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Ok, the title kind of says it all. I'm looking to start off a small side project to create a Praetorian Guard styled army. The thing is, I don't actually like the Praetorian Guard uniforms - not being a fan of 19th century British pith helmets! I thought that, despite them being modeled on the British Army of the 19th Century, the 'real' Praetorian Guards would be a bit more functional. So, i've decided upon using standard Cadian Troopers armour, combined with lots of GS crossbelts and painted red and white in the style of Napoleonic British Infantry - more 'Waterloo-ish', but still with an element of pragmatism.

To achieve that effect I need to find some 1812-1815 Era 28mm Plastic British Shakos that are sold SEPARATELY. I've looked around but I can't seem to find any suppliers that sell them separately. I'm looking for Victrix or Perry as a brand, but i'm open to other suggestions.

If anyone can help me, please feel free to direct me to a supplier

EDIT: I'm now looking more towards using Metal Storm-troopers in a Heavy Infantry Regiment, but all ideas, and sources for Metal British Shakos, are still welcome.

Is it just the pith helmets you don't like or the entire uniform?

If it's just the helmets Mordians are the exact same model with a different head

Then there are these, http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/products/torsos?pagesize=12 take a look around the site, they have quite a few useful parts, especially torsos, legs, and arms. Don't look to be plastic though, sorry

These guys are close though not perfect.

http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/dress-cap-heads

They could easily look like early WW1 British infantry.

TBH separate hats are a pretty unusual item. It is easier to do complete heads.

It's just the Shako heads i'm looking for. I'm going to use standard Cadian bodies as they look 'practical', but I wanted a head change to give them a distinct look.

EDIT: @Kilkrazy - My intention per headgear was to get a Shako head, cut off the face section and attach it to a re-breather/full face section of a cadian stormtrooper head. It sounds like madness, but I reckon it may work, provided I experiment.

As for not finding hats - I did find a set of 28mm Perry plastic British Equipment, including a knapsack, musket and shako without a head, but there was only ones set - not a reliable source :(

I think your best approach may be to sculpt your own head using different parts with the various features you want and cast it in resin.

The trick would be if you could get the head done in a single piece mould or how to do it in a two piece mould.

Need a Stout Shako? Two refined. But yeah, the best way to get them would be to sculpt some in GS/milliput and cast those in resin or metal. Resin preferably, since it's cheap.

http://curiousconstructs.theslowcentury.com/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=62

he makes excellent stuff. have a look around the site for heavy lasguns (great for stomies) and armoured pret torsos.


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Thanks for the replies everyone.

I will look into getting possibly molding and sculpting my own. I'm pretty proficient with GS, though I've a lot to learn, but I've never tried resin molding. Would making an initial GS head, then making an instant-mold have the same effects as resin? (i'd fill the instant mold with GS)

@Orinoco - I'll take a look. Cheers

 Warpig1815 wrote:
Thanks for the replies everyone.

I will look into getting possibly molding and sculpting my own. I'm pretty proficient with GS, though I've a lot to learn, but I've never tried resin molding. Would making an initial GS head, then making an instant-mold have the same effects as resin? (i'd fill the instant mold with GS)

Probably, but of course you'll need to let the GS cure first. Otherwise you'll have a terrible mess. So it'll probably take you a day or two per hat, unless you make multiple molds.

One of the things about resin is that it will cure in 20-30 minutes.

When mixing the resin you need to make up say 40 grams minimum to get good accuracy on the quantities of the two chemicals, failing which they do not set correctly. (Some mix by weight, some by volume.)

This means you will want to fill as many moulds as possible for each batch, as you have only a short working time with the resin once mixed. 40 grams does not sound a lot but it will be a surprising number of heads.

If you had six head moulds you could probably produce 100 head castings in a day.

The resin mixing part of the whole job is not difficult. The difficult part is making a good sculpt and mould.

I'll look into resin molds, but I suspect that 100 odd casts are going to be far to much for what I have planned. I think my best bet will be to make small scale GS castings as and when I need them. I don't mind leaving it to set for a day or two either as long as it cures well.

Make sure the GS doesn't stick to itself though.

Its not really a Praetorian army though without their Piths!

Might make more sense to change the title of the topic to "Napoleonic Inspired" IG, might attract some better attention

Would these fit the bill?

http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=177

Edit: Another link that might interest you?

http://www.brigadegames.com/Napoleonic-British-Light-Battalion-Heads-and-Arms-_p_3318.html

Elkdridge's second post is probably your best bet.

You're not going to find many (possibly any) reliable sources in plastic. If you're worried about weight or tippyness, just glue a coin (penny or nickel) or a washer under the bases.
The interesting thing about looking for just the heads is that when dealing with metal heads, the cost of the heads may be nearly as much as a box of plastic Napoleonic troops. If you're dead set on plastic, you may just want to buy a box of napoleonics, keep the heads and sell the rest as bits.

I would also agree with kenshin620 that what you're looking to do isn't really "Praetorian IG" but rather Napoleonic IG.

Hmm, I hear what your saying about them not being 'Praetorian'. Myself, I assumed that they were just British Army-esque, and were modelled in to be Victorian style. I didn't really think that the specifics of the uniform (IE. Napoleonic Era) would matter too much as long as they are British styled. Either way, it's probably best if I re-name them. It doesn't make that much difference to me really.

One question: If I was to buy the Metal heads, would I have to pin them to the model? Or would simple glue suffice?

And thanks to all for the links and advice.

Metal heads can simply be super glued, though there's a chance they might need a bit of Green Stuff to make the join perfect.

I put metal Pig Iron heads on my Cadians (with no Greenstuff) and they've worked just fine. Just clip, file and glue. I would recommend a rubberized super glue or at least a gel super glue though just to be safe.

Ok, so I've formulated a better idea taking into account suggestions:

Instead of 'Praetorian Guardsmen', i'm going to name them the 5th Royal Vitorian Rifles, in keeping with the Napoleonic style (Named after the Battle of Vitoria in the Peninsular War and the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers who took part in the fiercest part of the fighting).

I'm going to style them as a Heavy Infantry Regiment - meaning I can use entirely Metal Storm-trooper squads with Hellguns. I'll also replace the heads on these troopers with a Shako/Visor combination (Meaning i'll have to do some cutting and filing of the original heads - not sure how i'll achieve this). In-keeping with the Napoleonic style, i'll green-stuff Cross-belts and other paraphernalia onto the Carapace Armour to give it a distinct theme.

Any other suggestions would be most welcome, especially regarding the head-dress. Many Thanks.