Bodstonian Trappers

It´s been a Long time since I´ve done anything for Bodstonia,
Still..they aren´t going anywhere...I hope :-D
Another couple of additions , some trappers. using bods from the Atlantic Davy Crocket set.
A Little bit of an Info write up HERE 

The one Standing and firing is a conversion, Bottom half from the "3er" Group, top half from the kneeling bod.
The "bayoneting one is from the "3er" Group.

On the 10th of October the cröburn 1813 book becomes available!!!!! Pre-orders  are possible on thier new site History: die Welt in Miniaturen (The world in miniature)
Also available is a  DVD´s covering both Cröbern and Möckern and soon,  other great stuff, like the buildings etc.

And as a reminder, Anne´s  (O´leary´s Miniatures) and Pats (It´s Rhyme Time) giveaway is tomorrow. If it doesn´t Show up on your blog roll, it´s best just to look as Anne´s blog doesn´t seem to update on the blog rolls.

Red Sky in the Morning.

The exact opposite to Robin of the Hood, Sir Hugh Jarse robs the poor to feed the rich and recently has been quite successfull at the Job, meaning he can hire some more motley marauders.
More marauders means more monetary mayhem.............where will it all end?


The whole gang together. Sir Hugh (to the right) mounted on his steed, Nightmare, and Sir R.Sliker (to the left) on his nag Gait Keeper. Between them is thier Sergeant-at-arms, Hugo First.

The two bods in the middle are the original poses, to the left and right, simple head swop conversions

Again, the two bods in the middle are the original poses

Red sky in the morning, peasants warning.  Sir R.Sliker leads a band of marauders accompanied by a Prison wagon.  This doesn´t look good for the good folk of Styrow-on-the Foam!!

And dont Forget Anne´s Double Triple Secret Give Away , being Held over at O´leary Miniatures and concluding on the 1st of October. Anne´s Give away is Kindly supported by Patrick Hatt of It´s Rhyme Time Blog.

Medieval army on the march

A Lord and his retinue on the march. Made up using bods from a variety of sets from mainly Valdemar but also  Zvezda and RedBox,  a few Foot and mounted additions to the baggage Train.

Scouts

Lord and halbardiers

Hired levy

The Coat-of-Arms, Ordinary  Azure Chevron  Argent is made up. Well,  I haven´t found any anyone historical who it belonged to....yet.

For fun, A couple more pics with baggage elements added.

A bit of blog pimping...Anne´s Double Triple Secret Give Away , being Held over at O´leary Miniatures with lots of goodies to be had and supported by Patrick Hatt of It´s Rhyme Time Blog.
One of the minis on offer...as Anne says, Sexy isn't she? And you want her, you know you do

 

Dismounted Crusaders (Caeser)

Following the Medieval European Knights 13th Century from Caeser this lot is the Dismounted crusader set.
Like the European set, this lot make usefull bods as members of the armies of the  Anarchy (the war between Stephen of Blois and  Matilda of England ) Magna carter etc  and  like the european Kniggits set,  there is only 11 poses, but this time two  of which are represented only once.
The biggest Problem, and it seems common to virtually all Ceaser sets, is the bent parts, swords, spears etc even bases. One of the  bods in the set was so badly bent backwards  at the ankles he looked like  he was trying to take part in a Limbo contest ! Ok, this can be solved with hot water treatment but it´s still a pain.


All 11 poses

Even though the crosses are very finely engraved I still would prefer none as it Limits the range of uses and covering the crosses is a real pain.

Generic surcoat Patterns

Another magna carter baron,  Rodger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk. 1144(50) - 1221

Both sets together. They mix really well.

Medieval European Knights 13th Century

Made by Caeser and a usefull set for crusaders, members of the armies of the  Anarchy (the war between Stephen of Blois and  Matilda of England ) Magna carter,  and and....

36 bods in 11 poses , there´s only one of the pose  holding the  spear

The spear with the flag I´ve replaced. The original was so warped it was easier and faster than trying to straighten it.

All of them I´ve given generic coat´s .of arms, paying no attention to any historically real ones except for the one in the middle which I´ve given the Coat -of-arms of Simon langton, one of the Magna carter Barons...another Project which needs some more attention at some point.

This from the makers of the Spartacus series and  coming next year, Looks fun, Black sails,
Yo Ho me hearties!

Scratchbuilt Cart (How to)

Dead easy, dead cheap.

Tools and bits needed;
Old CD case, set square,  small pliers, hobby knife, sandpaper, some Cocktail sticks, thin Card, needle, some woodglue, plastic glue and paint. (oh,  an some spare wheels)

Cut out the shapes for the wagon. Basically I did this by eye, first the base of the wagon, then the sides and then the end pieces..no measuring, just making sure I got the pieces cut with roughly right angled sides.(apart from the two end pieces ..:-D)

Using the sharp knife and the set square, score lines to represent Planks. Using the needle re-score to make the lines deeper. Sand down and then use the needle to remove and dust that´s got into the grooves (don´t worry if the needle Slips causing Scratching, this dissappears when painted)

Glue the base of the wagon to the thin Card using woodglue. The sanded surface of the plastic bonds really well with the card. Why the card? This makes a good surface to attach the axle and shafts later.

Next stage when the glue has dried, cut away the excess card, and glue the sides onto the base.
To make the struts for the sides, use the pliers to gently "snap" them  off. Best to score the plastic at least three times for very thin pieces.

Next the wheels and shafts. Halfway through the build I decided on using different wheels.
Basically, the toothpicks are cut to length, two for the shafts and one for the axle.The shafts I made by removing one side of the toothpicks to give a flat surface to glue them to the base.

Paint all the parts, and glue on. Just visible on the bottom of the footboard I´ve added a couple of small supports.

Wagon finished! :-D
All in all it took just under an hour to make this one and cost...? Nothing?

Scottish Baggage train (Bannockburn)

This will represent Sir William de Erth of Airth´s  baggage train at Bannockburn. I won´t even consider creating the english baggage Train as even with them plundering the local countryside for provisions it  must have been massive and would be a Project all of it´s own.
The  wagons used will be either scratch built or the ones in the strelets Transport sets but with considerable Alteration.. The Crews, guards and  the animals pulling them will be from Strelets.
Sets used;
Normans on the March (several of the marching bods)
Strelets Norman Train (Driver and wagon wheels)
Roman Transport  (the ox)
Medieval Levy (2)  (marching bods)
"Shaab" with crusader Crew (one the marching bods)                  


The bods new weapons come from the Zvezda medieval peasants set.

Removable /swoppable load

The wagon is mainly made from old CD case plastic as are the bases.

A group of marching bods.

The new wagon and bods with previous strelets based baggage Train stands. A couple morer Groups of marching bods and some stands with mules/donkeys, should see this finished.

And........the Neoplolitan Painting Challenge is underway.:-D
3 Bloggers, 3 minis, a Blonde vs a Brunette vs a Redhead.
Anne will paint a Blonde, Marzio  will paint a Brunette and I´ll be painting a Redhead.
Final pics and The Vote is on the 7th of Oct over at Anne´s blog.

Here´s mine, primed and ready. (The left hand hasn´t been attached yet)

Polish Field Artillery (Mars)

Another set of medieval artillery from the manufacturer Mars. 4 guns,  each with a 4 man Crew, again, IMHO,  like the Siege Bombard set,  a bargain.

This lot have been kitted out in the colour  scheme I´ve Chosen for my artillery bods. (which I forgot to use on the Bombard Crew..DOH!!)

The weapon. This one looks like  a large version of a hussite tarasnice from 15th century. They had a caliber from 5 to 10 cm´and had an effective range of 250 -300m´s.
It was fiddly to put together, the holes meant to take the stand etc werent fully drilled through (they had plastic in them from the casting) and the shaft attached to the Barrel had no hole at all. Still, all easily remedied and the end effect is very nice.

Handgonne  ("hand cannon") in use, ca. 1400  (from Karl Keyser, Belli Fortis)

A fun Video of a Tarasnice (to the right of the Screen) and two Haufnitz (Howitzers) being fired.

 

Polish Siege bombard (Mars)

This is from a new range of Medieval weapon sets from the manufacturer Mars. Each of the 4 bombards in the set comes with a 6 man Crew, 4 bombards and 24 bods, which for the price is pretty good.

Another pic of the whole Crew and thier bombard

I really like these two poses..especially the bod whose decided that putting a bit of distance between himself and the bombard would be a good idea. His base is a bit tiny, he does balance on it but it could have done with being a wee bit bigger.

I´m not sure about the burning fuse being used to fire the Bombard, I read that they used hot Irons to ingnite the Charge and the Ram has a rather large head is much too big to fit into the Barrel of the bombard but they are nice poses.

Size wise they fit alongside other manufacturers. Left, bod from the Strelets "Shaab" with crusader Crew and to the right, bod from Orion´s Medieval seige troops.

The bombard. Like the rest of the set it´s made from soft plastic which means a bit of warpage leading to some small gaps when it´s fitted together. With hot water to straighten the parts and a bit of filling it brushes up nicely.

Apart from the Crew and the bombard each group Comes with  a small "shock Absorber". I haven´t used it on this bombard but it´s a usefull Addition if it was to be based.

Soft plastic, minimal Flash, nicely animated poses that interact with the bombard and apart from the warping of the bombards carriage a great little set.

A bombard being fired. Unfortunately the vid won´t upload but the link is HERE. It makes one huge bang!!!! :-D