RUSSIAN DRAGOONS, RUSSO TURKISH WAR ERA

The Newest Addition to the Russian Cavalry Establishment: Dragoons.

In this post, dear readers, we report once again on a step in the steady progress of our Russo Turkish War era project.  Following from the dandy hussars and uhlans of the last two posts, we move to the more workmanlike dragoons. 

Pyotr Balashov Painting of Russian Dragoons transferred to a porcelain plate.

Left, unknown Russian source showing a dragoon officer (seated) and right, a detail from another Balashov painting of Russian cavalry showing Russian Dragoons. If not elaborate, the kit certainly comes across as elegant.

Smart-looking 2nd Dragoon officer depicted in the New York Public Library Vinkhujjzen Collection.

As is the case with most of the Russian cavalry of the era, information is spotty. Once again, I relied on a combination of sources to put together the look of these units.  As with the others, there is no figure line that has these Russian dragoons.  So I repurposed figures from another line--happily, this did not require the physical modifications involved with the Uhlans and Hussars—only color schemes for the Russian dragoon uniform.  

These figures began life as Argentinian Cavalry from the Perry Miniatures War of the Triple Alliance line, which were a close match, to include a slung rifle that would be characteristic of Russian dragoons.  I did shave down the prominent pockets, but that's the only physical modification. 

 

Here are the results. The diffuse natural lighting caused the colors to appear more washed out than they appear to the eye, the green in particular. As usual, you may click pix for BIG  PIX in this post.

 

2nd Dragoons 

My first assignment in the US Army was with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, also known as the 2nd Dragoons. So of course I had to include a 2nd Dragoon unit in my establishment.  That plus the distinctive pink facings are quite dandy.

 

13th Dragoons

In my Russian Napoleonic army I have a dragoon unit sporting orange facings, so decided to reprise this orange on green combination in my post Napoleonic Russian dragoons. 

 

I originally went with a solid green kepi, but the absence of contrast or detail on the headgear made the figures look unfinished (at least to my eye). Happily, this is where having differing sources was a good thing.  I went with my preference from among them and added a band of facing color on the headgear.  Like the Dude’s rug in The Big Lebowski, it really brought the look together. I also opted for the added color of the medium blue cavalry trousers with stripe.

 

Next Up: Line Cossacks to Complete the Cavalry Contingent

 

Excelsior!

RUSSIAN UHLANS (RUSSO TURKISH WAR ERA)

Conversion to Russian Uhlans of the Russo Turkish War Era complete

 

In this post, dear reader, we are happy to provide an update on the progress of the Russo Turkish War Era (roughly) Russian Army project.  I am steadily working my way through the cavalry, and with the completion of these uhlans I am now more than half way through the mounted contingent. These are, once again, conversions, the details of which I provided in the previous work in progress post--so I'll only summarize for context here:

These figures began life as Perry 28mm Carlist War British Auxillary Legion Lancers (above).  I modified the czapka to add the horsehair tuft, put them on Perry Napoleonic Brunswick Uhlan mounts, and replaced the lances with Northstar wire lances. 

I decided to represent the 4th and 5th Uhlans (above left and right).  Information on Russian cavalry kit is spotty, to say the least.  Thus, I used a variety of sources, mainly relying on images in the NYPL Vikhuijzen Collection, Paintings by Pyotr Balashov, the Ray Lucas articles on the uniforms and armies of the Russo Turkish Wars in Miniature Wargames #20 and #21 (who says old magazines don't have value?), the (minimally useful) Osprey on the Russo Turkish War, and the good old stand-bye Mollo Uniforms of the Russian Imperial Army.  Putting these all together informed what I can only say is a collective interpretation of these units--which is probably as good as anyone's (certainly anyone who might care), but most of all, provides a look that fits in with the colorful take on of the rest of my 19thC armies. But enough of these justifications.  On to the toys (as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post).

Although the source figures are in covered czapkas, I decided to represent these with uncovered czapkas sporting their colors--along with plumes.  There are various representations of the trousers, ranging from dark blue (like the tunics), to coveralls, to a gray "field" pant, to boot-like leather cuffs, to a standardized cavalry trouser of mid-blue with stripe (per some depictions and per Ray Lucas). I went with this last in order to set them off from the tunics and horse furniture and also because my dragoons will also be in these.  And just because I liked the color combination  (there, I said it!).

 

Normally, the details of hussar uniforms are held to be among the most striking as well as challenging (when it comes to painting).  After having done six units of post-napoleonic uhlans, I have to say that I have come to recognize that the details of the lancer uniforms (the piping, the lapels, the cords, the czapkas, the "flounders," the shoulder scales, etc) are the equal of any hussar unit that I've ever done--and when placed on the table, uhlans certainly hold their own in terms of fashion. 

 4th Uhlans

 5th Uhlans

Trumpeter

 Just as with my Prussian Uhlans,  I set aside the Trumpter to use as a command figure. 

 Newly Added Uhlans on Parade 

 

Up Next...

...Russian Dragoons

 

 

Excelsior!

RUSSIAN UHLANS (RTW): WORK IN PROGRESS

Russian Uhlan circa 1858 (NYPL Vinkhuijzen Collection)

 

In this post, dear readers, we continue to report on my Russian Army of the Russo Turkish War era (roughly) project.  Having moved on from hussars, we are now well and truly stuck in with the uhlans.  It should come as no surprise that these will also be conversions, with a bit of "kit bashing" tossed in. 

 

Perry Carlist War British Auxillary Legion Lancers

 

Like many other nations, the Russian Uhlan uniform remained fairly stable throughout the mid/late 19th Century.  Thus, I am tagging this as a Russo Turkish War project, but the reality is that the representations will be similar but not necessarily specific to that particular stretch of time. To do the mid-century Russian Uhlans, I decided on the Perry Carlist War BAL lancer figures (above) given that they have the slightly slimmer, mid century czapka (much like the Russian model of the mid century).  The uniform details also correspond well with the Russian kit.  The problem with these is the horse furniture: it's a sheepskin as opposed to a shabraque.  Given that it was a one-off, I decided to buy a set of Perry Napoleonic Brunswick Uhlans just for their horse furniture, which is a good match.  To justify this cost, I figured that at some later date I might set the Brunswickers on the BAL horses for some other purpose (oh, who am I kidding?  I figured that since I was going through the trouble of modifying these figures, anyway, why not spend the few extra shekels to get the horse furniture right. There, I said it: I bought two sets of figures to get one unit--my birthday is coming up in a few months; this is an early installment to myself--gimme ten more minutes and I'll give you fourteen more rationalizations). Speaking of conversion, you might note that the Russian Uhlan has a horsehair tuft on the czapka, not present on these figures...

 

...as with my Russian Hussars, to create this tuft I took out my trusty Dremel and bored a hole in the headgear and inserted a bit of florist wire...

...which I then bonded in place with J-B Qwik Weld, and then bent over, snipped to length, and shaped green stuff over in the shape of the tuft: simple!  Although the BAL lancers are in covered czapkas, there is enough detail on them  to enable me to represent the more colorful uncovered czapka... 

...for about 30 seconds, I did consider not adding the tuft and doing these uhlans in covered czapka, but that madness soon passed and out came the Dremel and green stuff.

 

The figures did come with lances, but I replaced those with the excellent Northstar wire lances (cut to custom length, of course). I had some left over GMB Prussian lance pennions, which provided a handy starting point--which I then repainted in the appropriate colors for the Russian 4th and 5th Uhlans. I use a block of florist foam to hold lances and flags during production (a tip for anyone who might be interested).  In the end, it occurs to me that these uhlans will be a close second to the recent hussars in terms of conversion: the horses and weapons are from other manufacturers, and the riders are also modified.  The main difference will be that the uhlan uniform is part of these sculpts, wheras the hussar rig had to be painted in on the others. 

 

These figures will soon be joining the establishment as the 4th and 5th Uhlans. Watch for an update soon (above, details from Pyotr Balashov paintings of the Russian Army found on the Ruzhnikov Fine Arts Site).

Excelsior!