I was supposed to be painting gunners today, but it didn't quite work out that way. Before getting down to the job on hand I thought I'd do a simple conversion and things sort of escalated after that. The upshot is that no gunners were painted, but I've ended up with a couple of new Prussian generals, so it wasn't all bad.
The simple conversion was a quick head swap on another of my Der Kriegspielers #50 mounted officers. The new head I gave him was left over from the recast Hinton Hunt PN 64 I used to make General Zieten.
This didn't take very long at all and since the soldering iron was all nicely warmed up I started fossicking about in my might-do-a-conversion-but-haven't-quite-decided-yet box. What I came up with was a Hinton Hunt PN 10: Prussian Guard Grenadier officer, charging. "I wonder if he could be made to sit on a horse", I said to myself. The answer was "yes, he can", although it took several hours to find out.
I should be getting back to my gunners now, but I suspect they're going to have to wait a little longer....
Yours, soldering on,
WM
Nice work with the soldering iron - are you never tempted to fatten up some of the horses? The first one really looks like it's starving.
ReplyDeleteI think he must be a survivor from the Russian campaign, Rob. As for fattening up, I think the only solution is to make sure that he's only ever seen sideways-on.
DeleteIs fossicking legal in NZ, then? Perhaps only between consenting kriegspielers. "Seeing whether PN10 will sit a horse"...that is inspirational. Could you say a little more about how you went about it?
ReplyDeleteFossicking is compulsory in NZ, Archduke. It's rooting that they frown upon.
DeleteThe PN10 was in a such sorry state that it was a case of all or nothing. I'll talk a bit about how I did him when he's all finished and painted up. All I can say for now is that he probably won't be having any children....
Its lovely to own something that is unique!
ReplyDeleteIt is, LG, but it was more a case of trying to rescue something which wasn't very lovely to own this time round!
DeleteMost impressive work! Somehow, my conversion attempts (beyond those done with just the paintbrush)never quite work out, and I end of with a ruined figure or two in the process. Yours, by comparison, are inspiring. Is the soldering iron the key? The second figure, in particular, given that you have managed the difficult surgery involved to place a foot figure on horseback, and he looks pretty convincing at this point. Very eager to see both of them once painted.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Thank you, Stokes. I think the key is bloody-minded persistence and a very low-wattage soldering iron. The first was a product of desperately trying to make something out of a collection of badly damaged figures that were virtually irreplaceable!
DeleteNice work. Conversions are definitely a big part of the fun of vintage ranges. Coincidentally i had a soldier soldering session too last night - breaking in my new Silverline adjustable temp iron; SilverLine are dirt cheap but so far surprisingly good.
ReplyDeleteGosh, that sounds like very advance technology, Doug. Mine's just a super-cheap Chinese model, but it does the job.
DeleteMarcus Hinton's refusal to make more than four Prussian mounted officers is what drove me to it!
These conversions are inspirational, Wellington Man. I am tempted to invest in a soldering iron - hitherto, I've just carved 'em up and glued things together!
ReplyDeleteThank you, General. There's no substitute for simply diving in and doing it!
DeleteVery nicely done, you make it look easy but somehow I think that's not the case!
ReplyDeleteEach step was surprisingly simple. It was working out the right order that was the hard part. It was fun though - you never quite know what's going to happen when working with molten metal. The good news is that you can always carve it off again if you put on too much. The bad news is that the soldering iron has a habit of melting off the bits you want to keep if you're not careful!
ReplyDeleteI tried using a soldering iron on a figure once. It did not end well.
ReplyDeleteLopping of heads and super glue is as far as I have gone with conversions.
That's probably because you only tried it once, Mark!
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