"Which way did they go, tracker?"

[yak face]

Fantastic looking cavalryman and hoss matey and germalino and his steed look mighty fine so far , loving the 'heap big heap' too!!!!LOL , cheers tony

 

[spanner570]

Thanks Tony, the muck did make me smile. The back of the box art for the colour suggestions shows the tracker with his fingers in it too!

On reading Colin's last post, I had a look at Germalino's horse and noticed it had a proper bridle, complete with metal rings. So bearing in mind his comments that the horse should have a simple tether arrangement, I have filed away the bridle and will replace it with summat made of cotton or similar. Now I will have to repaint the brute....Didn't like the colour anyway!

Thanks for the tip Colin.

It does seem strange typing about a horse when this is really a hardware / military forum, so thanks to you lot wot is sticking with this build! lol

Here's the naked horse.

Thanks for looking in.

Ron

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[CDW]

Looks good Ron ....

Here's piccies for reference .... simple Apache bridles, normal use and war-type ... take your pick

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They never really used the bridle to control the horse, it was all done with their legs and feet and shifting their body weight.

I laugh sometimes when you see the "horse whisperers" on tele and they get a horse ride-worthy in about an hour ..... the average Apache, Pawnee, Cherokee could get on a horse/pony within 20 mins and be in full harmonious control.

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[Caledonia]

Had to stop myself from giving that chestnut a lump of sugar it looks so real. Fabulous work as always Ron. Cheers Derek

 

[spanner570]

Thanks Colin and Derek for your positive comments.

Colin, thanks for taking the time to post the Apache bridle pictures......It makes my job dead easy now, all I have to do is take a junior hacksaw to the poor animal's mouth, get a suitable piece of rope, tie a couple of knots...job done. Far easier than the bridle on the sarge's mount!

 

[mossiepilot]

Just got caught up Ron, nice hoss and rider mate.

looking forward to seeing the injun.

Tony.

 

[Ian M]

More pop-corn please.

Looking fine Ron.

Ian M

 

[CDW]

Colin, thanks for taking the time to post the Apache bridle pictures......

No problems, nice to be of some positive historical (if a little geeky) help for a change instead of just offering my random thoughts and ideas.

 

[spanner570]

Thanks for your posts boys, I'm glad the progress meets with your approval.....

Colin, there's nothing geeky about knowledge, particularily about a relatively uncommon subject, and thanks to you and the lady for helping out a 'orse and Apache thicko!!!

Here is Germalino's horse, complete with rope bridle. I didn't like my original choice of colour, so I had a look on 'tinternet, and the colour I decided on was favoured by the Apache people....It's sort of piebald / skewbald colour, at least that's how it turned out and I'm happy with the end result.

Painted with water colours, and the bridle is a piece of brown sewing thread.

After I filed away the heavy military bridle, I cut the poor horse's mouth open with a fine hacksaw and inserted the rope bridle into it's mouth. The blanket is moulded onto the horses back, so just needed painting.

Over to my nr. Biggar friends for approval....or modification. Be gentle mind!

Next I will paint the tracker.......and the dung heap!

Cheers,

Ron

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[papa 695]

Great work Ron and my i say that horse looks a lot better

 

[spanner570]

Thanks for that Ian. To be honest, my second attempt at painting the horse was all white, but it looked completely out of place on the dio. and sort of took over.....It was only then I had a look on 'tinternet for some inspiration.

Pity someone didn't post that they thought the original colour was awful...which it was!lol

Ron

 

[CDW]

Elaine says .... quote ...."oooh well done that man"

Bloomin' great paint job mate, bridle bang on for just dossing about tracking.

"Impressive" just don't cover it mate ....

Looks like Germolino (or Goyathlay ("yawning one") as he should be correctly addressed) has the right sort of head-dress for a warrior of the period and culture, the feathers were bald eagle feathers, they only plucked three or four feathers from the bird then let it go as they were considered sacred (the feathers themselves considered to have special powers)

In and around this time they dressed in "white-mans" (forgive the term) clothes in an attempt to be accepted into the changing society of their native land....... geek mode off !

 

[spanner570]

Thanks Colin and thanks also to Elaine....No more Ron's Geronimo 'Germalino', but I'll call him by his correct name.....

This is what I like about this modelling lark, you start a build - be it a tank, aircraft or a North American Indian and in comes help and advise to keep the builder on course.....Great stuff!

Ok., so Goyathlay is plucking feathers from the Bald Eagle and we all know what that bird looks like. Judging from the size of his head gear, the feathers could be from the wings. Would they be just brown in colour or does the bird have large white feathers under the wings, making it a bit more colourful for the wearer?.....Most t.v. fillums show white...and they are always correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over to you geek!!

Ron

 

[yak face]

If the feathers were primaries ,which i imagine they would be as they are the longest feathers on an eagle, then they would be brown, only the head was white, cheers tony

 

[spanner570]

If the feathers were primaries ,which i imagine they would be as they are the longest feathers on an eagle, then they would be brown, only the head was white, cheers tony

That was my thinking too, mucker........I just wondered whether there might be a few sort of off white, beigey coloured feathers underneath so they might show up on the head dress a bit better than brown.....

Cheers mate,

Ron

 

[yak face]

Looking at some pics on google of Geronimo , on some of them hes got a headdress with brown feathers . These feathers are mainly brown with a slightly lighter bit right at the thick end of the quill. The only other pics i could find were of Charles Haughtrey as ' Big Heap ' in Carry on Cowboy!!! OOH Hello! LOL!!

 

[spanner570]

Ha, nice one...Charles Haughtrey!

Thanks for the info Tony...Brown it is.

Cheers,

Ron

 

[CDW]

yup they were normally brown for everyday use. some times they'd dye the ends a darker chocolate or red colour to designate elders etc.

white feathers were for the full headdress but contrary to most films & pictures they were rarely used everyday, they were for important ceremonies and actually mainly worn by the shaman in most tribes.

you could pop a few short white feathers next to the head band to break it up a bit ... but this was a trait mainly used by the blackfoot and crow.

 

[Gern]

No problems, nice to be of some positive historical (if a little geeky) help for a change instead of just offering my random thoughts and ideas.

You can't be a rivet counter for a horse - they don't have any! :lol

Gern

 

[spanner570]

You can't be a rivet counter for a horse - they don't have any! :lolGern

Dave, for that remark you owe Colin some Eccles cakes..............but as they would be too expensive to post to Scotland, bring them to Cosford and we'll eat his share at the picnic table by the cafe!

Colin, thanks for confirming the feathers question and the extra info.