An Unexpected Gift and a Small Change of Plans

These rather lovely figures were given to me last week by an old friend "Fitz", who had started an historical wargames blog before changing his mind and taking up fantasy/sci fi figure painting. Very generously he gave me his entire collection of old Pax Britannica/DPC 20mm figures, painted and unpainted.

This left me with a small problem in as much as these figures are small 20mm and not compatible with my intended Scruby figures. However they match the stash of unpainted Newline figures I have, plus I own a fair number of DPC figures already. This lead pile is bigger than the Scruby one so I will be rebasing and continuing with the Peninsular War instead. Simple economics!

Anyway, thanks Fitz and all the best with the "Space Marines"!

Latest Airfix Waterloo Addition

Airfix 1815 Royal Horse Artillery

While not exactly "new" in the strictest sense of the word, there has been precious little painting time for anything else. Originally these figures were painted here in October 2010.

I was not happy with the base work and the grey used for the breeches, artillery and equipment.

I am much happier with the look of them now. All they need is those British Infantry I promised last week to keep them company.

100th Post

24 man Airfix French Infantry Battalion

It seems fitting that my 100th post should feature something as iconic as the Airfix Waterloo French Infantry. I have a large stash of plastic figures, mainly Airfix.

It is still easier for me to work with plastic figures at the moment-although I am glad to report that the damaged hand is improving. Therefore I will work through the plastic mountain for a little longer before attempting the lead one.

Coupled with the Scruby figures I can tackle the Waterloo campaign first and then turn  my attention to the 1812 collection later. I am now working on an Airfix British battalion.

Looking Ahead - 2013

Scruby Bavarian Dragoons (Painted November 2012).

It may seem a little premature to be talking about next years plans but as 2012 was effectively lost to me because of the accident, why not?

 

Nearly all of the figures shown so far on this blog, like the Scruby Bavarian cavalry here, have been for other peoples collections. However the money I have raised has allowed me to accumulate a large number of  figures just for me.

 

So, my plan for 2013 is to build up my own Napoleonic armies, starting with Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign-using Jack Scruby's miniatures. I anticipate to start posting the results in February or March. (I would have liked it to be sooner but I am still recovering use of my left hand and I think February is a realistic time frame).



Airfix Therapy

Those of you who do not visit my other blogs may have been wondering why it has been very quiet around here.

In April I fell off my bicycle while pedalling home from work. While I was not riding fast when I did it, I landed very awkwardly and suffered multiple fractures to my humerus and collarbone.

However, the greatest damage now turns out to have been caused to the nerves to my left arm originating at the neck/spine. Cutting a long story short I am unable to grip or hold with my left hand. It is still unclear how permanent this damage will be.

Being denied my hobby has been a bitter pill, but in one of life's "Eureka!" moments I figured out a way of painting (and even minor converting) of figures with my one good hand. It works best with the very light, plastic figures. My hoard of Airfix figures has really saved my sanity. I have been tinkering with the WW1 Germans and Cowboys to produce this command stand for the Franco Prussian war as a bit of fun.

For the foreseeable future all efforts will be concentrated on my Airfix ACW project situated here:

http://airfixacwproject.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope to revisit "In the Grand Manner" in the New Year, but in the meantime please feel free to pop over and see how I get on in model soldier "rehab".

Regards to all,

Matt

Questions of Compatibility

Yesterdays Warrior Miniatures post has lead to a number of enquiries regarding size comparison with plastics and other metal figures. So what follows is a rather unscientific exercise in figure compatibility.

I have used the measuring system used on "The Plastic Pelisse" i.e. measured from the sole of the foot to eye level. I have used Newline Designs, DPC (old Pax Britannica), Kennington, Art Miniaturen and HaT as the labelled 20mm or 1/72nd scale. For the 25mm label I have used Warrior, Scruby & Connoisseur. Results are at the bottom of the page, what the pictures show is that despite the size measurement, bulk and style are sometimes more important when it comes to sharing the table!

(l to r) Warrior, HaT, Art Miniaturen, Kennington, DPC and Newline Designs

 

(l to r) Warrior and Der Kreigspeiler (sorry Ian I do not have any Hinton foot figures to photograph!)

(l to r) Connoisseur, Warrior, Scruby and HaT

(l to r) Kennington, Warrior & Art Miniaturen

The results of all this measuring is:

•  Newline Designs-20mm
• DPC-21mm
• Kennington-23mm
• Hat-23mm
• Scruby-23mm
• Art Miniaturen-24mm
• Warrior-24mm
• Connoisseur-29mm

Hope this helps making up a few minds!

Pavlovsk Grenadier Regiment

Warrior Miniatures is a name you may not have heard of, the figures are described as 25mm but the Napoleonics at least are 1/72nd compatible. These figures are part of a batch of "renovations" I am doing for my friend George. Other figures needing a touch up include some Warrior Prussian infantry and some Scruby Bavarian cavalry. They will follow in the coming weeks.

Lurking at the back is a Der Kriegspeiler standard bearer in greatcoat. The style of sculpting is definitely "Old School", the range is quite extensive and rather good value.

The full catalogue is available here.

Next up however are some more DK Prussian Hussars.