Frei Corps Loudon

In order to provide the Austrians with some light troops I have painted up a unit of Frei Corps Grun Loudon. (I know they probably did not fight in open order - but until the Grenz moulds are available I wanted something).

For the figures I used the following:

• Officer - Prussian with Russian officers head (I do like that head)
• Standard bearer - Prussian with Russian musketeer head (I did not want a pom-pom)
• Drummer - Prussian (with no arm chevrons (I filed them off of the model I have))
• NCO - Prussian with Russian head and musket.
• Rank and file - Prussian musketeer, as I wanted troops with a sword - plus a Russian musketeers head.

The figures above are in my standard 16 man unit, and are shown in close order. However for skirmishing they are all individually based, and I decided that in that role they should lose the  standard and drummer, so I have replaced them with another NCO, and an officer with musket, using a Russian officer (with the gorget and lapel buttons removed).

Dragoons released

(Updated 01/06/19)

In case you are not on PA's mailing list - they have just announced that the dragoon moulds are (finally) been released - see their newsletter:                 

Hi Steve, The June Bank Holiday weekend is upon us, combined with Fathers Day on the 16th and the new release of our super Dragoons Mould set inspired us to offer some discounts that will determine how your hobby develops this summer. First and foremost, we have a brand new set of FOUR moulds that offers you the biggest opportunity yet to customise your castings for the armies in the Seven Years War. Dragoons were fielded by most countries and our mould have interchangeable heads to reflect that versatility. Painting /Assembly guides are still in development. There is an early discount of 10% off this new set that expires at noon on Tuesday. The other discounts are part of the June Weekend Sale and include the following: ·     SYW Artillery crew moulds PA3118 and PA3119. ·     SYW Russian Bundle further discounted. ·     PA1240 Napoleonic Starter Kit (54mm). ·     PSK-L Advanced Paint Pack. ·     Solder Melting Pot. ·     Flexi-neck Magnifying Glass. ·     AC-PA2073 Tool Set (Brass Brush, Files and Super Snipper). Sale expires at noon on Tuesday June 4th 2019 GMT+1. No coupons are required. Sale prices are on product pages (strikethrough of older prices can be seen). No minimum order requirements. Go to Prince August's Website ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

I received a set of 4 moulds today (so no sneak peak this time), which comprises:

1. Officer with Austrian head (as shown)
2. Drummer with Austrian head (as shown)
3. Trooper with Austrian head (not shown - see below)
4. A set of 8 different heads to make other nations & horse grenadiers,  plus an arm for a standard bearer.

The horse/torso are one piece castings, with separate arms, heads and carbine.

The picture is confusing (in fact wrong), the rear figure is the previously released cuirassier, the dragoon is on a similar horse, however the sword is pointing rather than on the shoulder.

As the weather has been fine I have done some casting over the last couple of days, and have cast up enough figure for about 5 units (so that is 30 of the trooper). Initially using my 'scrap metal' I struggled casting the heads, swords and carbine (which are near the top of the mould). However after some venting, and playing around with the elastic bands and clamps I ended up with something like a 90% success rate. (They cast much easier with the Model Metal).

The heads Austrian heads in with the tops of the moulds with the horses and riders, and although they cast pretty much every time, the detail was a little smooth. For the Austrians I have decided to use the officer head from the Russians, which I think is one of the nicest in the range, and is the one I have used on the Karoliner conversions, so there will be some continuity between the two sets of cavalry.

I have a couple of units cleaned up and undercoated and will try and get one painted in the next week or so - the dragoon officer is also going to act as 'brigadiers' until some general staff are available.