tail and hairy bits?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[AdrianMF]

15 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

5 thou plasticard for the straps? Paper or metal foil would be better

+1 for what Robert said!

 

Wine bottle foil is my favourite for straps, although sadly I didn’t have a supply of it back in my teens

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Misterfriend]

Looking forward to this one, I've built a couple of the Airfix 54mm kits and they're great. 

I think as a kid I used old toothpaste tubes for straps and flags but these days wine bottle foil is my go to too. I don't think anyone still makes metal toothpaste tubes and I seem to have a wealth of the later! 

Segan

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a little bit done in between finishing off my Airfix 1/48th Hurricane and doing a bit more to my Stutz Bearcat.

 

Stix,thanks old chum.I hope this doesn't disappoint.

 

Robert,thanks for chipping in.These did come with a small sheet of 5 thou plastic card,my preference is to use masking tape like I did on my French Legionnaire last year.I found that the plastic card tends to disintegrate after 15 years or so. 

 

Greg,thanks old fruit.

 

Adrian,thanks for popping in old bean.I can have a reasonable guess at the hot pin method but I've never used it.For my money the mane and tail look pretty reasonable and plenty good enough for what I have in mind.

 

Segan,thanks for dropping by old lad.I haven't seen a metal toothpaste tube for more years than I care to remember.If I need foil for anything I tend to use self adhesive aluminium of which I have a fair amount.

 

The horse is a complicated shape to mould,the part lines are nearly as restrained as modern Airfix panel lines.

 

 

The gaps were confined to the belly joint as well as a slight step.This was cured by a spot of applied scraping and a fingertip of milliput smoothed off with water.I've decided that this is going to be a female horse which means I don't have to sculpt anything underneath.Besides which if anyone thinks that I'm going to google for photos of a stallions dangly bits they've got another think coming.

 

 

Lousy photography alert,a drop of grey paint on the forehead and brown on the leatherwork before the top of the head went on.

 

 

Scraping and prepping done around the riders major components. 

 

 

The bedroll and stowage  have part lines too,as well as straps and wrapping.Careful scraping was in order to preserve the moulded detail.

 

 

Red bits painted red,Humbrol 174 Signal Red,and grey bits Humbrol 166 Light Aircraft Grey.

 

 

We want to end up with something like this image

 

 

which came from https://www.britishempire.co.uk/ .

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[Ted]

Looking great. I have a couple of these in the stash and am enjoying watching your progress.

[PlaStix]

Hi Alex. Looks like you are working your magic on this Airfix kit already. I was thinking, while looking at yours before, that I think I made a similar figure kit to this from Airfix, but without the horse, when I was in my early teens. I remember I enjoyed it as it was my first non-aircraft build. I know it sat on our sideboard for many years.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a bit more to show.

 

Ted,thanks for popping in old fruit.I'm quietly watching your Bootneck on a Bike build and hoping that my efforts reach adequacy in comparison.

 

Stix,good of you to drop by old chum.These seem to have been very popular way back when,they weren't really my thing but my dad went a bundle on them.Fascinated by heraldry and being an ex cavalryman he was very taken by these kits and made a few.

 

Having wrapped up my Ark Hurricane build I decided to make a base for this.The kit one is fine but I'd like to make something a little more eyecatching.I developed a bit of a scenery bug with last years Jagdpanther build so this might be the place to develop the method.I started with an offcut of 1/2" plywood scrounged from a skip and some Costa coffee stirring sticks legitmately purloined from the local Co-op without even buying a brew.I'm not really a cheapskate but I can out tight most folks when so minded.

 

 

These were cut to size and superglued to the ply.

 

 

This was then sanded smooth,saving the sawdust for gap filling.

 

 

The edges were levelled off on some coarse sandpaper.

 

 

Once happy a  coat of varnish was slathered on.

 

 

Thanks for looking in Chums,more soon.

[GREG DESTEC]

Nice work Alex

 

As a Scot I admire your thrift also recycling is cool too!

 

I always have plans to make based for my models but get lazy as the subject I'm building gets to the end. Looking good.

 

Cheers Greg 

[PlaStix]

Hi Alex. I do like your idea for the base! Going to set your build off nicely!

Kind regards,

Stix

[Ted]

Nice tidy job you've done edge-veneering the base.

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a little more done.

 

Greg,cheers old bean.Check out the surname,I'm a born and bred Englishman but it may be that the thrift is genetic.The last decent size base I made was years ago for a racing motorbike but it was nowhere near as ambitious as this one.

 

Stix,thanks old fruit.

 

Ted,thanks old chum.

 

  The horse,a friend to mankind and acknowledged by any recreational owner as the most efficient method of turning finance into feces known to man.The fillery has had a coat of gloss white paint to match in with the base plastic and to prove the jointwork.

 

 

I gave one side a thinned coat of Humbrol 167 grey and then dabbed over that with a white spirit moistened brush tip to try to replicate the dappled coat of the real thing.

 

 

While that was drying I chucked a drop of Humbrol 104 Oxford Blue at the legs and jacket.

 

 

 

The dappling effect looks good once dry but it's a bit too big,I will have to ponder on this but the method shows promise.There are some tips on painting horses here  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9F7VW6KHHxeRVZxTkZpeWlTeEE/view but I've only been able to read the PDF,the other bits won't load on my machine.

 

 

What I'm aiming for is something like this image from http://i-likethings.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-like-dapple-greys.html .

 

 

In the meantime the base has had another couple of coats of varnish with sanding in between and is now lovely and smooth and shiny. 

 

 

The Scots Dragoon Guards Museum has this website which was worth a look.

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[GREG DESTEC]

Nice paint work. The horse looks good to me. 

Cheers Greg

[Ted]

Very clever painting, it looks natural.

[Bodmin]

That's an excellent method and outcome to the horse. Most impressive.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a little more to report.

 

Greg,Ted,Bodmin,thanks chaps.

 

The base has been given a dollop of filler to make the ground.This has been slopped in and only roughly levelled.

 

 

A small amount of water was dripped on using a pipette to smooth off the lumps and sharp sticky uppy bits.

 

 

I wasn't happy with Horsey's paint job so she has been stripped off and the white reapplied ready for attempt number two at her paint job,I'm sure that I can make a better fist of it.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for the encouragement.

[AdrianMF]

I loved the first horse coat! Good luck with the next one.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[PlaStix]

Hi Alex. As Adrian mentioned - the first version looked very good to me....really looking forward to seeing your second go at the horses coat! Impressive modelling already.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,just a brief one this time.

 

Adrian,thanks old fruit.

 

Stix,cheers old chum.

 

Horseys finish wasn't subtle enough,the white patches were too big and didn't look quite how I wanted.As a proof of method though it worked well enough to try again with a smaller brush tip.

 

Now that the filler has dried out (there was a lot of water in there) the base has had a coat of paint,a mixture of 29 Dark Earth,33 Matt Black and a drop of red which has given me a suitably topsoily colour.

 

 

I'm now debating on where Horsey is going to go and considering what sort of shrubbery to include and where.

 

 

There's plenty of scope here.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[AdrianMF]

Having it not in the middle does make it look very dynamic - good call!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a spot more paintwork.

 

Adrian,thanks old chum.It's a tricky call with an idea like this,where to put things to try to convey sponteneity and a sense of movement and action without it looking too contrived.This isn't something that I've done much of so I'm following the tracks of those who've been before as well as doing my bit my way if that makes sense.Saying that,I've got to paint and build the thing first.

 

With that,Humbrol 85 Satin Black boots and 225 Middle Stone for the yellow bits.

 

 

Matt black and Middle Stone on his titfer.

 

 

Bits ready for painting straps.

 

 

Satin black again for the straps but I'm undecided about the buckles.Brass wouldn't surprise me but possibly silver.I sense more digging for gen is in my future.

 

 

There are lots of images of paintings out there,these being some of the more imposing;

  https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7c/c2/63/7cc26316980ce4cbea9c4ba68ca5ef20.jpg

 

https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/charge-of-the-scots-greys-at-waterloo-richard-caton-woodville.jpg

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Scotland_Forever!.jpg/1280px-Scotland_Forever!.jpg

 

but they don't show the finer points that I'm looking for.

 

Thanks all for looking in,more soon.

 

[Hewy]

Exellent alex, i love the dappled horse,