Part 7

Heads and headgear - Part 2 - Page 7of 9

As I am not quite satisfied with the bearskin for the French Imperial Guard, I have decided to convert it to the bearskin from Tradition of London's French Imperial Guard. It is big, round and bushy and corresponds perfectly to the paintings from this time. It also to a high degree increases the appearance of the figures. For collectors and manufacturers the head, for obvious reasons, is an important part of the figure. Instead I have made a mould with the bearskin from Prince August after filing a few millimetres from the top of the bearskin and the feather. This head I use for the manufacture of an Imperial Guard in 40mm figures from Nürnberger Meisterzinn.

In mould set 80-05 and 80-06, consisting of the French Imperial Guard, the designer has really performed a rather clever trick. Some of the detachable heads with bearskin have been equipped with a grenade on top instead of the usual cross like the rest of the moulds. People with some knowledge of uniforms know that the grenade on top was introduced in 1807. However the idea is not reflected at all in the brochure material or the painting instructions which refer to 1805 and 1804, respectively. This solution gives the collector the opportunity to expand the use of the soldiers to the time of the battle of Waterloo.

Swedish yellow hussars make sortie supported by a Swedish cannon battery.

Table No. 3, Overview of the contents in 20 Prince August mould set with 54 mm model soldiers from the Napoleonic wars.

Mould set No.	Contents	Mould A	Mould B	Mould C	Number of Parts
80-01	French Imperial Guard on Parade, 1805. Painting instruction 1804	Infantry soldier, marching, 6 parts	Drummer, marching, 6 parts	Officer, marching, 5 parts	17
80-02	French Imperial Guard in Combat, 1805. Painting instruction 1804	Infantry soldier, standing firing, 5 parts	Infantry man, advancing, 6 parts	Officer, 5 parts	16
80-03	French Imperial Guard, Chasseur à Cheval, 1805 Painting instruction 1805	Trooper, 3 parts, fixed head	Right horse half-part , 3 parts	Left horse half-part, 3 parts	9
80-04	French Imperial Guard, Empress Dragoon 1805. Painting instruction 1805	Trooper, 3 parts, fixed head	Right horse half-part, 4 parts	Left horse half- part, 3 parts	10
80-05	French Imperial Guard attacking, 1805.	Infantry soldier using bayonet, 4 parts	Infantry man, kneeling firing, 5 parts	Infantry man, running, 4 parts	13
80-06	French Imperial Guard, Reloading and Sapper, Painting instruction 1804	Sapper, marching, 5 parts	Infantry man, loading cartridge, 5 parts	Infantry man ramming musket, 4 parts	14
80-07	French Imperial Guard, Massed Band, 1805	Drum-Major , marching, 5 parts	Serpent player, marching, 4 parts	Standard bearer, marching, 5 parts	14
80-08	French 8-PDR Gribeauval Cannon, 1805	Barrel and ammunition chest 5 parts	Field carriage, 2 parts	Wheel and axle, 3 parts	10
80-09	French foot Artillery of the Line, 1805	N.C.O. directing, 4 parts	Gunner with port fire, 5 parts	Gunner carrying round, 3 parts	12
80-10	French Imperial Guard, mounted Mameluk , 1805	Mameluk, 3 parts	Right horse half-part, 4 parts	Left horse half-part, 5 parts	12
80-11	French Imperial Guard, Massed band, 1805	Tambour maitre, marching, 6 parts	Cymbalist, marching, 5 parts	Sapper, marching, 7 parts	18
80-12	French foot Artillery of the Line, 1805	Artillery officer, 4 parts	Gunner with ramrod, 5 parts	Gunner with bucket, 5 parts	14
80-13	British 95th Rifles, Peninsular Wars 1808	Officer, advancing, 5 parts	Infantry man, advancing, 4 parts	Horn player, advancing, 5 parts	14
80-14	French Line Infantry, Peninsular Wars, 1808	Officer, advancing, 3 parts	Infantry man advancing, 6 parts	Drummer, advancing, 4 parts	13
80-15	British 27th Regiment of Foot, Peninsular Wars, 1808-1813	Officer, advancing, 5 parts	Infantry man, advancing, 5 parts	Drummer, advancing, 4 parts	14
80-16	French Foot Dragoons, 2. Regiment	Officer, advancing, 3 parts	Infantry man, advancing, 5 parts	Drummer, advancing, 5 parts	13
80-17	French Imperial Guard, Massed Band, 1805	Musician, 3 parts	Clarinet and basoon, 6 parts	Trumpet and horn, 6 parts	15
80-18	Napoleon Bonaparte on horse back	Napoleon, 4 parts fixed head	Right horse half-part, 3 parts	Left horse half-part, 3 parts	10
80-19	French Infantry of the Line, 88th half brigade, Egyptian campaign, 1798-1801	Officer, advancing, 5 parts	Infantry man advancing, 5 parts	Drummer, advancing, 5 parts	16
80-20	French Legion Nautique, Egyptian campaign, 1799-1801	Officer advancing, 6 parts, fixed head	Infantry man, standing firing, 3 parts, fixed head	Drummer advancing, 4 parts, fixed head	13

Lacking accordance between packing and contents

In mould set 80-02c the left arm of the officer has been put in a position on the picture of the packing which deviates considerably from the real position of the arm in the mould. It is of course natural that the designer is thorough a process in order to find his final version of the figure. But it is unfortunate when the packing is printed and you subsequently decide to change the figure without also changing the packing.

Identical figures and variation

The two officers in the two mould sets with British soldiers No. 80-13 and 80-15 are really nice figures, but apart from the uniform the two officers are almost identical. You can of course make changes to that. Drummers and trumpeters are a festive element in a group of figures, no doubt about that. But to equip the almost 6 consecutive mould sets (80-13 to 80-16 and 80-19 to 80-20) consisting of three figures from different regiments with a musician and an officer each in my opinion signifies too little variation. Many different figures expand the possibility for converting. As apparent from Table 2 there is a considerable majority of musicians and officers. You can of course adjust for this in the number of castings. The designer should, however, be commended for the considerably varied marching French Massed Band, the "tête de colonne" and all the instruments from mould set 80-17. And if you lack further instruments you can copy from the range of Tradition of London. One can discuss the need for two almost identical sappers more or less only deviating on the beard in mould set 80-6 and 80-11. I would imagine that many would also find that 3 advancing grenadiers in mould Nos. 80-2c, 80-5a and 80-5c are on the high side. I would find a fine figure like 80-2c enough. The same applies to 80-6b and 80-6c. One loading soldier should be enough. My comments to the modest variation, the majority of certain types as well as almost identical figures should be seen in the light that I have absolutely no idea (information) of what the future will bring, and the fact that I would really have preferred figures from the adversaries.