Greg Liska’s Gentlemen Riders Conversion

Greg Liska’s Gentlemen Riders Conversion, Greg is back with a very interesting conversion. One I would not think of to do. Let’s Greg tell you about it.

Greg Liska’s Gentlemen Riders Conversion Greg’s Words

Greg Liska's Gentlemen Riders Conversion

I was watching Ride With the Devil again recently. There I noticed some of the raiders were dressed surprisingly fancy. While I did not see this as an inaccuracy since pictures of Mosby’s raiders show them pretty dressed up. One member recalled his days with them with the comment: “We were a bunch of Dandys”.

Greg Liska's Gentlemen Riders Conversion

I decided I wanted some Raiders like that. The Marx Fox Hunt set fit the bill perfectly.  I did not do a lot of converting, just made a few changes.

Greg Liska's Gentlemen Riders Conversion

Very little field gear, some weapons, different horses. The female rider got a reverse ‘Bruce Jenner’. I think I did a fair job of the change. The work was quick and in pick. I see flash on the rifle barrel of the standing figure that needs to be trimmed and the rifle repainted. Next week is a long weekend. I’ll touch them up then. Now I just want to present the idea, mainly. I don’t know how anybody else uses these figures. I’d love to hear who has them and how they get used. The only other thing I can think of is using the mounted man as LG Thomas Picton at the battle of Waterloo. Anyhow, hope these are enjoyed and possibly inspire. 

Greg Liska’s Gentlemen Riders Conversion Final Thoughts

Greg Liska's Gentlemen Riders Conversion

I find  Greg’s idea  great way to use figures that have limited used. His train of thought had me thing these figures could be used in a western setting. They could be the rich land baron and his people. I was also thinking on the foot figure with top to be used behind a gambling table.

We can not wait to see the final product.

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9 Responses to Greg Liska’s Gentlemen Riders Conversion

  1. Greg Liska says:

    Love the Western town ideas for the figures, Paul! I never thought of it. Great! I almost want to get another set now.

  2. It was a great film. An older film which covers the same theme is ‘The Outlaw Jose Wales’ with Clint Eastwood. Jose’s young offsider has a guerilla shirt, butternut I think, with embroidered roses. Jesse James wore a similar shirt, possibly red. The guerilla shirts could be in a wide range of color. They had large pockets (two or four) for ammunition and were often profusely decorated. The shirts were overshirts and worn hanging out of trousers with belts worn over them. they were made by female relatives and sweethearts. Quantrill’s men were known for carrying multiple pistols and as being excellent shots. often the pistols had spare cylinders to hasten reloading.

    • Greg Liska says:

      That is generally true of the western raiders. The raiders in what is now West Virginia were dressed (as seen in photographic evidence) a lot more like regular civilians and sometimes of some material means, as the veteran’s ‘Dandy’ comment would suggest. You had crossovers, too. Champ Fergusson and gang were from TN, but were at the First Battle of Saltville in VA. They made forays into MO, as well. The Confederate Cavalryman was generally a better horseman and better shot than his Federal counterpart since they were raised riding and shooting and usually brought their own horses. Knowing your mount and your mount knowing you makes a big difference. The 2 pistol practice was common for both raider and regular, many opting to not even carry the saber. JEB Stuart was quoted as saying, “The Confederate Cavalryman prefers the pistol to the saber”. John S. Mosby put it more clearly: “I no longer fear a line of cavalry advancing on me, sabers drawn. My men are out outfitted with two .36 Caliber pistols, courtesy of the US Government”. Once the Federal Cavalry started coming into its own they started doing much the same. No ‘2 pistol’ policy, but spare cylinders and more. Wilson’s Deep South Raid of ’65 had each man outfitted with the Spencer repeating rifle, a revolver and the saber was left optional for regimental commanders to decide. Carrying spare cylinders had become common by this time. As tactics changed with technology, more and more fighting was done dismounted. The Spencer was a big advantage. I’ve heard talk of it being prone to jamming, but I can find no such evidence in the FT Benning archives to confirm this. What seemed to have put an end to that rifle was the Quarter Master’s objection to the ammunition it would require to keep such a weapon ‘fed’ in active combat. That’s how we ended up with the Model ’73 ‘Trapdoor’ rifle. It wasn’t until after Little Big Horn that the Army realized no matter what you give the soldier, if you don’t give him sound instruction on basic marksmanship, it’ll be little better than a club. After that, and for years after, soldiers in the Western Department were sent to the range 3 days a week! I would have loved that. I believe that the Confederate Cavalryman was sure enough ‘good’, but I also believe that the average Federal Cavalryman was equally bad, making ‘good’ seem ‘superhuman’. Well, I went far enough on a tangent. I’ll stop now.

  3. erwin sell says:

    Once again another simple skillful idea made in to awesome conversion by Greg conversion factory co.
    Well done my friend!!!
    Best

    • Greg Liska says:

      Thanks, Erwin. Excluding paint drying time, it was maybe 2 hours worth of work, most of which was finding parts in my plastic scrap containers.

  4. bill nevins says:

    Cool job. And not a vegetable to be seen.

    When I first looked I thought that they were the old Replicants CSA raiders.
    I would use the figures as gamblers like Maverick or faro dealers, but I would use other heads.

    Nice job Greg.

  5. Greg Liska says:

    Everybody thought of this gambler stuff, but me?! Thank you, Bill. If this got through you, then I’m less worried about the clean up than I was. General Salad sends his regards along with his adjutant, Colonel Corn.

  6. Wayne W says:

    Great job Greg!

    Your stuff and the commentary once again inspire me.

    I love both “Outlaw Josey Wales” and “Ride with the Devil.” My father’s family hail from Southern Missouri and I’ve found family names popping up on some interesting rosters – but no real connection yet.

    I also agree that I wish we’d had more time at the range – at least combat arms troops – after all, what was supposed to be our stock in trade after all? I think I would have bought my own ammo if I could have shot more.

    You might appreciate this. During my first hitch in Germany we would go out to the range and get twenty-five rounds (I think) to zero (if we needed them) and forty rounds to qualify. Back then (the 70s) in my area the closest range was at Bernbach, outside Gelnhausen. The range was an old one that still used the paper targets (as opposed to the “pop-up” silhouette targets I’d used in Basic. We would move from station to station at various range, plunk so many rounds at each station and move. Troops assigned in the “pits” would raise and lower our targets marking our rounds so we knew where we were shooting and counting hits.

    Now we had three chances to qualify so I wanted to maximize my time at the range. I would “bolo” my first two times but it was funny how I did it. Say I was at Lane 11. I’d shoot a round or two at Lane 10’s target, maybe one at mine, and then a couple at Lane 12. We’d report for our score and Lane 10 would have fifty or so hits (remember we each had 40 rounds), Lane 12 would have a similar score. I would have to try again.

    On the third try I always qualified somewhere in the Expert range. I’ll never forget this one sergeant who seemed to always get stuck in charge of the range detail telling me what a no-shooting individual I was. He never seemed to catch on…

    Even better was usually, the last guys to qualify had to stay back and ensure the range was “policed” – cleaned up. Usually, part of that was expending any leftover ammo – which meant we got to shoot it up. I loved it. There was more than one guy in my battery who wanted to be in the lane next to me for some reason.

    Later on, at Bragg, when I was more concerned about advancement I stopped playing. But as a young troop it was a blast.

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