Kings African Rifles L1A1

[Story]

Vignette based on an undated  black and white photograph,
with only "K.A.R. Drum Major[unreadable]. Found with Roman weapons in a cave" curiously handwritten in pencil on the back.
Unconfirmed attribution to a Professor who fled the Uganda Museum during/immediately after Independence.

Soldier/Askari appears to be an armed Drum Major who as of this date remains unnamed, since no one has been able to place his face among the known senior musicians either in the K.A.R. or the post-Independence African Rifle Regiments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_African_Rifles 
The only way to put this in a time frame is the L1A1 rifle he holds, which was a cutting edge weapon in 1960-1962.



The tusk appears to be massive, perhaps as long as 15' and thus two or three times the size of an African elephant's. 
This places it in the Mammutidae family, prehistoric examples estimated to weigh around 16 tons.

By way of comparison, these are African elephant tusks

[Story]

I'm not sure this qualifies for the group build, as the components have been knocking around for 20+ years.
You folks just motivated me to put them into context.

Technical caveat - both tubes of readily available glue were dried up like these bones. Bummer.


The K.A.R. shoulder brass came from Ebay, the L1A1 from the Italeri MODERN LIGHT WEAPON SET
and the K.A.R. Drum Major from Valient Miniatures (and stilll available for $20).
In this case, it was painted by the talented Hessian Bill many many years ago and has been gathering dust ever since.
 https://www.veltd.net/products/valiant-miniature-kit-9756-drum-major-kings-rifles



Base is a heavy pencil holder inverted, which yields sawdust-not-sawdust when drilled.

The tusk is the remains of a Palmer Plastics AMERICAN MASTADON skeleton,
which my folks got at the NYC Natural History Museum in the early 70s during my babbling-Latin dinosaur obsessed phase of youth.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/palmer-plastics-110-american-mastodon--666422

Read all about 'em - it's mentioned that this kit was 1/16th scale, so for our purposes the tusk is double-long and double-heavy.
https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2024/01/palmers-american-mastodon-kit-by-paul.html
https://vcuarchaeology3d.wordpress.com/2021/01/11/model-behavior-the-palmer-mastodon-kit-skeletal-mount-project/

The complete model disintegrated under the weight of love over the years, but parts saw service in various Dungeons & Dragons adventures during the early 80s.

[The Rat]

Very nicely done!

The only way to put this in a time frame is the L1A1 rifle he holds, which was a cutting edge weapon in 1960-1962.

Yep, carried the C1A1 for 10 years, nice bit of kit.

[Rickshaw]

I served with the man who supposedly pinned the MC on Idi Amin (Idi never officially received any medal).  He was a bit of a bullshit artist, himself.   

[Story]

Bullshit veracity math

Source (.9) x Repeater (.9) = .81 truth. Add additional % for the reliability of everyone it passes through.

Almost calling this done - had to paint the forearm and buttstock wood, since Maranyl didn't come along until later.

Also, here's a 1:1 L1A1 kit.

[Claymore]

Also, here's a 1:1 L1A1 kit.

Gawd, I remember having one of these as a kid - great fun.  Can you imagine the woke brigade allowing such a thing now, especially with its own bayonet! 

[Rickshaw]

Also, here's a 1:1 L1A1 kit.

Gawd, I remember having one of these as a kid - great fun.  Can you imagine the woke brigade allowing such a thing now, especially with its own bayonet! 

Surely, a "Flexible Safety Bayonet" would be OK?  I had a downunder version of it, without a Bayonet.   I am jealous.   

[Story]

Somewhere there's a photo of my buddy and I on a Halloween night when we were like 10/8 respectively, dressed as little Union Civil War soldiers (pathetically farby, but at least we were blue).  Lacking bayonets, we had rubber-banded metal tentpegs to the muzzles of our tiny cap firing Kentucky rifles.

My older brothers just rolled their eyes, declared us bloodthirsty little savages and went back to their beers.

True Story.

[Story]

e of these as a kid - great fun.  Can you imagine the woke brigade allowing such a thing now, especially with its own bayonet! 

Grownups in the Commonwealth have an option
https://www.aresairsoft.com/guns/l1a1

https://www.evike.com/products/65434/

[Old Wombat]

Not in this Commonwealth (Australia); that is classified as a firearm & requires a licence to own & use.

[Story]

Not in this Commonwealth (Australia); that is classified as a firearm & requires a licence to own & use.

That truly sucks for youse guys.

[ysi_maniac]

Good model

[Story]

Thanks, all. Closing in on the end here.

Possible photographs of the Sergeant Major prior to the end of his career and at the beginning of it.

Additional information - undated single page typed passage circumstantially linked to the photograph

had organised an old Bedford truck of an appropriate size and condition for the journey. The conditions lined up on the night of the 12th [n.b. presumably October 1962] when the Ser Maj;s nephew (a young Askari who would follow his Uncle anywhere and deserted with his Sterling, along with copious ammunition for both weapons as he had been a company armorer) drove it to the museum's loading dock.
I had the tusk crated four days before under the excuse of putting it into storage so that new displays could be assembled for the Independence celebrations. No one inside the museum were paying attention and those with designs on it from outside had no inkling that I was making my move already.
Traveling by night, it took us three days to work our way from Kampala to the Kenyan border under considerable risk, as being discovered by any authorities would result in theft and desertion charges. Nights around the camp were without fires and silent, our meals eaten cold from cans. Between Obote and Amin, none of us expected anything other than an instantaneous firing squad.
The instructions from members of Ser Maj's extended family proved to be accurate, in mileage & road conditions & lack of police or customs posts. We crossed the border of the Protectorate and Kenya just after daybreak and by


A well-creased map of Kampala (identified as a page taken from a 1962 dated Atlas of Uganda and a 1960 vintage road map of East Africa were in the same envelope as the typed page


While the 'Right Arm of the Free World" has been withdrawn from most military services, it continues as an obscure prop

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[Claymore]