Toy Soldier Collector Magazine

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Tête de Colonne

Australian writer, and modeller, John O’Brien tells how he created his own unique version of Napoleon’s Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard

When I restarted collecting toy soldiers 10 years ago, I was attracted to the traditional style of pose of the marching on-parade figure, and I decided to amass some small armies of my own to form up in ranks and files. My main historical interest was in the 1750-1815 periods, encompassing the Seven Years War, American and French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. This was mainly because of the vast array of colourful uniforms that the various armies wore into battle during that period.

There was no way that I could financially justify buying painted figures from makers such as Frontline, King and Country and Tradition of London, who do have some very good on-parade Napoleonic forces but at a price, so I went looking for castings to paint. Although I had been away from the hobby, and figure painting, for over 30 years I was sure that I could still see and paint a fine line. As far as castings go there is quite a variety of pieces available (just look at Casting Around in this magazine), but being in Australia, far away from the toy soldier markets, they were harder to find information on and more importantly source the retailers. I decided to do my own thing by casting and painting my very own troops, with the help of the Prince August range of 54mm Napoleonic Moulds. I was very pleased to see that their first set, 80-1 included a marching Officer, Grenadier and Drummer of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, so armed with metal, a stove and a pot I got busy casting my own soldiers.

Making Music

Later I decided some music was required for the parade (no not a radio, CD or MP3 player) with the addition of some musicians. I once again contacted Prince August and obtained the moulds for the massed band, or Tête de Colonne, which came in three sets of three moulds. With them I was able to cast the Standard Bearer and Sappers (who lead the parade), as well as the Drum Major, Drum Master and some of the musicians of the Band of Napoleon’s Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard. The instruments available were the Cymbals (complete with Black Percussionist) a ‘snake like’ Serpent, Trumpet, French Horn, Clarinet and Bassoon. I eagerly awaited other instruments to be released by Prince August, but unfortunately in the last few years no more have been released, leaving me with only half the band I required. The problem I now faced, as many collectors often do, was how to complete the band?

By this point I had been converting figures, with good success, for a while so I decided to cast more marching musicians from the 80-17 set, and then convert them to what I needed. One of the good things with the moulds is that the arms holding the different instruments are all interchangeable, and made to fit any figure. As there are no hands with the arms, because these are attached to each instrument, any other hands can easily be fitted.

With a listing of the required bandsmen, and instruments, I headed for my spares box to see what I could find.

From the PA 80-1 set, I used the Side Drum as Bass Drum, because in the Napoleonic Era, bass drums were not as big as today, and so that drum would suffice when held sideways. The drum sling was made with metal foil cut to the correct width, and the bass drummer’s arms were from set PA 803.

For the Side Drummer I used the drum from PA 80-15 as it was smaller than the 80-1 drum, with again a drum sling made from metal foil. The side drummer’s arms were from PA 80-1 with his epaulettes filed away to fit.

Flute players were made using the flute from PA 803 but with the flute lengthened with some wire, as the Grenadier has wider shoulders than the soldiers in the 800 sets.

For a Conductor of the Band, the trumpet arms were ideal, but for the Baton, I used the trumpet hand, with instrument removed, and fist drilled through with a 1mm drill and the Baton (fine wire) inserted.

The Triangle player used arms from the Clarinet and Bassoon figures, and for hands, I chose the Clarinet player, with instrument removed, hand separated, drilled through, and triangle and striker made once again from fine wire.

The Serpent player from 80-7 didn’t fit in with the uniforms of the musicians from 80-17, with him wearing gaiters, not boots, and lacking the plume and some decorations on his hat. My solution was therefore to use the Serpent from 80-7 and then with arms from Bassoon and Horn, and some gentle persuasion on the angle of the mouthpiece, I have achieved a matching bandsman.

Now for the missing instruments...

About two years ago I saw that Giles Brown of Dorset Soldiers was making band instruments for a Neapolitan Infantry Band of the Napoleonic Era, and I decided to add this band to my collection. I purchased about 24 castings in total, and enjoyed bringing these figures to life with a coat of paint. Whilst building this band it gave me the idea to use some of the arms and instruments to complete my French Grenadier band, and as Dorset has now made the arms without epaulettes they fit nicely into the Price August bodies. With the addition of the ‘Duck Head’ trombone and ‘Jingling Johnny’ (held by the PA80-17 clarinet hands drilled out to take the shaft), I had made a complete Napoleonic Imperial Guards Band.

Now if I can source a suitable Busby head, I may be able to repeat the task all over again, but this time as the band of the Dutch Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, with their sky blue coats, yellow facings and silver lace … then more conversions for Line Infantry…. oh the possibilities!

For Help...

To enable collectors to have the correct detail for the uniform, and numbers and types of bandsmen of Napoleon’s Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard I have published a web page with the information: http://www.upnaway.com/
obees/soldiers/band/band.html

In addition more examples of my efforts can be seen on my website “Toy Soldiers On-Line Gallery” (http://www.upnaway.com/
obees/soldiers/) which is updated with the latest figures every few months.

Date Published Tue, 04/01/2008 - 08:24
Author: John O'Brien

Contact
Prince August
Kilnamartyra Village
Macroom
Co. Cork
Ireland

Tel: +353 2640222
www.princeaugust.ie

Dorset Soldiers
Unit 112, South Way
Southwell Business Park
Portland
Dorset
DT5 2JS

Tel: 01305 823003
www.dorsetsoldiers.com

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