I’ve been braving the arctic conditions in the Hinton Hut
(currently 6°C
inside and 1°C
outside) to work through the Prussian firing figures and have finally finished
them. Now they just need a couple more coats of varnish and then basing.
 |
| In the end I did decide to designate these as Fusiliers hence the black straps. The figures in the front row still have wet varnish on them which is why they look a bit misty. |
They actually turned out to be quite a lot of work as half of them needed bayonets replacing which I did by splicing in musket ends from some spare poor quality donor castings. The paint touch-up also turned out to be pretty much fully repainting them. I couldn’t salvage Clive’s standard bearer who had been converted from a charging figure, so this has been replaced with a PN5 (the figure without a musket) in keeping with my other Prussian units.
Overall, they are not the best unit in my army, but I
think they will pass muster.
I think they'll do fine - after all, all that's required of them is to sweep more of those garlic-munching crapauds off the table. Don't wait too long to blood them.
ReplyDeleteI'll try not to wait too long Rob but I do want the indoor temperature to be above 10 Celsius!
ReplyDeleteI don't know. The are shaping up handsomely I think.
ReplyDeleteKind Regards,
Stokes
The boys look terrific! You've inspired me to get on with my Portuguese refurb. Pass me the Plastidip, please, nurse.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony, the Hut is now a PlastiDip free zone…
ReplyDeleteThey look pretty impressive to me too.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the 'mushet ends splicing'. It seems to have worked a treat.
Best regards
WM
P.S. I was horrifed when you first mentioned what Clive had done to his figures, but having put one of Clive's wee men into a jar of Dettol a few days ago I'm very pleased to report that all the PlastiDip and paint fell off within a few hours, rather like a snake shedding its skin. It was all pretty sticky mind, but brushing it all off with meths did the trick.
Nice work there Ian on the Prussians- your very good at doing the details.
ReplyDeleteWM, clearly Dettol is the way to go. I’m hopeful that once these are sealed with three coats of gloss varnish all will be well!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kev but I find it harder painting over someone else’s work than I do starting from scratch.
ReplyDeleteThese fellows have scrubbed up rather well Ian…
ReplyDeleteMost of my attempts at renovations seem to end up as a full repaint…life would probably be easier if I showed a bit of restraint.
All the best. Aly
Striker, Like WM I am rather intrigued by your musket splicing technique. I have a host of broken baronets on some French LI, but have never mastered WM's soldering technique. Could I trouble you for a brief description? As for the Prussians, I think they have turned out marvelously well!
ReplyDeleteBest to you,
David
Thanks Aly, I guess a bit of restraint would do us all good!
ReplyDeleteDavid, the technique is really very simple - I cut off the tip of the musket and file a small L shape notch then cut the donor musket with bayonet to match, reversing the L notch so they marry up. Then it is a simple matter of super gluing the two parts. When dry I apply a thin smear of Araldite glue over the join for extra strength and to act as a filler for any gaps. I am lucky that I have some really awful bootleg castings that have passable muskets and bayonets to use as donors. It’s not a perfect fix but they look ok if not inspected too closely!
ReplyDeleteThey look mighty fine by me.
ReplyDeleteJust hope my HH "Zombie Zouaves" look half as good when they are finished.
I’m absolutely sure they will Matt!
ReplyDelete