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Post by stuparkin on Jul 22, 2019 16:14:52 GMT
Yes I agree re the Hat Zouaves, I got them for a song and originally to convert to 1877 Turks. Of course the ACTA figures you've kindly shown also lend themselves to be converted into French 1859 Line Chasseurs.
The beauty of 1870 French Grenadiers Guardsmen is that you can do them wearing either a bonnet de la police or kepi, or even a bearskin. Same with the Voltigeurs of the Guard with B de la P or kepi or shako.
Of course if I were doing 1859 French Guard, then they would all be in Bearskin (for grenadiers) and shako (for Voltigeurs) with greatcoat, cross belts and gaiters. I have somewhere an illustration showing a 1859 grenadier in campaign dress for Italy wearing a "shell" jacket (stable type jacket) complete with bearskin, cross belts and gaiters which may make sense given the hot climate of Northern Italy in summer. They would be quite an easy conversion using a shell jacket clad ACW figure.
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Post by leswhite on Jul 22, 2019 19:57:47 GMT
Lots of option out there ,depending on how much work you want to do I have the Andrea Joinre computer illustrations which are great for working out similarities of uniform and lengths of coats, etc. in some old FIGURINES magazines. I'm keeping my eyes open for when he gets round to doing books on the FPW with all the illustrations bound together.
A unit of Imperial Guard wearing bearskins would be impressive on the table. Are you going to be doing any ?
Many of the turnback greatcoat types could be made from Britians DEETAIL Foreign Legion and in fact the DSG re-moulds are excellent for cutting and gluing without pinning. With a new head - Kepi or shako and some small modifications - belly box, etc. can get you 1859 & 1870 troops, you could even produce Conquest of Algeria in the 1830s. I've just opened a new box AIP FFL and was thinking it might be a small project to see how many different types I can produce with great coats from all nations. Once I have a look through my spare head selection
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Post by leswhite on Aug 3, 2019 10:27:53 GMT
Since mentioning the artwork of Andre Jouineau (got the name wrong in my previous post) and that I wish they would do a book with all the FPW illustrations together. Well, it's happened, the book 'I'Armee Napoleon III dans la guerre 1870' was published at the end of 2018 in France but is now widely available over here.
This is a hardback book packed to the covers with full page colour plates of the Imperial Guard, Infantry, Cavalry, Zouaves, Tirraliuers, Garde Mobile, Garde Nationale, Cent-Garde, Gendarmerie, Douane, more and the Franc-Tiruers , the latter have 18 plates. For the modeller/convertor all the info you need is shown in the plates with exploded views of equipment and clothing. 164 pages with 120 pages of plates, means a very high count for a slim volume and well worth owning if you are interested in this period. A chronology of the entire war by battle and engagement is also included, day by day. One possible drawback, for some, is it is written in French. I don't believe this last point would put anyone off as the illustrations are self explanatory. Here is a sample page
Be aware however that this book is being offered on the internet from £ 49.95 down to £ 28.00 with a so called heavy discount, HOWEVER the printed price at the back of the cover is ONLY 29.50 Euros which is pretty much the lower price at the current rate. I found mine at the lower price on Ebay, post free, it only took three days to get here, so I'm pretty happy.
It would be good to have a companion volume on the Prussian Army but unfortunately the artist doesn't seem to do the enemy of the French very often, so might have to look elsewhere for their uniforms. I have plenty of illustrations, contemporary and modern of the Prussian Army and its' allies but I really like the computer style of Andre Jouineau.
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Post by stuparkin on Aug 3, 2019 21:28:00 GMT
I agree Less, it is indeed a great book and as soon as I saw it advertised, I ordered a copy. Can't remember the price I paid but it was about £30 or less. I used to collect a French modelling magazine, the name escapes me, but it was always crammed with figure model show reports with some wonderful pictures in it as well as a number of uniform articles illustrated by Andre Jouineau, but unsurprisingly they were all French topics, like you say, no Prussian etc, so it was nice have the 1870/71 plates all in one place. Partizan Press/Caliver Books do a decent book on Prussian uniforms - Uniforms of the Franco-Prussian War Vol 1: The Prussian Army 1870 by Robert J Marrion www.caliverbooks.com/Partizan%20Press/partizan_FrPr1.shtmlIt says Volume 1 but as to date still no Volume 2, but it compliments Jouineau book as I have both and some others that are in German. The plates are by the late Bob Marrion and therefore different to the computer style images you mention but I was happy I bought the book.
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Post by leswhite on Aug 3, 2019 23:42:44 GMT
The magazine you are talking about is 'Figurines', I bought a load of them over the years from the TRADITION shop in London every time I went down to the Toy Soldier Show. Thanks for the Caliver link, I'm not a big fan of the older illustrators like R J Marrion as uniform knowledge as moved on quite a bit since then. I like the computer versions as it makes it a lot easier to see what needs altered on a figure to create a new one, I guess I'm just becoming lazy in my old age
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Post by stuparkin on Aug 4, 2019 18:58:35 GMT
Here is a 1870 Prussian Infantryman I started some years ago (just need to add details to the needle rifle). The basic figure is a Hat Napoleonic Prussian chopped about a bit and greenstuff added etc plus a Irregular Miniatures feldmutze head, this was an experiment to see if it would be quicker than using something like an AIP Egyptian etc. One day I will finish him I've fetched some other painted conversions out of the loft but I need to re-do their heads and tart up, but will post pics once presentable.
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Post by chrisj on Aug 29, 2019 21:43:11 GMT
I've found that Napoleonic French Cuirassiers work fine for the FPW, providing something is added to their pants to make them baggy. And if memory serves, AIP WWI German Lancers will work fine as FPW French Lancers (Prussian, too). I realize certain details like shabraques, etc., might not be exactly right, but so what? If some snarky bastard gives you grief about it, challenge him to do better!
Chris Johnson
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