PiliPili Miniatures - New Release

[Guy]

* SP-02 *
AUSTRALIAN LIGHT HORSE * Gallipoli 1915
1/9th scale (200mm) bust.
Resin.
Sculpted and painted by: Le-van Quang

PiliPili web-site
click here


​

 

[Einion]

Good face Quang. I can see this one being popular with painters (I wonder how many will be brave enough to try freckles? )

Einion

 

[Dan Morton]

SWEET! I really like those freckles! Excellent sculpting!

All the best,
Dan

 

[megroot]

Quang,

One word: AWESOME

Marc

 

[captnenglish]

Should prove popular

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Quang,

I love this bust, its beautifully sculpted and painted. Well done mate.

Typically most AIF troops wore small brass "rising sun" badges on the front of the collars of their tunics and brass "Australia" flashes on their epaulettes.

That's not a criticism, merely an observation.

Cheers

 

[garyjd]

Quang, This is one of your best males busts IMHO. ~Gary

 

[quang]

Typically most AIF troops wore small brass "rising sun" badges on the front of the collars of their tunics and brass "Australia" flashes on their epaulettes.

Indeed, Tony.

Somehow there were several instances where the badges and flashes were not worn. Likewise the large rising sun badge on the hat could be worn in several other ways. A brass numeral was also sometimes worn on the front of the hat in WWI.

What I like the most about uniforms is that they were not uniform.

Quang

 

[quang]

I wonder how many will be brave enough to try freckles?

I used to have an Australian schoolmate who happened to have ginger hair and a lot of freckles. Since then, I always associate Australians with those two attributes.

Painting the freckles was not as daunting as it appears. You just need some good colour photographs to use as a model (I used pictures of actor Eric Stoltz). The face is painted as usual and the freckles added on with Burnt Sienna oils diluted in Liquin.

Note that redheads usually have VERY pale skin. The freckles really add a three-dimensional effect on the skin. Try it, you'll love it!

Cheers,
Quang

 

[John Bowery]

Quang,
Another masterpiece from the Master. If I try freckles it will look like measles.
Cheers
John

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Quang,

You make an excellent point about the lack of uniformity of Australian military uniforms.

Dress codes were never policed as rigourousy in the AIF as they were in the British Army, much to the annoyance of the British officers who regarded them as colonial ruffians.

The Light Horsemen weren't known for how smartly they looked in uniform and only saluted the officers they liked (which really pissed off the spit and polish Pommy brass), but they were regarded as some of the toughest fighters in the Middle East campaigns.

It's a little known fact of the war that the Australian Light Horse beat Lawrence of Arabia and his Arab Revolt in the race to capture Damascus from the Turks, but were forced to withdraw for "political reasons". The Light Horse (who were actually Mounted Infantry not cavalry) also performed the last successful "cavalry" charge in history when 800 men charged the Turkish lines at Beersheba in Oct 1917. If you get a chance, check out the movie "The Lighthorsemen".

You've done your homework Quang, so well done.

I particularly like the "kangaroo feathers" in his hat.

We Aussies have a weird sense of humour and like calling blokes with red hair nicknames such as "Blue" or "Bluey", "Ginger", "Carrot Top", "Rusty" and "Blood Nut", and I'm sure there are many more.

To me, this bust will always be Bluey, and I'm definitely going to buy him. Thanks for doing such a great job on such an iconic Australian military subject.

Cheers

 

[brian]

Hi Tony
To have a blue has a whole new meaning Tony.Took me a wee while to pick up on Austalian humour when i lived there ,but ended up like a dinki di Aussie.
The bust reminds me of when i paraded on Anzac day in Sydney,as there was an old guy on a white horse dressed in the Light Horse uniform riding on a large grey horse at the front of the parade.
Lest we Forget.
Brian

 

[quang]

Tony,

Thank you so much for your insight.

'Inside views' like yours will no doubt add interest to a subject not very well-known in our hemisphere (up-above? ). Wish I'd know them while I was working on the bust.

Thank you all for your comments.

Cheers,
Quang

 

[tonydawe]

G'day Brian and Quang,

My wife and I are members of the Outback Heritage Horse Asociation of Australia, which is dedicated to preserving the bloodlines and heritage of the Waler horse breed; the horse ridden by the Australian Light Horse (and the Indian Cavalry) in WW1.

We take great pride in riding our Walers in full Light Horse uniform each year on ANZAC Day as part of the Australian Light Horse Memorial Troop. I've attached a couple of photos taken on ANZAC Day 2008 of the ALH Memorial Troop in action at Margaret River in the south west of Western Australia.

My mate Kevin is wearing medals won by one of the Lighthorseman from the 4th Lighthorse Regiment that charged Beersheba.

Cheers

 

[quang]

Very nice pics, Tony!

Another issue I encountered while painting the bust was the actual colour of the uniform during WWI. Contemporary reports often depicted it as 'pea-soup green'. So I did my own interpretation of what pea-soup green looks like (with some smoked bacon thrown in, I admit )

However post-war colour photographs often show all shades of khaki ranging from tan to grey-green.

Also I guess the hat (made from indigenous wool) should be of a different tint from the rest of the clothing.

Can you give us some details about this?

Cheers,
Quang

 

[busso_boy]

Best pub food in Australia in the Margaret River Hotel and the staff are so friendly

now back on track........fantastic bust and very well painted, i've e-mailed Pililpili in the past wanting to distribute for them but never had any replies

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Quang,

AIF uniform colors vary significantly from traditional "English Uniform" khaki through to a faded light blue/ grey colour (which is the original colour of the serge cotton material before its dyed). The uniforms worn by our Light Horse troop, as shown in my previous pics, are original WW1 uniforms, so they are the right colour.

If these uniforms were worn day in and day out for several months they would fade to a light khaki colour and eventually, after a year or two in the deserts of Palestine would fade to a light blue/ grey colour.

The slouch hats are made by Akubra from rabbit fur felt and were dyed khaki. After a couple of years they fade to a lighter shade of khaki. The pugaree around the base of the hat was usually khaki and made of cotton.

Here's a pic I used to use as my avatar, which shows a Light Horseman's slouch hat.

Cheers

 

[quang]

i've e-mailed Pililpili in the past wanting to distribute for them but never had any replies

Hello Ian,

There was indeed an Australian gentleman who wrote to me some months ago about distributing PiLiPiLi in Australia/NZ. He also asked me for pics and text to put on his (still in construction) website. I sent him our trading terms along with lots of material and got no word from him since.

But I can't remember having received any enquiry from you. Maybe your e-mail got lost through my spam filtering or was it sent to the wrong e-mail address (there's a design bureau also called Pili-Pili which has nothing to do with us).

In any case, if you're still interested, why not send me another e-mail?

Cheers,
Quang

 

[busso_boy]

G'day Quang

will send you an e-mail over the weekend

thanks for such a quick response

Regards Ian

 

[Sambaman]

Such a nice youthful face you've captured here Quang. Well done. Possibly my favorite piece from you!

Jay H.
OKC