April Prussian Ulhans

On Friday April 1st, I posted a news story on a ‘new’ range of Prussian Ulhans available in plastic. Well, it was a mostly true story… The models were ‘new’ as I’d just made them and they were made of plastic. As many of you correctly guessed, they were of course conversions of the Warlord French Lancers.   

I knew there were a number of similarities in uniform between the Prussian Ulhans and the French lancers, in fact there are enough similarities in their uniform and the lance for a simple conversion. The major differences were the gloves worn by the French and their helmet, both easily remedied. The extra piping on the French uniform is lost when the models are painted. 

The  first part of the conversion was to reposition the sabre from hip to the knee. I carefully cut off the sabre, removing the left glove at the same time and turning it into a sleeve. Remember to respect your knives when cutting! I then shortened the length of the sabre by 2mm, adding a small strip of material to the left hip so the sabre would be attached to the belt of the rider. Once this had dried, I then glued the sabre in its new position.

The lance-arm was carefully stripped of its glove as well. Some of the lances were stripped completely clean so they could be held by spare arms garnered from the Warlord WW2 Japanese or Perry ACW Cavalry set. I also used the bugles from these sets for musicians. Finally, I looked through my Prussian ‘bits box’ to find some suitable heads. Heads sporting moustaches only appear on the command sprue, but you can always paint the ‘taches in.

In conclusion, the conversion was pretty simple and fun to do. I do plan to paint up and use my conversions alongside my ‘real’ Perry Prussian Ulhans. In fact, with a little more work, I could lengthen the coats, add caps and convert them to Landwehr cavalry.  

The Napoleonic purist will quite rightly point out the sheepskin saddle isn’t quite right (the Prussian one is more squared), nor is the uniform 100% accurate. However, when galloping across the table in full war-colours on the table, I don’t think most people will notice. Metal cavalry are nice, but expensive. Until somone does real Ulhans in plastic (I’m sure somone will do at some point), these will do for a unit or two!