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| Sound the Charge! |
The Garde du Corps have their CO and trumpeter at last.
The trumpeter was supposed to be a quick and simple conversion using my new-found soldering skills. What actually happened was a near disaster and copious bleeding after I stabbed myself in the finger with a craft knife.
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| Sound the Recall! |
My first mistake was to bend my wee man's right arm just that little bit too far as I was attaching his trumpet. The metal used in some DK figures has a rather crumbly consistency that really doesn't appreciate this sort of treatment. The inevitable result was a detached arm and a jagged stump. Fixing this required a major amount of additional soldering, filing and paring and it was while doing the latter, of course, that I managed to stab myself.
Converting is a risky business, so I had an inkling this sort of thing was likely to happen. I'm just thankful that I didn't end up with a total write off.
Cést la guerre, as they say. Sound the charge!
WM
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| By no means the last trump! |
You can't expect to sound the charge and have no casualties! Wonderful work Matt.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian. There was a moment of absolute panic there. I did not have a replacement figure!
DeleteOh how we suffer for our art. BTW - lovely figures.
ReplyDeleteWe do indeed, Pierre, and with a nostalgic quality too. I haven't stabbed myself like that since I was about 17. Those were the days!
DeleteNo pain no gain as they say!
ReplyDeleteNowadays I use only the blade of the craft knife , held in the fingers.bI reckon that having the blade in a handle is less sensitive and less controllable. And yes, The DKs are a rather suspect metal and they have already done thirty years. Found one in a box t'other day that had succumbed to oead rot and sort of exploded into a sponge like mass of metal. Most concerning that.
Isn't it! My solution has been to seal 'em up as much as possible with paint and varnish and hope for the best. Not very scientific, I grant you. Most of them haven't been all that bad, fortunately.
DeleteAh the 'blood sacrifice' to the goddess of wargaming , Tony
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't just a nick, either, but a significant gouge!
DeleteOuch! But just look at the results :)
ReplyDeleteYep, I've stained the top of his hat! It'll be an eternal reminder.
DeleteCheers 'Lee!
Sorry to read of your wound - fabulous figure though. Beautiful. I thought you'd built up the trumpeter's swallows' nests, but I think you've just painted them on - to keep up the play on words, a sort of trompe d'oeuil?
ReplyDeleteYou have to promise not to mention Trump again on this blog - we are watching.
They didn't fool your practiced eye, Foy, clearly! You are absolutely correct.
DeleteI think I've painted them correctly at last, too. All my other Prussian musicians have the lace converging at the top. I've only just realised that the the lines ought to be parallel!
Paint works well for the nests. I have on occasion used a thick acrylic, the type you get in tubes from art shops to paint on the nest shape on top of the undercoat and then every time I painted another colour I painted the nest again so it built up. Last thing a coat of white on the nest, then its base colour.. I think my lace converges!
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with doing the nests with a putty is that it is very difficult to get them thin enough. After all,nwho wants a trumpeter with mutton chop sleeves.
3D or not 3D? That is the question. I take the lazy man's route every time, Roy!
DeleteCést la guerre, well said! Anyway, they look great!
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil. Let's hope they strike terror into the hearts of King Friedrich Wilhelm's enemies. They've already given me a bit of jolt!
DeleteSo that's what Wellington meant when he said "I don't know what they'll do to the enemy but....."
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