Medieval Carriage (scratchbuilt)

Not many pics of this type of thing on the web but they turn up frequently in medieval films..
Where they get their designs from I can´t imagine.
Anyway..I wanted one in my collection and as there´s no such kit in 1/72nd..I had to build one.
The whole thing was made from card and balsawood. The leaded windows and door hinges are left overs from one of the  Fredericus-rex houses.

So far I´ve only added the horses but the passengers and driver(s)  will come later.
Good candidates look like they could come from  THIS very nice looking set or THIS one.

The nags were taken from the Zvezda Russian Artillery of Peter the Great set. The front wheels from Atlantic´s Egyptian cavalry and the rear ones from a broken Atlantic wagon. Front axle from the Zvezda Medieval Field Powder Artillery set

I might replace the reins with thin paper ones when the driver is ready.

Toolbox or for luggage ? The roof I covered with some tissue paper to give the appearance of material or leather.

The roof is removable so passengers can be added.

Hello to Lex Van Rooy  from Picasa. Visit and look at his work HERE

This look like a good series..I wait for it to appear on DVD;

Siege Mantlet (scratch built)

Or for the battlefield.

Gunners from Orions Seige troops, Strelets Medieval Levy II and the Serpentine from Zvezda´s Medieval Field powder artillery.

READY!...STEADY!........

........................PEEK A BOO!

The door and side supports made from bits of Balsawood. The hooks on the back of the door made with bits of wire.

The hinges are made using theink tube from a  biro  which is then wrapped in cardboard. When it´s completely dry and painted the plastic rings can be pushed out . This made them a perfect fit for a cocktail sick which connects all 4 hinges together, allowing the outside hinges to be glued which holds the toothpick firmly in place. 

Norman Cavalry (Art Miniaturen)

These Art Miniaturen metal Norman Knights were a present from Wolfgang Meyer,  the creator of the Croeburn 1813 dio.
They had no weapons, shields or nags but that wasn´t a problem. The only small problem was getting them to stay put on the horses. I solved it by putting a small blob of clear  Silicon onto the saddles. The same to attach the shields.

The horses are from the HaT El Cid cavalry, the shields from Zvezda livovian knights set and the Spears are self made using florists wire.

They fit well with the Strelets and the HaT period knights. I haven´t based them yet as I am considering rebasing the whole Norman army so far for Impetus.

The sword was  sourced from the spares box..it´s plastic but exactly which set it came from..I can´t remember

My favourite pose....he really looks like he´s going to lance an enemy down.

A small intro to the modelling world...a website called Steven´s Miniaturen. Set up by A member of the Valdemar Forum, Steven, he shows his work and W.I.P´s...

Sopwith Camel (Esci)

Was it an esci kit first.............

............or an Academy one?

I don´t know. Mine came in the Esci box..with no instructions but it was cheap. Whilst looking on the web for  the instructions I came across a set for the Academy ones. They look a lot more complicated..more parts etc and apparently Academy use Edward kits..so it may just be that the artwork from Esci was used.

Curses!!! i´ve just noticed the one of the rigging lines is lsack...a bit of heat treatment is called for.

Both the Esci /Academy version and the Revell version together. The Revell version came with an extensive range of Decals and is a good 1/2 a cm taller than the esci version. The Revell one was built a while back..I was still experimenting with stretched sprue for the rigging.

A bit of an how to build stringbags HERE

Hello to Freaky Fre from Freakyfesminiatures blog. Some really good stuff..the 28mm Gladiator and the Warhammer slave giant is cracking!! Fre, It looks like your google friends connection isn´t on and you have no followers thingy?

Spad XIII C-1 (Revell)

Next one off the conveyor belt..the Revell version of the Spad XIII. In some ways it´s better than the Academy one in others..it´s not.
It´s bigger, more chunky . The fit is better but..there are still gaps in the couling cover and the tailplane section. Not as good as the academy one, the fusealage / Wing details aren´t as defined.
The decals (there is a choice of two designs) are better than the shiny plastic ones from Academy.

I´m finally getting the hang of making the props look like they are made from wood.

The rigging between the wing struts was a pain!

The nice thing about this Revell kit, the wingflaps are pre-scored so a small slice into each and they can be hung as if in a resting position.

Both variants together. Note how much bigger the Revell version is compared to the Academy one.

The top wing sits higher above the fusealage on the Revell version than the Academy one.

Wider, longer wings, much bigger fusealge.

Now which one to do next? Another KP Avia B.21 but in racing colours this time? A Roden Fokker D.VII(OAW)mid-war version? An Esci Sopwith Camel? A Toko Pfalz DXII ? or an Airfix Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 ? Or just pick one of the other kits randomly from the stash?

The grand Was-ere

A couple of "quikies" as most of my time is taken up with WWI stringbags...
............the rigging bug has bitten me again :-D
All simple head swop conversions. heads from the Esci Muslim Warriors,

A travelling wiseman and a drummer. Wiseman´s body from Atlantic´s Greek life set, the drummer´s body from Airfix´s Tarzan Figures set.

The Grand Was-ere, Uttar Hummbug,  exhalting his followers into battle. His body was kindly donated from the HaT Gallic command set.

Hello to Kasper Fischer from Modelloursworkshop Blog. A team of bloggers working in harmony to produce some pretty dam amazing dios etc..well worth following

SPAD XIII (Academy)

It was cheap and it showed. The fit was pretty bloody awefull, the fuselage halves didn´t line up properly, the engine cowling had a gap and the wing struts are different lengths..the ones on the fuselage are too long.
Oh, and the decals are made from some sort of odd plastic. Not only do they look very shiny after application but they fold over on themselves when being removed from the decal sheet which meant two of them being ruined. Grrrrr!
Still.... lessons learnt and hopefully the Revell version will be a lot better.

There´s no flash anywhere but....there are 2 mold guidance marks on the bottom of each wing, front and tail!!!

Due to the bad fit and cheapness of the kit, I thought it would be no real loss if it messed up so I experimented with a bit of weathering. Note the dreadfull gap between the tail plane and the fusealge..it could have been filled but I sort of gave up.  

The two top roundels ended up sticking to themselves...they were binned and I had to paint them myself..not a very pleasing experience or result.

The actual detail isn´t too bad but due to the bad fit I couldn´t really get into doing a full rig.

If you want a good laugh,(I ended up having to stop after 10 sides due to stomach ache from laughing..there are 80 sides, 484 comments so far and increasing) then read THESE customer reviews about a Mens hair removal cream at Amazon..Warning..some of the reviews use some strong language :-D

Napoleonic Austrian Pioneers (Pt 4)

The officers etc.



I´ll take a break from this project for a while..there´s only so much Mouse grey that I can look at for one stretch of time.

Drummers, not very apparent from the photo but the drums are brass.

The axemen cometh!

Officers. The cummerbund I´ve painted gold, but it may not be the right colour, there´s so little info on Austrian specialist troops.

Two of the five unarmed "doing something" bods.

Napoleonic Austrian Pioneers (Pt 3)

Another 30 Croburn 1813 volunteers done and dusted.

A couple of them have no muskets, but there is a barrel with hats and muskets stacked on and around it, as well as a stack of 3 muskets. 

Hello to Rubén, thanks for following :-D

Napoleonic Austrian Pioneers (Pt 2)

I know, I said napoleonics aren´t really my thing but.....
The first batch of 30 from 120 Napoleonic Austrian Pioneers for the Cröburn 1813 Diorama. or "what it´s possible to  speed paint in one day" :-D
They will all form a group along with a set of wagons, which I´ve already painted here.

No blacklining...!!!!

Every single bod is different...even if they have the same pose, the heads are at a different angle, the equipment is diffrerent.

Hello to Don from Old soldiers never Die..they just trade away Blog  a swop or Buying blog for 20mm bods. He also has another blog, ID Network Pics, a usefull bod recognition service

HaT Natal Native Horse

Part of the NNC (Native Natal Contingent) the NNH was formed from tribes that were hostile to the Zulus and fought bravely during the Anglo - Zulu war of 1879.  At  the Battle of Isandlwana, they are credited with stopping   to give rides to both native and British soldiers.
One the whole, the NNC had a bit of a mixed battle record, for instance the contingent of NNC ran away at Rorkes drift. Their corporal, Christian Ferdinand Schiess remained.
The NNC infantry were only equiped with one rifle in ten and were usually used for menial labour, The NNH were better equipped. Tan-coloured European style uniforms, a horse with full equipment, (although I have read that they were expected to supply thier own horse,,but that seems unlikely) and each trooper was issued with a carbine in addition to their traditional African spears. Units of the NNH were led by European officers dressed in  sky-blue uniforms.
The NNC was finally disbanded during the second Anglo - Boer war due to fears of them siding with the boers.

All poses from the set.

I went for a mixed colour scruffy look to the horses. One mistake....no stirrups! They had stirrups which they usually held with their big toes.

An officer added from the Frontier light horse set.

The 3 foot poses.

The whole Colonial army so far. Now all I have to do is wait for the Wagons, the Zulu war british infantry, Natal Native Contingent (the infantry), Colonial Bengal Lancers

Heavy cavalry and camels

Light horse and scouts

Artillerie and Infantry