The 3rd Cheveau-Legers Lanciers were formed from the 8th Dragoons along with five other Dragoon regiments in June 1811. I’m not sure why Napoleon took the decision to re-fit his Dragoons in this manner and I would have thought that the extra training to use a lance must have been something of a distraction. In fact I read somewhere that only the front rank of the Lancer regiments actually had a lance whilst the remainder retained their swords.The six models pictured here are listed in the Hinton Hunt Catalogue as FN118 Light Horse Lancer in crested helmet (mounted) charging. These are all vintage castings originally in the collection of Don in the US. I refurbished these rather than re-paint them from scratch but ended up doing quite a lot to them, mostly on the horses. Don had managed to paint the number “3” incredibly neatly on the saddle blanker rolls but I had to use one figure from the 4th regiment to make up the numbers. Although I changed the facing colours easily enough, there was no way I was going to try to paint one of those tiny threes (if you zoom in on the picture you can spot the error!).
Opting for refurbishing this Squadron was my cunning way to quickly get back on track with my painting schedule but I’m still quite a way off my May target.
Very pretty! I've always had a softspot for Napoleon's lancer regiments.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Nice work - you might almost convince me to field a lancer regiment.
ReplyDeleteThey look rather cool good.
ReplyDeleteSad tip time...if you turn the figure on its head I have found painting a "rounded M" is easier than trying to paint a 3.
I need to get out more don't I?
Matt
Hi
ReplyDeleteThey look great... The mine are home-cast metal figures made 20 years ago with AIRFIX cuirassiers!
Best regards
Rafa
Don just emailed me with the secret of those "perfect threes":
ReplyDeletePainted those decades back. However, if I recall correctly, the trick was not actually painting a nice threaded '3' but something more bulky closer to a 'B'. Then I'd sharpen a round toothpick to a fine point and use a 'Degas' inspired method of literally dotting the excess out with the background color. One has to keep sharpening the toothpicks to keep the point tight and the paint from clumping on the end long enough to do a troop of the figures. It's a technique that worked its most extensive when painting the battle names on the British colours.