Sunday 30 December 2018

The Building Blocks .


I have been sorting out the figures I have for my 45 project , the Highlanders will be from the two boxes produced by Strelets . This is first box they do and has a total of 39 figures in it , they have three of these sprues plus a command sprue which is common to both boxes . The figures are a bit of a mix from the good to the 'Hmmm !' this box has three figures with spears (?) rather strange !! , I think I will have to attempt to turn them into 'Lochaber' axes .


This is the other box which has 46 figures in it . These are rather better, mostly armed with broadswords plus a useful standard bearer , not all of them have 'targes' (shields)  so I will have to add these using techniques I haven't used since converting Airfix 'Robin Hood and his Merry Men' about forty years ago ! .


This is the 'command' sprue which is included in each box and has several casualties and a mounted officer on it, as well as some useful broadsword armed figures . The amount of flash seems to vary from box to box so I have some cleaning up to do and am going to have to convert some of the figures before mounting them ready for spraying a black undercoat . I'll post more when I have got some ready.



Thursday 27 December 2018

First Troop Done !.


Well 'Christmasy things' have got in the way of any serious work on the various projects that need finishing but I have managed to get these figures done and gloss varnished .


There will be another Troop of Horse and a command group to paint up to complete this Regiment of Saxons but I'm taking a short break from 40mm figures to finish off some other things . There doesn't seem to be any info on Saxon cavalry musicians uniforms and I could have resorted to the reversed coloured coat  but instead went with the white coat and lacing on the sleeves etc .


Sunday 23 December 2018

Tuesday 18 December 2018

Saxon Cuirassier Regt. Von Plotz .


I have decided on which unit to do for my cuirassier figures - it is the Saxon Regt. Von Plotz - here illustrated from the www.kronoskaf.com website.


I've got the first two figures painted , here they are in their unvarnished state . I have somewhat simplified the uniform and made a few amendments to accommodate the quirks of the cast figure which is something you have to do with the older Prince August moulds as they are rather generic . I hope to get the unit finished this week if everything goes to plan . I am very tempted to start on my new '45' Jacobite project but have various things to finish off before I plunge into painting masses of tartan . 


Sunday 16 December 2018

EBay Finds .


Over the last six months or so I have been slowly buying up 40mm Prince August SYW cavalry off EBay from a seller who I think must be getting rid of somebodies collection and they vary from the unpainted to the half painted and painted . I have now got enough for a regiment of Cuirasser and a unit of Hussars .


The castings are very nice, think they have been cast from the proper Prince August metal rather than the scrap I use . 



Even a clever officer conversion , by adding a hand and sword from a infantry officers mould .


The first squadron based up ready for undercoating . I'm now going to have to choose a regiment to fit the figures , will have to be Germanic with that cuirass - Saxon maybe ?




Thursday 13 December 2018

Jacobite Battle .


As people know I'm doing the 45 Rebellion next year , so 'A' said why don't I bring my 28mm Jacobites around for a game . 


I was planning to use 'Black Powder' for my games but 'A' brought round these rules from the 'Paper Soldiers' series . They are rather old fashioned D6 type but engineered just for the Jacobite Rebellion .


The rules have a small sample battle in the back of the book which we played through twice in the evening - I won one, 'A' the other.


The rules are meant to be used with the cut out paper soldiers in the book , which you can photocopy to get extra units , I don't think I would be bothered as I think cutting them out with scissors would be rather fiddly - and I like painting figures .


A rather blurry photo of 'A' pointing out a dramatic manoeuvre he is about to command . This game has spurred me on to get the project started BUT I must get the outstanding figures to paint finished . 





Friday 7 December 2018

The 2019 Project .


Well with my wife being on holiday this week and the interruption of 'real life Christmassy things' I have got almost nothing done hobby-wise . This has however given me time to consider what my major project for the coming year will be . Let's face it there was always going to be another one , so I've stopped trying to fool myself - there will ALWAYS be another new project in the offing (when the paint brush falls from my dead hand it will be mid - new project - I hope ! ) So the new project for the coming year will be the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 .


I was looking through the various ranges on the 'Plastic Soldier Review' and was struck by the figures from 'Red Box' which are rather nice , they do 'Highland Infantry' , 'British Infantry' and 'Militia and Lowland Troops' . There are no cavalry or artillery so converting these will be a challenge , on investigation I found the Zvezda Russian Dragoons for the Great Northern War will do with a bit of doctoring . Above is my initial order for the Government troops .


For the opposition there is a limited choice of two boxes of Jacobites from Strelets . Sourcing these was more problematic - none on eBay and the U.K. plastic figure distributers hadn't got any ! . 'A' gave me a link to a Polish model site which advertised them but on ordering it seemed they didn't ! after an exhaustive search and much rending of clothing and hair (model companies say they have them but when you place the order - they don't !) I tracked some down in Italy, thanks to PayPal and the efficient mail order from the Italian company (Lucky Toys) I have LOTS of Highlanders . I will give some close ups  of the figures in another posting - they vary from the good to the odd , but I think I will be able to make something of them and I do like a challenge . 



Sunday 2 December 2018

The Earl Of Cardigan


Here we have the commander of the Light Brigade in the Crimea , Major General James Brudenall , the Earl of Cardigan . Its a Strelets personality figure from their 'Into the Valley of Death' box set. 


On the left - the real Earl , in the centre the Strelets figure , right Trevor Howard as the Earl in the 1968 film . Strelets can do some odd figures but their personality one are very good in capturing their subject in miniature . 


We will draw a sad veil over the films idea of a liaison between Mrs Duberly and Cardigan …..
Perhaps the two figures have to remain 6" away from each other on the tabletop  ?