More head swapping

I've been playing again................

Following on from the previous post. The charging French dragoons were originally painted as a large 'old school' unit - so there are quite a lot of them. (Enough for 3 of my smaller 8 man units if I paint up two more standard bearers and musicians)

Having done the first unit with a straight swap of heads with tricorn I decided to be a bit more adventurous. and make a unit in forage cap.  I used the 'bonnet de police' from the SYW French infantry - again it fits quite well and looks fine size wise.

I have to admit that this combination of the Karoliner charging cavalry and the new SYW heads is really growing in me, and I might cast up some more?

Interestingly, when I started this project all I asked PA to produce were some more heads!

What a difference a head makes?

I had a game using the 'King of the Battlefield' rules last week - well worth a try if you have not used them.

During the game I thought how well the Russian cavalry, which are Karoliners, converted during casting/assembly with the new SYW heads fitted in with the new range. Rather than sidelining the old figures, I decided to try and 'upgrade' some of my painted units - something I was nervous about, as potentially it could ruin them - however I think I got away with it.

I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with the older figures, however all of the new range have larger hats and more facial detail - so the older ones look a little out of place - the photo below shows the difference.

One of the units in action before change.

And the same unit after the head swap.

The process I adopted was much easier than I had expected - the important thing is to keep things as clean as possible (it was done with the figures on the bases), as follows:

• Cut off the head with a pair of snips (this leaves an uneven surface)
• Square off the join with a sharp craft knife (avoid a file as it makes a mess)
• Drill a small diameter pilot hole (I used an electric mini drill)
• Drill out the full size hole for the head to be fitted - use a pin vice for this to avoid generating heat which would damage the paint
• Undercoat the heads before fitting
• Fit the heads (I find the Russian officer ideal)
• Paint to match existing.

I have done 2 units so far, I think they took about 3 hours each.

About Time!

http://princeaugust.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/new-release-seven-years-war-french.html

Now we need some cavalry!

French Infantry - painting masterclass

Just to whet your appetite a little more - here are some photos of the figures Richard Hattersley has painted up for the packaging artwork - not bad I suppose?

I think that these look some of the nicest figures so far - well done Chris and Richard.

Now he needs to paint some fighting units - and Prince August need to get them into production!

French - Swiss Guards

In case anyone is still interested in the French infantry - I thought I would post pictures of a unit I have just completed.

I went for the march attack figure with the coat tails loose, as these are something a little different. I decided to paint them as Swiss Guard as I fancied some for my French 'Karoliner' army. (They would probably have been better with turn backs, but I wanted to try the figure without them.)

With the lose coats the range has become useful for earlier periods.

You should be able to put them on your Christmas list!

French Infantry Update..............again

Nothing very exiting, just the mould listing for the French infantry, which are sculpted and waiting for packaging design etc.

I have not seen the moulds yet, but they look OK from the images I have.

 Mould 3113 - Infantry in full coat - march attack and advancing

1.  March attack figure

2.  Arm & musket for march attach

3.  Fusilier head - tricorn

4.  Sword

5.  Grenadier head - bearskin

6.  Sword

7.  Advancing figure

(The casting has a groove in the coat to accept the sword, which is fine early war, and for those troops which carry a sword.

If you don't want a sword there might be a bit of work to fill the groove if it doesn't paint over).

Mould 3114  - Infantry in  with coat turned back - march attack and advancing 

1.  March attack figure

2.  Arm & musket for march attach

3.  Fusilier head - tricorn

4.  Bonnet-de-police head

5.  Sword

6.  Fusilier head - tricorn

7.  Sword

8.  Advancing figure

Mould 3115   Drummer and officer

1.  Drummer body

2.  Sword

3.  Fusilier head - tricorn

4.  Officer head  - tricorn

5.  Officer body

6. Grenadier head - bearskin

Mould 3116  Standard Bearer and NCO

1.  NCO body

2.  NCO partisan

3.  Officer bare head  - with curled wig

4.  Grenadier head - tricorn (moustache)

5.  Officer head - tricorn

6.  Standard  bearer  body

7.  Officer's sword

As I said, I haven't got my hands on any of these moulds yet, but they do exist and cast - so hopefully not too long now (have I said that before)! 

French Infantry - Sculpting Complete!

I've not posted anything for over a month, so I thought it time for an update - just to show I am still here!

It's been a long learning process..........however I'm pleased to say that Chris has now finished the sculpting of the French infantry - and they have been tweaked a bit to make them fit in even better with the older figures.

He has also taken the opportunity to add two new figures - a standard bearer:

And also an NCO without turnbacks (so the chap with a sword I discussed in the last post is an officer).

In addition to the tricorns there will be a grenadier head

And a bonnet de police (not quite finished)

The 3D printing is now all sorted, below is a casting of the French infantryman with turnbacks advancing (right), shown alongside an advancing Austrian (er left), as you can see they are a pretty good match. (Since this version the facial features exaggerated a little, and the tricorn enlarged, see image).

I should get a set of test moulds shortly - AND THEN THE CAVALRY!

French Infantry - Drummer and NCO

Attached are the two latest digital sculpts for the French.

Drummer

There is a drummer, without turn backs.

NCO

Also there has been a change of plan since the last blog - it has been decided to add an 'early war' NCO. This figure should be more useful than another standard bearer (the Prussian or Russian will do fine), as he can be used for the War of Austrian Succession. Currently he is shown with the sword option, but will also carry a pole arm.

He should also make an alternative officer who has chosen to wear the belt outside on campaign.

PA are stating on their blog that they will be releasing the digitally sculpted Mithril Miniatures in the next few months, so hopefully I should get some sample SYW moulds soon!

As always comments welcome.

French Infantry Update

Chris has recently sent me a set of screen shots of the digital SYW infantry, which are now looking good. (I've asked for some rear shots).

I don't profess to be an expert on French infantry, so comments would be appreciated if there is anything needs changing (although I think they are at the 'printers', so only really anything major.)

Planned six figures

The plan is currently for 6 figures:

Mould 1 - Two infantry with turnbacks, one at march attack and the other advancing:

Mould 2 - similar figures without turnbacks - which will be very useful for earlier periods:

Mould 3 - To go with them will be a drummer without turnbacks, and an officer carrying a standard, again no turn backs.

There will be tricorn heads both with and without a moustache, and a bearskin head with moustache.

Officer and NCO?

Currently there is no plan for a mould with an officer and NCO, as:

• For most of the war the NCOs were dressed as the infantry and carried a musket, so basic figure will be fine.
• The officer looks to be the same as the Russian, with musket and cartouche box.

Turnbacks?

During the SYW the infantry generally had coats turned back, however does anyone know if this was this a regulation or fashion, for example:

• Could the unit have a mix of troops with coats in the two styles?
• Could perhaps just the NCOs have no turnbacks?

As always comments welcome.

Steve

SYW Progress Update

I spoke to the Chris Tubb (the sculptor) yesterday, about the SYW range.

The figures have been delayed a bit longer due to difficulties in changing over to digital sculpting - not only his own learning curve, but also the need to invest in much more computing power to handle the software and large model files.

The good news is that the French Infantry have now been sent for what is hopefully the final 3D printing, and I should (fingers crossed)  have something to show you in the next week or so. The infantry will have the coat both with and without turn backs, so will be useful for earlier periods as well.

The Austrian cuirassier cavalry are also well on the way, but he is waiting to get the 'look and feel' of the French infantry right before moving on.

There will also be artillery, but not for a while, below is the start of an Austrian cannon, which still needs a lot of 'twiddly bits', but already looking good.

New moulds would be good.............the weather is brightening up so casting days cannot be far away!

SYW range is going digital!

First Sculptures

Chris Tubb (the sculptor) has decided to move to digital sculpting, as you can imagine there is quite a learning curve involved. This has contributed to the slowing up of figure production, but should pay dividends in future.

Changing to digital sculpting part way through the range needs to be done carefully. In order to 'calibrate' the digital design, rather than go straight to the cavalry it was decided to produce some French infantry to get the proportions, and 'feel' right.

The approach he has taken is to manually sculpt an 80mm infantry torso to mimic the pose of the figures already done, and then 3D scan this to form the basis of the new digital sculpts. The first figure digitally sculpted is a French Infantryman advancing, he is shown below with an Austrian in a similar pose for comparison (I know the Austrian grenadier should have a sabre, but it is a similar pose).

The pose matches quite well. Looked at side by side there is quite a difference due to the clean nature of the digital sculpt, however I doubt that would be anything like as obvious in a painted casting.

The musket is probably a more realistic thickness, but i just wonder if it might benefit from thickening up a bit?

Chris is planning to 'print' the figure in the next few days, after which he will make me a mould and I will cast some up to see how they look in the tin.

If you have any comments PLEASE let me have them, and I will pass them on.

Release of French Infantry?

It was originally planned to release the cavalry next, however with the move to digital the plan was side tracked (to a great extent by me), in order to try and get the feel right.

With the French so well advanced, after some test casts have been done it might be worth finishing off a French infantry range and get them into production, I would suggest a couple of moulds as discussed back in August.

Mould 1

• Rank and file (turn backs) advancing - as above
• Rank and file march attack (turn backs)- arms changed on above
• Tricorn - fusilier - as above
• Tricorn - grenadier
• Bearskin with bag - grenadier

Mould 2

• Drummer (no turn backs)
• Officer (no turn backs), there was a suggestion that he could double as standard bearer - anyone have any ideas on pose?
• Tricorn - officer
• Bonet de Police
• Bearskin with no bag - Cuirassiers du Roi (if it will not fit in the cavalry mould)

Mould 3

Easy to add an 'early' version of mould 1 with no turn backs for WAS etc.

Comments

The change to digital is happening, and if not done right could spoil this range. Your comments are important and welcome, so please make them, they will be listened to.

Cartridge box and sword

Rahway commented on the depth of the cartridge box, I thought it looked shallow as well and discussed with Chris, who sent me an additional image from the rear, the depth is OK.

The images seem to have some quirks, for example the base above looks tapered, but I am assured it is not!

The image raises another point we have been discussing. Putting the sword outside the coat leaves a large gap between the sword and leg, details like this may be OK for commercial spin casting, but not for producing the home casting moulds, there are not many options to make it suitable for home casting:

• Fill in the gap, less work but could be ugly
• Make the sword septate and glue on

We think that a separate sword is the answer, as:

• It will look better, even if a bit more work
• Later in the war the fusiliers did not carry swords so not needed anyway
• For grenadiers and early war it can be glued on

Has anyone noticed he has two bayonets, one on the musket and one in the scabbard?

French Infantry - some more thoughts

(Updated 03/08/2015)

Since the post on French Infantry on 31 January there was a lot of discussion about the need for new French moulds (the Karoliners are pretty close), and if there is a need what to put in them. There are still comments coming into that post, which suggests that there is interest in moulds for French infantry, so I have discussed with PA the possibility of doing some after the initial releases of cavalry.

I have read through and responded to all the comments, and hopefully my suggestions below cover most of what has been said - please put me straight if I have got it wrong?

Having looked through all my reference books, and the quite a few hours on the internet, I came to the conclusion that this Historex sheet is a good starting point for discussion.

Mould 1 - Rank and File

The first two illustrations give a pretty good indication of what I think the figures should include to make them distinct from the the what is already available in the range:

• Coat with turn backs.
• Visible external waist belt and scabbards for the sword and bayonet.
• The large haversack slung over the right shoulder
• Hair in a short pony tail extending not far below the collar

I would suggest there should be a mould with the usual advancing and march attack poses, kitted out as these chaps. For heads there would be:

1. Tricorn, hair loose, clean shaven, for fusiliers (looks same as Russian musketeer)
2. Tricorn with moustache, for grenadiers (could also be used as late war Russian grenadier)
3. Plain fronted bearskin for Grenadiers de France (could also be used as 'German' grenadiers in Austrian army if you don't like the side plaits in the Hungarian moulds).

For use in Canada, it might be useful to fit in a 'bonet de police' as worn by the chap in the middle of the illustration below, In the moulds there is usually space for two figures and four 'bits', so a fourth head will not fit in a mould containing a the march attack figure with a separate arm.

Mould 2 - Drummer and officer/standard bearer

Many illustrations show the French drummers without the coat turned back as the third figure along in the Historex print. With the loose coat tails and belts and scabbards outside the figure is significantly different. (However if you wanted to minimise mould purchases, and already have the Prussians, then drummers are also shown with turn backs, so their drummer is pretty close, but the belts are under the coat and the Prussian coat is open down the front)

The Prussian and Russian officers are close, but not quite right, the Prussian's sash is too prominent, and the gauntlets on the Russian are wrong. if a suitable pose can be found then provide an officer who can either carry the standard or a pole arm.

As for heads in a second mould, an officer's head with tricorn and side curls would be needed, this would also be fine for the drummer (or use one from the rank and file), there is then scope to put in something different, perhaps:

1. Tricorn, side curls, for officer (& drummer)
2. Bonnet de police, for Canada (as requested by Paco)
3. IF it will not fit in the cavalry mould, a bearskin without hanging bag. An alternative interpretation of the Grenadiers de France, and more importantly it would convert the Austrian cuirassier to the Cuirassiers du Roi (as requested by Duc de Brouilly).
4. Might be space for something else, depends what second figure is

After these four figures what else is really needed for the French?

1. Alternative rank and file mould with the coat without turn backs (also for WAS etc)
2. NCO - armed with a pole arm, and the same baggage as the rank and file, but no cartridge box, the coat tails could be left down for variety??

Current thinking is (updated 03/08/2015)........................

Get the Cuirassiers and Dragoons released, the range needs cavalry (and artillery, light troops and staff officers)!

If it can be done quickly without much delay to the artillery etc, then release a couple of French infantry moulds to get collectors of French armies up and running, these could contain:

Mould 1

• Rank and file advancing
• Rank and file march attack
• Tricorn - fusilier
• Tricorn - grenadier
• Bearskin with bag - grenadier

Mould 2

• Drummer
• Officer (who could double as standard bearer)
• Tricorn - officer
• Bonet de Police
• Bearskin with no bag - Cuirassiers du Roi (if it will not fit in the cavalry mould)

However PA have not yet decided whether or not to do some French early, as it will cause some delay to tthe artillery and light troops. However there is a case for releasing some French infantry after the 'Austrian' cuirassiers and 'Prussian' dragoons,

As usual, thoughts please?

French Infantry

Some thoughts on future plans - probably a looooooooong way off yet.

All quiet on the western front.

The Russians are due out in the the next couple of months, and that should complete the 'close order' infantry for the eastern theater. PA have always planned to get the troops done for the eastern conflict before moving on to the west, however recent discussions, and looking at what troops are already in the moulds has made me wonder what is actually needed for the west?

Certainly the British uniforms were distinctive, particularly the highlanders, so these warrant quite a few new moulds, so quite a major undertaking.

But what about the French, who operated without the British as opponents alongside the Imperial Army as at Rossbach, is much needed to release these?

Is there actually any need for French infantry moulds?

As far as I can see the French uniforms were very similar to the Russians (and to some extent Austrians and Prussians), the main difference being that many, but by no means all, illustrations show the waist belt still worn on the outside; so the Russians would probably be fine provided you are happy with the belts on the inside. (Also, I already have 100's of Karoliners painted up as French, and I suspect so do many others), so is there really a place for French moulds??

The answer is no..........and yes, I don't think they are really needed, however PA want this SYW range to be a stand alone, so yes it is worth doing something.

What to put in?

The answer is probably to treat the French in a similar way to the Austrians, and release a single mould (two bodies and three heads), which has the parts needed to allow the French to be built up using Russian, Austrian and Prussian figures - so what is needed?

For the bodies

I think stick with the old formula:

• Infantry advancing - waist belt outside
• Infantry march attack - waist belt outside
• (Or possibly a drummer without turnbacks?)

Heads

• Two French tricorns
• A grenadier bearskin

I could do with a bit of help here as I find the information confusing:

• Would the French tricorns be different from the Russians?
• Did the French wear mustaches (just grenadiers)?
• Was the French bearskin different to the Austrian - any pictures welcome (particularly the back)?

As I have said these are only initial thoughts, however it does look as if the French infantry can be covered quite well with a single mould - any thoughts?