As of last weekend I made another step forward with my Hussar's kit.
I had recently acquired a Boreel shako from Willem Pet. I would howver need to furnish the chinstraps, shako cords etc. myself. Then on Saturday I received the chinstraps and rondels for the shako as a birthday gift- Thanks Albert & Sonja!
It took me a bot of fiddling on figuring out how to attach them. The suggestion was to use linchpins to attach the chinstrap and then glue the rondel on. I ran into a number of difficulties with this. First of all I could not get linchpins with a flat head, they all had the bent wire end. In addition, I was concerned about the glue letting go and losing the rondels.
So, I stubbornly set onto different track. I drilled 2 small holes in the rondel, and put a brass rod through those holes and the linchpin. I then filled the back of the rondel around the brass pin with solder. I'm pretty sure that will hold up to most stress that will not kill the wearer... Afterwards, I used my dremel to clean up the outside and ran it over my polishing machine. There are some small marks, but I seriously doubt anyone will notice at anything but very close inspection.
The next picture shows the slight marks at the "11 o'clock" and "6 o'clock" positions on the star itself.
I had recently acquired a Boreel shako from Willem Pet. I would howver need to furnish the chinstraps, shako cords etc. myself. Then on Saturday I received the chinstraps and rondels for the shako as a birthday gift- Thanks Albert & Sonja!
It took me a bot of fiddling on figuring out how to attach them. The suggestion was to use linchpins to attach the chinstrap and then glue the rondel on. I ran into a number of difficulties with this. First of all I could not get linchpins with a flat head, they all had the bent wire end. In addition, I was concerned about the glue letting go and losing the rondels.
So, I stubbornly set onto different track. I drilled 2 small holes in the rondel, and put a brass rod through those holes and the linchpin. I then filled the back of the rondel around the brass pin with solder. I'm pretty sure that will hold up to most stress that will not kill the wearer... Afterwards, I used my dremel to clean up the outside and ran it over my polishing machine. There are some small marks, but I seriously doubt anyone will notice at anything but very close inspection.
The next picture shows the slight marks at the "11 o'clock" and "6 o'clock" positions on the star itself.
I'm pretty please with the result, now for the shako cords! Oh, and if anyone would care to enlighten me on the proper way to attach the rondels, I'd be much obliged.
That, however, is not all. Last weekend also saw the arrival of a package - courtesy Albert couriering service - containing my sabre. I'm right pleased with it, even though I have to say it's surprisingly heavy and unbalanced compared to the medieval swords I'm used to. Guess I'll have to go back to school with this one!
I'm currently in the process of ordering the sabre belt so I can show up at Waterloo with a sabre on my thigh.
Most critical pieces of kit still to sort:
* Sabrebelt & tache
* Overcoat
* Shakocords & hooks
* Carbine belt (as I do have the ammo pouch)
* Surcingle
Followed by:
* Hussar's bridle & reins
* Loads of other kit
