The Army of Frederick the Great (3 Viewers)

[Oberstinhaber]

"I have just tried to attach 3 pages reconstructed from their 1997 Catalogue. But the "system" wants me to "resize" the files. Sorry, I don't know how to do that."


Dear Colleagues,

Well, I have made an attempt to resize the files, and it appears to have worked!

As I said in my previous post, these are first class white metal castings in "true" 54mm scale. To the best of my knowledge and belief, no one else has done anything like it. They particularly appeal to me because they are "even-handed", by that I mean one gets the Austrian opposition as well.

Sculpting is excellent, but especially the horses. The drawings accurately reflect the poses.

I know that there are numbers missing from the sequence, I do not know whether or not, that they have been "filled in" since 1997 when my Catalog was printed.

Thank you John for posting the pic of the Puchala set of the Prussian Cuirassier and Austrian Dragoon which I mentioned.

Regards,

Bob

 

[Oberstinhaber]

Nice work Brad....

I can see where they got the pose from :

but on Berlin Zinnfiguren website they have this image of the same figure, so maybe yours was a bad casting, as this horse is much smoother???

John

Brad,

I am surprised that you went for the Piepp figure, when your old friends at Rylit do the same pose (RLC 8) of von Zeiten throwing his pipe in the air.

Please see the attached image from the kit photograph. I haven't painted up my figure, but the casting looks clean and smooth. The horse is in two parts which have been hollowed out, in the usual way. This looks like a typically nice Rylit casting of a great subject.

Maybe this figure is no longer in production? Every time I see them at Kulmbach, they seem to have less stuff to sell. My German isn't good enough to have an in depth conversation about such matters. Perhaps you could enlighten us all about what is happening at Rylit.

Regards,

Bob

 

[theBaron]

Brad,

I am surprised that you went for the Piepp figure, when your old friends at Rylit do the same pose (RLC 8) of von Zeiten throwing his pipe in the air.

Please see the attached image from the kit photograph. I haven't painted up my figure, but the casting looks clean and smooth. The horse is in two parts which have been hollowed out, in the usual way. This looks like a typically nice Rylit casting of a great subject.

Maybe this figure is no longer in production? Every time I see them at Kulmbach, they seem to have less stuff to sell. My German isn't good enough to have an in depth conversation about such matters. Perhaps you could enlighten us all about what is happening at Rylit.

Regards,

Bob

I have to confess, I haven't yet ordered anything direct from Frau Litterscheidt! ^&grin I have been in contact with her and she sent me her catalog, but since I've been ordering things from Scholtz for so many years, I didn't even think about it.

I'm glad you posted this, because it reminds me that time passes, and our favorite makers and vendors, and collectors all pass. I should order from Rylit, before we get to a time where it's no longer possible.

I expect to have a couple more figures finished over Christmas some time, so I'll have some new photos.

Everyone, have a Merry Christmas, or in the spirit of my thread, Fröhliche Weihnachten!
Brad

 

[Oberstinhaber]

Achtung !!

Just browsing on ebay Germany. It seems that Hachette has just started a new Partwork series (figure and booklet) on the Armies of Frederick the Great.

Figure Nr 2, a Prussian Kuraissier, was up at 6.99 Euros, which seems to be the shop price for this figure (Nr. 1 was 2.99 Euros!!) I guess it will follow the usual Del Prado/Hachette marketing plan, first 3 figures (of which they usually make 1,000,000 copies) will be cheap to draw in the punters.

Last series on this topic was by Franklin Mint in 1986 (200th anniversary of Frederick the Great's death) So it should be popular.

I suppose all of you Prussophiles will be estatic.

Me, I'm still waiting for someone to do a decent series on the Armies of Maria Theresia!

I live in HOPE!

Gruss Gott,

Bob

 

[theBaron]

Thanks for the tip, Bob! I keep a bookmark for eBay.de, too, and I'll have to look for them.

I have a number of things queued up again, but I've been spending more time on my scale models, trying to clear the bench. Most recently, I resumed work on a trio of Rose cuirassiers that I started years ago--I think I have an SBS thread somewhere in the Painters forum for them--but as I got close to finishing, I realized that there are some details with the kit figures that just need to be corrected.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Oberstinhaber]

Question about New Hope Design (Men at Arms Collection) Figure Number MA 0925

This series of Prussian figures has been around for a very long time.

Within the last 12 months I acquired most of them from ebay except for the Sapper figure (MA 0925) as it was of Infanterie Regiment Nr. 22. I was only interested in the "sets" of figures relating to Infanterie Regiments Nrs 6, 15, and 40.

A couple of weeks ago, I bid for and won a figure kit clearly marked MA 0925, Sapper, Regiment Nr. 6 ???

Well it arrived today, and what I saw on ebay is what I got.

In this last 2 weeks I have searched every known reference to the New Hope Design catalogue, and they all say MA 0925 is a Sapper IR 22!

Does anyone know the answer? Is this a "new" figure, or just an old one which has been re-named. As I didn't bother to get an "original", I have nothing to compare it with.

Just Curious.

Regards,

Bob

 

[Obee]

Bob,

than should be very easy to recognise by looking at the jacket.

No 6 Regt has no lapels, and 6 rows of lace

No 22 Regt has lapels, but no lace

The OSPREY Men At Arms book #240 shows the Pioneer as No22 regiment, so I suspect its a typo error.

Please let us know how you get on, but if you don't want him, I'll give him a good home

John

 

[theBaron]

Question about New Hope Design (Men at Arms Collection) Figure Number MA 0925

This series of Prussian figures has been around for a very long time.

Within the last 12 months I acquired most of them from ebay except for the Sapper figure (MA 0925) as it was of Infanterie Regiment Nr. 22. I was only interested in the "sets" of figures relating to Infanterie Regiments Nrs 6, 15, and 40.

A couple of weeks ago, I bid for and won a figure kit clearly marked MA 0925, Sapper, Regiment Nr. 6 ???

Well it arrived today, and what I saw on ebay is what I got.

In this last 2 weeks I have searched every known reference to the New Hope Design catalogue, and they all say MA 0925 is a Sapper IR 22!

Does anyone know the answer? Is this a "new" figure, or just an old one which has been re-named. As I didn't bother to get an "original", I have nothing to compare it with.

Just Curious.

Regards,

Bob

I don't think it's new or renamed. I agree with John, it sounds like a typo.

 

[Obee]

Here is my latest project :

The Death of Field Marshal Von Schwerin at The Battle of Prague, 6th May 1757

Using the casting by Tradition of London, which was based on the plate in Illustration for Der alte Fritz in fünfzig Bildern für Jung und Alt (Paul Kittel, c 1910). Illustrations by Carl Röchling and Richard Knötel,
I will be completing this vignette over the coming month as posting images of the completed set here.

I have wanted to get these figures for many years, but always put it off in favour of others from that company, but recently when I needed to purchase some figures for a customer who wanted my painting skill, I decided to add theses to my order.



As can see I finished the Field Marshal and now the 5 musketeers are awaiting their 'lick of paint'.



Just the Marshal, but note that the flag isn't as upright as in the plate, but matches the assembled kit on the Tradition website, in this way it should defy gravity and not bend.

More to follow when the 5 musketeers have been completed.

John

 

[Obee]

Today I have completed one of the musketeers from the 24th Regiment, the wounded soldier.



Here is a front on view showing the details of the lace and pompoms on his hat.


Compare that with the image supplied with the kit:

It stated that the pompoms should be white and the lace white with no mention of lace right around the cuffs nor on the lower sleeves.
I'm glad that I have a good resources to show me what's right

Now on with another 4 figures ...

John

 

[Obee]

The last figure for this week ....



Musketeer reaching to catch the falling flag.

and the image from Tradition, showing that I have applied more detailed painting to represent the 24th Regt.

Now here are the 3 completed figures, with 3 more advancing musketeers to go:



John

 

[Obee]

Today I have completed painting the rest of the musketeers to complete the diorama:



An as seen from the Austrian lines .....



I will be adding an NCO to reach for the flag and another wounded figure later, so keep looking out for them.

Hope you like the completed job

John

 

[BHogan]

Wonderful work Obee! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Cheers,

Brendan

 

[Gebhard]

Excellent job John,

What a great kit & thread. Anytime someone starts talking Knötel & Röchling you just know they know, if that makes sense ^&grin. regards Gebhard

 

[Obee]

Here are my 2 latest figures from the Army of Frederick the Great:



They are both Rose Miniatures, that I bought from John Eden as a 3 pack on his eBay site are cast from the original moulds that he now owns, hence the lower sized base.

The figures are painted as the 2nd and 3rd Hussar Regiments, who both wore the brown busby hat. I also have a 3 pack of mirlton hatted figures that I will paint next as later numbered regiments,

John

 

[Oberstinhaber]

Hi Guys,

I have just acquired the complete set (25 figures) of the Franklin Mint Frederick the Great set issued in 1986 to mark the 200th anniversary of his death.

On my shelves I have some 22 figures from that set which I now have to dispose of.

Would anyone be interested? I am hoping to sell at $AUST 25.00 per figure. Please PM me for a list.

Regards,

Bob

 

[Der Alte Fritz]

Well, we're snowed in here in Bethlehem, the first proper snow of this winter, and what better time to post some more pictures from my collection! I've shoveled several times, made some soup, and had a couple beers (Brooklyn Brewing Co.'s dark chocolate stout, a Christmas present from friends), and uploaded some pictures. So, here goes!

First, the old devil himself, der Alte Fritz, Old Fritz, as he was endearingly known, to his troops, and to the Berliners who saw him ride past every day:

This casting is by New Hope Designs, from their series based on Osprey's "Men At Arms" series, which I do not hesitate highly to recommend. I liked the pose of this figure, the dynamic king, directing, always hands-on. Here is another angle:

You can recognize New Hope Designs figures by the octagonal base. And if you have the figure in your hand, the bases are marked underneath as such.

Here is another figure of Frederick that I have, this one, depicting him out for a walk with his beloved dogs:

This kit was made by William Murray of NJ, who traded as "The Old Guard"
Alone among the officers, Frederick usually wore his coat closed, with his waist sash over it, because he felt the cold, and, well, he was the king, so he could wear his uniform as he pleased. One contemporary compared him to a Scottish chieftain, for the way he wore his uniform, to emphasize his connection to his army, the way a laird related to his clan.

Next up, another member of the royal house, the king's younger brother, Prince Henry:

He was an able field commander, by some accounts, more skilled than Frederick himself, though my own reading is that they were equally talented but with different emphases in their generalship. Henry commanded his own army, in the "central" front of Saxony and Bohemia, during the Seven Years War. Prince Henry displayed great personal courage; for example, at the siege of Prague, when Regiment 13 stopped at the edge of a river, for fear of drowning, he himself plunged in, to show that it could be crossed, and so, restarted their advance.

Here is another picture from another angle:

This figure is another Puchala casting, and is based on a sketch, I believe, by Menzel. I added a little bit of Miliput for groundwork, which let me push the map table and figure into the base.

More to follow...

The pose is based on a Menzel print.

Jim

 

[theBaron]

The pose is based on a Menzel print.

Jim

Quite correct! Many of the kits you'll find are based on illustrations such as Menzel's, and Knötel's, as well as others. Ulrich Puchala's portrait figures such as Prince Henry (above), Duke of Württemberg, and Frederick seated in the chair, are all from such illustrations. John's group of the Death of Schwerin at Prague from Tradition, is from a Röchling print. The New Hope Designs figures are good representations of the drawings in the Osprey books, too. Many of Rylit's castings are based well-known illustrations, too. I have a couple on the bench right now, and I hope to finish them over the next couple of days and post them.

I find it a good yardstick, to judge the quality of the casting, if there's a portrait to use to compare.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Hi Brad
nice to see this thread up again and good to hear that you are keeping yourself busy painting {sm4} I managed to get hold of a few Rylit's castings and some old Puchalas as well.
Hope I ever come around painting them. At the moment I am just about to finish the old iconic Elastolin portrait figure of Friedrich with his hounds. Gloss finish to get the best of
both worlds - coming up quite nicely and I hope to get them finished by the weekend.

Looking forward to see your latest painting results,..- nice thread just keep "Fritze" going!!!!

Regards
Wolfgang:salute::

 

[Obee]

Here is my latest figure from the period of Frederick the Great ...



JW90-126 Grenadier, Potsdam Giant Grenadiers 1714

Its a 90mm figure that I bought from a UK eBay seller,, and when I saw him, he was not very well painted, see below:



I used paint stripper to clean off the old paint, removed the plastic base, then undercoated and repainted him.

Yes, I know that this figures wasn't from Fredrick the Great's reign, but from his father's but thought he would fit into this thread, so hope you like my work.

John