The Anglo Turkish Contingent were a 'mercenary' corps with British Officers and Turkish recruits. Amongst the force was a telegraph detachment which was equipped by the British.
The uniform interested me because it was so different and worthy of a simple conversion.
In the article http://distantwriting.co.uk/telegraphwar.html the rider above is referred to as a Heavy Cavalryman but is in fact a member of the telegraphic unit in the helmet with plume.
I did my usual head swap, I thought about the British Heavy Cavalry helmet, but decided upon the Russian Guard helmet instead as it was taller. I added some green stuff to make the plume. The horses are the S recast range Artillery Horses from John Cunningham. The wagon is from Hinchcliffe. The drawing above has a 'rubber boat' on top of the wagon so I made one out of cardboard - not quite right. The plume and helmet should probably be the same colour but I gave them a bit of contrast with different shades of red.
The Turkish rider is the Turkish Officer with a head swap as described above. To fit him on the horse, just use a pair of 'snips/metal cutters' to cut away the horse blanket right up to the legs and smooth off with a file. You may or may not need to 'spread the legs' with the aid of a pair of pliers!
The odds that the rest of the unit wore the helmet on duty are probably remote but I thought I would make some anyway. I had some spare Turkish Artillerymen holding a cannon ball so I used them as the basic conversions. The individual head swaps give a bit of variation in pose.
The pick axe is from Irregular Miniatures and I just drilled a hole in the underside of the hands and slipped it in.
This was a bit more fun. Again same figure, I drilled a hole through the hands on the figure on the left and threaded some cotton from the cable reel through it. The other figure has a snip cut in the front of the hand and a cocktail stick glued in place (first drill a hole through the top of the stick to take the cotton). I then painted the cotton with copper paint. Most cables were laid underground but I thought my would be 'bridging a stream' so I would have a low pole to carry the cable over the water.
I had a few bits and pieces so I made another piece.
I used the Turkish Officer body with a Saxon Officer's head to make the dismounted officer. On reflection I could probably just have painted the Saxon Officer but the pistol holster would need to be removed.
The cardboard boats lifts off and here are the crew in action!
To add a bit of fun I have converted a Russian Light Dragoon into an draught horse rider and given him a 'whip' instead of a sword so if we want to we can play a scenario where the Russian try to steal it away!
