Restoring Brunswick Hussars- New Hope Designs. (3 Viewers)

[theBaron]

Nice progress, Scott, shaping up very well!

Prost!
Brad

 

[Hazebrouck]

Have started painting the figures and also commenced work on the blanket rolls. These are rolled from Milliput and once dry I will put some slings around them made from electrical tape before painting.

Scott

 

[Hazebrouck]

Have been making slow progress on these two. I have finished the blanket rolls which I made from Milliput and after painting I glued these onto the horses.

I made bridles from fuse wire and have glued them into position.

Recently I have started work on the missing swords and sabretaches. These are proving to be a difficult job. The Valiant Miniatures sword/sabretache that I have been using as a pattern isn't the greatest. Being pewter it is fairly soft and the sword had no shape so I have had to research the swords more. I decided to make the sabreataches from cardboard while the swords I have cut from sheet plastic. I have always found hilts difficult and have made them from fuse wire glued onto the end of the plastic strip sword blade.

The swords need some thinning down with wet and dry but the shape seems acceptable. Once finished I will attach them to the figure with thin masking tape strips. After painting they should look satisfactory.

Making missing parts for figures can be a struggle{eek3}

Scott

 

[theBaron]

I've made swords already from such stock as the straight half of a bobby pin, a piece of brass rod hammered flat, and those heavy staples used in the packaging for larger appliances. Those materials are all rigid enough to hold their shape, but soft enough to be worked, especially to be filed to shape.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Hazebrouck]

I've made swords already from such stock as the straight half of a bobby pin, a piece of brass rod hammered flat, and those heavy staples used in the packaging for larger appliances. Those materials are all rigid enough to hold their shape, but soft enough to be worked, especially to be filed to shape.

Prost!
Brad

Brad,

Another material to add among those is pewter sheet. I haven't tried it yet but have straightened swords and limbs on pewter figures readily after soaking in hot water. I'm not sure where you can purchase it but may ask at a jewelers. Malleability is its main feature as well as being soft to work with, I'm not sure about the cost.

The biggest problem I find is working on something a centimeter or two long and attaching hilts and the like to them. For the tassles that hang from the hilt end (there is a proper word for them?) I will try Milliput. I can see why K&C and the like went to a larger scale for figures

Scott

 

[theBaron]

...For the tassles that hang from the hilt end (there is a proper word for them?)...

I would call it a sword knot, in English. In German, it's a Porte-epee, for an officer, and the tassel is a Quaste or even a Säbelquaste, and for other ranks, it's a Faustriemen, and the knot is a Troddel. They serve the practical purpose of binding the weapon to the hand, to guard against dropping it, and it served a secondary purpose, even in the 18th century, that it could be used to identify the soldier within his regiment. The colors of the Troddel could be varied according to the company. And typically, the colors of the officers' sword knots reflected the national colors, ie, the heraldic colors of the ruling dynasty. Prussian officers carried a knot of silver and black, for example, representing the Hohenzollerns' black and white.

I've made those from things like fine wire, braided into a cord, to metal sheet, cut into strips, with a blob of putty, or even thick glue, for the knot.

Prost!
Brad

 

[blaster]

Hi Scott,

malleable lead sheets can be purchased from Scalelink. This link brings you directly to the product.

http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Sundries__Lead_foil__Chain__Adhesives.html



Rgds Victor

 

[johnnybach]

If you can still find a bottle with a thin metal sheet covering over the cork - then that makes a good material for all sorts of uses. I've made reins, sword knots, horse blankets, caparisons - and even clothing from it. BUT - it is getting more difficult to find now - as many manufacturers have gone over to using a plastic material.

Found some last year on a French Armagnac (Brandy), bottle. jb

 

[theBaron]

If your dentist still uses an X-ray machine that uses film (as opposed to the new digital X-ray machines), ask him if the film comes in lead foil packets, and what he may do with them, if so. My dentist had a bucket full of lead foil. He had to pay a high price to dispose of it in an environmentally-safe way, it couldn't just be chucked in the trash, and so, he was happy to give it to me.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Hazebrouck]

Finished at Last!

Sabretaches and swords made from cereal boxes, plastic card, fuse wire and masking tape. Reins are electrical paint that the adhesive was removed from and then the tape was painted.

Five months work but looking better now than the images in the first post of this thread.

Scott

 

[Hazebrouck]

From the other side.

 

[Partner]

Nice work Scott

Regards
Kirk