Back in the Saddle Redux

Wow, it's been nearly a year since the previous post.  A lot has happened. I retired at the end of July.  In August, we moved to a city out past Sacramento where the rent is cheaper and most of the kids & grandchildren live closer.  Nice town too, with enough hills to make the road cycling more interesting.  Haven't found much for the mountain bike yet, but sooner or later I hope to discover some good trails.

Work ?  Except for the people, don't miss it a bit !  Although I do have recurring and mildly disturbing dreams in which I'm still working the same type of job.  Hopefully, like dreaming of cigarettes after one has kicked the habit, they will eventually subside.

And after a long hiatus, I have resumed painting.  Finally all the paints and supplies are out of storage.  I've set up a nice workspace in the garage which fortunately has a window which lets in a good amount of natural light.  Getting somewhat cold out there now but still tolerable.


So what do we have here ?  This is a 40mm Renaissance knight ca. 1500 from Heinrichsen Zinnfiguren.  Nice old flat, the original set of landsknechts were issued in 1885.  He is casting # 46 in the series and about the only suitable mounted figure in the set. I bought the casting as a one off from Jim Horan a few years back and just got around to painting him.  I understand from Dr. Grobe of Heinrichsen that the mold is damaged, so for better or worse my paint job will have to suffice.  Here are a couple more close-ups.

What next ?   I recently stumbled across some interesting 40-45mm semi-flats (with emphasis on the flat) made in Russia.  All told they are 32 different for the Italian Wars.  They're somewhat crude, but still appealing and match well for size with Meisterzinn.  I got 24 and will post in groups of 8.  But here's a taste.

Back in the Saddle

Wow, it's been months since I last posted.   After the move,  I didn't pick up a paint brush for at least 3 months.   I'm still not sure what the ultimate source of my malaise was, after all my wife and I are living in 1/2 the space we used to with no home maintenance chores to speak of in a rental property.   Really, there's been ample time to paint.  Anyway, I've recently resumed and decided to start with the 54mm Ancients, working my way back up to the flats in time.

I sampled a box of these HaT Carthaginian infantry.

How do they look painted ?

Nothing exceptional really.   I don't know that much about the Carthaginians but I suppose the case could be made for their wearing captured Roman armor.  But I prefer something more distinctive.  Such as CTS's animated take:

I do really like these.  Too bad they only come two to a box.  You know the drill, 2x6 different figures to a box, only half of which are useful.  I'll have to inquire of CTS if they'd be willing to sell multiples of the same figure.  I doubt it but it won't hurt to ask.

And as for cavalry, I've had a rethink about using Expeditionary Force.  If you recall this previous post, the 60mm scale was a disappointment.  But the EF figures are hands down better than anything done by HaT or Italeri.  I figured it was time to just say "What the heck, they're all toy soldiers" and live with the disparity in scale.

A Macedonian Companion atop and below:

Truly nice sculpts.   The standard two poses of galloping horses are somewhat colt-like in proportion and actually aren't bad at all for 54mm, it's the riders who are big.

Speaking of scale, I ordered a half dozen reasonably priced metal phalangites from the Ukraine on eBay which I asked my wife to give me for Christmas.  Wouldn't you know it, they're rather small compared to your average Russian style figures.  Painting now and I promise not to wait another 6 months to show them.

Well, I got this one in under the wire before 2017 expires, so it's a good opportunity to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2018.

Marching off to eBay

Now that my retirement is on the near horizon, my wife and I have made the decision to downsize. Our home for the last 15 years goes on the market next weekend.  We've done some packing for storage and getting rid of stuff.  But my undisciplined style of collecting over the years means that I personally have a lot to do towards making the move happen.

I've decided to prune my collection as much as possible to the following:
30mm flats - Ancient, 1680-1720.
40-45mm flats/semi-flats ca. 1830.

Anything else is fair game.  All of the figures in this post are now on auction at eBay.  Much as I dislike selling on eBay, it's a matter of necessity.  Not to turn the blog into a shameless commercial enterprise, but if readers see anything they'd like to have from what I've posted over the years, please fell free to comment on that particular post and we can take the discussion offline.  My eBay nom de guerre is "sc_tin_man".

I also have many 40mm casting molds, unpainted flats and military history/toy soldier books like the Wollner compendium below so feel free to contact me at "cpl_trimATyahooDOTcom" about your wants.

Speaking of 45mm, some very nice Heinrichsen flats ca. 1840 will be up soon in the next post.

Artillerie Royale - Toy Town Soldiers 6

I've had this artillery set completed for some time now but never got around to posting it.  This is the Toy Town Soldiers horse artillery group.  There's also a limber set with crew but I don't have it.

I do like these, except for the smallish gun.  Let's see how it stacks up against the Prince August 6-pounder.

And with the crew.  Better, I think.

I've been inspired to take up my Toy Town Soldiers again. After fiddling with the Lego figures for quite some time, the prep work of a few minutes filing made for a nice change of pace.   I just ordered some more cavalry and the gunners in shakos without the piece.  I'm committed to the PA guns from here out, for the foot artillery at least.

Minifigs - 18th Century 2

A couple more custom figures have been completed.  Here's the grenadier:

For my not-quite-French Celtican army.  The cap and bayonet are from Woody's Minifig Customs shop on Shapeways. I like the bayonet, it attaches directly to the musket as opposed to the extra clip needed for the Brick Arms bayonet.  I thought a smoldering fuse on the grenade would be a good  touch but didn't come up with anything yet when making the figure.  I can always retrofit something later.  In illustrations for the period one generally sees the musket slung diagonally across the back but it interfered with the grenade throwing arm so I compromised on that.

And the cavalry trooper:

He was actually a bit easier to make as no work is needed on the coat, due to the Lego design where the figure stands inserted in his saddle.  I did cut down the legs a bit as to my eyes one of the flaws of the Lego horsemen is they stand a bit tall in the saddle.  Lego actually makes a short leg piece, will have to try some.

And of course, the fact that the figures stand in the saddle as opposed to straddling it was an understandable design choice even if it looks goofy until you get accustomed to it.  But I wonder how it would have sold had Lego chosen to sell an optional saddle piece with legs on it which you just plug the torso into ?  The sword is also from Woody's, oddly cast with the flat of the blade perpendicular to the hilt. The blade is also huge, wound up cutting it nearly in half for the length shown here. The tricorne and blunderbuss are from BrickWarriors, the rest (including Green Stuff hair) was up to me.

I'm satisfied with both of these as prototypes for future units.  Lego also makes a stocking cap so dragoons are a possibility as well.  Also artillery, I have a gun but the carriage needs some modification.  

Brandenburg,1690-1700: 30mm Flats

For a change of pace from the Lego figures, here's a few flats for the Nine Years War period.  These I painted recently.

First up, infantry.  Pikemen and musketeers from Kieler, brilliant figures engraved by a master, Ludwig Frank.

You may have noticed the musketeers are not as crisply cast as the pikemen. I got the latter on eBay years ago and I've often wondered if they were pirated castings. Not Spencer-Smith caliber vague surely, but they do call for some estimation of  how to execute the details once the paint goes on and further obscures what lies beneath.

And as painted. As always, with acrylics.

And a couple of mounted figures.  Left casting is Scholtz, the in-house line sold by Berliner Zinnfiguren,  On the right, a Kieler dragoon.  An Austrian judging by the canteen on the other side, I like him better but I have only this one.  The dual tail on the Scholtz horse is a nice touch, adding a little variety to your formation depending upon which way you cut. I wish they'd done likewise with the hat brim.

And the Scholtz figure as painted.  These actually belong to a set, The Great Elector Landing on Rugen Island, 1678.  Which, as usual for Berliner Zinnfiguren is pricey.  I don't have it, bought enough at a reasonable cost from Alexander Wilken to paint a smallish squadron.  In the military fashion sense they bridge the gap between the 30 Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession but can pass for 1690-1700.

Not my best painting with all these, but certainly adequate for standing in a battalion or squadron.  Next up, I have finished the Lego minifig grenadier and cavalry trooper.  These turned out nicely and I'll post them shortly.

Minifigs - 18th Century

 Here's a few of the 18th Century "Lego" minifigs which I've done.  I put Lego in quotation marks because a true Lego Pirate range Imperial faction soldier for the period looks like this:

A tricorne, stock torso with lapels & crossbelts, add a musket or sword and call it a day.  My approach is different.  And a lot more time consuming, I must admit.  In fact, the prep work takes darned near as long as the paint job. The figures start with these materials:

To my eyes, a stock Lego minifig comes up lacking in 18th Century style.  The bulky coats and cuffs of the early 1700's are more the look that I wanted.  The cones are used to create the cuffs.  Drilled these out with a Dremel tool and bisected.  The Indiana Jones messenger pouch when cut down works quite nicely for the cartridge box.  Waist belt front and back is styrene.  From the waist down the coat is made of cardstock.

The stock Lego musket is toylike but scales out better than the more realistic BrickWarriors or BrickArms replicas. Also, the curve of the stock allows it be grasped by a minifig's inflexible hands.  Added a bayonet, cut the sword length down and re-attached to the hilt.  There you have it.

And several as completed, above and below.

Having run short of the messenger pouches, I used the downtime to create an officer.  Lego has a lot of women's hair accessories, this curly one makes a serviceable periwig. For the rank & file, I used ponytail parts combined with green stuff.

Coming soon, flats !