General Henry Pineas has just reported to the Plastic Army of the Potomac to take command of the Heavy Brigade.
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| Mounted officer from the new Hat ACW Command. |
Once completed by the arrival of the 2nd Zouaves (still awaiting their nice light blue Zouave uniforms), this brigade will consist of two regiments of Regulars in their black felt hats and two regiments of metal Zouaves (Thank you Cesar).
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Note: This guy was a little bit of a pain to do. His sword arm is separate, handy for making slightly varied poses but tiny and slippery. I lost one 3 times when washing the castings, the third time being its charm and the arm has not been seen since. The second arm (yes I'll now need to steal an arm for the 4th officer in the box, I think I may have a spare WWI figure with binoculars in the cupboard) dropped his glued on arm (yes ever the optimist) during the priming process, so I pinned it but he dropped off his horse during the painting process, throwing his arm as he bounced on the desk. After multiple searches, eventually using the entire search and rescue paraphernalia, l managed to find the arm hidden underneath the desk, several feet away. I then did a more serious pinning and also carved the saddle out a bit to hold him more securely and put a pin into the saddle and up, well, lets just say he's now got a tight seat. Then I mounted him on his individual, permanent base and spackled him in place before painting. So, if I get to personalities for Commanders, this one will be tenacious but cranky and uncooperative by nature.
Excellent adventure of arming the General! He looks very well for all his crankiness.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think he'll do.
DeleteThe end result looks good. I had a good chuckle over your arm story.
ReplyDeleteI was more amused than annoyed myself at the time.
DeleteI use small amounts of blue tack and crazy glue when mounting soft plastic figures like these to their horses. First glue the riders bottom and the insides of his legs then position him on the horse. Remove him and put a tiny ball of blue tack on the saddle then push the rider on so putty takes the shape. It takes about half an hour to dry.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea. The horse trimming needed doing anyway unless I wanted him standing in the stirrups. I'm better with a drill than super glue but I'll keep it in mind.
DeleteAhhh... I love when inanimate object develop character traits and personalities. I hope the good general is as adept at causing frustration to the Confederates as he has been to yourself.
ReplyDeleteI suppose he must have a cousin in the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, as I had a similar slippery experience with a Sherman tank commander in the same scale, although nowhere near as entertaining as your story.
Eric
It is possible.
DeleteI think after all of that, I would have retired the officer to the Pensioners Home where he could perform one-handed duties. Still, a very entertaining story to tell the officers at mess.
ReplyDeleteOnly when he's not around!
DeleteNil desperandum, thats our motto! Although the motto of the Black Watch which I learned as a young cadet also applies to toy soldiers I'm working on: Nemo me impune lacessit. (No one provokes me with impunity)
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ReplyDeletetenacious but cranky and uncooperative by nature
ReplyDeleteif he looses the arm again, time for a green stuff one of the empty sleeve pinned to his tunic
Great stuff Ross.
If he loses that arm, I'll do that!
DeleteGreat figure!
ReplyDeleteNice to get some proper officer figures to work with.
DeleteSome bits of figures disappear through a wormhole in time never to be seen again , the smaller and more vital the better .
ReplyDeleteI once had a Centurion turret disappear inbetween my hand and the floor. Never found again.
DeleteHe has turned out well ... despite his difficult start in life...
ReplyDeleteLoctite make a super glue that is supposed to work on soft plastic... a friend of mine has used it a said it was okay... but I don’t think he uses his models to wargame with
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Loctite-All-Plastics-Glue/dp/B071F78GTT
It will however give you the added joy of sticking little bits to your fingers...
All the best. Aly
At least I've given up on using my low heat soldering iron. It fumes a bit and one mistake.....
DeleteThat's a very nice officer casting. I do agree with you about the separate d glue into place. That's one of the reasons I detest the new plastic miniatures released by so many companies - it seems that you are doing the same tasks over and over. Anyway, Colonel Lannigan is definitely anticipating with pleasure meeting this fine looking gentleman.
ReplyDeleteLuckily there is just the drum for the drummer and the mounted officer.
DeleteA wonderful result and well worth crawling around on your hands and knees for!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing how his twin looks like in grey.
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