Household Cavalry, Afghanistan 2006-2009
200mm
Imperial Gallery
SOL Model - Skull
Verlinden - Rifle Barrel
First and foremost I would like to say sorting out British Army Units and their whens and wherefores is challenging. There seems to have been quite a bit of reorganization in the past 15 years or so - needed to meet the needs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The figure is from Imperial Gallery. It is really a mixed bag when it comes to quality. The face and body were pretty nice; but the hands were pretty bad. The construction and fit was difficult. Not all the gear fit where it is depicted on the box photo. I had to do a fair amount of surgery to get various pouches and packs to sit in place. That being said, I enjoyed the challenge! Painting and weathering were complex and enjoyable. I must have looked at 200 photos on the web - and I probably still get it wrong! I added some lead foil straps here and there. I made the microphone from solder and flattened the end for the mouth piece.
I wanted to make a historical referential vignette. I call this "Bloody Helmand". The skeleton and rifle are representative of the 2nd Afghan War. A little corny I know, but I gave it a try. The rusted rifle barrel is from an old Verlinden figure and the Skeleton is from SOL Model. So that is about it.
Click on images to enlarge
