13th US Cavalry, 1916

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Dan Morton

A Fixture
Joined
Jul 3, 2004
Messages
8,060
Location
Great Plains of the Midwest, Omaha, Nebraska, USA,
Me again with WIP on the first of the cavalry projects. I've mentioned earlier that I intend to do several WWI period mounted cavalry figures. This one is the first that has reached a stage that I can share with you. Still a long way to go. The figure is mostly there. Lots of horse equipment and other stuff still to do. The equipment is listed below so you'll get an idea how he'll be equipped.
The scale is 120mm or 1/15th. I've used some resin parts from various kits - head from the Lost Battalion, campaign hat from Alan Ball's recent sculpt of a USMC officer, hands from Verlinden, boots from Verlinden.
13th US Cavalry Sergeant, Mexican Punitive Expedition
Horse
M1904 McClellan saddle, light brown leather, with darkened brass fittings
- Unusually this saddle has no fender or “sweat leathers”, it was produced without them
- Horse hair cincha
- Ring chape
- Wooden stirrups and leather stirrup hoods
- No curb bit
- M1908 saddle bags
- Blanket bed roll
- Tin cup and M1902 canteen
- Rolled M1912 coat
- M1903 Springfield rifle in russet brown leather scabbard
The figure is a Sergeant halting a column.
He's wearing
- M1902 OD green shirt - the shirt is worn with the first few buttons unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up.
- M1912 trousers
- M1912 campaign hat
- M1910 first aid kit
- M1911 Colt 0.45 caliber automatic pistol
- M1903 canvas cartridge belt - I'm a little concerned about this. I may have gotten this a bit to small. It may have to be redone.
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This is supposed to be taking place in and around Columbus, NM just after Villa's raid on March 9, 1916. The 13th Cavalry were based in Columbus. During the attack, they put up a fierce resistance, surprising Villa's men. Immediately afterwards, Troop H under Major Frank Tompkins and Capt Rudolph Smyser were ordered to pursue. Early in the pursuit Troop F under Lt. Castleman joined in the fight, making a total of 56 US cavalrymen pursuing Villa's gang of 300. In spite of these odds, the cavalrymen inflicted 75 - 100 casualties and only broke off the fight because they'd used up almost all their ammunition. The US cavalrymen were not, unfortunately, all recognized for their heroism because of the US-Mexican political situation at the time. Tompkins was promoted and received the DSC eventually.

Now I need to put this one aside and work on a commission and a couple of French figures for a friend.

All the best,
Dan
 
Thanks Marc and Chris! Elsewhere, John Long pointed out that I have both pockets on the shirt too low and I think that's right. Also the right pocket should be raised slightly to fit with the arm being raised and slightly higher than the left because of the raised arm. I can fix both of those. Incidentally, I made a mistake in my description of the uniform. It's the M1911 shirt, not M1902.

All the best,
Dan
 
Hi Dan,

Nice sculpt!
I am not familiar with the uniform so I can not comment on that, but from the last pict it seems like that the lower right arm may be a bit on the bulky side, than again it may just be the photo.
Keep up the good work!

Best regards and a Happy New Year,

Luka
 
Luka and Jay - Many thanks! Luka I believe the angle of the photo is misleading you some on the arm. They look reasonably even to me. I didn't notice it until I took the photos but I've made him look a bit like a body-builder and that was unintentional. I'm going to have to work to counteract that in future.

The cavalryman is undergoing some changes. I'm going to have the figure holding his Springfield '03 rifle fore stock in his right hand, having dropped the reins around the pommel of the saddle. The rifle front will be resting on the M1912 uniform coat, which the cavalryman has removed due to the heat. The coat will be drapped over the saddle pommel and cinched in.

The net effect of these changes, I hope, will make the piece a bit more dramatic.

I have some commissions to work on for the next few weeks, so I'll have to come back to this one later.

All the best,
Dan
 
Hi Dan,
busy man you are,I took a look at your web site,I like the fact you dont mind taking a chance on a subject,I was very taken with the corpses WW1, keep it up mate,this mounted suject looks good keep'm coming!!

Best Regards
Paul.
 
Many thanks, Paul! Yeah, sometimes I feel like I'm flying without a parachute to be honest. What is and always will be particularly pleasing to me is when one of the eminences tell me that I did a good job on a piece that they personally would be reluctant to try. Now that's fun.

"A reasonable amount of insanity can be a productive resource."
I just made that one up - you can quote me. :lol:

As far as keeping 'em coming, it's more like I couldn't possibly stop.

All the best,
Dan
 
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