Sunday 4 August 2013

Homes fit for Swedes

No, this is not a plug for IKEA this is an attempt to find suitable caring homes for the hundred-and-fifty or so 20mm Swedes I have packed away at the very bottom of the lead pile. Now I’ll make the point right away that these are NOT genuine Hinton Hunt castings they are figures based very closely on Hinton Hunt SW4 Swedish private charging & SW7 Swedish private marching and were produced in the US by an unknown maker – probably in the 70’s or 80’s.

I bought them rather naively in a job lot about six years ago (at the start of this project) in the hope that they would contain at least some genuine figures but sadly this was not the case. I did refurbish three units in an attempt to convince Mrs S I was thrilled to have spent our cash on them but lost enthusiasm to do any more (well, how many Swedes do you need?).

The castings I have available are good and flash free and have a very basic faded paint job (as pictured). Some of the figures were ‘converted’ to Jagers by the original owner who cut off their bayonets. The annoying thing about them to a purist like me is that the bases are overly thick being about 3mm which makes them look big stood next to their genuine brethren (Roy has suggested that I file the bases down but life is too short). Having said that, the figures that I refurbished have done surprisingly well in action (even though I usually rate them as ‘C’ grade) – click here to see what I mean.

The un-refurbished figures wanting a new home are:
39 x Charging (all with bayonet)
67 x Marching (all with bayonet but some are a bit bent)
49 x Marching (no bayonet)
+ various officers and flag-bearers (poor castings)

For the full Swede story click here.

UPDATE - THE SWEDES HAVE ALL GONE TO A NEW HOME...

9 comments:

Vintage Wargaming said...

Ian, I think I might have mentioned to you before my best guess is that these may be Replacement Depot figures

lewisgunner said...

Re the Sedes, filing down the bases is easy. Just get your electric drill and put on a grinding wheel. Hold each figure's base against the whizzing grind wheel for a mere moment and you will remove the necessary millimetre.
For anyone thinking of purchasing Ian's bounty, the Swedes will make excellent Spanish volunteer units from 1809-1812. Some of them had all dark brown uniforms, some all dark blue.

Roy

Stryker said...

Thanks for that Clive.

Roy - handy tip about the grinding wheel...

Jack said...

Hi Ian-

Have to agree with Vintage - definitely not Der Kriegs - their bases were on the thin side.

Jack

Stryker said...

Hi Jack - good to hear from you! Yes I agree re Der Kriegs but whoever made these had quite a range as I know there are some British and Prussian types in circulation as well.

Rafael Pardo said...

Interesting miniatures. The Swedish Army is my pending task for my Leipzig Project...
Regards
Rafa

Stryker said...

Rafa - in that case these are just the lads for you!

AndyC said...

Hello there, have you found a home for the Swedes yet? I might be interested if I could part exchange some Hinton Hunts I have no current use for - ten Eclaireur Lancers (2 piece original castings, unpainted). Andy Callan

Stryker said...

Hi Andy - I still have a bucket load of Swedes so please contact me via the email address on my profile and I'll see what I can do!