Bruce's Lancer bashes!

I've done a few Lancer bashes. I've made them for a couple of reasons. Firstly as it was a good way to bulk out my ceremonials shelf and secondly as I thought it would be a good way to embellish my childhood VAM 'Bruce's' character and history.



I'm not really much of a kit basher but as I'd seen the Lancers done before and as it's mostly just colour changes I thought I'd have a go.

The Lancer regiments of the British army have had a long and glorious history but thanks to defence cutbacks and regimental amalgamations they are no longer with us however their distinctive uniforms remain as ceremonials within the current Royal Lancers regiment and make great additions to a VAM ceremonial collection.

The Palitoy 17th/21st Lancer uniform with a few Zulu war tweaks. Nothing says 'Soldier of the Empire' more than a pith helmet!


The 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own)

The white plastron and facings of the VAM 17th/21st Lancers uniform is from the pre-1922 amalgamation uniform of the 17th Lancers. Before that when the 21st was still a separate regiment it's plastron/facings were light blue.


The 21st Lancers (Empress of India's)

Another amalgamation in 1922 was the 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers. They retained the red plastron/facings  and black plume of the original 5th Irish Lancers. This and the 9th/12th Lancers were the other current regiments in existence when Palitoy made the VAM Lancer in 1972. Personally I think I prefer the red to the white.  Bob Brechin has said several Army regiments asked Palitoy to make VAM versions of them. Maybe the 17th/21st were the most persuasive!


The 5th Royal Irish Lancers

With a red plume the uniform is of a 12th Lancer.


9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's)

So there's my Lancers but what's that got to do with Bruce? Well.....

Back in the day Bruce was a Lancer. . .almost!

As a kid I viewed my action men as some sort of special operations unit. So when I got 'Richards' as a boxed Life Guard it made sense that he'd been seconded to my special unit from the Life Guards. 'Joe' was retrospectively designated as having come from the Royal Green Jackets (Well he was a 2nd issue soldier and so obviously infantry, and he'd arrived wearing a green jacket. . . you can't fault a child's logic!), 'Hank' had come from the Royal Navy etc. I carried this convention on with the rest of my team and so when Bruce arrived I decided he'd been a Lancer as a friend of mine had recently got the newly released 17th/21st Lancer uniform. I thought the uniform was great and added it to my mental 'Wants list' along with 99% of the latest equipment manual but in the end I never got a Lancer uniform. It didn't really matter as Bruce had technically joined my special unit, but the canon that he'd been a Lancer originally was set.

Fast forward 43 years, Bruce comes out of retirement and supplying him with a Lancer uniform is easy except...



He's got one of those big early 70's talker heads and the Czapka doesn't fit!! Good job I never got a Lancer uni back in the day.

It should have been a big problem but something I loved about creating VAM characters as a child was how the backstory would evolve and fall into place. Bruce was an Aussie (with a name like Bruce? Who'd thought!) and Australian Lancers don't wear a Czapka they wear a bush hat.



So Bruce wasn't a Pommie Lancer, he was a 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancer. The uniform was a bit more work than the other bashes and it's a bit rough around the edges but I'll explain that away by claiming the jacket is the exact one Bruce's great grand-daddy wore in the Boar war!

Bruce on parade at the Lancer barracks in Parramatta, New South Wales.



Traditional with modern.











I'm very pleased with how a few traits I gave Bruce years ago have clicked into place to make him feel more 'real' now.

..and now days no post is complete without some 'Rustygun' style carnage!

I am with you on the Red version , loving that minty looking 1st issue scout car as well . Your collection looks really interesting , going on the backgrounds in some of your photos . Glad you shared these with us .

Great job on the lancers skj, they all look brilliant. The pith helmet is a wonderful addition to the uniform and is my favourite of your lancers  the Aussie comes a close second. Great upload

They have all come out looking amazing Steve!

All that dying has paid off mate its a fantastic line up of Lancers!

I don't remember ever seeing the Lancers on sale in the shops as a kid, only ever saw pictures of it in the equipment manuals.

The only thing to Top it would be to add a Dog

Amazing work! The red faced lancer is my favorite; but they all look amazing!

-Nate

Very cool bashes Steve

They look brilliant... got a great collection there..
is that a few " sharps rifles " you have there ....any chance of a better pic of them..

Thank you for a reference to all the carnage in my posts And glad to see your carrying it on..

But I'm sure I put a post out the other day where no one died in it Or maybe not...

Rustygun wrote:

. . I'm sure I put a post out the other day where no one died in it     Or maybe not...

Quite possibly but the rest of us are so far behind on the body count!

As he's an old Rifleman Joe uses the 95th Rifles uniform as his ceremonial dress.



Well he wanders around the HQ wearing it and thinking he's important!

Another great Figure Steve

Great pics ... where did you get the rifles uniforms..?

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Beatlefan wrote:

I don't remember ever seeing the Lancers on sale in the shops as a kid, only ever saw pictures of it in the equipment manuals.

You're probably too young Richard!  The Lancer was only around for 1972 and my friends one was the only one I ever saw.


Dean, I think the 95th Rifles uniforms are by Elite but I can't seem to find anything on-line. Can anyone else help?

Fantastic group of Lancers, Steve!!! Beautiful work representing the different versions, they all look great!

Nice job working around the big headed fuzzy, the Aussie hat works very well. You done Bruce proud!

The Sharpes figures look excellent too!


...and kudos for the carnage...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cotswolds-Sharpe-jacket-trousers-1-6th-scale-toy-accessory-/162573851268?hash=item25da281a84:g:8jYAAOSwo4pYGm-e

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cotswolds-Sharpe-Baker-rifle-1-6th-scale-toy-accessory-/142359607934?hash=item21254b3a7e:g:rvwAAOSwXeJYGnof

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cotswolds-Sharpe-cross-belt-with-pouch-1-6th-scale-toy-accessory-/162493854286?hash=item25d563724e:g:9jQAAOSwnbZYGnix

pippenstoys on the bay, looks like the uni has been split, they do come up complete at times.

Thanks Richard!

Of course..it's a Cots Elite uniform! I should have remembered that!

It comes as a complete boxed figure too. Cots are long sold out but I expect they turn up on ebay sometimes.

I think some people sell them back to Cotswold, or they find some tucked away in a corner of their warehouse, because they have some "older" release figures every now and again.

Awesome work Steve... Tom K HQ had been privy to some of the development stages, so great to see them all finished. I have to say that the pith helmet version is my favourite...

But, I like them all and the fella on the horse testing out his lance, is just the job!

Wow nice figures in this thread!
Great pics!