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.

British and Hanoverians?

 SYW range - progress so far

After ?&%$ years on the project, with the release of the hussars, the central and eastern theatres are pretty much covered by the moulds released so far. There are however still a few more things I would like to see done to tidy things up:

• Prussian Cuirassiers. This would need to be a 3 or 4 set collection. PA are unsure if these are different enough to sell - thoughts? (I have used Rossbach figures with SYW heads).
• Austrian Cuirassiers. I find these too big to use (so I have 3 x 8 man units just sitting in a box - does anyone want to buy them?). I have now replaced them with Karoliners converted with SYW heads. I personally think that PA should reprint them (they are digital) at the correct scale.
• Dragoon Heads. I find these too small and poorly detailed so do not use them. They are digital so I have asked PA if they can reprint them larger and with more pronounced detail.
• Artillery in Coats. Currently the artillery are in shirt sleeves to cover all armies (my idea - sorry); it would be nice to have a couple of moulds to produce a generic crew in coats.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

British and Hanoverian Figures (British)

It has always been known that the lack of British figures left a big hole in the SYW range for western Europe; however the decision was made to have a range which would allow full armies to be produced by adding cavalry, artillery, light troops and staff officers before producing yet more infantry. 

With the release of the hussars, there have been requests on the PA Facebook page for British, and PA seem to be listening (it is always worth asking). I recently had a chat with the sculptor, and it seems PA are thinking of going ahead with some British - so keep commenting on their Facebook page - they do read it!

I think the following might be worth considering:

• British Infantry in their distinctive coats - perhaps 4 moulds (see below).
• Highlanders - I will do a separate post to discuss - I think 3 or 4 moulds.
• Artillery Crew - 2 moulds in coats to to fill gap above.
• Cavalry - not sure yet???

I will just cover the British Infantry in this post.

Hat Men, Fusiliers and Grenadiers

The illustrations show the typical differences between the hat men and grenadiers at the time of Minden, although there are a lot of variations (for example the hat man's green trousers and stiffened gaiters are an oddity).

The typical differences are:

• Obviously the tricorn and mitre caps.
• The grenadier carries a sword, which the line infantry had mostly abandoned.
• Grenadier coats had shoulder wings (well most did).
• Grenadiers had the match holder on the shoulder belt.

Some hat men are shown with belly pouches, however most illustrations seem to show them without them.

I think it might be worth having two moulds for the private soldiers, each with an advancing and marching figure as follows:

• Hat Men, with tricorn, without wings, sword, belly box or match box.
• Grenadiers with mitre cap, wings, sword, belly box and match box.

For the fusiliers use a grenadier mitre on a hat man torso.

Infantry Stance.

On Kronoskaf there is a sketch and description of the stance of the British infantry, which I have copied below. I would suggest that the 'standard' poses used on the other figures in the range are adopted, modified to 

When shouldering arms, the soldier was to keep his weapon nearly vertical, carried on the left shoulder, barrel facing outward, lock “turned up” and below breast level, with the butt flat against the hip, the weapon pressed against the body with the ball of the thumb. The musket was to be held with the index and thumb ahead of the corner of the stock, with the middle finger on the corner, the other fingers on the bottom of the stock. Soldiers were to stand with shoulders held back, stomach slightly tucked in, chest pressed out, chin up, and the right arm hanging down with the palms facing back. Finally, all but the rightmost man in the line was to have his head cocked to the right. The rightmost man kept his head straight forward. While not stated in any manual, the tricorne was generally worn cocked to one side—typically to the left. This was to allow the weapon to be shouldered, without hitting the hat.

Command Figures

As with the other ranges I suggest an officer,, standard bearer, drummer and NCO. From the illustrations above these are distinctive enough to not allow use of other nations.

Suggested Moulds...............

Mould 1:

• Officer with  shoulder sash and hand to take partisan, musket or sword.
• 1 x spontoon for officer
• Drummer with hanging sleeves
• 1 x tricorne head
• 1 x grenadier mitre head

Mould 2

• Standard Bearer 
• NCO and hand to take pole arm or musket.
• NCO musket
• 1 x tricorne head
• 1 x mitre cap head

Mould 3 - Hat Men (tricorne) - without sword, belly box, or shoulder wings.

• Marching torso  
• Arm for marching
• Advancing torso
• 2 x tricorne head

Mould 4 - Grenadiers (mitre cap)  - with sword, shoulder wings, belly box and match box.

• Marching torso  
• Arm for marching
• Advancing torso
• 2 x mitre cap head

As always feedback would be welcome to help try and get this right.

Hussar Size Comparison

In response to Ross's request, Peter Michael Prow has cast some figures (I still don't have the moulds) and photographed with the older Rossbach French Hussars (note there are no right arms on the new figures). The photos are on the PA Facebook Page - I have pinched them:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/princeaugust/

The Rossbach figures are the two bottom left. I have cast up a couple of units of the older figures, but personally I do not like the poses so only painted up one of them.

The new figures are more to my taste, and with the variation in horses and arms should make up some nice units.

And close ups with the two horse and head types (I think the officer horse might be different again).

And finally one with the Grenzer head.

If you have any questions please raise them in the comments and hopefully Peter will respond.

Hussar Moulds Released

 As you may have seen, PA have recently released their new SYW hussar moulds, just in time to add to Santa's list.

I had a fair bit of input into deciding what to put into the moulds, but due to other interests have lost contact with PA a little over the last few months, so have not had chance to try out the moulds in advance of release. I have a set on the way, and will cast up a few once I get hold of them - postal strike permitting. The pictures are just downloads from PA's website.

Although released as three separate moulds they are intended to work as a set taking advantage of interchangeable heads and arms.

3132 - Officer and Trumpeter in busby

The first mould shows a trumpeter in kolback, however looking at the mould contents it can be seen that there is also an arm with a sword, so he can make an officer pointing. This figure should differ from the other two moulds by not having the wide cross belt worn to by the troopers to carry the carbine (or the standard). 

  3133 - Trooper with busby 

The next mould has a trooper in kolback carrying a carbine. As with the officer, there is also an arm with a sword to allow variation, if the sword arm is used then a carbine needs to be found from the final mould (or from the dragoons).

If a standard bearer is wanted (not many carried them) the intention is to use the carbine arm and drill through.

3134 - Trooper with mirliton

And finally a trooper with a sword in mirliton. In addition to the sword arm this chap has a the separate carbine which needs to be attached. I am not keen on the head let off the horse as that will need some filing to sort out, however PA are squeezing a lot of goodies into these moulds.

So with the above it should be possible to make hussar units in either kolback or mirliton and with variation in arm and horse positions - it will be interesting to see if it works.

What is missing?

I asked for a fourth mould containing an Austrian hussar trooper with their distinctive long coat and tricorn, but I think I was pushing my luck a little. If people want it then it might be worth commenting on PA's Facebook page,

In all probability I will not be the first to use these moulds, so as always feedback would be appreciated.

New Grenz Mould

 A couple of weeks ago I got my greasy mitts on the new Grenz mould containing the advancing figure and drummer.

I am in the middle of another project at the moment (20mm WW2 Normandy - I went there earlier this year), so it could be a while before I get around to painting up a unit. However, I was interested to see how the figures have turned out, so spent a few hours casting up enough the figures for a couple of 16 man units.

My current casting set up is in my garage/wargames room - pretty simple and easy to pack up:

• The base board is just an offcut of kitchen unit shelving, it is fine under hot figures and small spillages, but would blister if a large lump of melted/hot metal was left in the same place for too long.
• A 300W solder pot (a bit bigger than the one PA sell) - and PA ladle.
• There is also a cheap digital thermometer (the thin twisted black wire on the right).
• Moulds (usually in pairs) are normally just held by 3 elastic bands, but this one needed a bit of extra pressure in the middle to prevent flash, so there is an additional PA clamp.
• I have a pin vice handy to push 1mm holes through the mould sides in difficult areas, in this case  it needed vents in the lower tips of both sword scabbards.
• Pliers for getting the figures from the moulds and snips for cutting off the ingates etc.

Below are photos of the new Grenz figures 'as cast' using Model Metal, I have cut off the ingates etc. but not cleaned them up any further - the head is 'as cast' and just pushed in. (You can see the marks on the scabbards where I have drilled vents.)

They are pretty clean and should not take a lot of preparation and I think will paint up well.

I intend to make 16 man 'close order' units, with 13 advancing, the drummer plus an officer and standard bearer from the Hungarian range. I will base them on single bases so that they can also act in open order.

I have also cast up a unit using 'scrap metal', they also cast easily, detail is not as crisp, but should also paint up well.

I hope someone buys them - as I had to twist PA's arm to get them made😟.

How much metal do I need?

Over the weekend I ran some participation games, which were re-runs of the Prague game we put on at Hammerhead back in March, but this time using the 'Field of Battle' rather than the 'A Gentleman's War' rules. Both are fun rules, however I found the FoB games ran quicker.

One of the players was considering building an army using the PA moulds, and asked how many figures can be cast from a bar of metal. I guessed a unit was about 250-500g (2-4 bars), but was not really sure - I have now looked into it in more detail..................

Prince August Metal Bars

PA's bars of Model Metal weigh 125g each, and according to their website will cast five 40mm foot figures.

Apparently the bars are sold by volume, so for interest I weighed 4 of each - Model Metal averaged 126g/bar and Casting Metal (surprisingly) a bit lighter at 121g/bar.

I also weighed a couple of my completed units (mostly scrap metal), after making allowance for the basing:

• A 16 figure infantry unit weighs about 325g, just over 20g per figure, so 5 or 6 foot figures per bar should be about right (3 bars per unit).
• An 8 figure dragoon unit as heavier at something like 500g, so 62.5g/figure - 2 per bar (4 bars per unit).

Looking on the PA site, there is currently (19/06/2022) little price difference between the two metals, assuming you buy 30 bars (enough for about 8-10 units), the cost per bar is:

• Model Metal - £3.47/bar
• Casting Metal - £3.25/bar

Model Metal generally produces much better castings, so at these prices there is little point in buying the cheaper metal (but prices are ever changing).

At the time of writing Model Metal is about £28/kilo (plus postage), so about £0.55 for infantry and £1.75 per cavalry; clearly if you can substitute/recycle  'free' scrap lead you can both save money and feel smug!

Scrap Lead

As I have said many times, the bulk of my figures are cast from scrap metal, although I do use Model Metal for fine detail such as heads, and Casting Metal when I run out of scrap.

For reference I weighed some bags of Old Glory ECW figures, these are small 28mm, both the foot (30 figures) and cavalry (10 figures) weight in around the 420g mark - about enough for a semi-flat unit. (I'm not suggesting you melt down new figures - it is just to give an idea of comparative weights.)

Anybody who knows someone who home casts, please don't throw away old figures, metal sprues etc. save them and get them recycled,

Printer's Metal

PA are currently selling old printer's metal at £15.83/1.9kg, so £8.50/kilo - less than the 1/3 price of Model Metal - has anyone tried it? 

If you can add any useful information please share it in the comments section.

More Frei Korps

Just to let you know I am still here and painting.

We have been playing a lot of games with the semi-flats over the last few months, unfortunately I never remember to take photos.

Frei Korps

I have painted up a unit of 'double blues' using advancing figures so that they can fit in close order. They are a bit generic so probably do not tie in exactly with any one unit, although du Verger (Quintus Icilius) is probably closest. I must confess that as this project progresses I am tending to paint things to my fancy rather than trying to be exact.

Frei Korps did not officially carry standards, I find it difficult to believe that units would not have some sort of rallying flag, and toy soldiers I think MUST have them, so I have painted spare figures to give them a flag (I think from Frei Korps von Kleist cavalry?)