HONVED COMMAND CONVERSIONS: WORK IN PROGRESS

Although there are mounted Hungarian command figures in the pipeline coming from Steve Barber Models (one of which I actually commissioned), there are none to be had at the moment (well, there is a mounted general officer, but I'm not particularly taken by the look of him: a matter of taste; what can I say?).  Thus, I've decided to go ahead with some conversions of my own  (big surprise, right?) to both get some figures on the table now and also because I fancy the way that they will look (and probably because I have a problem and can't stop doing these conversions...help me!)...

 LTG Artur Georgei

Looking about, I found figures suitable to do three commanders.  As usual, in this post you may clix pix for BIG PIX.  First up, there is  Lt Gen Artur Georgei, pictured above (image taken from the indispensible Gyozo Somogyi Honved Army 1848-49).

For LTG G, I went with this figure from the Perry Miniatures ACW Confederate Commanders set. He's pretty close, to include the high boots. Two key correspondences on the Perry fig are the short jacket and the brimmed hat (although the turned up corner is a bit of a license: you can't have it all when converting!)

I added a feather to the hat using lead foil reinforced by J&B Kwik Weld (miracle stuff for metal on metal and jobs like this). I shaved down the details--the vest, cravat, and holster. I covered over the details on the "gunslinger" belt and buckle with some green stuff to create a sash.  The lapels aren't quite right, but they'll actually be a better platform to paint-in the button braiding details.   I think this fellow will be quite snappy when done.

 Honved Staff Officer In the Uniform of a Border Regiment
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Next up, I decided that I could add this rather dandy looking Grenz officer to the general's staff.  (Image again taken from the excellent Smogyi text).   

For this fellow, I once again turned to my go-to conversion figure, the Spanish Colonel from the Perry Carlist War Isabelino Foreign Command set.  Readers of this blog may recall that I've converted this same figure into both a Danish Chief of Staff and an Austrian General. 

For this conversion, I added the feather tuft on the headgear using green stuff (as I have before), and I shaved down the epaulettes, buttons, and other details on the coat and hat. This will replicate the clean lines of the uniform and allow me to paint-in the single row of buttons in place of the double that the figure had. The coat isn't an exact match for the Grenz officer's tailcoat, but it is close enough to my eye and will look right from all but a head on viewing angle. 

Count Dembinski

 Honved General Staff Officer (left) in Slant Cap (right)

For the third and last command figure, I can represent either Count Dembinski or a Honved General Staff Officer (images once again from the  Smogyi text).  I haven't decided yet.  Both would be in the green jacket and pelisse. The major difference would be the color of the slant cap.  The staff officers wore green hats. 

For this conversion, I used a combination of a Steve Barber Senior Honved dismounted command figure and a Foundry Austrian Red Hussar from their Maximillian Adventure range. I chose the latter because it has the distinctive (and spot on) mid century hussar attila (and is an excellent figure sculped by Aly Morrison, of course: can't go wrong!).

Starting Point (left): The Austrian red hussar and the Honved command figure. The conversion (right): the head of the Honved figure on the torso of the red hussar (sorry, Aly!).  The proportions between the SB head and the Foundry torso meshed very well, I think.  I'm leaning towards painting this fellow up in the Count Dembinski motif as opposed to the staff officer, but you'll have to tune in again see which one it will be.

And that, dear readers, is what I'm up to at the moment.  

 Excelsior!