Tuesday 7 February 2012

Hussite War Wagon and Command (orion) Pt 2

The main "object" in the set, the Wagon.
There are a couple of problems with the wagon, but nothing major. 
The Wheels. The mold seems to be not 100% lined up and this leaves some extra plastic in the middle which needs carefull filing to remove.
The shield. This is a big piece and when added to the wagon just looks wrong..so I have left it off. but it will make a nIce seige mantlet.
Despite any minor problems, the wagon scrubs up really well. A nice big door to the rear....
..and a storage box at the front.This can be made, by cutting along the line where the hinges are, open or shut.

The woodwork is very well done. I really like the "used" and distressed effect.
Now with the crew on board. Bods from Redbox, Strelets, Miniart and Revell
Now a description of how to build it. The set comes without any plans so I hope this will be of help.
I´ve given each piece letters (repeat pieces the same letter)
Main body
Take parts A and B and glue them to C in the ruts provided on C, add part D. When they are all dry add the floor E. You will notice there are two spaces in the floor. These should go towards the door side of the wagon. If they dont line up with the door..not to worry..they didn´t on mine either but are hardly noticable when finished.
Then add the front of the box F and the Lid G
Be very carefull with the loops on E and C!!!! I broke one off  but was able to glue it back on. You  replace them with metal wire  loops  if this happens and glueing is a problem.
The axle and wheels.
Check the wheels fit on the axles. The big wheels N come onto the rear axle J, the smaller ones O on front axle K.. Be carefull when checking for fit as I have already mentioned, there is flash in the middle of the wheels that needs removing.
The rear axle J when fitted. lines up with one of the support struts on the outside of the wagon (see pics).
The front axle K has a hole in it. This fits over a pin on the rear axle, allowing the front axle to turn left or right. Check the fit..it is tight and you may need to enlarge the hole on K.
When fitting the wheels I used a bit of cooking oil smeared on each axle to help slide them on.
The Shield supports.
There are two rows of small plastic discs, P and P. Why two sets of 4 I don´t know. Spares? Cut these carefully from the sprue and slide one over each axle so it pushes up to the wheel hub.
Stand the wagon on it´s wheels. Parts L and M are the outer bars that would hold the shield H and prevent it from bashing against the wheels. 
The L ones come on the rear , the M ones at the front. Simply push a prong through the loop on top of the wagon´s side wall and then rest the end of the support on the little plastic disc and glue. I advise doing the back wheels first then the front.
You will notice that when the supports are added to the front wheels it stps the axle from turning and holds it fixed in position
Parts R simply fit over the ends of the wagon (see pics) to stop (in real life) the walls falling outwards. They are a tight fit, so either carefully expand the loops at each end or shave the poles a bit thinner.
The rest.
Q is the towing bar for attaching the oxen team to. I have put it so that it is leaning up on the wagon.
S is the Yolk for the oxen team and the if in an horizontal posistin, Q would fit through the hole in the middle.
?..I really do not know what these pieces are for. Maybe if the box lid was made to be opened the could be used as lid supports..or they are for the sides of the yolk when fitted to the oxen. The extra rings..?? Parts I are for attaching to the shield H but are very thin and broke easily..replace with  wire is my suggestion.
The ramp..I´ve just noticed I didn´t give it a letter but it´s the part above E. It´fits very easily. ;-D

If anyone has any questions then do not hesitate to  ask..:-D

18 comments:

  1. Beautiful Wagon. Very nice job, Paul.

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  2. nice work and useful assembly guide

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  3. That is well done Paul, very helpful work, you could sell the plans to the company?

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  4. Thanks for the instructions Paul :) I hope they will be very helpful when I decide to put it together.

    Claus
    ancminis.blogspot.com

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  5. Very very nice Job. Wagon and troops are rip-roaring-and-ready-to-go!

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  6. That looks great; really quite surprised at home much assembly was involved. I sure your guide will be a grest help to others.

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  7. Another great kit build by you Paul. I like how you based it with the figures!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

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  8. It sounds like a fairly challenging thing to build, which makes your finished version all the more impressive! Great work as always.

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  9. Lovely work...No plans! You did bloomin well Paul.

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  10. That's a lot of parts to have no instructions from the kit. Very nice looking wagon once it's all built and painted!

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  11. A great piece of kit, I'm sure many modellers will find this post very handy, well done that man!!

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  12. Top Man - methinks; Yey - verily did much work go'eth into the production of the assemblage instructional!

    Nice Wagon too!
    H

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  13. This is great. Your painting of the wood looks so realistic.

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  14. this looks really good and yet I am shure PSR gave it a bad review? why?

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    1. Thanks Gowan,
      The PSR review ? They are correct about the historical side of the set. If, as Orion has done, you label on the back of the box the figures as real people, then it would have been a good idea to look them up first. Prokop, a priest and I can find no reference to him wearing armour. Zizka, full armour(?), no eye covered and the mace wrong.
      Bulls pulling the cart..also "wrong". I cannot find any evidence of them doing so, not entirely unfeasable though. Lovely looking bulls btw.
      The wagon..they mention correctly the lack of instructions. I tried to create an "exploded" pictural set of instructions, but after 2 hours I gave up..it´s not as easy as you think :-D
      As to putting it together. I don´t personally know the guys from PSR so I don´t know if they are kit builders or not, but I found it an interesting and not too difficult a challenge and IMHO the result, when painted, is very nice..way better than Miniarts, which I also like btw. They (miniart)lack detailing but win over the orion set by giving the wagons a "crew", a decent looking "shield" and a horse team, which is also unfortunately missing two horses. As they used (or appear to have used) different types of wagons the two different stlye from Orion and Miniart fit well alongside each other.
      If anyone is thinking of creating a Hussite, or indeed a later german army of the period, I can recommend both sets.
      Not only that, both wagons would be great harnessed up and used as part of a transport column.
      Cheers
      Paul

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  15. Excellent work Paul. Great looking wagon!

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  16. Wow, I've always enjoyed miniatures like this (don't know the proper word, sorry). I had no idea what form they came in (the kits). That must take tremendous patience. Very cool.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z

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