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
                                                     

Medieval Seige Ram (Orion)

This ram is from Orions Medieval Siege Engines Part 1
The kit is ok, hard plastic with very little flash and the plastic is the sort that takes glue well but....
1. The holes in the wheels (which are quite small) don´t fit onto the axles and need drilling out
2. The supports for the ramming bar are very thin and even though I took a lot of care removing them from the sprue, three of the 4 snapped, so I replaced them with thread.

With side cladding added

The frame is a bit of a pain to fit together, it´s best to just remove the locating pins, which don´t line up properly  and attach without them



With side cladding removed. The crew are from the Miniart French Foot Soldiers with Rams. I´ll add a permanent crew at some point which will be based directly onto the floor of the ram.

 
Now added to the Croeburn 1813 Diorama,  Mine and Peter´s small addition , the Austrian cuirassiers Regt. Nr 8

Medieval Bombard (working scale model Mk 2)

Another one. This would be a Monster for 1/72nd scaled bods and is more suited for 28mm.

A second before blast off!

As before the Barrel is made from brass tubing covered in paper and Card. The "carriage" is made from an old CD case, the strips glued together to give more thickness and then filed and rubbed with sandpaper to allow the paint to stick.
The Lifting rings are made from thick copper wire.

In Action. In the first Video the bombard has been pegged down as the recoil is pretty massive, which can be seen in the second Video. The force of the recoil throws the bombard off Screen and the "Hand of Bod " can be seen replacing it.

Bannockburn (bits and bobs)

More bods are needed which means making more conversions for the Bannockburn Project, which is fun, getting back to the Feeling of the good old days, when Airfix and matchbox ruled the 20mm plastic bod world, metals were rare and expensive and to get something different meant working with the limited range of sets.

Some Spearmen for one of the next two Schiltrons.

 

 

From left to right, Army of Joan d'Arc,(first two, heads turned to face the other way) Army of Henry V (he was an archer) and the kneeling bod, top half from the army of Joan d´Arc, the bottom half from The Scottish Army of Wallace (the kneeling bod holding what Looks like a Baseball bat)

Both from the Shaab set. Like the one on the far left (above) the one on the left is (appropiately) left handed. Apparently Julius Caeser and Alexander the great were left handed, so if it´s good enough for them....:-D

Some other conversions using the Shaab set.

Hammer replaced with an axe, Lever replaced with a spear.

The "arsonist" bod becomes a command bod, the other Lever Operator gets a halberd from Zvezda

A bit more difficult. Bottom half from the Army of Joan d'Arc set, top half from the Army of Henry V set.

Treadwheel Crane

Brilliant devices, they came in all sizes and types with single wheels or double ones. . One 15th century one was found in 1868 in the (then) unfinished south tower of the Cathederal in Cologne.
This one is an HO/OO version in resin from the modelmakers Modellbau Luft
Direct link to the crane HERE .

A video of a treadwheel crane being used for real at the  Guédelon Castle construction site. This one is an advanced version that turns  so the load can be moved from side to side and not just up and down. Fredericus -Rex has recently brought out a medieval crane similar to the one at Guédelon which can be seen HERE

If anyone hasn´t heard of Guédelon..then this vid is worth a look...I really hope I´m still around to see it finished.

A couple more bits of my construction....a second (or is it third?) prison wagon....

..............and a third carpentum.