The Belgian Cavalry at Work
- Thread starter rodsginger
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Dan Morton
A Fixture
Rod - Many thanks!! Yes I had both of the pics you posted. The two illustrations pretty much agree on colors. My eyes see more a dark green coat in this illustration vs. the dark blue that the other illustration and other sources have indicated. Marc Megroot, who will be painting this diorama, has a friend in the Belgian cavalry museum who will be our arbiter of colors for the diorama. To the best of my knowledge the uniform coat should be dark blue with either red or yellow piping and brass buttons. The coat collar panel should be the same red or yellow. The red or yellow colors indicated regiment number, I believe.
The trousers should be light blue or sky blue with white stripes. The leather insets in the trousers and the chap like bottoms are black as are the boots. The unusual feature of the cavalry riding trousers are the seams that indicate how the trousers were sewn together - nothing like Levis jeans or traditional dress trousers today!
The shako hat should have a black leather bill and bottom. It has a shiny black oilcloth cover over the crown and down both sides. There should be a white bob on the front of the cap. The bob was apparently sometimes removed in the field and some illustrations don't show it.
On the horse, the saddle and saddle bags are brown leather, of course. The horse reins and other leather equipment is brown leather with various brass buckles on equipment and bags. The horse blanket or pad should be black or dark blue, I believe, although I'm not completely sure about that color. It has a yellow or white stripe and a yellow bugle figure with large open circle at its base. The regiment number is in the center of the circle, also in yellow. The aluminum canteen has a dark green or grey felt or corduroy cover. The blanket roll could be any dark color with brown leather straps and brass buckles holding it. The circular thingie mounted at the front right of the horse is a canvas (light tan) water bucket with brown leather straps and hemp rope holding it together. Looking at the model, I just noticed I have to go back and add another rope on the bucket.
The weapons are a cavalry sword and an 1889 Mauser Allege carbine. The carbine was, from all the references I've read, a not very effective weapon with short range, prone to mis-fires, not very accurate and only a 3 shot clip.
Who says WWI uniforms were all drab and dull? Of course almost all these colorful uniforms vanished in 1915. 1914 was a much more 'target rich' environment color-wise than the rest of the war.
Thanks again for your postings!
All the best,
Dan
The trousers should be light blue or sky blue with white stripes. The leather insets in the trousers and the chap like bottoms are black as are the boots. The unusual feature of the cavalry riding trousers are the seams that indicate how the trousers were sewn together - nothing like Levis jeans or traditional dress trousers today!
The shako hat should have a black leather bill and bottom. It has a shiny black oilcloth cover over the crown and down both sides. There should be a white bob on the front of the cap. The bob was apparently sometimes removed in the field and some illustrations don't show it.
On the horse, the saddle and saddle bags are brown leather, of course. The horse reins and other leather equipment is brown leather with various brass buckles on equipment and bags. The horse blanket or pad should be black or dark blue, I believe, although I'm not completely sure about that color. It has a yellow or white stripe and a yellow bugle figure with large open circle at its base. The regiment number is in the center of the circle, also in yellow. The aluminum canteen has a dark green or grey felt or corduroy cover. The blanket roll could be any dark color with brown leather straps and brass buckles holding it. The circular thingie mounted at the front right of the horse is a canvas (light tan) water bucket with brown leather straps and hemp rope holding it together. Looking at the model, I just noticed I have to go back and add another rope on the bucket.
The weapons are a cavalry sword and an 1889 Mauser Allege carbine. The carbine was, from all the references I've read, a not very effective weapon with short range, prone to mis-fires, not very accurate and only a 3 shot clip.
Who says WWI uniforms were all drab and dull? Of course almost all these colorful uniforms vanished in 1915. 1914 was a much more 'target rich' environment color-wise than the rest of the war.
Thanks again for your postings!
All the best,
Dan
rodsginger
Active Member
Dan
I had an idea that you probably would've had the info.
Many thanks for your posting and the additional information.
I am also interested in WW1 amongst other periods of interest.
In the main I am playing around with commericial castings and even though I scratchbuilt figures in 54mm eons ago, I have yet to start doing that in 120mm which is now the scale that I work in. My eyes are not the best these days.
I am currently working on a Cifi #261 French Cuirassier 1914.
Cheers
Rod
I had an idea that you probably would've had the info.
Many thanks for your posting and the additional information.
I am also interested in WW1 amongst other periods of interest.
In the main I am playing around with commericial castings and even though I scratchbuilt figures in 54mm eons ago, I have yet to start doing that in 120mm which is now the scale that I work in. My eyes are not the best these days.
I am currently working on a Cifi #261 French Cuirassier 1914.
Cheers
Rod
