Civil war

Your dilemma is shared by many, there are only a few good kits, but they are limited
to a few poses. If you are willing i used a Xacto knife and basicly Cut and Bond. Also try using other manufacters like Revell, Airfix and other. This will help in getting a varoius poses.

There was a recent issue of Military Modeling where the guy did some pretty extensive conversion to some Napoleonics like this. It was very well done. I would never have thought that they would be worth doing, but the article proved me wrong. Good luck with this and if you think about it, put some pics up of the finished project. Sounds like quite the project.

Mike

I live about 30 minutes from Gettysburgh...Anyway, every time I see a Civil War dio it is always of those IMEX kits you mentioned. I never understood why there isnt a better quality line out there for the Civil War buffs.

I would agree if you want something better you will have to make it yourself. Maybe try a figure that is similar in overall appearance and then you could just make or attach the proper accessories. For example, maybe a kit of WW2 Russian scouts (could be anything) might have a general stance and shirt/belt/pants appearance similar to your Civil War line........take it from there and paint it with your colors and use some putty to fix the rest :)


just my $.02

Ther are better kits but they are mostly pewter and not cheap. Imex is just about the only company producing kits. Revell and everyone has quit.

However, has anyone seen the horses and the riders? Are they to scale? I just can't figure it out. They just don't look right to me.

**putting on my Civil War historian/professional horseshoer's hat**

Just for the record both humans and horses today are, on the average, much larger than our 19th century predecessors. Horses more so because while our increased size came pretty much by accident from better food, environment, and health care, our equine friend's new stature was no accident coming from 140 years of careful breading.

The "adjustment" has not been equal over time. While we are probably 10% larger than 19th century people, some breeds of horses are as much as 30-40% larger.

Look up some pictures online and see. Or if there's a good museum nearby visit it. You'll be surprised how small the uniforms and saddles are. In fact for many, many years lot's of Civil War uniforms in museum were miss-identified as "musician's" or "cadet uniforms" because they looked like children’s clothes. In the last ten years a lot of those have been corrected.

The best Civil War figures made for dioramas are made by Shenandoah Miniatures. They have a very wide selection of 54mm poses for both Union & Confederate; cavalry, infantry, and artillery. Unfortunately, they are not cheap -- maybe $15 a pop. But I've used them for small dioramas of up to 15 figures and been very pleased with them. Good luck.

Brian

Imrie-Risley Miniatures has an extensive line of Civil War figures to assemble and paint. They include most of the more prominent units of the war as well as many famous and infamous personalities. They build up pretty easily and offer a variety of poses.