Command Poles

I did say in my last post we’d have to see how I could do in speeding up my Pole painting; well the answer is “not very well”. I have completely finished the command group for the regiment however and they look quite smart except for some of the officer’s buttons, which are a bit blobby.

The picture shows the completed Poles so far, from left to right in the front rank are: WN.10 Officer charging then another WN.10 converted to a standard bearer, then WN.13 Fusilier charging converted to a drummer. In the rear ranks are the men of the Voltigeur Company. The grenadiers are well underway on the painting desk so I guess I can honestly say that the unit is more than halfway to being completed.

The Poles have posed for a quick picture on the tabletop in the garage where I am currently engaged in a 15mm American War of Independence game with my brother. For more on that follow the link here Brother Against Brother.

Flag Pole Finished

I’ve just finished off my Polish standard bearer by adding a Revo paper flag. I like to use the Revo flags where Hinton Hunt cast-on ones are not available because they fit in nicely with the retro theme of this project. The flag sheet I have does actually have a flag for the 8th Polish Regiment but it looked a bit small to me so I used this one instead.

If you remember, this figure is converted from WN.10 Officer charging – I have also finished the other officer and drummer that complete the regimental command group and am now working on the Grenadier company.

I’ve enjoyed converting and painting this figure but I really do need to get back into production mode and get the whole regiment finished off. The painting table is now clear of all other bits and pieces so let’s see what I can do.

Pole update

Well unbelievably it appears to be almost an entire month since my last post. My apologies to those of you requiring a more regular Hinton Hunt fix.

I haven’t painted any Hintons at all in these last few weeks as I’ve been painting stuff for another project but that’s nearly finished now, so I’ll be returning to the Poles shortly. In the meantime here’s a shot of the completed Voltigeur company of the 8th Regiment. The figures are:

1 x WN.25 Officer (marching)
5 x WN.23 Voltigeur (charging)

Only one of the figures pictured here is a genuine vintage casting but you’d be hard pressed to tell him apart from his colleagues and I’ve already lost track of which one it is.

Too hot to paint

It's been far too hot here to paint for the last couple of days (what an excellent excuse) so I've dug out a photo taken last year during my solo "Battle of the Farm" game.

This one shows the French cavalry massed on the Emperor's right flank at the start of the game, a stirring sight.

But here's a little quiz - which one of the cavalry squadrons is the odd one out and why?

More Drummers

Steve sent me this picture of some more of his Hinton Hunt drummer conversions.

I’m not sure exactly what they all represent but they certainly are pretty. My favourite is the Austrian one at the right of the line up. I’m starting to think that my Austrian 51st Gabriel Spleny regiment could use a chap just like this (they currently have a Clayton produced one). I think the second one from the left may be a Wurtemberger.

More food for thought, although I must not get distracted!

The Slippery Pole

Paul left a comment on my last post saying that the conversion bug was the road to insanity – I think he may be right. This evening I have broken out the green stuff once again and finished off my Polish standard bearer.

You may remember that he needed a new hand but I’ve also added a topping to the flagpole. Not quite sure how I managed it but I seem to have crafted quite a decent looking eagle even if I do say so myself. 

Who knows where all this will end?

Polish Drummer – 2

Last night I took the plunge and had a go at converting a Hinton Hunt Polish Fusilier into a drummer. I was inspired by Steve’s lovely conversion (click here) and also by Roy’s gentle nudging to “embrace the possibilities of converting”.

So I snipped off the musket from a casting of WN.13 Fusilier, advancing and glued on a drum from a Prussian drummer then added two brass rod drumsticks. Amazingly it all went very well and I’m very pleased with the result.

Now I wouldn’t normally advocate the butchering of Hinton Hunt castings but the Prussian drummer was already missing his head (someone had previously converted him into a Nassau drummer by a bit of cut and paste) and the Fusilier wasn’t actually a vintage figure – so I think it’s all o.k.

I can see all sorts of possibilities opening up now…