Saturday 25 April 2020

Old Guard Sapper

In with the lot of Old Guard Grenadiers I bought back in 2006 was a Minifigs S-range Guard Sapper that had obviously been included in the seller’s original unit as all the figures were painted in the same style. So, it seemed wrong not to include this figure with the rest of his comrades in my re-painted unit.


Slight problem of course is that the bases of S-range figures don’t look Hinton Hunty enough for my liking. Now, let me make clear, I have nothing against S-rangers (I am a great admirer of the collections of both Goya and Clive) but the fact is that they don’t mix well with Hinton Hunts. So, I came up with a cunning plan to file down the corners of the base on this figure to match the other Guardsmen. However, in my enthusiasm, I went too far and made the base too small - doh! The solution, cut the base off a spare deformed figure, make a hole, cut the Sapper base to fit – then glue.


I’m not intending to add any further S-range figures to my collection, but I do like this one.


Thanks to Rob and Anon for their comments on the last post re the test Grenadier figure. I have made a couple of subtle amendments and hope to be starting full production soon.

15 comments:

Rob said...

He'll add some character to the unit - he looks like he's seen it all before. I admire your perfectionism in mounting a base within a base for uniformity - the bases of the Alberkens in my unit that WM just posted were just brutalised with nail clippers - I feel quite ashamed now...

Stryker said...

Rob, I was forced to it because I had been gung-ho with the metal snips - I don't recommend it! Your troops look fantastic by-the-way.

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Not picky then, that's good, the old feller looks rather grand once all done up.

Stryker said...

Thanks Ross!

Wellington Man said...

That is the ultimate attention to detail, Ian!
Are you sure he's an S-Ranger? My experience with them is that they're a good match height-wise with Hinton Hunts, but they've usually got much larger heads!

Matt said...

I think he looks splendid.

Vintage Wargaming said...

Ian and all

I think it is actually a Minifigs 20mm figure (the ones before S Range, and one of the additions to the original Alberken Range).

I also think it is actually FN43 Line Sapeur rather than FN42 Guard Sapeur.

The reason for thinking this is both figures are shown in the gallery section for Miniature Figurines on the original of Harry Pearson’s and Richard Black’s original version of their Vintage 20 mil site.

I use the archive version on the Wayback machine rather than the restored version - I don’t know if this link will come out all right:

http://www.vintagewargamingfigures.info/rblack/

Mark Dudley said...

The addition of the Sapper is a nice touch. I have a Old Guard repro Sapper I got from JC and I am unsure of the manufacturer. I was in two minds whether to using him. Your Sapper has clinched it he is in.

'Lee. said...

He's a charming little figure whatever he is and you did an excellent job on the base.

Stryker said...

WM - It was just my best guess but see Clive's comment above!

Stryker said...

Clive, thanks for that - looking at the link you are absolutely right! I feel rather bad now that I butchered his base.

Stryker said...

Mark - I have a couple of inferior copies of the same figure but I can't remember where they came from. Even though mine has turned out to be a line sapper he will most definitely be promoted to the Guard!

the Archduke said...

From the look on his face, he's more impressed by what you have done for his base than any speculation about his provenance. Well done, Sir.

Stryker said...

Thanks Nigel, he's probably just glad to be out of the lead pile!

Anonymous said...

Nicely done with the sapper, always feel sappers help round off a unit of grenadiers.

Paul