Saturday 22 April 2017

Dubious Standards

The completion of the Field Battalion Bremen has brought my coalition army up to parity with the Franco-Bavarians. Next off the blocks, I've decided, should be another Allied battalion. I may even follow this up with more Allied units in order to give my honourable opponent, JC, a decisive advantage in our next encounter.

The only thing I've got to show at the moment is the flag, which is another of my coke can efforts. It's rather speculative, but not entirely so.

Can anybody guess who might have carried it?

All will be revealed in the next post....

WM


19 comments :

  1. It's lovely and I can guess but have an unfair advantage. You seem to be keeping the Unfashionably Shiny blog alive almost single-handed at present. Question: do coke can flags pose a similar hazard to wire spears? My opponents often impale themselves on the latter so I wonder whether they might cut themselves on the former?

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    1. I suspect that might be a problem if using only a single sheet, Rob. It's razor sharp stuff. However, all my coke can flags are double-sided. Thick paint and varnish also blunts them quite a bit! Having said that, this one is looking a little rough along the edges, which I'll need to tidy up before mounting it.

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  2. With the Color Combo and the design in the middle I can´t even beging to say who it could have been carried by..lovely paintjob though.
    How do you glue the two halves of the can together?

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    1. The colours are completely made up, Paul, as my source didn't specify them. St George and the oak leaves were mentioned though. That's supposed to be a heraldic dragon he's trampling on, by the way.

      It's just plain old superglue holding the two halves together. My 25W soldering iron is not much use for welding aluminium!

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    2. Made up!!!It Looks so plausible that I spent Ages looking for it!! :-)

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  3. Lovely Flag. Using coke cans is an interesting way to create a classic looking flag.

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    1. Cheers Mark. It's also very cheap! This is my third can flag, and all from the same can. I reckon there's scope for at least two more.

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  4. Beautiful flag Matt and skilfully done.

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    1. Cheers, 'Lee. I cheated a bit on this one in that I actually drew it out on a piece of paper first to test out the composition. The dimensions are 24mm square, which is about the same as the cast-on British flag I used for the Bremen Battalion.

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  5. This flag is just awesome WM...don't know who carried it, but awesome!

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    1. That is very kind of you to say so, Phil. It's a bit of a punt, this one, which may cause howls of outrage when I reveal the owners!

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  6. Beautifully done! The colors are wonderful.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Cheers, Heinz-Ulrich. I gave up trying to put any lettering on the scrolls, mind. St George is already reaching the "too small to see" scale. Mrs WM needed a magnifying glass and then asked me why I had a Roman soldier treading on a cat.

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  7. I'm not sure who's flag it so can't tell if it's the real thing. However it certainly is refreshing!

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    1. I forgot to mention that it is also mint flavoured, naturally, Ian. It remains to be seen, however, whether what I've really got here is a diet Pepsi.

      Good to hear from you Ian!

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  8. Where can one find these figures (or recasts) and how much do they generally cost? Perhaps a post on how you find and collect these soldiers. If not a full post, then a response to the question in the comments would be appreciated. Your little army is fantastic.

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    1. Captain - many thanks.

      It's a dark art, Sir. Ebay is where most of us find these things, but you should also tell all your friends and work colleagues that this is what you're after- one of them will have an acquaintance who's second cousin's uncle by marriage knows a bloke who has a huge stash of them in his garage that he's desperate to get rid of. That's where I got all of mine!

      Seriously, though, a good place to start is John Cunningham (see the useful links above). He has a growing range of recasts which are not too bad at all, and also knows everybody.

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  9. WM, I've just bought myself another stash of superb colours from America, to stave off any delusional efforts to emulate your fabulous flags. They are too good for superlatives, and Mrs WM's comment is to die for. Would she be WW? Anyway, the basic design of the flag is Russian but I'm floored by the listerine green and the St George. Either the 7th south Georgian Dental Hygenists or the Russo German Legion?

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    1. Slaying tooth decay since 1762. You are spot on, Archduke! An army marches on its dentures, as they say.

      Mrs WM's maiden name is indeed WW, although the first W doesn't stand for Wellington.

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