Saturday 3 March 2018

Odds and ends...

As the lead/plastic pile has dwindled I have been working on a number of odd pieces that have been laying around for a while, and some of them have been painted and waiting for a purpose for a while too.

 

First up is a 4-pound gun set. This is made up using a Perry 4lb gun – they sell the gun separately in their French in Egypt range – and three crew from the Victrix set. The remaining four crew will help to crew the remaining two 4-pound sets I will need to complete Friant’s Infantry Division.




 

Second up is the remaining 8-pound gun from the Victrix artillery box made up in travelling position. For this a green stuff barrel plug and fixing rope has been fitted, the leather strap has been put across the touch hole and the barrel is positioned further back in the trail. The last image has the gun attached to the French in Egypt camel drawn limber.





Third up is an incomplete battalion built from the skirmishing figures that come from the Perry French infantry box. There are two of these figures on each sprue and have sixteen on hand. I have decided to mass these into a single battalion for the regiment légère. The command is still to arrive for these and yes I know that the centre companies shouldn’t have epaulettes and that is something I am prepared to live with - I could have carved them off, but chose not to in the end.


Finally I have painted up the two spare dragoon troopers that were left over after building the two dragoon regiments. These, along with two similar cuirassier and two carabinier figures will be used as aides to pad out senior commander’s stands or as couriers. With few simple conversions - glueing on of different arms and hands - quite a bit of varierty can be attained.






On their way are two parcels from the Perrys containing a few dismounted dragoons to complete previously uncompleted units, and the first of the British in Egypt, counting all up 196 foot figures, 8 mounted figures and two guns – about two month’s work by my count.

12 comments:

  1. Very fine work on your odds and ends. I like them all!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. Looking forward to the arrival of the first British in Egypt figures. In the meantine two regiments of cuirassiers are keeping me amused at the painting table.

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  2. Great stuff Mark, looking forward to seeing the British.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Me to. I hope that the Beast from the East has not delayed their departure from the UK.

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  3. Nice mix of stuff, I've got the earlier victrix artillery set, interesting point you make about assembling what you need the night before, I've only assembled en masse which can be slightly depressing!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. Like you I have experienced the depression of mass assembly. It is OK if you have only a head and a pack to glue on, but when there is the horse to assemble then the body, the head, an arm, a sword and a carbine...it gets tedious. But six foot or three mounted is comfortable and when done I can fix them to the old paint pots I use to hold them when I paint, and they are all ready for me the next evening.

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  4. A nice assortment here Mark, and it all looks very useful.

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    1. Although a number of those items will not be finished for some months though...the British in Egypt will come first.

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  5. Great job Mark, I like the cannon in particular!

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    1. Thanks Mark. I have done a. Few interesting conversions of the remaining cuirassier figures for aides and couriers through a bit of surgery on heads, arms and hands. The next post I hope will have them and all of the cuirassiers and carabiniers in it.

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  6. I love that camel limber...
    I wonder how manageable it was?

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I agree it is a great model...shame I could only justify one!

      Excellent question though, and it got me thinking that you don't see many pictures of camel drawn wagons and carts so I did a Google search and there are heaps of images, including a ten camel team towing a wagon with 10 tons of charcoal, so they must be reasonable to manage. But wouldn't it be fun to have an "unreasonable camel" rule where on a double six one of them decides he has had enough and just sits down, then you have to roll a six to get it to get it moving again!

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