Mars 1/72 Russian Uhlans (1812-1815)

Uhlans typically wore a double-breasted jacket (kurta) with a coloured panel (plastron) at the front, a coloured sash, and a square-topped Polish lancer cap (czapka) also spelt chapka, chapska and schapska. This cap or cavalry helmet was derived from a traditional design of Polish cap, made more formal and stylised for military use.

Their lances usually had small swallow-tailed flags (known as the lance pennon) just below the spearhead.

THE KIT

This is one of several available figure sets from Mars. The molding on the vinyl pieces is fairly good, though you will have to remove flash from all the parts and especially from the lances and pistols and swords. These are best tackled with a sharp blade as the usual sanding doesn't work well on vinyl figures. These can be painted with most acrylic paints. A primer coat is recommended to keep the acrylics from flaking off.

The set includes a dozen mounted figures in six different poses. There are no building instructions, but the back of the box does have images of these figures already painted to use as a guide.

CONCLUSIONS

Wargamers will find these figures quite useful. It seems like some of the more esoteric figure types are coming to light and these just add to the ever-growing list.

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