Pages

Tuesday 31 January 2023

SYW Range - how is it progressing?

When PA started designing their SYW range (almost 10 years ago) I thought that a good indicator of how the range is progressing would be to see if it was possible to make figures illustrated in the Blandford book 'Uniforms of the Seven Years War 1756-63'. Although an old book, I often thumb through it for inspiration. 


I made a list of the illustrations in the book, and then tabulated how to make them using the PA moulds, with colour coding of progress (see the table below):

  • Green - a mould for that troop type has been produced.
  • Light Green - no specific mould, but it is possible to cast something pretty close by mixing available parts.
  • Orange - hopefully moulds for these will be produced in the future.
  • Light Blue - nothing in the SYW range, but a satisfactory figure can be made using older ranges.
  • Red - not likely to be produced.
Yes - an indication of someone with too much time on their hands, however it was a useful tool in deciding what parts, particularly heads, needed to be squeezed into the moulds.

I've just had a look at the mould list on the PA website, and think the SYW range now has 34 moulds and over 180 separate parts. Looking at the chart the majority things are now covered, the main troops gaps (based on this book) are Prussian cuirassiers and British.

As discussed in the previous post PA are planning to produce more moulds, so hopefully these gaps will be filled.





7 comments:

  1. Steve (if I may). I wanted to let you know that your blog is the direct inspiration for my placing a very large order with Prince August just two days ago (all the molds in the new SYW series-feel free to let them know this). Last time I paid any attention to PA was 40 years ago. Many thanks for all the work you’ve done to nudge them in the direction of serving the needs of wargamers. This is EXACTLY the kind of project I have been looking for. I do 6mm, 15mm, and 28mm in other periods and love that, but these are serious toy soldiers, and now I’ll be able to make them myself. I can’t wait to get started.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the complement.
    You are a brave man starting off by buying all of the moulds at once - good luck!
    If you need any advice get in touch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My molds (spelling courtesy of Ben Franklin) came in today. I still need some tools, but I expect production to begin in earnest within the next two weeks. I have had to source some metal here in the US, but found a supplier of pewter for $5/lb. I’ll be mixing that with lead and other alloys (found a good bismuth/lead/tin mix, too). I also bought a lot of older molds (70+ PA, some 40 Meisterzinn) on FB marketplace for a good price. So I’m set! Can’t wait to get going on this project. I’m going to cast artillery first, so wish me luck…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good luck - if you need any advice get in touch!

      Delete
  4. Steve, I like the way you base your figures. Could you share the exact sizes? I gather that individual infantry are 20mm wide, but how deep are they?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Units are 8 figures wide, 160mm total.
      Infantry:
      Each figure base is 20 wide x 30 deep.
      In a 16 man unit I have 8 single bases and 2 bases with 4 on each (2x2). This allows a 3 wide column 60mm wide so fits in the movement trays, with one figure 'spare'.
      Cavalry:
      Each figure 20x60mm
      2 x singles
      3 x pairs

      Delete
  5. Brilliant! Thanks for this. I had noticed you had them on different sized bases and now appreciate the flexibility of such a scheme. I shall be emulating it.

    ReplyDelete