Fixing Expeditionary Force British Light Infantry.

 I'm adding 9 more X-Force figures to my War of 1812 British forces. With X-Force sets getting hard to get because of the illness of the owner I picked up sets that I could including Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The basic figures are OK but you should remove the King's ciphers from the cartridge boxes and knapsack for the unit I chose, the 43rd Regiment of Foot. They were at New Orleans.  The Brown Bess muskets have no slings, so I made some.  I should have removed half of the cuff buttons as there are too many going round the cuffs. 

                            Here a few images of the 43rd. 

Modern images showing the 43rd in action at New Orleans.

Paragon Painted Alamo Mexicans

    These Paragon figures were a LOT of work . Details had to be cut away or thinned like the camera case haversacks, the extra shako chin straps, and bayonet slings with the empty sword socket.   Added details were the shako cords that I made from twisted metal wire and the painted on shako plate.   There are numerous  modern interpretations of 1836 Mexican uniforms including reenactors.   I tried to follow them in converting these figures.                        

                                        The Ladder Men. 

Firing up poses. 

Useless Sergeant/Officer/Pistol Guy converted to Ladder Holder. New hands of wife and white glue, sword scabbard removed and replaced with tooth pick wood. Silly pistol holster was cut away. 

A few ladders were issued to each attacking columns. There are Mexican after action reports that the ladders were lost in the confusion. Some Mexican troops scrambled over the walls or entered by broken doors and gates in the walls. 

Pioneer Sappers. A term I found  is  "Gastador" rather than the "Zapadores". This may be the proper name for Sappers attached to regiments rather than the elite engineer unit. These troops where featured in a scene from the recent 2004  Alamo film attacking the West Wall of the compound. 

Orders to each attacking column included a few axes and picks issued to the men. Perhaps the  "Gastadores"  weren't there at all.  

Fixing Paragon's 54mm plastic Alamo figures.

 Having a a few extra bucks I thought I'd try these figures by Paragon. They are crude but I wanted to try the ladder climbing poses and the Saper/ Pioneer poses. You get 3 figures each of 4 poses and two ladders. Were there supposed to be 3 ladders?  One figure had the wrong arm giving me a figure with two right hands. I can't find an example of the coat cuffs or the shako in any of my files of Mexican 1830s soldier. Here they are almost ready to paint except I will have to fix the cuff, haversacks, and shako badges. The 3 odd officer / privates will need extra work. 

  More later.

Converted French Foreign Legion 1870-71

               Repaired and repainted Britains Ltd French Foreign Legion serving in France in the Franco Prussian War.

      These started out as damaged figures I bought from eBay.

                Bayonets were repaired with paper clip metal.

                Metal fastened to the original rifles with Zap-A Gap. 

                    Flatten and trim with a file or an emery board. 

             Prime and coat with Mod Podge . Mod Podge acts as a sealant and adhesive plus it's a filler between the rifle and metal piece. 

                    Assembled and painted. Here's the result. 

            Note that epaulettes were added with "Green Stuff". 

Grenadiers had red fringe while the Fusiliers had green at the time. 

The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the French Foreign Legion landed in mainland France on October 11, 1870. 

The Green Fusilier Epaulettes can be seen on this Legionnaire from a few years earlier in Mexico.