40MM First Legion....The Crusades (1 Viewer)

[Ragnar]

Thought i would take a quick pic of these before they get a lick of paint!.These FL castings are realy nice heck there was not even any flash to file off.
Should also point out that they are multi part castings made up of 5 to 7 parts....But nice and easy to assemble .

 

[johnnybach]

How strange Rag - I'm trying these in Humbrol - though I do think they are too small for my eyes - and maybe acrylics would work better - but do so agree that they are beautifully cast and very reasonable to buy. A quick lick though - I doubt in my case - they will take time. jb

 

[Ragnar]

Hey great suff JB that was a nice surprise!......You did well with the Red Cross on the front there nothing wrong with your eyes {sm3}.
Im going to do something a little different with that same foot figure.....but i like how you painted yours as a Templar.
Thanks for the pic JB and im sure they will come up nice in your glossy style.

 

[johnnybach]

Well - encouraged by your comments - I had a go at completing the two Crusader figures that I had begun. I'm using Humbrol enamels - which needs to be applied with care on these small figures - so am using my last precious 5X0 brush for a lot of the detail.

I'm quietly a bit surprised that these 40mm figures have turned out okay - well - they'll do for me anyhow.

How are your figures coming along Rag? jb

 

[Ragnar]

Coming along rather slow JB have been doing some odd jobs around the house!...Did manage to get this one finnished off.
A few more half done but will chip away at them,Yours look nice well done did you get some Saracens also?
Here is my first one should look better mixed in with a crowd though!

 

[johnnybach]

Hi Ragnar - Good strong face on him. No - didn't get any Saracens - this was an experiment - to see whether I could manage the smaller figures. I think I can - just about - with a strong lamp/magnifier, but I find it is tricky with very fluid paint. I agree with them looking better in a group though, (as all TS do, I think), so will also "chip away" at painting the other three foot figures, over time. As you say - Springtime here means lots of jobs around the house and garden - which reduces painting time.

I also have four of the mounted figures to do as well as the other three foot figures - so my completed group will consist of eight figures. I bought them from a French "Histomania" shop by post. When they arrived and I opened the pack - one of the two mounted figures was missing a foot (mis-cast). I sent an e-mail off with a photo of the damaged figure - asking for a replacement figure. The owner of the shop (Patrick) kindly sent his apologies - and another complete pack of another two figures by way of an apology for the damaged original pack. Nice of him - I thought.

I have done a repair on the original faulty one with some milliput - so now have four mounted figures. My other option was to leave him with a bloody stump - as if his foot had been cut off! Howevr, I chose a milliput foot instead!^&grin By swapping the figures around a bit on the horses and painting them differently - they should look different from each other - and unless you peer too closely at the left leg of the original damaged one - look okay! jb

 

[Ragnar]

Hi Johnny, yep horse foot should look good once painted sounds like the shop owner looked after you good to here!
The figure below i dropped him and when i picked him up the sword was bent 90 degrees {eek3}.
When i bent it back into position i thought for sure it would snap off!.....but it held on ^&grin
I just got one pack of Crusaders and Saracens like you just to try them out!

 

[johnnybach]

Hi Ragnar - I understand what you mean when relating your mild panic when the sword was bent. If I could make any criticism at all of these finely detailed 40mm models, it's that the small swords are very easily bent.

If during the casting process for such (necessarily) finely detailed and tiny weapons, a harder material could be used, then perhaps they wouldn't so easily suffer damage. ( I recall the "tin-strip swords on some of the old Britains figures"). I have two such swords, where the cross-guards (where the hilt meets the blade), haven't entirely come out unscathed from the mould - or if they have, they were damaged before going into the packaging. I'll just make some up with a tiny piece of milliput. By contrast - the lance shaft on the horsemen figures is a much stronger piece of metal rod - which cures any potential bend problem.

I suppose its just the tiny size of things with this scale of model which results in problems like this - as we're talking fractions of millimetres for the cross guard.

As to the shop owner - Patrick Male ( histomania@wanadoo.fr ) - excellent service and customer care - couldn't have had better service - and communicated in English with me as well. First rate bloke. jb

 

[wds0855]

These figures look really great. I was tempted to get some of these, but I was hoping Fl would come up with some decals for the shields, and cloaks, etc. Also for the Sacaren shields.

Walt

 

[Ragnar]

Yes Walt shields can be tough when painting by brush {for a hack like me anyway} transfers like you say would make life easy!
I will just have to stick with simple crosses....not much work is needed on the Saracen shields though.

 

[johnnybach]

Here's a few more of these 40mm figures completed. The shields are not all that difficult - if you stick with a simple cross motif with them Walt. I always paint mine off the figure before fixing in place with superglue (metal to metal - then touch in with paint afterwards). Same with scabbards
[Note: I need to repaint the green bases with a mixture of sandy colours to match the mounted figures.]

 

[Ragnar]

Great stuff Johnny those crosses came out a treat!....Thanks for sharing.