Paper Halberds

Strange how things happen sometimes. I was painting up the Miniarts Swiss infantry and I wanted to add a few halberds to the mix. The ones that come with the set, like the pikes provided...are in a word..crap.
If you want to use them you have to fit them with a "collar/sleeve" affair which doesn´t really hold...and looks bloody awefull. I tried to weld the halberd heads onto the florist wire but no joy.
Anyway..I came up with a solution and got on with it, and at the more or less the same time,  so did Will from Will´s Wargames!!!
The same idea!! :-D


This is my solution.
First the stuff needed. Normal Paper, a length of Forist wire 0.5mm, a sharp blade, some wood glue and some liquid plastic glue. By liquid plastic glue, I mean the stuff that is used in Kit making. I used both Pattex and Revell, both had the same result.

Fold a bit of paper, open it up and smear with  woodglue. Lay the florist wire  on the paper and fold the paper over, glueing the wire between both sides.. I´ve found the maximum length of wire than should be glued in is 0.5cm´s...any longer and it looks a bit daft. Press the paper as close as possible along the sides of the wire using a thumbnail.

When fully dried, use the sharp blade to cut out a halberd shaped head. When you´ve got the right shape and size, soak the head in liquid plastic glue. This (like with the toiletpaper cloaks) makes the paper turn virtually into plastic, and when that´s fully dried you can shave any little bits off as you please

Attach to the bods and paint. 

NO Chance!!!!

Poor Valerius the Velite is about to get a lot wider...but also a lot thinner!!

The last thought that flashed through Valerians head was "That ele´s tusk needs a filling"

Macedonian Phallanx (Hat)

Actually, more than one...more like a macedonian battle line with 3 Phallanx´s ( is that the correct term for more than one Phallanx!!?) On the first bunch I used decals from LBMS, the others got a "silver shield"  paint job...which looks very bronze like in the pics.

Every one of the 144 Sarrissas is 7.4cms long, cut from 0.5mm wire, dipped in wood glue to create a spearhead and then welded to the bod.

Hello to Matt from FilmMattic Blog. He reviews those classic films like The godfather and lawrence of Arabia. He´s also taking part in the A-Z challenge and I can´t wait to see what he´ll come up with for X and Z :-D

Leonidas....

...and a couple of the guys. I was going to do a larger group of them but...firstly I ran out of bodys and heads to convert, I didn´t want to spend more money and I got distracted by another project :-D

Krakatoa ( Afternoon, August 26th, 1883 )

"Tompkins!!! I don´t care if your feet are getting hot, I want to reach the summit by tomorrow morning!!!! "

Hello to Stephen Kremp...who is writing and hoping to publish his book, "breakthrough", the progress of which you can see on his Blog, Breakthrough Blogs

JUMP!!!

Original titel, "whoops! There goes gravity" but it doesn´t start with J :-D

OK...How´s it done??? There are a couple of people who worked it out so it would be good if you kept quiet for now ;-D

Hello to Iron Mammoth from Iron Mammoth design, a freelance sculptor.

Indian Elephant (Hat)

It´s monday and the A - Z challenge goes onwards. This one is from the hat ele set, but I wanted one to look like the one from battle of Hydaspes in the Film Alexander, so out came the Greenstuff and cardboard :-D

Medieval Windmill XV -XIX Century

This looks just wonderfull. It´s made by Petra and Konrad Schulte  of  Fredericus-Rex and is made from Balsawood, Paper and Resin, using lasercutting .

It is listed as a Bockwindmuhle, in English a Post mill, which were first invented in the 11-12th centuries, an inovation which enabled "house" to be turned in order to point the sails into the wind.

Hello to hankesslinger...thanks for following :-D

Hypaspists ( Hat )

Good word that, Hypaspist, as monty python would have said, "A tinny word, not a woody one" 
Try saying it when you are drunk! Mind you, I would never be able to say the greek word for them - Ὑπασπιστἠς wether I was drunk or sober :-D 
If you want to know more about these guys look here

Hello to Misha Gericke. Misha is writing her first book, the progress can be seen on her Blog, appropiately titeled, My First Book.
Hello to Jeffrey Beasler. Jeffrey is a scribe and published author who in his own words, working to entertain and maybe even informing a willing audience. This he does at his Blog, Jeffrey Beaslers World of the Scribe.
Hello to Cole Garret. Cole is another Author, who posts little informational pieces done with a sense of dry humour  on his Blog, Dry Humour Daily.

Greek Phalanx (Hat )

The whole set with decals from Little Big man studios. I mean, who wants to paint 48 individual shield patterns!!?

Hello to Sylvia Ney, a published writer whose stuff can be seen and read on her blog, Writing in Wonderland

Frodo

Ok, it´s not a 100% likeness and I have made him look a bit tired, but it could be used alongside 54mm bods.
The bod came from The Kindersuprise LOTR series.

Before..................................................................

...............................................................and After

The base on the second version was created, made and supplied by Stephane of Dr Willets Workshop.
He´s made some very nice little scenic bases which I can highly recommend. I haven´t done it the justice it deserves. Anyway, you can see his full range of Medieval town Bases, HERE

Experiments with Gunpowder 1

Here we see the "helmet cannon" developed by,
Bodkin and Bodger
Blasta Way 13a
London.
It was designed so as to give every Knight artillerie capability on the battlefield whilst leaving his hands free to do the necessary hacking and slashing which was customary at the time.
It will now be test fired by T.Ompkins esq.

3..2..1...

Well.........at least we won´t have to bury him. :-/