Saturday 9 December 2017

Command Conversions

Well, I'm clearly quite keen on Garrisons as the command group is almost complete. Part of the fun of doing them was that they're all conversions.

First up is a Garrison FN 1: Old Guard Grenadier Officer, who I've converted to be my line infantry chef de bataillon. The new elements are a flattened-pin sword and the head of a Garrison FN 7: Line Fusilier advancing. His plume was taken from an old Minifigs S-Range French voltigeur.


The drummer also has an FN 7 head, in this case soldered on to the body of a Lamming FI/6: Imperial Guard Grenadier drummer. The only other new elements are his plume, which came from a Hinchliffe French artillery officer; and a bit of work on his epaulettes to create the swallows' nests favoured by fusilier drummers


Last but not least is the eagle-bearer, who is an adapted Garrison FN 4: French Line Officer. He's holding yet another of my fizzy-can flags, with an eagle snipped off a Minifigs French Horse grenadier. The other changes I've made to him are another flattened-pin sword and a bit of carving on his chest to produce an 1806 pattern tunic and waistcoat. This was actually a very simple job using my rotary tool.


The last two shots are of the three of them together. I'm really pleased with how the Lamming blends in with the Garrisons.



The first three fusiliers needed to make up the command base are also complete and, if I can find a spare hour or two, the grenadiers should not be far behind. If I'm a really good boy I may even manage to get the whole battalion finished by Christmas.

Hmmmm....we'll see. There's an awful lot of office parties lined up before then.

WM

Edit: Rob's comment below reminded me that I intended another picture to show how Garrisons square up against Hinton Hunts. Pictured below is my chef de bataillon beside a vintage Hinton Hunt FN 1: French Infantry of the Line Officer, charging.




The Garrison is definitely a wee bit taller, but there's not a great deal in it. However, he is a lot broader, and the Garrison figure base seems positively enormous compared to the Hinton Hunt . However, six figures will go onto a 40mm x 30mm base right enough.

22 comments :

  1. I don't know if it's a style thing, but without anything to compare against they look bigger? The command group looks pretty animated with all that sword waving - no doubt trying to raise a bit of ardour amongst the rank and file who are perhaps having second thoughts about the ominously quiet thin line red line ahead. I shall wait with interest to see if the soldat figures look up for it.

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    1. Thank you for reminding me to put up a comparison picture Rob. As you can see, they're more compatible than you might suppose.

      As for the outrageous over-acting - it adds to their charm, I think!

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  2. Dynamic poses and wonderful colors, great job!

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  3. C'est magnifique.

    I can see why you like the Garrison figures. Garrison castings have good detail and are crisply cast.

    Are you going to be adding Garrison cavalry to your colection as well.

    I wonder if Rob at Eastern Garrison does special orders for Garrison figures ?

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    1. I do have a few line chasseurs a cheval and yes, I will be painting them eventually. They need a little tlc but are lovely figures. Foy sent them to me, which was very generous of him.

      I contacted Rob a few years ago when I couldn't find any Garrisons at all, but since then I've been deluged by so many figures that I never followed it up. I'd love to see what the Prussian part of the range looked like. I've yet to track any down.

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  4. Awesome conversion work Matt. I am most impressed that you can solder heads on! tge Garrison figures have the same 'heft' as the HHs. They also compare well in terms of size of packs, muskets and shakos. The difficulty with including early Minifigs is the size of these accoutrements which do not vary much in real life. It looks odd if all the men in one position have bigger heads and hats than all the chaps posed differently. Even within HH there are variations in the size of men. The Hessians and Nassauers being rather beefier than say the Young Guard Tirailleurs.

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    1. It's not all that hard, LG, although somewhat fraught with risk. I say a special prayer every time I try it. Pins and glue would actually be a lot quicker and safer.

      I think they'll merge quite well with the HHs, although they tower a bit over the smaller DKs.

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  5. Fantastic job - on a regular basis, you publish these posts that demonstrate that the rest of us are just playing around at this. Marvellous.

    Lammings are a hit and a miss for me - I don't understand their history - sizes changed numerous times - the Lamming drummer you used is a great match with the Garrison, but the only Lamming drummers I've ever had were great big fellows. I've also recently bequeathed the third (yes, third) variant of a Lamming RHA crew I've seen - all different sizes and styles - this last one was the earliest, and proper "true 25mm" as we used to say.

    I digress. Great post - thank you for brightening my Saturday.

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    1. Yaaah, get away with you, Foy! Although I didn't actually say that it was your own magnificent Garrison collection that inspired me to have a crack at this, I think everyone already knows this.

      I know what you're saying about Lammings. The later variants are gigantic. The guard drummer, however, was selected for me by the chap who decided to mix him with what I thought were HH Guard Grenadiers (they were actually something else, of which more anon..). They came as part of the same lot as my Empress Dragoons. It was not entirely clear what I was going to find under the incredibly thick house paint that was coating them, but they turned out to be corkers once they'd spent about three weeks in the Dettol.

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  6. Amazing conversion and brush work! You are moving into true artistry here. They all look fantastic. (So you use a soldering iron then?)

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Thank you Stokes, but there's really nothing here that I haven't already done on a zillion Hinton Hunts and DKs. They're just fantastic castings. Also rather helpful is the alloy they're cast in, which is a very bright, bendy and rather slippery stuff (old paint comes off them with marvelous ease) - it's a joy to work with when soldering!

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    1. G = HH squared, Ian. I think they're some of the most exquisite war game figures ever made. Wait till you see the grenadiers!

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  8. They are beautiful conversions, especially the drummer. Well done.

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    1. Cheers, Robbie. Lammings are an odd bunch. Stripped down to the metal they look like something out of a Punch and Judy show, but they paint up really nicely. I'd paint whole battalions of the early versions them if I could get them, but they seem to be rarer than hen's teeth.

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    2. Yes the original series have a charm all their own with their Easter Island faces and distinctive poses. The less said about the later "heroic" versions the better as far as I'm concerned - though I do have a naval gun and crew I'm rather fond of.

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    3. Thank you VW-man. I have half a dozen of the latter, I'm sorry to say, and share your sentiments.

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  9. Well I have to say I'm won over to Garrisons. Your conversion looks set to inspire any wavering company of Marie Louises. Thing is, he makes the HH officer look a bit, well, wooden. I hasten to add that I have never thought much of HH's FN1, nor the Bavarian officers in similar orchestral conducting pose. Your guys are just genius.

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    1. *Laughter* I didn't set out to show up the HH FN1, I promise.

      I could go on and on about why Garrisons are great, but putting up pretty pictures of them works better!

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  10. Well Matt, you've done it again. I feel wholly inadequate with my painting skills now. These are just lovely!
    Hope to have some guard cossacks to show before too long, but fear they will be nowhere near the quality you achieve with these little masterpieces!

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    1. Cheers, David.

      I'm really looking forward to seeing your guard cossacks!

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