I was working on another regiment of Airfix ACW when I made a surprising (to me) discovery. One of the many things I like about the airfix guys is that while you can make mixed units "fighting", you get enough of certain poses to make a couple of units performing drill, at attention, marching under discipline as opposed to strolling etc. In this case the plan was a unit all in backpacks, a 1st rank in what my contemporary British drill book calls "Low Guard" position
(even if the bayonets didn't get molded on), and a 2nd rank at right shoulder shift (
since the low guard position appears to be British drill not US, I figured I'd have the regiment follow British usage and have the 2nd rank stay at the slope). Lacking sufficient numbers of the latter left over, I decided to widen the selection and have mostly bayoneting guys in both ranks with a few guys with sloped muskets and someone different as a sergeant. I decided to pick on one of the "hi Mom" guys and figured I would just fudge a sword and sash, I seemed to recall vaguely that he was of the few or the only with a bayonet.
Imagine my surprise while painting when I discovered that his "bayonet" reached to below his knee! That's no bayonet, that's a sword! The Bl**dy guy is a sergeant! All of a sudden, his waving pose makes sense! He's a sergeant doing the " C'mon men " thing. I can't believe that I never noticed before!
Born and raised in the suburbs of Montreal 7 decades ago. Began playing with toy soldiers at 5 years. Started painting & converting at about 12 yrs and wargaming about 15 yrs. Never really stopped.
5 years in the Black Watch of Canada Cadets, 5 years at the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean followed by 4 in the navy. 25 years with CPC in IT simultaneous with 23 years running a boarding kennel. Inherited my love of toy soldiers from my mother's father. Married with a pack of litle Italian Greyhounds and a cat. Prematurely retired and enjoying leisure to game, maintaining our 170 yr old farmhouse and just living.
My wife and I are constantly finding "new things" in reruns of movies and TV shows. Just last night I spotted a "gem" in the background of a Midsomer Murder I'd seen before.
ReplyDeleteSo don't kick yourself, Ross. Instead reward yourself for having solved a problem.
-- Jeff
That is indeed a discovery. My very earliest wargaming efforts were very un-ACW-like ACW with loads of Airfix troops painted so badly that you wouldn't believe it. Because I was a madman even then, I bought enough boxes to be able to form complete units in a single position, and - yes - I had an entire regiment of these synchronised aerobics guys who now turn out to be sergeants. My wife of the time was pretty contemptuous of the whole deal anyway, but she really snorted at the "Indiana Disco Dancers" as she called them.
ReplyDeleteThey did look funny, though it's taken 40 years for me to be able to admit the fact!
My compliments on your eyesight and powers of deduction. Nice painting, too.
Tony
I have painted the bayonet/sword on my latest Airfix unit and never made the connection...Doh! Very nice paint job.
ReplyDeleteMatt