Austrian Command

 The last of the recent batch of moulds - the Mounted Officers.

These are painted to represent Austrian general officers. I have made no attempt to paint the intricate gold lace on the clothing and saddle cloths, as it is beyond my ability/patience, and also would be mostly lost under the high gloss finish (that's my excuse).

I think these are rather splendid gentlemen, worthy to command anyone's armies.

The two arms in the mould allow for waving the hat or pointing with a baton, both very nice poses. I have also been playing with some other options, including the arm pointing with a sword from the dragoon mould. I have tried swapping the other way, adding the arm waving the hat and the bare head on the dragoon officer. None fit perfectly, but look fine with a little filing around the locating lug (I will share them when painted).

The horse/torso is cast in 'scrap' metal, and generally casts OK, however I had difficulty with the heels on the boots, which I built up with 'green stuff', later figures cast with Model Metal were better. The heads and arms are in Model Metal as they give better detail. The hair on the bare head is a bit smooth but paints up fine, the head with the tricorne is from the Russian officer (I really like that head).

I think with the options of mixing and matching arms from this and the dragoon mould, and the wide range of heads from across the whole range , it should be possible to make quite a varied collection of staff officers (someone has to paint a mounted Russian Guard officer).

As always comments and suggestions welcome.

Prussian Frei Korps

Following on from the Grenz I have painted a a small 8 man unit of 'double blues'.

The new firing infantry are nice figures, and are designed to mix in with the very first Prussian moulds. The bodies are cast in 'scrap metal' and came out reasonably well, however I used heads from the original Prussian moulds (cast in Model Metal), as I prefer the proportions of the older heads.

A rear shot, the kit is similar to the original figures, however size is inconsistent, but they look fine mixed together - the chaps will go thirsty as the water bottle is missing.

Comparison with the original Prussian infantryman (they have heads from his mold), even with the different kit size they mix fine.

On this occasion I decided to go a little down the 'imagination' route and give the troops the new hornist figure as their musician; these are skirmishing troops in my army, and the horn looks far more appropriate than a historically correct drum (and it used the brand new figure). Using similar logic they are commanded by the new staff officer. - I can see him popping up in all sorts of places. 

And finally a mix of the old and new figures.

Next I think a couple of mounted officers.