Perry plastic conversions

What do you do if you have plastic miniatures for your Napoleonic army and want some cavalry. Well the only option at the moment is buy metal ones. But then nobody does Polish lancers in the bearskin or colpack that most of the elite companies wore and I desperately wanted some of them in my collection. However I had a some ACW cavalry made up and decided that I would have a go at converting them as I probably won't need the for our ACW games. Still what about the lapels and epaulettes? After reading Rawkin's book again and leafing through von Pifka's book I came across the answer, stable dress.

First off get some Perry Napoleonic heads, plenty of them spare after building up my infantry units. Square off the shako top this give you a diamond shape and build up with green stuff to make a chapka add a pom pom and you are ok for the main troops wearing covers like the infantry. For the Bearskin you have to shape the shako and build up with green stuff, add green stuff plume and bag.
Get a Dremmel type drill and burr down the saddle bags, blanket and shape the saddle cloth. On the riders burr down the stirrup boot. Gently remove the strap on the right shoulder, the ammo box from the waist belt, the carbine hook, all holsters and the heads. File or scrap the tunic till it looks right, do the same with those riders that have boots as you need full length overall trousers. Some riders need shoulder belts added and you have to add plastic card ammo pouches to all the riders, these need to be on the shoulder belt.

Result the 3rd Polish Lancers in stable dress. Perfect for campaigns in hot weather.