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I KEEP the epaulettes Uwe. Am using fine illustrated source book by Maurice Tussaint Imperial Guard of Napoleon III(Vol & 3)-Guard Infantry in campaign dress ,standing next to a guard voltigeur (also has epaulettes also). Its a simple conversion head to head
epaulettes only a bit time consuming to effect.Personally I'm not too fussy for detailed looking "eps" when going for mass effect. I use a real bright red color to help mask, build up the "eps" with several THICK blobs/droplets of drying enamel paint.Bit of satelite HI-LITE work with paintbrush completes an okay job.
2nd empire bearskins used to be bigger than those worn during the Napoleonic era, and fell down a little deeper towards collar, too. Apart the "épaulettes", the main difference with the colonial Foreign legion consist in the equipment, until 1860, (that is so after the italian campaign), French guard kept on using the old-fashionned white belts overlapping on the breast. And about the coat, a minor difference can be observed concerning the width between the two rows of buttons, bigger up than down, until it is quite the same by 1868.
And...how did you deal with the musket? The Guard 1854 pattern, muzzle loading doesn't resemble a lot to the Gras or the Lebel...