Two more King & Country Conversions (1 Viewer)

[Panzer]

I got into King & Country two years ago when I was looking for an Afrika Korps theme chess set. I'd always been facinated with those high quality themed chess sets that you usually only find in unique specialty shops and usually at a cost of your first born. Finally located a couple but was disappointed in the quality so I started collecting King & Country figures to make up my own set.

About a year ago I started my hunt for a Chessboard that would be worthy of placing my King & Country figures on. After searching high and low, including visits to several Asian countries without success, I decided to draw up the plans myself and found a place in the Phillipines that would make it for me. My 24"x24", 35 lb chess board came out superbly. I was amazed at the detailed carving out a beautiful block of Phillipine Narra wood. Still adding some finishing touches to it and will post pictures later.

Here are two more conversions to supplement my set.

Colonel Fritz Bayerlein, Rommel's Afrika Korps Chief of Staff.

 

[Panzer]

Colonel Bayerlein ponders his next move.

 

[Panzer]

Corporal, 4th Indian Division, British 8th Army.

 

[Panzer]

Side view showing 4th Indian Division "Red Eagles" patch.
Semper Fi!
Rick

 

[Joey]

Nice work! Where did you get the head for the Indian soldier?

 

[Leadmen]

Nice work panzer. How did you find 60mm head for Indian figure? Are you planing to convert figures for your whole chess set? How's things on the "rock"? Been forty years since I spent 14 months with 3rd Marine Div. on Okinawa and other places there. Semper Fi John

 

[Panzer]

Joey, Leadmen,
Got the Indian's head from one of the figures from the K&C Afghan series. Filed down the headgear he was wearing and then sculpted the turban.

Leadmen. Great to see that other Devil Dogs share this hobby! Things are fine here on the Rock. Lot of changes since you served here. I'm about halfway into my three year tour here.

Semper Fi!
Rick

 

[Panzer]

Leadmen,
Forgot to answer the other part of your question. Plan is to use most of the K&C figures just as they are. It's hard to improve upon perfection. Also want to avoid duplication of figures so every one of the 32 chess piece will be different.

Need more NCOs and Officers to man the bishop, rook, and knight positions on both sides so I will have to convert some figures. I'm biting at the bit to see to see what Afrika Korps and British 8th Army sets will be released in February and May as I'm sure some of these will grace my chessboard. Anyone got any pictures of the future releases?

Semper Fi!
Rick

 

[Joey]

Panzer,

I was just thinking about that too. I would love to see some pictures of these new releases.

I think they (DAK) were showed at the London Toy soldier show, but their website doesn't show any pictures of the event yet...

 

[Louis Badolato]

Truly fantastic and imaginative work! By the way, just so you are aware that great minds think alike, in the early 1990's Andy produced a King & Country Napoleonic Chess set. It is referenced in a couple of dealer dispatches from 1992/1993 and a price list, but I have never seen a photograph of it. I love your well executed conversions. As to the chess board being custom produced in the Philopines, that is also very true to the history of K&C. Andy produced his Chess Board, Warbirds and early Armored Vehicles out of Philopine Mahogany.

 

[Alexdakar]

Wow! I've heard of plastic conversions but metal. I like this stuff of taking toy soldier collecting up another level. Great work.

 

[jazzeum]

That's really great work Rick. I think people (myself included) would buy your work. I assume that's the Rommel figure which you then changed. Where did you get the head and how did you change the arm poses?

 

[CannonFodder1971]

Rick, They look fantastic. I have thought about a K&C chess set recently but keep changing my mind each time. At the outset I'd say that the pawns would ideally need to be kneeling figures, preferably ones that aren't firing, as that would eliminate the length of the rifle. (Some of the Napoleonics and American Revolutionary War poses look good). For rooks/castles I thought about the standard-bearer from the RA09 or a similar figure, ie distinct enough without obstructing the view of the board. (Not that I'd imagine that anyone would play with them, but it'd be nice if it were still practical for them to do so). For knights and bishops there plenty of difficulties: a mounted figure for the knight would dwarf a board. Hate to say it but many of the LAH parade ground sets, those presenting arms, standing to attention and so forth, would be perfect in terms of being easily distinctive from the rest whilst still making a very small footprint on any square in terms of dimensions. Keep posting pictures of your conversions, as you may yet presuade some of us to take the plunge.

 

[Louis Badolato]

If anybody out there has ever seen (or better yet owns) the King & Country Napoleonic Chess Set that was produced in the early 1990's I would love a photo of it for the book. I think Andy's approach to the poses to use for a Chess Set would probably be very helpful to collectors trying to make their own out of K&C figures.

 

[sceic2]

There seems to be a great number of very creative people involved in this hobby. Rich, although we have never met, I honor your work. Metal is such a hard (no pun intended) medium. Really super conversions. Michael

 

[Panzer]

Louis, Brad, Alex, Michael, Cannonfodder, thanks for the comments!

Brad. The Fritz Bayerlein figure is actually the Feldgendarmerie (military police) NCO from the AK “Checkpoint” set. Added new arm from another figure, and map and binos from a third figure. Removed the Feldgendarmerie gorget and square shoulder worn flashlight and scratch built the set of goggles using pictures of the ones Bayerlein wore. Can’t see it in the picture but the field cap is a whiter bleached out color more so than the tunic. Unlike many German officers, Bayerlein was not a flashy dresser and always wore a well worn sun bleached (all ranks) field cap and a regular soldiers issue field blouse with all ranks collar Litzen so the NCO figure was a good match. Bayerlein also wore the Iron Class 1st Class, Panzer Assault badge, and the wound badge on his field blouse so the decorations on the K&C figure also matched.

Cannonfodder. The Napoleonic’s and American Revolutionary war set would make great chess pieces and there seems to be a good selection of poses to work with. Last time I was in the States, I stopped at a K&C dealer in Virginia and saw the K&C Romans up close. These were absolutely stunning figures with a good selection of poses! I believe these would also make great chess pieces. Now with their opponents coming out on the horizon there might be enough to make a complete set. Not sure how much longer I can resist these.

Semper Fi!
Rick

 

[jazzeum]

Rick,

Thanks for the detailed description. You obviously must have access to good metalworking equipment and paints because they look darned good.

I asked Andy about pictures from the new AK sets and he said they should be available in about a month.

 

[Alexdakar]

I new Andy was going to make a Greif halftrack. It looks cool with its radio operator inside.

 

[fishead19690]

Nice conversions!!! I like to mess around with plastic conversions and have thought of tring to convert some del prados. Could you give a little advice in the conversion of metal verses plastic. What do you use to remove arms and heads? And do you just use a 2 part epoxy for making parts and filling arm gaps and such like with plastic?

 

[Panzer]

Fishhead,
I have no experience in plastics and these two figures are my third and fourth metal conversions so I'm by no means an authority on the subject.

I used a small fine-toothed hacksaw blade to remove the heads and padded pliers and hacksaw blade to remove the arms. Slow, careful, and not too much force just like a dentist extracting a tooth. I drilled holes in the neck and head and added a metal pin for support and stability. After several fittings and light filing I added a light coat of 2-part epoxy. No superglue. Believe me these heads aren't coming off once the epoxy dries.

Used Humbrol and Tamiya matt enamel paints. These are a little more difficult to apply than water based paints but I like the finish and the lasting durable quality of enamel.

Semper Fi!
Rick