1/6 DID NS80175 U.S. Civil War Union Army Lieutenant – John Dunbar (Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves) + E60076 1/6 Horse (Cisco)

Take two...

I redrew the brand with the black pencil. I placed it off-centre with the leg as with movie Cisco, but with smaller lettering more in keeping with example from the 1863 photo I posted before, because 1/6 Cisco's proportions are different.

I used the J.E.B. Stuart patent saber hanger from the horse on the dismounted figure.

After looking at it on him I realised that DID had put the pins in the wrong way round:



The flat round pin should show to the outside, not the end of the pin itself:



That's not the only thing they got wrong with it. They made the whole thing back to front. The wider part of the brass plate should go to the rear, with the narrow part over the outside of the belt.

e.g.,




DID's can be fixed: the pins can be pushed out and reversed, though it isn't easy to do; the straps can be unglued, removed and swapped over. Getting them back through the holes in the holder isn't easy either. I had to cut the ends into points and flattened them with pliers.

This is the end result:

Still seems like a miracle we got this figure, let alone an actual Civil War series, from DID.

I changed the DID Colonel Mackenzie sculpt for the replacement Dunbar because it looks more impressive under the hat with it's bigger moustache. Mackenzie's eye scar was a mostly lost feature under the hat as well, and his sculpt will be more useful on a WWII figure.

Scrolling through the Facebook notifications this morning I saw someone had shared some of my photos, quoting this thread as the source.

The first response was "Amazing job. Bravo ", which initiated this response:

"Good morning.
HHHHHEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUU Sorry!! Or Do You See That There Is Great Work ??
It's Just Out Of The Box !! There Is No Work Done !!
In Addition The Rider Is Very Poorly Positioned !!"


Yes, it's a fact that Dunbar can't sit correctly on Cisco. His legs are too long for the stirrup straps.

DID faked it by not having him sat down in the saddle.

I've pushed the saddle back as far as it can feasibly go, and lengthened the stirrups to the last hole. There's not enough strap left to make another hole and still have it pass through the buckle.

So I've had to fake it like DID. He has to be up out of the saddle for his legs to be anywhere close to a normal position. Since you can see daylight between him and the saddle I've masked it by putting some black cloth under him.




(I replaced the original photo because I hadn't realised the bit had fallen out of Cisco's mouth, which often happens when adjusting the reins).

It was better, but still not good enough.

The fact of the matter is that DID's Dunbar is too tall for his horse.

Ordinarily I like to have figures one sixth the actual height of the actor. Costner's 6' 1", but to match the proportions of the horse and the limitations of the tack the easiest thing to do was use a shorter body, particularly one with shorter legs.

One of the ever handy Disney Premium/Elite Krennic bodies served the purpose well. It made Costner 5' 9", though the original DID figure was probably only about 5'11" anyway, since for DID 'tall' merely means it's taller than their regular body, which is shorter than most other companies' base model.

Disney Krennic's shorter legs made sitting on the horse much easier, more natural, and more in line with stills from the film.

In the process I also got the saber to hang more vertically, so it's no longer hitting Cisco's flank.

Nicely done!

The real problem is they used a horse that was too small for the figure. They should have used Mr. Z to make a more accurate horse.

A really fun figure and DiD does a great job for the cost.

Between Dunbar, Moore (Mel Gibson's character from We Were Soldiers, Vietnam war film), and the upcoming Joaquin Phoenix Napoleon, it looks like DID might be starting a line of movie figures.

Would be nice to have more iconic characters from movies (besides Marvel and Star Wars from Sideshow), now that Poptoys and HY Toys stopped