Napoleonic Austrians 1792-98 - Baccus AWL 01 Figures review & conversion

I have previously mentioned the ongoing "French Revolutionary Army project".  This has lead on to the need for suitably attired Austrians for the Armies of the Revolution to oppose (and probably vanquish).  

They need breeches, gaiters, coats, falling (as opposed to standing) collars and a round pillbox hat with a false front - called a Kasket.  

I used the excellent WJ Rawkins "CB2 Austro-Hungarian Army" e-book for uniform references.  This source informed me that whilst Austrians in this period had rucksacks, they left them behind with the company wagons whilst going to battle.  So no packs needed.

Baccus 6mm miniatures has a wide range of troops, but no direct figures exist as a substitute.  

Time, therefore, to look further afield.....  to the American Revolution (or "war of independence", if you will....).  It was suggested on the Baccus Forum that AWL 01 "Loyalist infantry" would be capable for fighting for Kaiser and Empire, as well as King & Country.

So, I bought a pack, which arrived Monday.  Yesterday I got to unpack & review the little beauties.  Here they are:

Two types of figures - infantry on the right and command on the left:

The Command strip does not have a Standard Bearer or Drummer, it does have a soldier shouting (NCO?) and a soldier with a large bag tucked under his right arm.  He is not carrying a gun, which may be a mistake on his part.....  I christened him the "bagman"

The ordinary infantry look like this:

I originally planned to use Prussian Officers, Standard Bearers & Drummers.  Consulting Rawkins, the Austrian Officers wore Bicornes, but the Standard Bearers and Drummers wore the Kasket hat.  The regular infantry have falling collars, no packs and guns.  The Kasket on AWL01 has a rounded top, but once they have a suitable paint job, this should not be a problem.  

So, I decided to do some serious converting - chop the head off a Loyalist bagman and then join it to a Standard Bearer body.  The donor body's spare head would then be joined to the bagman, providing a suitable REMF guarding the wagons/mules.

It so happens that I have yet to select soldiers guarding the wagons for the army of Bavaria - so two donor Bavarian Standard Bearers were chosen.  I also had a spare Landwehr Standard Bearer, so the deed was done for a total of three conversions.  I chopped the heads off, drilled out the flag pole and inserted a pin (I do this on all my Standard Bearers - avoids flag pole droop...).  I glued the heads to the bodies and the side of the head to the pin, which makes for a stronger join.

There was a low point, where I was trying to find a tiny silver head that had "pinged" off the cutting mat onto the light grey carpet, but eventually I ended up with 3 Kasket topped Standard Bearers & 3 rear echelon troops, two Bavarians and one in a Bicorne.

The photos are not very good (sorry) but show progress to date.

I would recommend cutting the heads cleanly, trying to ensure that the swapped heads will fit well on the new bodies.  Sawing, in this scale, removes too much metal.

So, if you are interested in Austrians suitable for taking on the Revolutionary French, this may be the answer.  At the very worst, you trash a couple of figures.....  

I'll post again once they are painted and gaming table ready.