# Bengal Lancer



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Hello all,
For this WIP I will be working on the 1:12 Airfix 1st Duke of York’s own Bengal Lancer (Skinner’s Horse) kit.
It is a pretty old kit that I picked up at the Mildenhall model show in the UK about 8 or 9 years ago. I saw this kit under a vendors table. Later, while talking to him I found out that it was under the table because the kit was partially built and no one was interested in it. I offered him 5 pounds and he said sold. I wasn’t worried about it being started because at the time I planned on converting it to a black rider from Lord of the Rings.
There has been several times that the kit was pulled out of the stash to start the conversion, but each time I look at the box art work, I liked the yellow tunic and put it back on the shelf. Well, I decided that I can keep looking at it or I can build it. Since I just finished 2 Tiger Meet aircraft, I am ready for something different and this will be it.
The box has a nice painting:








Here are the contents. There aren’t a lot of parts and some of the details are a little soft. This build will be out of the box and I will not be trying to make it any more historically accurate than what Airfix has in the box or instructions.








I have finished putting together the major parts and puttying all the gaps. This is an older kit and it has a lot of gaps.








Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

THose are a lot of fun. They take some TLC with clean up, but really not any more than most big plastic figure kits. The Bengal Lancer was one of the last Airfix did. That, the French Grenadier Guard and the Show Jumper sorta rounded out the series in the 70s.

One thing I would change... don't use the thin plastic card for the straps. Get some Verlinden (or other) lead foil and cut that into the required strips. The plastic does not lay right and is actually too thin. at one time wine bottles had lead foil wraps, but nowdays its usually some crappy tin stuff or worse, plasticized paper. But real lead foil works great for belts and straps and you can work compound curves into it quite easily.


----------



## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

That is some impressive box art, and a neat looking kit. Looking forward to your build.


----------



## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Yes, I'm looking forward to your build too - I remember when the model shops were full of this kit in the late 70's, and I once saw one as a store display built-up. With the scale being 1/12, it might even be possible to kitbash using the Aurora white stallion/Zorro horse.


----------



## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

That looks like a very nice kit. I too look forward to seeing the build and painting. Wish I had one in my collection.


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks everybody. 
djnick66, I appreciate the heads up about the straps. I looked at the plastic card supplied with the kit after reading your post and I think you are right. I will have to find something else.
I got a little more done today. The sculpt of this horse is really nice but a little static. A section was cut out of the neck to allow the head to be turned a little to the left.








A little Aves was used to start filling the gaps.








I think that it adds a little movement without having to do a lot of extra work.








The saddle haves were glued together and talk about gaps.
















I was planning on painting the horse first but the way the kit is designed, you have to place all the straps first. Then add the saddle. The saddle pads or whatever they are can be heated and shaped to fit the horse better, but I will have to fill the gaps around portions of the saddle and holsters. It will probably be easier to paint after fixing the straps/saddle. Any one here ever built one of these?

After looking at the rider on the horse I think he is either a little small or the horse is a little big. One of them is not 1:12 scale. I was going to add a shim to extend the riders body a little but then his head would look to small. I guess I will just have to live with it, I am not prepared to put that much work into the project.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

I scored one of these of eBay a couple months ago, so I'm following this thread with great interest!


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

deadmanincfan, thats cool that you got one. I heard that they are getting harder to find. If I could get a good price I would like to buy another one to convert.
A little more was done today.
After unsuccessfully trying to find some lead foil I went to my local Hobby Town and bought some Evergreen .030 X .100 sheet styrene to start the straps. There are a few that have to be placed before the saddle is added. At first this styrene wasn’t working because it was too rigid. I found that if I pre bent it to the approximate shape it glued down nicely.








Then the saddle was glued in place. A piece of twine was tied around the saddle/pads and pulled tight. Then I used a hairdryer to soften up the plastic and form it to the horse’s sides a little better. Once it was as good as I could get it, I hit it with the Ambroid. When I need a strong bond, I use Ambroid. It seems to create a better bond than the Tamiya that I mostly use.








There are still gaps but much better than before.
















I also started adding a few rocks to the base. Here is a picture with a bottle of Tamiya paint to show the scale of this thing.








Tomorrow I will putty the gaps around the saddle and add some more of the straps.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Looks great so far... I was going to do a similar thing with the straps on mine as the plastic is just waaaaaay too thin...


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks, the plastic seems to be working pretty good. I was worried that I would walk into the room today and see all the strips popped off the kit. They are still there.
I forgot to get some thiner strips for the reins, I guess that gives me an excuse to go to the hobby shop today.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

...do any of us really need an excuse to go to the hobby shop? Methinks not...


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

You are right about that.
Today I had to deal with the gaps between the rider’s pants and saddle. Gluing the rider to the saddle and then puttying the gaps would have made painting difficult. I went to my local grocery store and bought some Glad cling wrap.








I wrapped a piece of this around the horse/saddle to create a barrier so that the Aves would not stick to the saddle.








Then I put a couple of Aves worms in the insides of the rider’s legs before pushing the rider onto the saddle. The excess that squeezed out was cut away.








After a couple of hours I had rider that perfectly fit the saddle. After a little sanding it will hopefully look like the pants.
















Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Boy, you're helping me out more than you know! I really like the repositioning of the head, adds life to the kit.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Lookin good!

These figures are reissued from time to time. Airfix has or is about to reissue a set of three of the standing 1/12 figures... the Beef Eater, Trumpeteer, and Coldstream Guard. You just have to keep an eye out for them as the reissues usually come and go quickly.


----------



## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

What a great kit!.. superb start to the build.. these come up over here in the UK on ebay quite oftain.. has there only been one release of this kit?


----------



## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Lots of good hints in this thread. IE The hairdryer to soften and fit the saddle and the plastic wrap/leg filler solution. Thanks for putting up the information.


----------



## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

IanWilkinson said:


> What a great kit!.. superb start to the build.. these come up over here in the UK on ebay quite oftain.. has there only been one release of this kit?


 This one's been reissued a couple of times. 
The really hard one to get is the Showjumper. I believe that one's only had the one issue but I could be wrong..
The rarest 1/12 Airfix figure is the Boy Scout. It's extremely rare and bloody expensive when you do find one!!

Chris.


----------



## roadflea (Jul 14, 2009)

HI i just saw this thread and like the look of this kit GREAT START AND KEEP US POSTED


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks for the encouragement everybody.
Xenodyssey, I would like to say that I was smart enough to come up with all these ideas but I got them from following other peoples builds that I have seen in various forums and magazines. 
Chris, I saw a picture on the internet of the showjumper kit that someone converted to an Australian light horse. They did a nice job on it.
I haven't had much time lately to work on the kit. I layed down the base colors on the rider and have started to shade it. Its a bit of a pain because the arms cannot be attached until after painting the front of the rider. I am just going with what is on the box top, I hope it is accurate.








There is actually more shading on the yellow than shows up in the picture. The lights I use for taking pictures of my kits don't seem to play well with yellow. I recently took some pictures of a Tiger Meet Puma that I did. It is mostly yellow and orange and it was hard to get good pictures of it. I am using GE Reveal light bulbs, and I have always been happy with them in the past. Anyone got any good suggestions/tips for bulbs that work with yellow?
Els


----------



## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Very cool kit. Box art looks like Mike Nesmith in his beard phase.


----------



## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Correction: use your thumbs to cover the sides of his beard and it looks like Zappa.

More or less...


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Yeah, I can see Zappa in there.
Maybe it was those long hot dry rides that implanted the idea for the Ti##ies and Beer song.
Els


----------



## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

The Showjumper looks an awful lot like Princess Anne....

Chris.


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

I worked on shading the horse a little today. I also base coated the saddle and straps. They will get some dry brushing to try and make them look like leather. Lining the edges of the straps was fun...NOT! If you look at the bottom of the base you can see how much it is warped. I will try to heat that and stack some heavy stuff on it. Hopefully it will straighen out.








I also attached the arms and puttied that up. I have thrown some yellow over it to cover up the green putty. Now I can start to shade/highlight that.








That yellow is hard to photograph.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

So far, looking great! Keep it up! :thumbsup:


----------



## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Wow, this is great! Really appreciate your sharing it with us!


----------



## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I like your colors and shading so far, the build looks great so it should turn out even better as you finish it up. A great job on this model.

Bob K.


----------



## spideydroogy (Oct 15, 2010)

Thanks for posting! There are some great lessons and tips here.


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks for everyones positive comments.
I have also been posting this on the ARC and one of the members there posted a link to a painting of a Bengal Lancer.
http://www.wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Skinner's_Horse
I am not going to pose it the same as in the painting, but that is my inspiration for the change. As he is now, he looks like he is at attention and it is a bit static. I would like to modify the horse, but I think that is beyond my skills.
So here he is chopped up. I will repose and putty him tomorrow. Hopefully it will look OK. Man, I was so close to being finished with this kit.... 








Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## roadflea (Jul 14, 2009)

HI you got more guts than i do. if i had it painted that nice i would have left it then again i could not have painted it that good . can i ask you what is the arc that you mentioned keep at it and keep putin up the pics GREAT JOB oh yeah can you tell me your method for the face is it oil or acrylic or both THANKS


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Roadflea,
Thanks for the comments. The ARC is the Aircraft Resource Center. It's mostly for aircraft models but there are a couple of other places there for non aircraft kits. On this face I painted it with some cheap craft store flesh colored acrylic paint. I then washed it with citadel paints flesh wash which really darkened it up. After that I used pastels to start shading it. I needs more work, but I will finish that after I am done with the modifications.
I modified the arm to straighten it out. While I was at it I chopped off the left hand and closed it up so that it would look more like it was gripping the reigns. My sculpting leaves a lot to be desired but I think this will look ok after painting.








Here is what I am going for. The right arm and lance is just stuck on with silly putty so I can work out where I need to glue it.
















Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## Cappy D (Jun 19, 2004)

This is really looking fantastic, and I can't wait to see the final product.

Cappy D


----------



## roadflea (Jul 14, 2009)

THANKS for the reply your work here is GREAT cant wait till she it finished


----------



## airman34 (May 18, 2011)

I am really enjoying watching this build. Can' wait till you start painting it.


----------



## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

the horse is utter brilliant!... can't wait till the rider is complete!


----------



## airman34 (May 18, 2011)

*have newbie question*

Thank you for posting this build! I am learning alot of neat tricks. Have a beginner question for you, after you putty a seam how do get rid of the excess putty without losing details on the model?


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks everybody.
Airman34,
Fortunately for me this is an older kit and doesn't have a lot of details. Depending on the type of putty you use, there are different ways of dealing with it. Try not to put down more putty than you need. The more you can clean up the area before the putty dries, the less elbow grease you will have to use to sand it. If you use putty like Aves, you can put the putty where you want it. Then take a Q-tip, your finger or what ever and dip it in some water. Then rub that over the area to smooth/clean up the excess. This will just leave the putty in the crack or seam. If you use putty like Squadron Green, you can dip a Q-tip in some 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and do the same thing. This will smooth the area down. After the putty dry's, you can put down pieces of tape on either side of the area that you want to putty so that when you sand the area you don't mess up the details. Sometimes there is no way around it and you will just have to try and resculpt the details to the best of your ability. Pre planning can help a lot too. 
There are a lot of modelers here with much better skills than mine. You should throw this question out to the masses. You will probably get some great tips. I would like to see that to because there always seems to be a better way of doing things than what you are doing.
Els


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

It has been a while since I worked on this. Every time I get a kit to where I think it is about half done, I have to start on another kit. Maybe it’s some kind of ADD or something. So I have been working on an F-15E and neglecting the Lancer.
Basically, he is back to the same point he was before being chopped up and modified. Today I wanted to paint his head gear (I do not know what it is called). I used liquid latex to cover the head and parts of the body that I didn’t want to get any overspray on.








I learned this from watching David Fishers Model Mania videos. If you haven’t watched them, you are missing out on some great instructional videos. When you first put the latex on it is milky/cloudy looking.








You can tell when it is dry when it gets clear. I also put some masking tape on the headgear to try and figure out the pattern.








Here it is after painting. I think it will be fine after some touch ups and shading.








I also painted the Lance. In the picture, it looks like they wrapped some cloth around the handle area of the lance. Maybe it is to give them a better grip? I soaked some tissue in watered down Elmer’s glue and wrapped it around. After it was dry I painted it. 








Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

The headgear looks great! You're setting the bar high for me to follow!


----------



## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Looking good so far. The shading and details on the lance look very realistic.


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks
I worked on the sword and rifle today. The rifle doesn't need to be very detailed because it will not really be visible after it is placed in its holster.








I glued on the riders legs and reattached the head after I dropped it yesterday and broke it off. He is pretty much all together now.








I just need to finish the shading/highlighting, and repaint the face. I need to do the base and the reigns. Oh man, I thought I was almost done.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## Parts Pit Mike (Jan 3, 2001)

Very nice job. Enjoyed following this.


----------



## airman34 (May 18, 2011)

REALLY enjoyed watching this build. Where do you get the liquid latex? (I have got to watch those videos!)


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Mike and Airman34, thanks for the encouragement.
I got the latex at Michaels (arts and crafts store). If you buy a container of this, it will be enough to last you a lifetime.
Els


----------



## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

Looking great Els!
I like the way it's coming together and the mods really make a big difference. Nice colours too. The horse is well done!

Chris.


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks Auroranut,
I like the modification, but I wish I would have planned it better and turned the horses head to the right instead of the left.
Some work was done on the base today. I started out by gluing the horse to the base and then putting some watered down Durhams putty over the base. I had previously glued down some rocks that were made from a rubber rock mold used for train layouts. After the Durhams was on the base I sprinkled some parakeet gravel around.








This stuff is some of the best/cheapest diorama material out there. You get a whole box, enough to do about 40 dioramas, for about a dollar. It has fine gravel, larger rocks and even some shells mixed in. It accepts paint most excellently.
















This is the base after a wash of brown. I will do some dry brushing tomorrow and add some foliage.








I tried to take a picture of the Lancer under a little less light to see if I could get the shading/highlighting on the yellow to show up a little better. Still not that great though.








Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Lookin' SHARP!


----------



## Cappy D (Jun 19, 2004)

The detail on the turban is a real eye catcher. Looking forward to the finish!

Cappy D


----------



## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Superb work on the base, and the turban, looking forward to seeing this finished.


----------



## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Great work on the base and another useful hint for bases and dioramas. Thanks!


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks everybody.
I did not like the chain mail shoulder boards that came with the kit so I tried to resculpt them. I didn't like those either, so I tried to make real chain mail using this method.








That didn't look good either so I just left the shoulders bare. I know it is not historically correct, but its my kit and this is the way I like it.
Here are the finished pictures:








































I am sorry the yellow doesn't show up that great, my camera and yellow don't seem to get along very well.
Thanks for all the positive comments that were posted during this build.
Els


----------



## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

Superb job...really excellent, I think I might have to look around for one of these...


----------



## Roy Kirchoff (Jan 1, 1970)

Excellent work Els! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks for all the great tips.

~RK~


----------



## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Yes, thanks for sharing this. Next time I'm at the pet store I'll be looking at gravel options....


----------



## Cappy D (Jun 19, 2004)

Absolutely beautiful job. Really inspiring.

Cappy D.


----------



## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Really nice build, fantastic looking. You got the colors perfect and the shading and the custom base make an excellent build. Not my cup of tea, I guess that is pertinent, exactly in models but I like seeing such well done models anyway. Are you going to take him to the Spacecoast IPMS meeting soon?

Bob K.


----------



## dklange (Apr 25, 2009)

Truly *beautiful* work, Els!!:thumbsup: I've watched your progress and am impressed with your work. Very clean and great colors. - Denis


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks everybody. It was a fun kit to work on. If I see another for a good price I will probably get it to modify into something els.
Bob, to be honest I am not really into historical figures very much either. I mostly built it because I liked the colors. I took it to the meeting in Cocoa last Tuesday but it wasn't finished. It looks like the club might be going to one meeting a month because the Hobbytown where we meet on the second Tuesday is going to start closing at 6pm during the summer.
Thanks again everyone.
Els


----------



## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Very nicely done! Top-shelf work!


----------



## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

He really turned out great! With the horse's head turned to his left, the viewer has a face to see when the model is viewed from behind the lancer. I think that's a good idea. More visually interesting.

Great colors, nice finish. Excellent work!


----------

