Completed 150mm Trumpet Major,Chasseurs à cheval de la Garde

[Briggsy]

Love the precision on the Austrian knots, I assume that is sift load wire or something similar.

Cheers Simon

 

[MCPWilk]

Trumpet finished and in situ on body:

This is how I made the trumpet: I started with some (hollow) brass tube. When bent, this kinks, so having worked out how much brass tube I needed and cut it to length I inserted some brass wire wide enough to fill the tube, leaving a short length protruding at both ends. The wire within the tube stops it kinking when bent and the protruding wire can be used for mounting the ends of the trumpet. The mouth piece was made by soldering a slightly wider piece of tube to the end of the another piece of brass tube of the same diameter as the first and turning it, as one would in a lathe, on my Minicraft drill. This can then be cut to size and soldered onto the trumpet tube. The bell of the trumpet was made by turning a piece of dowel in my minilathe and coating it in superglue. It was then glued in place. The trumpet cord is from my model boat rigging cord box and the tassels are made from Milliput.

Mike

 

[Briggsy]

Stunning and thanks for the tutorial on trumpets, not sure I'm up to that though, especially in 1/30th scale, but it's damn good.

Cheers Simon

 

[MCPWilk]

Stunning and thanks for the tutorial on trumpets, not sure I'm up to that though, especially in 1/30th scale

Very many thanks for your kind words.

This is 1/12 scale (150mm) and although I can manage smaller scales, my preferred scale is 200mm (1/9)

Mike

 

[MCPWilk]

Love the precision on the Austrian knots, I assume that is sift load wire or something similar.

It's solder wire of different diameters: 0.5mm for the larger knot and 0.3mm for the smaller details.

Mike

 

[Tony Barton]

This is wonderful work , most impressive. So I hate to mention the awkward fact that on a short model trumpet like that , the tubing went around twice. If it was the length you've shown, you could only get about two or three notes out of it , making cavalry calls impossible. The tubing needed to be about seven feet long ( including the bell ) for the pitch to stand in D ; or just a little shorter , say 6 foot six, for a pitch of Eb ( a semitone higher), which was becoming fairly usual for the period and later. The old long model trumpets seem to have been phased out in the 1790s, since they were more fragile, and more awkward to carry on campaign, and the short model became standard,since it's stronger and easier to carry. It's still used by the Garde Republicaine, who have a truly excellent corps of trumpeters, playing the same calls in use in the Napoleonic period :



There are several more videos you can find if you Search

The British Lifeguard State trumpeters still carry the long model , in silver, which you can see on any State occasion .The British Army adopted the short model in Eb for field use about the same time, and it's the one still in use today.
I am a trumpeter myself and have several of these instruments.
I repeat my apology, I really don't want to make life awkward, but if the weapons were wrong everyone would notice. It's just the unfamiliarity of trumpets and their use, quite understandable in its way , that perhaps needs to be more widely known.

 

[MCPWilk]

Thank you. I scaled the trumpet up from Lucien Rousselot plates as well as from numerous existing models (Ray Lamb, Poste Militaire; https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/imp-guard-trumpeter-french-hussar-on-campaign.662920/; etc.). Trying to find an surviving trumpet from the period proved very frustrating. My main concern when making it was not to make it too long (!).

I will consider your comments. If you have a French Imperial Guard trumpet from the period, I would appreciate having its exact dimensions.

Mike

 

[Tony Barton]

I hope these illustrations might show what I mean , if I can get them to show...
Here's the short model trumpet ( tubing goes round twice) from the Bardin regulations of 1812 :~

And another showing a Garde Chasseur trumpeter in blue, a slightly more naive drawing, but you can see the doubled tubing , although i think the artist has made it look too short :~

And a Dragoon with the older long model trumpet, tubing goes round once:~

Sorry , I've not done this for years

Note from Nap ....pics enlarged

 

[MCPWilk]

Thank you - I'll sort the trumpet out this week. Interestingly although the trumpet might be right, the uniform of the mounted chasseur does not align with my other references!

Mike

 

[MalcC]

Excellent detail.

Malc

 

[MCPWilk]

Rear views with new trumpet as advised. The other correcetion was to reduce the right coat tail which was significantly wider than the left - I concentrated so much on the fine detail that I missed the bigger picture!

I have had the first castings of the figures, the fine parts are to be cast in white metal, so hope to start painting soon.

Happy modelling,

Mike

 

[Nap]

Hi Mike

That’s looking great , very skilled modelling all over

Been great to follow the progress, look forward to seeing the painting

Have fun

Nap

 

[Merryweather]

ooh nice!

 

[Briggsy]

Some lovely detail in there and so clean. Missing the coat tail is understandable, so much to keep track of.

Cheers Simon

 

[Tony Barton]

Well done, the trumpet is now a practical instrument.

 

[MalcC]

Your sculpting is very impressive.

Malc

 

[MCPWilk]

Thank you all for your kind comments. I shall endeavour to post some work in progress photos in due course.

Mike

 

[NigelR]

Excellent modelling and hats off to you for correcting the trumpet.

 

[clubcat]

Beautiful sculpting and attention to detail, congratulations
Melanie

 

[MCPWilk]

I couldn't resist putting some colour on the colpack (busby) - obviously early days and more work to be done:

Happy modelling!

Mike