Work Progresses, Part II

The proud gentlemen of the Loyal Irish Guard await their new clothes! These are, of course, the Zvezda Swedes, primed and mounted on painting stands. I used the new Krylon "Fusion" flat white to prime them, as I've heard great things about this paint on the various plastic sites. I will still coat the entire figure with Mod Podge (diluted PVA) after painting to seal everything before I varnish them. The new standard bearers have been made, and their sashes of distinction will be added with built-up tube acrylic as part of the painting process. The conversion is pretty straightforward, cut off the pike, use small needlenose pliers to slightly flatten and "curl" the hand, replace the pike with brass wire and LocTite it in place. The only problem that I ran into is that the sword scabbard, as cast, sort of "melts" into the pike. I carefully carved these two apart, but I'm not totally satisfied with the finished product. In the future I may just trim the scabbard off completely and replace it with a small staple glued in place.

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The mounted Colonel is unique, as Zvezda forgot to provide one with this set (its only shortcoming) I used a spare British AWI horse, somebody's Napoleonic Staff officer (probably Italeri), and a spare head from the Zvezda Swedes. I pinned the head, as I did with the Cuirassiers, and then coated the joint with PVA, which you can still see in the pic. The primer will completely cover this. Each of my three Guard Regiments will receive a unique personality Colonel like this one, whereas my other Regiments that use the Zvezda figures will probably use a spare Revell Austrian Dragoon as a Colonel. The Revell Austrian and Prussian Infantry sets come with mounted Colonel's, as do the Italeri AWI French Infantry and the Accurate AWI British. If I'd wanted, and I may on some unit at a later date, I could have used a mounted AWI Commander from Musket Miniatures, but I want to use as much plastic as possible.

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Now I just need to get the brushes out and get to work so these lads don't freeze in their "artic wear". More to follow...

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Sir William

See, I Actually Am Doing Some Work!

Well, enough for "playing around" on the computer, time to cut, glue and paint. May I present the first Company of The Lady Katherine's Guard, which are now officially Heavy Caribiniers de Garde instead of "just" Caribiniers. These are the excellent Zvezda Napoleonic Saxon Cuirassiers, in front cuirass only (correct for SYW), with heads "borrowed" from old Airfix British AWI Grenadiers. The plumes have been trimmed correctly from all but the officer and musician. I can't wait to get these primed and begin putting the brush to them.

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I did find out a couple of things doing this conversion: The plastic that Zvezda uses has several very good characterisics. It is firm enough to allow me to use my cordless Dremel at 10,000 rpm to drill "starter" holes for the head pins. The plastic takes the new LocTite Instant Glue very well. The plastic doesn't have "memory", meaning that you can bend an arm (as I did with the second rank and with the officer), hold it for a few seconds, and it will retain the new position. The conversion is fairly straightforward, I obviously cut some heads off, checked the angles for clean joints, drilled pilot holes with the Dremel, cut a fine dressmaker'spin to the desired length and inserted the "blunt" end in the pilot hole, seating it firmly with a small pair of pliars. I then carefully lined up the Airfix heads with the pinpoint, pressed it into place, and applied a small amount of LocTite just before the two parts made contact. I then waited for the LocTite to completely set up and then brushed a coat of PVA over the joint to reinforce it. I did notice that the old "greasy" Airfix plastic had a tendency to want to "slip" back off the pin if I didn't hold it until the glue set. If I ever do a second unit, I will probably try and find an appropriate head from Zvezda or Italeri or Emhar which can be drilled and will set better. I will probably convert the second company tonight and then prime them and get them ready for paint tomorrow.

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Here's the "math" on the Zvezda Cuirassiers: If you use 12 -figure units like I do, either as squadrons or regiments, buy three boxes. You can match the "rank and file" positions up to form three definite OSW-style units, then use the spares to form a fourth unit in assorted poses, great to lend your opponent ;-) You will have to convert the command figures for the fourth unit, but that's not so difficult as Zvezda has provided an "NCO" figure that is a compromise between the "specialty" figures and the "rank and file". I will make one a standard bearer and another an officer, and that squadron can live without a musician. My additional Cuirassier regiments/squadrons will be in tricornes taken from spare Swedish Infantry. More to follow...

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Sir William