"The Trophy" - French Colonial Spahi, 1914 or 15

[Dan Morton]

When I posted Hingre's wartime illustration of a triumphant Spahi holding a German pickelhaube aloft, several of you said it would make a nice vignette. True! So...

I did this one more or less following the methods I used for the lancers. Started with a 1/16th scale Verlinden Napoleonic horse, converted it to have the historically correct Spahi horse equipment. The head and various other bits come from various kits. The carbine is a converted Lebel rifle from another kit. My usual mix of Kneadatite and Magic Sculpt was used to sculpt the remainder.

Rafaelaga, our fellow PF member just completed painting today and forwarded the attached marvelous photos. Excellent painting!

Hope you like it!

All the best,
Dan

 

[Nap]

Dan,

That looks great really colourful and a excellent version of the illustration

Thanks for sharing

Nap

 

[Wings5797]

Awesome work Dan.
Very nice piece, first class.
Keith

 

[rafaelega]

Thanks a lot Dan. it was a pleasure to paint this beauty!

 

[Dan Morton]

Nap and Keith - Many thanks!

Rafa - Very happy it turned out so well! Congratulations! So assuming it arrives back in Omaha on time and undamaged, I'll take it to MMSI in Chicago on October 23-24. I've spent most of today working with the guys making the titles and wood for the four pieces going to the show - "For me mate", this one, our very colorful Spahi - "The Trophy", the French Dragoon Lancer and the Russian Don Cossack Lancer.

All the best,
Dan

 

[John Bowery]

Look great and good luck in Chicago.
Cheers
John

 

[swralph]

Great work all round.

 

[Dan Morton]

Thank you John and swralph!

All the best,
Dan

 

[billyturnip]

Rafa has done a great job of painting this, well done to both of you, excellent piece.

 

[Dan Morton]

Cheers Roger! Much obliged!

All the best,
Dan

 

[arj]

Very well sculpted and painted.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[Dan Morton]

Thank you Andrew!

All the best,
Dan

 

[akaryu]

Great work! The french colonial armies offer very colourful subjects indeed, maybe some manufactures get inspired by your work Dan!
cheers,
Piet

 

[Dan Morton]

Many thanks and yes, that would be terrific, Piet!

I think it's easy to find colorful and intriguing subjects among the French Colonial armies. Not quite so colorful, but nonetheless intriguing subjects can be found among the German Colonial armies just before WW1.

Examples...
Tirailleur Senegalese ca. 1914 front and back views.
A mounted Brigadier Chasseurs d' Afrique ca. 1900
Colonial infantry in moutarde khaki with horizon bleu great coats at Verdun 1916
Indochinese infantry in 1914 uniforms & equipment
German Colonial East African guards pre-1914
Four German East African soldiers ca. 1914
German East African Askari NCO pre-1914
German Colonial Tsingtao garrison soldier pre-1914

All the best,
Dan

 

[peedee]

Dan great inception and execution,
Rafael great paint job dude !

It's so nicely different this one.
Paul

 

[Dan Morton]

Thanks Paul - kind words indeed! And I agree Rafa painted it beautifully from the photos. He's also a lot better photographer than I !! The package containing this figure is still in transit back from Spain and I really look forward to seeing it in person.

As to being inspired by, finding and making different subjects - that's never been a problem for me. A modest amount of research among the illustrators and photos from any of the conflicts of my interest has always generated 5 times more possible subjects than I could ever make! Examples....

The first three are from the Balkan Wars 1912 -1913.
Next two are from the Chaco War - 1932 - 1935.
Next one is a famous photo "Powerhouse Mechanic" from Lewis Hine 1919.
Next one is an excerpt from a post WW1 newspaper. I was going to title it "The Veteran" and change the figure a bit.

Enjoy!

All the best,
Dan

 

[peedee]

Isn't that Bombardier Billy Wells who used to hit the Gong for the Rank Films
Pee

 

[Dan Morton]

Uh....Don't think so, but --- see there - there's another idea for a figure! They're everywhere!

All the best,
Dan

 

[peedee]

Paul

 

[Zastrow.cuirassier]