Prussian Infantry Moulds 3101, 3102 & 3103
I have downloaded the parts diagrams from Prince August's website and included a description of what is in there. Where I have inserted a nationality against a part I have used the following 'coding':
- Prussian - means it is intended primarily for that nation.
- (Prussian) - means that the part is intended for use in other nations.
3101 - Prussian Officer & Musketeer Standard Bearer
The parts in this are:3101/1 - Officer (Prussian) body.
3101/2 - Sword.
3101/3 - Prussian officer head, tricorn, no moustache.
3101/4 - NCO (Prussian) to carry standard.*
3101/5 - Prussian musketeer head, tricorn & moustache.
* The standard bearer needs to have the hands drilled out to accept wire flag staffs. (This was done to allow the correct size flags to be fixed - the poles on the Karoliners are only big enough for a flag designed for a 28mm figure.)
3102 - Prussian Grenadier Drummer and Fusilier NCO
The parts in this are:3102/1 - NCO (Prussian) body.
3102/2 - Prussian pole arm.
3102/3 - Prussian fusilier head, mitre & moustache.
3102/4 - (Prussian) drummer.
3102/5 - (Prussian) grenadier head, mitre & moustache.
3103 - Prussian Musketeer & Grenadier
The parts in this are:3103/1 - (Prussian) rank & file body.
3103/2 - (Prussian) grenadier head, mitre & moustache.
3103/3 - Prussian musketeer head, tricorn & moustache
3103/4 - (Prussian) rank & file body.
3103/5 - (Prussian) grenadier head, mitre & moustache*
3103/6 - Prussian musketeer head, tricorn & moustache
* I have to confess to there having been a bit of a lost opportunity on this mould. It would have been better if there was only one grenadier head in the mould - the other could then have been a fusilier, this was not picked up until too late. There will shortly be another mould 3104 (I think) with fusilier heads, so it might be worth leaving them a while - unless you want a lot of NCOs.
Finished Units
I use my existing 40mm troops in 16 man units playing with 'Field of Battle' (Piquet), or 'Maurice' rulesets, which are both very good. I have cast up and painted a unit each of musketeers, grenadiers and fusiliers to show what can be achieved with just these 3 initial moulds.
 |
| Prussian Musketeers |
 |
| Prussian Grenadiers (Actually 3rd battalion IR No 15 as I wanted to give them a flag!) |
 |
| Prussian Fusiliers |
3104 (Probably) - Prussian Fusiliers & Guard (not yet released)
- Add some more fusilier heads
- Provide a drummer with no hoops on arms (will also be used for Austrians & Russians)
- Provide a march attach figure, a pose only recently developed and seems popular.
- An officers head with the fancy lace & no moustache
- A rank and file head with fancy lace and moustache
Below are some photos of the 'greens.'
 |
| New march attack with guard head |
 |
| 3101 Officer with new guard head |
As usual feedback would be appreciated.
Your painted units look good. I agree with your observations on the Fusilier head.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of creating a hand/cuff with a spontoon for the officer? This would allow more variety in the officers.
The next new officer body will be released (May/June?) in the set of three moulds to cover the Hungarians. This officer will have the arm in a lower position, and will be in a mould with a spontoon on the same fitting. The new figure will also accept the sword, and a musket which is planned in the later Russians.
ReplyDelete(Hopefully the Austrians will be released April/May, but these will use the same officer as the Prussians, with a new head).
Very nice job on these. What metal mix do you use for casting? I am using 63/37 lead to tin, and I seem to have a lot of trouble getting good figures.
ReplyDeleteNever one for a short answer............
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned in my second post in relation to the Austrian grenadiers, the photos on the site are using castings from the pre-production silicon moulds. I am doing this to look at the figures, and make up sample units, before the tooling up is done for the black moulds. (These are actually cast in my 'scrap metal', and are to be incorporated into my armies).
However, the black moulds are now in production, I have a set, and have started casting up figures with them. I actually delayed starting this blog until I had used the production moulds so that I could check they worked OK. I did some castings using PA's expensive Model Metal, and my 'scrap' metal to compare the results - I might convert these comments into a post.
First I tried the Model Metal (54% Lead / 11% Tin / 35% Bismuth), this casts very well and gives good detail (I know - it sounds like a sales pitch). The detail on the castings is comparable with that on the figures in the photos - which is good.
I then tried to cast some figures using my 'scrap' metal, which I assume is similar to PA's 'Standard Metal' (65% Lead / 2% Antimony / 33% Tin). At first I struggled to get the 'upper' heads out - and was pretty concerned, as I have high hopes for this range. However after venting the upper head inlet up to the top, as shown on PA's site (under the figure descriptions), all of the moulds cast OK - which was a relief. The detail on the casting was generally good, not quite as crisp as from the 'Model Metal'. The difference was most noticeable on the fine detail of the faces.
If building up armies on a budget, it might be worth casting the bodies in the cheapest metal that gives decent casts. Then consider using a high grade metal such as Model Metal for the heads to get the best out of the detailed faces, minimal cost but a bit more effort.
Hope that helps?
Another thing. At first I tried casting with the smaller backing boards from the Karoliners - these did not work as the larger new moulds were not properly clamped top & bottom and the metal leaked out. I cut some the correct size which sorted this problem.
DeleteI may have to look around for the right mix. My current source, Rotometals in California, doesn't have anything close to those proportions. Why they don't cater to the huge home toy soldier casting market I will never understand. :)
DeleteI don't want to buy the metal from Prince August. Buying metal from across the Atlantic seems just wrong. Unfortunately I don't have a large stock of old figures I could melt down.
I am looking forward to the march-attack figures. I haven't used my Prince August molds for a long time, but these figures might just get me using them again.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty once painted up. The faces are great.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Great work. I'm so glad you are working hand in hand with Prince August and keeping gaming utility in mind. What a great project. I just ordered these first three Prussian molds as part of a holiday deal. These are to be my first casting project in over 20 years and my first ever in 40mm. I've looked at the HE molds more times than I can remember and Prince August seems to have a number of partial lines from a gamer perspective. It was on the strength of your work on these models and the presence of this blog that I decided to take the plunge. Well done.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'd love to hear more about your battles using these 40mm home cast figures; as I own both Maurice and Field of Battle and think they are wonderful rule sets.
Thanks for the comment, I hope you have fun with the moulds & let us know how you get on - PA do listen.
DeleteI'm not very good at battle reports - I always forget to take photos & notes - I will try next game.