Hät 1/72 – 8142 Indian Elephant

Hät 1/72 – 8142 Indian Elephant

Is hard to know when the Elephant was used for first time at war, but it’s sure it was very common in ancient Indian armies, and they will remain during centuries in this role. Even they was a formidable weapon, they aren’t so big as African Elephants, so was no possible to create heavy structures over it to protect the crew/soldier. A well trained infantry could defeat them quite easily.
Even if it’s not sure it they was a really effective weapon against professional armies (such the Alexander’s ones.) they was a symbol of the King’s power.

This set is quite similar to other from Hät, the Macedonian Elephant , which probably were adopted by Alexander after know the Indian armies ones, the only difference is the head.
elephant comes in 3 parts, two for the body and the head. All parts fits quite well without glue. If you want to use glue to reinforce the union you will need Cyanoacrylate glue, the soft Hät´s plastic don’t glue with many other kind of glue.

Set comes with a classic crew of three men, one driver, one archer and one javelin men. All of them are well depicted in both weapons and clothes. Here i added one more men from the Hät Indian Chariot set. Figures haven’t any pin to put here over the Elephant’s back, so you can choose different combinations with more or less crew also changing the order.
Figures almost haven’t flash, which is hard to remove in this kind of soft plastic, so it’s good the absence of it.

Paint:

To paint the dark Indian skin i used a base coat of Citadel Scorched Brown, then highlight then several layers of Scorched Brown mixed with Bestial brown and even Elf Flesh. Lately i used a base coat of Kemri Brown and a Devlan Mud wash, highlighting with pure Kemri Brown, which gives a better result than the first try.

Elephant figure also have been painted with Citadel paints, as follows:

Face detail: Elf flesh has been used here to change colour in certain areas

Base colour is Citadel Charandon Granite, then it’s washed with Devlan mud. After wash several layers of increased mix of Charandon with Codex Grey applied by Dry Brush. A final highlighting layer of Fortress Grey have been applied. Around face, back knee and hindquarters areas another dry brush layer of Elf Flesh is used to depict the common albinism spots in this specie. Eyes are painted with Citadel Vomit Brown.

Base is made from a plastic part + cardboard over it. All covered with Pumice stone and painted directly with Ogryn Flesh. Tufts are from “The Army Painter” range.

A good set primary inspired for Alexander the Great which can be useful for other periods too. If you are lucky some boxes were manufactured with 3 elephants inside !!!

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