Els Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Hello all, For this WIP I will be working on the Airfix 1:12 scale 1st Duke of York’s own Bengal Lancer (Skinner’s Horse) kit. It is a pretty old kit that I picked up at the Mildenhall model show in the UK about 8 or 9 years ago. I saw this kit under a vendors table. Later, while talking to him I found out that it was under the table because the kit was partially built and no one was interested in it. I offered him 5 pounds and he said sold. I wasn’t worried about it being started because at the time I planned on converting it to a black rider from Lord of the Rings. There has been several times that the kit was pulled out of the stash to start the conversion, but each time I look at the box art work, I liked the yellow tunic and put it back on the shelf. Well, I decided that I can keep looking at it or I can build it. Since I just finished 2 Tiger Meet aircraft, I am ready for something different and this will be it. The box has a nice painting: Here are the contents. There aren’t a lot of parts and some of the details are a little soft. This build will be out of the box and I will not be trying to make it any more historically accurate than what Airfix has in the box or instructions. I have finished putting together the major parts and puttying all the gaps. This is an older kit and it has a lot of gaps. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fishwelding Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Fascinating subject. I've got a few Historex kits I drag out every now and then (and have yet to finish!), so this is of particular interest to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Thanks Fishwelding. I got a little more done today. The sculpt of this horse is really nice but a little static. A section was cut out of the neck to allow the head to be turned a little to the left. A little Aves was used to start filling the gaps. I think that it adds a little movement without having to do a lot of extra work. The saddle haves were glued together and talk about gaps. I was planning on painting the horse first but the way the kit is designed, the straps have to be placed first. Then add the saddle. The saddle pads or whatever they are can be heated and shaped to fit the horse better, but I will have to fill the gaps around portions of the saddle and holsters. It will probably be easier to paint after fixing the straps/saddle. Any one here ever built one of these? After looking at the rider on the horse I think he is either a little small or the horse is a little big. One of them is not 1:12 scale. I was going to add a shim to extend the riders body a little but then his head would look to small. I guess I will just have to live with it, I am not prepared to put that much work into the project. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 (edited) Els, WOW !! I am so pleased and excited to see this being build..MY MOM tells ME stories of her hey day as a kid growing up in INDIA when the BRITISH RAJ ruled INDIA.. :wub: :wub: She has told ME that when she was a LITTLE MEMSHAHIB, AND due to HER Fathers position in the Government she had assigned to her A BENGAL LANCER,to make sure she was safe and secure when she went to school and he took care of her at all times like a bodyguard.he was always dressed in RED UNIFORM I was told, and black knee high LEATHER Boots, a Golden colored sash about his waist and his turban was Gold brocade and had a narrow strip of chekered material at the front that was aroundthe front of the turban, and a Gold sash that hung from his waist. MOM tells ME that he was an OFFICER FROM THE 4TH BENGAL CAVALRY hence the uniform colors. HIS horse was almost 22 hands high.. anyway I digress.. SO this is going to be a fascinationg project to watch.. Looking good so far Els...I am sure you will turn out a beautiful model yet again... Edited June 2, 2011 by HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Holmes, Thanks for sharing your story. Can you imagine having a Bengal Lancer assigned to watch out for you? I bet your Mom had a lot of great stories to tell you about those days. You don't get to hear those types of stories much any more. It made me wonder what kind of stories my kids grandchildren will have passed to them. Maybe something like this. "I remember when I was young, we actually had to use our fingers to text people!!" or "I remember that one time the power went out and I couldn't play video games for like 4 or 5 hours, I honestly don't know how I didn't die of bordom!!" Ah don't get me started... I was able to work on this a little more today. After unsuccessfully trying to find some lead foil I went to my local Hobby Town and bought some Evergreen .030 X .100 sheet styrene to start the straps. There are a few that have to be placed before the saddle is added. At first this styrene wasn’t working because it was too rigid. I found that if I pre bent it to the approximate shape it glued down nicely. Then the saddle was glued in place. A piece of twine was tied around the saddle/pads and pulled tight. Then I used a hairdryer to soften up the plastic and form it to the horse’s sides a little better. Once it was as good as I could get it, I hit it with the Ambroid. When I need a strong bond, I use Ambroid. It seems to create a better bond than the Tamiya that I mostly use. There are still gaps but much better than before. I also started adding a few rocks to the base. Here is a picture with a bottle of Tamiya paint to show the scale of this thing. Tomorrow I will putty the gaps around the saddle and add some more of the straps. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Skinners Horse is looking quite impressive. Are you going to paint in lighter shades of brown and light shadows to give the Horse a bit of defined outline and muscle. if you look at the box art, see how the shadows on the horse are light and in certain areas of his body.I was just curious...I think you have a great looking animal there but was just thinking out loud. The Bengal Lancer was assigned to MY MOM from the age of about 5 to about 18 SHE tells ME. :wub: :wub: SHE said that he went everywhere and many a time she did ride with him when she was still small. I think SHE had ONE impressive looking bodyguard.{I get told stories of GARDEN PARTIES.meetings with LEADERS of INDIA, and BRITSH RAJ..SHE has been lucky as she grew amongst Diplomats and GENERALS etc etc... } MY Grandfather was asigned 2 OFFICER from the 4TH BENGAL CAVALRY to make sure he was kept safe and form being assassinated.. They had a job on their hands as he sometimes also rode a Horse to his meetings !{ and the Ford car !! :blink: Keep up the good work and I told MY MOM that you were building this and HER eyes lit up... BEST WISHES. HAPPY MODELING. HOLMES. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Holmes, It sounds like your family has led some interesting lives. Tell your Mom she is very lucky. I have to be satisfied with building a plastic model, she got to hang out with a REAL Bengal Lancer. I will be using shading and highlights on the kit. I just used brown primer as a base and so that I could see the seams. I will have to do all the shading after the straps are glued on. I don't want to go to all the trouble and then have to fix it when I accidentally get some glue in the wrong place (Knowing myself, it is only a matter of time.) This is an old kit and it has a lot of gaps. Right now I thinking about how I am going to fill the seams between the riders pants and the saddle. I think that I am going to try using cling wrap over the saddle and Aves putty on the pants. Hopefully I will get a good fit and still be able to remove the rider for painting. It will be difficult to paint with him glued to the saddle. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Today I had to deal with the gaps between the rider’s pants and saddle. Gluing the rider to the saddle and then puttying the gaps would have made painting difficult. I went to my local grocery store and bought some Glad cling wrap. I wrapped a piece of this around the horse/saddle to create a barrier so that the Aves would not stick to the saddle. Then I put a couple of Aves worms in the insides of the rider’s legs before pushing the rider onto the saddle. The excess that squeezed out was cut away. After a couple of hours I had rider that perfectly fit the saddle. After a little sanding it will hopefully look like the pants. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Els, Yes MOMS family did have an amazing life..all HER 9 sisters were EACH assigned their own personal BENGAL LANCER. Anyway to more important matter, your model....It is coming together and I am sure that this will work {Hopefully..fingers crossed }. The Officer is looking quite good too.. He looks stable {no pun intended !} on the mount.. Keep up the good hard work Els....still loving the thread... HOLMES. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smee Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Remember doing this kit as a kid, loved it but no where nice as what your doing looking forward to seeing this finished. :) hi ho silver :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 Thanks for the positive comments. I only had about 45 minutes to work on this so I put down the base colors on the rider. I am just copying the box art so I hope it is somewhat accurate. I started doing a little of the shading. It is hard to see in these pictures but it is there. Either my camera or the light bulbs I am using to take pictures are having a hard time with the yellows. I will have to look into a fix for this since there will be a lot of yellow on this kit. Hopefully I will have more time tomorrow. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smee Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 awesome start on the painting Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skl1cent Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 thats looking very coool! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Els Looking good I must say ! Els see the link ...gives you a idea...as to the the yellow color.....scroll down you have one or two photos that may be useful. http://www.lrmminiatures.com/Chota.htm http://www.wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Skinner's_Horse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MattC Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Lovely work so far, I've often fancied doing a figure model, but I don't think I would be up to it! Holmes - Your stories from your childhood are fascinating, and what a fascinating time to have been in India for your Mum, there must be whole books worth of interesting tales. Are any of your family still there? Its a country I have always wanted to visit, ever since I started learning Martial Arts (the one I studied had a lot of influence from Indian traditonal dance, we had a dancer attend a class for a demonstration once, absolutely stunning to watch) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Lovely work so far, I've often fancied doing a figure model, but I don't think I would be up to it! Holmes - Your stories from your childhood are fascinating, and what a fascinating time to have been in India for your Mum, there must be whole books worth of interesting tales. Are any of your family still there? Its a country I have always wanted to visit, ever since I started learning Martial Arts (the one I studied had a lot of influence from Indian traditonal dance, we had a dancer attend a class for a demonstration once, absolutely stunning to watch) Matt Yes I still have MY MOM's brother{MY UNCLE} AND many elderly great aunts and great uncles who are in their late 80's , 90's and I have Great Great Uncle who is 112 years old and he knows many tales when he traveled to South Africa by ship and how long it took and seeing MAHATMA GANDHI,the spiritual Leader who was assassinated in INDIA by a fanatical Hindu.The stories have been passed on to ME and MY siblings... and the bedtime tales he tells even for adults is quite captivating...{I have told MY MOM to tape or write down ALL her stories and even her Siblings {9 sisters and 4 brothers have told her that as they find it fascinating as some are not old enough to have been alive during BRITISH RAJ or were born way after INDIA gained its Independence}.... There are a lot of old family members who can tell a few stories about all sorts of things just like Alex Haley's "ROOTS" ! I think you WOULD LOVE INDIA with its diverse populace, and the color and the vibrancy of INDIA..and the AIR FORCE TOO !!! I think you should go ...did you study the traditional KATHAK dance as that is something to see with their exquisite hand expresisons and their neck and head being moved without any other part being moved... maybe the next time I go , you could come and as I spek differnet languages I could interpret for you.. ..Anyhoo, Els, the work is good and I an excited for this to finish... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Everybody thanks for the positive comments. Holmes, I like the picture on the second link you included with the rider turned in the saddle. If I hadn't already done so much work on the horse I would be tempted to modify the kit to look like that. I still may modify the rider and just leave the horse the way it is. My problem is that the horse is looking left and the rider would be looking right. I don't want to modify the rider to look left because I am not sure what to do with the Lance. You are right about trying to get your family to record their stories. My Grandmother used to tell us great stories all day long. I heard her stories so many times that I thought I would never forget them. But guess what, she has only been gone for about 20 years and I can only remember a few of them. These people are living history. Get it while you can. MattC, I would recommend that you get a cheap figure model and just go for it. They are fun. The great thing about figure kits is that if you don't like how it turns out, you can strip it and do it again. I worked on shading the horse a little today. I also base coated the saddle and straps. Edging the straps sucked. I will drybrush these later and try to make it look like leather. If you look at the bottom of the base in this picture you can see how much the base is warped. I will have to heat that and try to fix it. I also attached and puttied the arms. I have base coated the work in yellow and am ready to start shading and highlighting. I am still having trouble photographing the yellow. I have to decide if I want to modify the rider before I go any farther. I am kind of leaning towards grabbing the saw and start chopping, No guts, no glory, right. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think about modifying the rider. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 (edited) Els, The HORSE looks EXQUISITE and the color is just perfect....WOW !! He is a handsome animal ...the light and dark shadows defines the horse's profile and definition...AWESOME.... The BENGAL LANCER is coimg along just beautifully. if you did modify the figure then it may take a lot of hard work and delicate surgery... I asked MY MOM about the LANCE and SHE said that they had a sort of sling around their upper arm which held the LANCE similar to what the picture of the BENGAL LANCER who is looking over to his right in the second link..... .....she said that they had it like that while they rode and if there was any sign of trouble ..then SHE says that the LANCE was quickly brought down to the wrist and held firmly in readiness to use it if the need arose.They were quite deft at that .. Keep up the good work and I am ENJOYING this..its like going to a Museum and seeing the History come alive... HOLLMES, Edited May 21, 2011 by HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 Well Holmes, its all your fault. After seeing the picture I couldn't take the static "at attention" pose anymore. I will turn his body and have him holding the lance. I really want to modify the horse, but that is just to much work, and I don't have the skills to do that properly. I will start puttying him up into a new position later tonight. If it doesn't look good, he may end up on the chopping block again. Thanks for the info about the strap on the lance. I will add that to the lance. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smee Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 mE THINKS WE HAVE A dexter HERE :) wheres the black bags. should be interesting what your going to turn into. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 Smee, I do live in Florida, so if this turns out looking like crap, its always an option. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smee Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 lol Scary, so you have options if it all goes south :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 Well Holmes, its all your fault. After seeing the picture I couldn't take the static "at attention" pose anymore. I will turn his body and have him holding the lance. I really want to modify the horse, but that is just to much work, and I don't have the skills to do that properly. I will start puttying him up into a new position later tonight. If it doesn't look good, he may end up on the chopping block again. Thanks for the info about the strap on the lance. I will add that to the lance. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Els Els, What can I say..I think MY subliminal suggestions worked on you... { } I am sure with your dextrous skills at model making and sleight of hand : and swift bit of delicate surgery - the BENGAL LANCER will be looking AWESOME... Els if I can make it up to you for giving you grief, let ME know... Anyhoo, the LANCER is going to look quite IMPRESSIVE with his body movement... The HORSE is looking STUNNING... Keep up the GOOD WORK.. Keep thinking YOU ARE creating a Masterpiece which it will be.. HOLMESY... :blush: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 Holmes, Don't worry about the grief, but it is enough with the subliminal suggestions. Either the Force is strong in you, or you were in that Staring at Goats program or something. I don't quite know how I went from OOB to this... Ah well, even if it doesn't turn out that great, I am having fun working on it. I modified the arm to straighten it out. While I was at it, I chopped off the left hand and closed it up so that it would look more like it was gripping the reigns. My sculpting leaves a lot to be desired but I think this will look OK after painting. Here is what I am going for. The right arm and lance is just stuck on with silly putty so I can work out where I need to glue it. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Holmes, Don't worry about the grief, but it is enough with the subliminal suggestions. Either the Force is strong in you, or you were in that Staring at Goats program or something. I don't quite know how I went from OOB to this... Ah well, even if it doesn't turn out that great, I am having fun working on it. I modified the arm to straighten it out. While I was at it, I chopped off the left hand and closed it up so that it would look more like it was gripping the reigns. My sculpting leaves a lot to be desired but I think this will look OK after painting. Here is what I am going for. The right arm and lance is just stuck on with silly putty so I can work out where I need to glue it. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think. Els Els. YOU DA MAN !!!!!!!! I tell you what... it is looking AWESOME already and your deft, delicate surgery is definitley take shape.. took the laptop to MOMS this day and showed her your work and SHE said . "Tell the Gentlemen that he has talent that needs to be taken further !"{if ony SHE knew that you build models with such expertise !} SHE LOVED it... and may I just tell you that SHE had a tear or two in her eye as she looked at this build.. she said it looks quite remarkably like her "Patawada"! Keep on Doing what you are doing... I for ONE {AND MY MOM} ABSOLUTELY love this !!! HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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