Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Tuesday 25 June 2019

Reining in My Enthusiasm - Whinge of the Day

I was checking out my painting queue, and - inevitably - I came back to a pile of mounted figures which are stuck until I find out how to assemble them. These figures are mostly (though not all) from Hagen Miniatures, and they are splendid little figures, but they are all the work of the demon sculptor, Massimo, who likes to produce his horses without reins.


Here's an example - this is part of a very nice set of French general staff - you can get these from Hagen. Obviously, you simply have to fit reins, running from the bridle bit, round the rider's hand(s), draped artistically, depending on the action. What could be easier?

Well, my problem is that I cannot find a method of fitting reins to the horses which works for me - I've had so many harrowing episodes trying to solve this that I have now developed something of a phobia about it - I have managed to fit about 3 horses with reins successfully over a 3 year period, and there have been a lot more than 3 failures. In my project boxes, waiting to be assembled, I have 40 Spanish cavalry, 20 Portuguese cavalry, 10 French cavalry and about 30 or 40 assorted staff and celebrity figures, and none of these is going to make any progress at all until I understand what to do about it.

I have tried fuse-wire of various thicknesses (a couple of successes, but it is a nightmare to bend to shape, and won't take a sharp curve), cotton thread (a recommendation from Hagen - it sort of works, but it's hairy, man!), copper wire, aluminium wire (assorted thicknesses from 0.56mm to 1mm), lead foil from wine bottles, nylon fishing line (2 thicknesses)...

This should be a reasonable thing to achieve, I'm hardly a craftsman, but I have many years experience of hacking figures about, drilling, reshaping - my regular re-heading jobs in 20mm have caused my wife some unease for a while now. This reins issue has me flummoxed, and no mistake.

Any sensible or wise suggestions as to how I may shape up and get on with this? All help would be most welcome. Solutions involving superglue just cause an exasperating mess - even with the official accelerator, the bloody stuff is hopeless.

I've even had a look at some online sites which describe how to tie fishing flies, which I thought might be useful, for techniques and materials, but this is getting well away from the topic. Anyone done this? A few kind words could change things quite a bit...!


Topic #2 - a Painting Story

I'm currently painting batches of Les Higgins French infantry - I've been lucky enough to get some welcome assistance with painting lately, but this work will be ongoing for a while yet. I was reminded of another occasion - many years ago - when I was painting Les Higgins Frenchmen, which makes me wonder whether my life has progressed at quite the rate it should have, but no matter.

This story is set in a flat I once had in the Marchmont area of Edinburgh, which must date it pretty accurately to about 1974, I guess. I had a phone call from my friend Allan, who was a regular wargaming opponent and buddy at  that time. This was on a Friday, when I was at work. Allan was expecting a visit from an old pal, and was going out drinking with him on Saturday evening - if I was up for it, they would call for me and we could go up to Chic Murray's at Bruntsfield Links.

Fine - I was up for that. Saturday came and went, and no-one called and no-one rang. That's OK - I've been stood up before. On Sunday afternoon I was finishing off some wargames figures (the aforementioned Higginses) when the doorbell rang. It was Allan, with his friend Lammy.

Lammy was originally an Edinburgh man, but Allan had met him in Zimbabwe some years before. He now lived in Gibraltar (I think), and was back in Edinburgh for his mother's funeral. [His name, I should explain, was Lawrence, but he was called Lammy as a reference to a long-forgotten kids' radio programme called "Larry the Lamb" - I could tell you wanted to know this.]

Lammy was a bit loud for me - drink had obviously been taken already, and he was definitely a tad bumptious.

"Ah - painting...!" he roared, and he sat down at my painting desk, switched on my old Anglepoise lamp and produced a folding magnifying glass from his pocket - he began to study my paintwork.

I wasn't very comfortable with this at all - my painting was probably effective enough from the opposite side of the table, preferably in very dim light, but I was not happy at the prospect of a serious review. Allan explained that Lammy was a very keen figure painter, and regularly organised and judged painting competitions at his club in Gibraltar (or wherever it was). That didn't make me any more relaxed at all, especially when Lammy began to announce his findings...

"Hmmm....  Aha!...   Hmmm... Gosh..." and then, more alarmingly, "Oh dear...."

"I take it this is a line regiment?" Lammy directed his question at Allan, who nodded to me, with his eyebrows raised. I realised that I must still be there, after all.

"Yes," I said, "they are the 76e Ligne, they are intended for the Peninsular War in about 1811."

Lammy was delighted - he tipped his head and looked at me sideways, like Hercule Poirot making an accusation. If he'd had a moustache he'd have twirled it.

"You realise, of course, that only Guard regiments had brass fittings on their muskets? The line had steel, so this is incorrect. Why did you paint brass fittings...?"

I was getting a bit hot and bothered at this point, but Allan cut in, very smoothly.

"No, it is not incorrect. The 76th Line had been on service in Martinique, as you will probably be aware, and my guess is that Tony has assumed, very reasonably, that they will have brought their muskets back with them. Of course, the muskets issued for colonial service were of superior quality and had brass fittings, like the Guard's."

"Erm - oh yes, of course..." said Lammy, and he excused himself to visit the toilet before we went up to Chic Murray's.

I was very impressed, and said to Allan, "How did you know that stuff about the French colonial service? - I just thought all the muskets had brass."

"I know next to nothing about French muskets," said Allan, "but I can bullshit with the best of them. Lammy is a very indifferent painter, to be blunt about it, and not much of an expert, so just nod and say yes when it seems appropriate. It'll be fine."

Edinburgh drinking-places of the 1970s - this was a good one - lots of after-hours darts matches, and they had a fantastic mynah bird that used to swear at the customers...

30 comments:

  1. Tony, if it was me I might be tempted to leave the reins off altogether. If you think about it they would hardly be visible from normal playing distance. A bit of a cop out from the sculptor leaving them out in the first place!

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    1. Hi Ian. That's a sensible idea - if I did sensible that is what I might do. Trouble is that if you mix the horses without reins in with horses who have them, it looks a bit odd - it's not easy to identify what's wrong, if you don't know, but something is out of whack - an effect that is emphasised by Massimo's fondness for horses with long, thin necks. I have to watch what I say next, because it was a superb job, but I recently saw some pictures of Portuguese cavalry which someone had painted up - the Hagen castings, which are maturing nicely in my spares box as I write. He had painted them beautifully, but had chosen to omit the reins. Ouch. Probably because of my own difficulties with these horsemen, that jarred! I shall solve this problem, and I shall be pleased with what I've done, and then I'll forget there was ever a problem. At this point I should probably insert a Latin aphorism, but alas I don't know any.

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  2. For tying flies for fly fishing you can get a massive range of assorted wires and tapes to use in fly bodies - they're what I've always used, well worth checking some out.
    One example of a site https://www.theessentialfly.com/flytyingwires.html

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  3. And no, it's not getting away from the topic - to be fair I started using ones I originally got for fly tying but you can get so many different styles and thicknesses...

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    1. Rob - thanks for this - have you used any of these wires for something similar to my reins problem? I've found it's tricky to get something which is a reasonable diameter for the scale, malleable enough to bend accurately yet strong enough not to fall apart or distort too much. Any specific recommendations? I found aluminum too soft if it was thin enough to look right, and I believe lead is softer still. Peter Gouldesbrough seems to have used brass wire reins on his Rose Miniatures 20mm horses about a thousand years ago, but I don't know how he shaped it.

      Diorama specialists are prepared to go use all sorts of fancy art materials, but wargaming requires the figures to stand a little handling (though I am a "handle by the bases" man!)

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    2. Rose 20mm also come without reins.
      https://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6354400450597195167#editor/target=post;postID=3020201385261528425;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=2;src=postname
      Point with these is that we're not talking about one material - they have threads, wires, braids for fancy work - https://www.theessentialfly.com/fly-tying-braids.html

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  4. Tony, you retell the best stories! I wonder how much of your Hooptedoodle is Allanesque?

    Your Hagen figures are fine looking sculpts, by the way.

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    1. If you mean how much is bullshit then probably the entire blog comes under that category - you got me bang to rights! My use of the Hooptedoodle concept for off-topic threads is, obviously, a straight crib from Steinbeck (a great hero of mine since my teens) - I liked his explanation (was it in "Sweet Thursday"? - can't remember now) that chapters headed "Hooptedoodle" were not essential to the plot - if the reader chose to read them then he might enjoy them, but he would know that he was outside the main story at the time.

      No, I never post actual lies, though I have to change the names and dates and places a bit for some of the Hooptedoodle stuff, to protect the innocent, avoid unnecessary offence and stay out of the courts! I tell stories because I enjoy them - both the recollection and the telling. If anything which appears here is straight fiction (e.g. the Schlimm story) then I hope it is usually obvious!

      As for Allan - if it weren't for him, I'd have dropped out of wargaming fairly quickly after getting involved - he was a real guru for me, not because of his great knowledge or commanding personality, but because he was sensible and quietly pragmatic, understood very clearly the concept of The Emperor's New Clothes, and refused to be bullied into following any fashionable herd. A great chap, and often an original thinker - alas he is no longer with us. I have mentioned him occasionally in my blog in the past - maybe I should do a small Hooptedoodle about him. Another small self-indulgence amongst all the bullshit shouldn't make much difference!

      Cheers, Jon - good to hear from you, as ever.

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  5. I generally use brass or copper, I leave a small amount at one end, bent at an angle to fit into hole I drill into the horses bit, hammer the rest flat. Then glue and leave the bent piece into the bit go back the following day and bend away. Slow and purposeful!
    Having said that using the link I've just ordered some lead wire and some other bits to try 😀
    I have also used paper! Still looking for nirvana though

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    1. Graham, that is excellent. I can see that would work - slow and purposeful is something I forgot about years ago, but I see the light now. You may find lead wire a bit floppy, but all the best with that. I also worry a bit about galvanic reaction between dissimilar metals, but my man Goya assured me that aluminium and white metal would be safe enough - that was during my brief Aluminium Trials phase...

      Thanks for this. With Rob's fishing link and a fresh philosophy I could be making progress here. Drilling holes in bits at 20mm scale is a bit nippy for me - I need to buy a better quality pin vice, I think.

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  6. Tony, those are beautiful castings. Re those reins, as you are probably aware Hinchliffe horses often came without cast on reins. 'Rob' who is the new custodian of my 800+ ECW collection is adding reins to every unit of horse and look very effective. I will ask him what he uses and get back to you, I have solder wire in my mind as it flattens easily and is very pliable but let me check with him.

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  7. I have done the odd Lamming ships rigging - three hands are useful! One tip might be to drill a small hole through the bridle bit from one side to the other, thread cotton through (dab of superglue) and then you have one end fixed and can play around with the other end more easily. Just a thought.

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    1. Thanks for this Simon - I've found cotton to be noticeably hairy (!) - maybe I've just used the wrong stuff. A hole right through the bit area sounds like a good approach, but at 20mm scale I'm really struggling to get that kind of NASA precision. I'm looking into getting a better mini-drill, but there's not a lot of metal to drill through unless I shift the reins away from the correct area.

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    2. The ship guys seem to be going with elastic these days as it tenses better, but for your case that wouldn't be so good.. to get round the hairy thread issue, I would suggest something from my other line.. waxed whipping twine... having said that I would just leave them off and be damned.. :o)

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  8. These are (as always) wonderful yarns that you rip here. They always leave a smile on my face.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. You are very kind, young sir - if someone enjoys my silly ramblings that's a real bonus!

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  9. I was wondering if you could use Milliput to make reins. Nice and malleable to work with and sets rock hard.

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    1. Hi Mark - I found your comment in my Spam file - apologies for dozy response! Milliput is a decent idea, but I think the tiny scale and my Klutz-like abilities would be a problem.

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  10. Far too fiddly for me, I'd have given them to my pal Postie and said sort these before they go in the bin. He's good like that. I'm with Styker, leave the buggers off, not sure Larry would like that though? Bless him.

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    1. Hi Ray - maybe you could send me Postie's address, and I'll try this approach? Leaving them off? - I dunno - I might finish up doing that in desperation, but I like to think I'm going to get the job done. Every day, in every way, I'm getting more and more deluded - I wish I knew the Latin for that.

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  11. I'd suggest green stuff (milliput would snap unless you added some green stuff to it).
    The art is knowing when to work it; when freshly mixed it's very tacky but gets less sticky as it sets.
    To make reins, roll it out into as thin a sausage as you can. Then on a non-stick surface, press it flat. If too wide trim with a scalpel (don't wet it too much). Estimate how much you need (better too much). Pick up in the middle and it will form a loop. Put the loop to the rider's hand then carefully take each strand to the horse's nose and press to attach. It will make a graceful natural curve. Where it flows over the neck and saddle, gently press to attach. Cut off the excess at the nose. You can also shape bridle and bit with the part attached to the nose. Leave to set. If it goes wrong or snaps, just pull it all off and remix it into a ball and start again. Keep tools damp but not swimming in water. It sounds more complicated than it is in practice.
    Neil

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    1. Thanks for this Neil - I'm nervous that I wouldn't have the skill to make a decent job with Green Stuff in this scale - the reins have to be rather less than a millimetre thick, which is well outside my capabilities! You have reminded me, though, that there are other jobs for which I should consider using the stuff. Problem in the past has been that I would rarely use Milliput or similar, and when I suddenly came up with an urgent need to do so, my pack would have gone well past its useful shelf life. I used to have a theory that Milliput was another of life's myriad cruel tricks to play on the hobbyist!

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    2. Tony,
      Don't be discouraged; I was nervous about using GS when I first used it. I've seen it described as like working with chewing gum! It takes a little while to get used to but is far easier than milliput. You will be able to roll it out that fine and still have a workable length. If it snaps it's easy to join and re-roll. Unlike MP it doesn't develop a crust when too old. You have to discard where the blue and yellow meet, but I have some very old GS that still does the biz. Not much good for fine sculpting, but saddle cloths, reins and tack it's ideal. It just sets faster and is a bit less tacky. What's good is it will stick to the nose and riders hand and can be glued afterwards for extra strength. Less skill required than soldering or getting stuff to stick where you want it. No drilling either!
      Neil

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  12. Another entertaining anecdote! Brilliant response by Allan. Next unit I paint will have brass fittings on their muskets in remembrance. Bit fiddly in 10mm mind.

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    1. In those days the Edinburgh bars closed at 10pm, which sounds more austere than it was. In the hotels (such as Chic's) you could get a drink after 10pm if you were having a meal - crisps would do, in fact even the possibility that you might buy chips later was probably good enough. One of the late evening regulars at Chic's was a detective sergeant, Ronnie, who (I swear) sometimes was on duty (the station knew where to get hold of him - this gets more like Whisky Galore by the second). On one infamous occasion, he got a phone call at Chic's while he was playing darts, the police station informing him that there had been a bomb incident at the Edinburgh Tattoo, just a couple of miles away at the Castle Esplanade.

      Ronnie assumed it was a practical joke from his colleagues in the High Street, so ignored the call. The bad news was that it wasn't a joke; the good news was that no-one was injured - in fact the few spectators at the Tattoo who noticed the bang thought it was part of the display.

      This was definitely a different age, and, before there is further mention of bullshit, check online - the date was August 1971, and I was in the bar at the time - so that's my alibi - the bomb was nothing to do with me!

      Yes - it was a different age.

      The mynah bird was a star at Chic's - you'd get respectable middle-aged American tourists in for a drink and to rest their poor feet, and they would sit by the nice mynah bird and say hello, or offer a peanut, and it would say "you stupid-looking b*stard!" or, on one occasion, "What a ****ing big nose!".

      How cute.

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  13. Tony, have you sorted this now? Rob uses foil, if I can give him your email he will contact you as he does not have a blogger account :)

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    1. Hi Lee - thanks for this - I'm going to try brass/copper/aluminium wire and a more sensible technique to start with. Thanks very much to Rob - I'm keen not to waste his time or mess him about, so I'll pass on the foil for the moment (it sounds a bit tricky!). If my new enthusiasm for wire turns to rat droppings I'll get back to you. Thanks again for help!

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  14. No problem Tony and please let us see the results, I'm sure it will work well. I know you are a far better painter/modeller than you give yourself credit for :)

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  15. I'd leave the reins off myself, as too fiddly, but I have also used flat dental floss for reins on some of my chariots. Paper tape is easier to work with but harder to find.

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  16. Hi Tony...
    I have found a source of tin foil in The Historex Agents...
    https://www.historexagents.com/#product-gallery... it’s under the products from ‘The Small Shop Tools’
    It cuts quite well and I have used it for belts on my 54mm figures.

    Looking at the horses heads I would say that the bits look a bit too thin to drill into...
    I would drill into the hand and attach the reins there first... that way you can stick them on to the bit without needing three hands...
    Ah!... Chic Murray’s... I have spent many a night in there... back in the day as you will remember the only place to get a drink on a Sunday in Scotland was a hotel... so Chic’s was one of our regular haunts... and I remember being told about the Detective and the bomb scare by one of the staff...

    All the best. Aly

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