Gentlemen in red

Prince August Guardsmen & Line in Home Service Helmet

I've been busy with other things recently, mainly baby related, but I pulled out some old Prince August castings I did last year and set to with rasp and clippers.  They are not my best work, but with some greenstuff they are at least respectable. 

Pursuing Soviet BMP just out of shot

Played a great game of Black Ops the other night - again set in my 1970s Soviet occupied UK. Wolfie & the Tooting Popular Front and the cast of the Bill (plus some from Spearhead) versus the Russkies. They pulled off a magnificent heist where the TPF turned the escort into a giant smoking crater with home made nitro, DI Burnside from the Bill jumped aboard the supply truck carrying the target dragged the driver out and drove the thing off the board while being chased by a Soviet BMP. 

Prince of Wales Own

I thought since I was going to do a few figures in Home Service, it might be fun to some as the Prince of Wales Own.  A good friend of mine is late of that particular parish and it seemed like a fine idea to add him to the collection in lead. 

Four Irish Guardsmen

I also pulled out a few Guardsmen while I was at it and began dollying them to add to the little collection of the Irish Guards that are marching across the mantel piece.  One thing I noticed though was that I'd run out of GW Goblin Green for the bases.  The new GW paint, which is I think called Warboss Green, is very, very thin.  I had to do three coats to get decent coverage. I thought it was a bit odd to be honest. 

Line Infantryman in Home Service Helmet

Still there is something very soothing about painting these very simple figures.  It undemanding and the results are a known quantity.  They will probably end up decorating a book shelf somewhere as well.  Though I will have to get some proper smelly varnish for them first though. Stuff that needs turps - the water based variety simply does not cut it. 

Cigarette card with details of the PWO

Though having wrestled with the intricacies of plug in heads (the bodies for the line are cast seperately) I think I might do a few more.  The 18th Royal Irish, being the old local regiment, might be the next lot to get the treatment. 

Casting session

The closest I get to competent DIY

A few weeks ago (actually over a month ago at this stage)* , I pulled out the old casting equipment and set to.  I will be busy come November, so I thought I'd try and get a head start on the Christmas casting. 

The Holy Families gathering 

Mrs Kinch got me a Nativity set for Christmas last year and hinted rather firmly that she would like one cast for this year.  I would like to make one for my Godmother as well, I thought I better get weaving.  I got quite a bit done and even snuck in a few Guardsmen towards the end. 

I have gotten a little better at casting and will work up the courage to vent a mould any day now.  I have started warming the moulds in the oven before hand which seems to help some of the flow problems.  It is certainly more effective than allowing the moulds to warm up through use. Another little lesson learned. 

Every day is a school day. 

*Entries are at Joy & Forgetfulness are written as and when I feel like it. And published in much the same way. 

Indian lancer

The Finished Product

I finally finished this chap a little while ago after adding a green stuff beard.  I am sickeningly pleased with him.  The finish is deliberately simple to fit with the toy soldier aesthetic. 

A work in progress shot

One thing I learned while painting this chap is that with large scale figures, one needs to take ones time and do two coats. The coverage can be quite patchy otherwise. 

A certain amount of tongue poking was required to paint the lines on the turban, which took two goes. The bamboo lines on the lance took a little bit of work to get right too.  

The beard doesn't look too bad though.

I had to be quite careful with the varnish on this chap, as it tended to pool rather spectacularly and I had to quickly dab the excess varnish away.  I'm very happy with the results. 

This chap is patrolling the book shelves in the library and keeping the peace between modern fiction and Cold War history.  

In praise of beards

I have never had the moral character and sheer strength of will required to grow a beard. However, I have always greatly admired those men who can achieve such heights of facial distinction.

Sadly I am smothered with a chest infection at present. This has meant that what little time I have at present has to be devoted to study.  But I did get the chance to do a little bit of work on my lancer while watching the telly with Mrs Kinch. I'm no good at all with green stuff and had to go back add extra bushiness to this beard after undercoating the model. We shall see if he improves with paint.  I have found a spot of colour and gloss varnish covers a multitude of sins. 

The eyes have it

Well here are four chaps done in four different styles - from left to right-highlighted as directed by Sergeant Roddis -then blue eyes - then brown eyes - then black eyes. To be honest I think the black eyes have it myself

I was having a look through this rather excellent book the other day and it really is a feast for the eyes. There are some wonderful things in here. Though I should mention that the book was a gift from Johnny C.  

It really is a window onto a different world. 

Looking at these chaps here, Britain's seems to have favoured pink cheeks and big wide eyes. I'm not sure how well these work on my own figures, so I may go with a different approach.

Eyes front!

I have tried out a couple of things and come to the following conclusions. 

1) Standard eyes - too manga-ish. 

2) Suggestion of eyebrow - this looked a bit odd to my eye as to make it visible it had to be quite far down on the face and didn't look right. I think this maybe an issue with the fact the bearskin comes down quite low over the eyes than anything else. 

3) Black dot - pictured above, this seems to work as it suggests without being too realistic. I might try it again with brown or dark blue. We shall see. 

Irish Guards

I was messing around with these over Christmas. These are classic toy soldiers from the Prince August range. I always think of the Guards as the archetypal toy soldier which is probably the legacy of Christmas biscuit tins and storybooks. They cast neatly and were under coated in red spray from army painter. Details were block painted in with Vallejo colours. I'm still in two minds about how to do the eyes as previous attempts have looked a bit odd, the sort of staring manga eyes that follow you around the room. I think some consultation may be in order. 

Uniform, as always, is that of the Irish Guards. 

Sent from my iPhone

30th Lancer

Quite an imposing sight

Over Christmas, I did some completely frivolous mucking about with some Prince August moulds. This is, of course, as opposed to the very serious business of building armies for wargaming.  I quite enjoy casting, there's something quite soothing about doing something with your hands.  This was my first time messing about with a cavalry mould in 1/32 scale, but for a first effort he hasn't come out too badly. The only flaw that I can see in this specimen is that one of the horses ears is missing, but I think a little green stuff will sort that out relatively easily.

 

I'm rather happy with how the lance turned out

One thing that I've noticed with cavalry figures is that they take a great deal of metal, but they have a pleasing solidity in the hand that is quite satisfying.

 

For the most part this cast quite cleanly, though I had to have two trys at the arms, which didn't quite cast correctly. The lance is a puzzlement as it comes in two parts, but with a little care they went together reasonably well. I'm not sure I like having the pennant as a cast on part, as I think I would have prefered to add my own. We shall try it as is for the time being. 

 

The figure was trimmed and glued with epoxy as standard superglue wouldn't be quite up to the job. If the epoxy does not do the job, we might have to consider pinning.

 

The uniform is that of the 30th (Royal) Lancers, though there may be possibilities for paint conversions for other regiments.

Sitting a little far back for my taste

 

Prince August describes the 30th as follows;

 

 

"This unit was raised in Hyderabad, India, in 1862, by Captain John Gordon of the Coldstream Guards, by a treaty with the independent Nizam of Hyderabad; who was forced to give up large tracts of his land to pay for its upkeep and maintenance. According the the treaty the regiment was to provide security for the Nizam, but for the British authorities it served the added purpose of keeping his own power in check. Thus, when the Nizam's younger brother rebelled in 1929, the regiment moved into Hyderabad City and restored order. Later in 1854, the units name was changed to the 4th Cavalry and it became part of the Hyderabad contingent. During the Indian mutiny (1857-1858) Gordons Horses served as part of the Central Indian Field Force and took part in the defeat of a large rebel army near Mehidpus. It took part also in the relief of Neemuch and the capture of Jhansi. The regiment later saw action in the opening phases of the second Afgan War (1879), in several action o the North-west frontier. It served in Burma from 1887, undertaking police and anti-guerrilla activities. In 1890 it was renamed the 4th lancers, and again in 1903 it was renamed the 30th Lancers."

I shall have to correct that lean

On the whole, I'm relatively happy with this first effort, though there was a lingering uneasiness that I couldn't quite put my finger on until I looked at the photographs a second time.  I can't ever recall having seen a clean shaven Indian lancer. While I could add a painted on beard, I don't think that mere paint could possibly do justice to the magnificent facial hair sported by our brothers on the sub-continent.

I don't think paint could do justice to this.

(Image property of Amit & Naroop from their Singh Project)

A make and mend sort of a day

A collection of Christmas decorations fresh out of the mould

For a variety of reasons, things have not been great of late. The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. 

Casting away

So the obvious solution was to disregard all the things that I should be doing and set down to a spot of casting.  Prince August do a range of Christmas decorations and they have become something a small tradition in the Kinch household.  I make a set each year for the children of friends. 

I never do seem to have enough clamps

Each year I pick up a new mould and add another two baubles to the set. There is a pleasure that cannot be expressed in making things with your own hands.  I know that they are simple enough, but I always enjoy the process of breaking in a new mould. I even ran up a couple of traditional toy soldiers for myself while I was at it.  They shall have to go marching through the library. 

Father Christmas & Reindeer

Every year there's something of a rush to get them all finished, so getting started early meant that hopefully that will be avoided, but I doubt it. But casting always puts me in a good mood, so it took two birds with one stone. 

I shall have to lay in some more metal. 

Parcels & Progress

A surprise in the post from Young Master Gow

I was very happy to arrive home the other day to discover a parcel waiting for me from Young Master Gow, who took some time away from scrumping apples and skinning his knees on things to send me a surprise. This was a boxful of American Civil War spares in 1/72.  Now as it happens I have no intention of doing the War between the States in 20mm, however, I have learned from Carlo that there is an extraordinary number of mid 19th century European armies that can be produced using these figures and I will be sorting them with that in mind. 

Many thanks and the compliments of the season to Young Master Gow - I only hope he gets something just as nice underneath the tree. 

Which reminds me I still have pictures from Old John of some Danish ACW conversions to share with you. Must get weaving on that. 

A surprise for my father in law

My father in law told me a story while we were away about a particular cake that his mother used to bake that had white icing and that was always topped by an iceskating lady mounted on a small mirror. My father in law has been doing trojan work here at Chez Kinch and this seemed like a nice surprise and the least I could do considering all his hard work. The basic models is a ballerina from Prince August's Steadfast Tin Soldier set. Adding iceskates was actually the trickiest aspect of the conversion.  I tried wire, which looked odd, plastic card, which was far too big and then settled on paper, which worked. 

A hat and scarf were added with greenstuff and the base trimmed to sit an a small mirror. Mrs. Kinch sacrifised an old compact to provide the mirror and I gingerly levered it out without causing seven years bad luck for which I am very grateful. 

There has also been some more good news - 

- The War Room floor is finished. We have to wait 72 hours before the last coat of varnish can take "heavy traffic", but the long slog is finally over. Hurrah!

- Even better, there is a new addition to the extended family. Ed & Aoife have had baby Alexander, ten fingers and ten toes, all healthy and well. There is much rejoicing.