Having enjoyed a couple of WW1 games set in the early war years, I thought it might be interesting to have some actions involving French troops. Unfortunately the Airfix WW1 French, unlike the British and German offerings, are dressed in the later uniform wearing a helmet. I clearly needed some in the older red breeches and kepi style.
I could have opted for figures from Hat or Caesar, who both do early French, but I was keen to use Airfix if possible. So, I set about lopping off heads and attaching new ones sourced from ACW figures.
Here are the results:
I quite like the results and I reckon they will look OK on the table
I have ordered a few pieces from Irregular Miniatures and some Hat artillery figures.
Nice conversion they look great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I am more than pleased with the result.
DeleteThe conversions have worked well , I always wondered why Airfix did later war French , most annoying .
ReplyDeleteMe too, and why they didn't add cavalry and artillery for all nations. Maybe the commercial return would have been too small.
DeleteGreat! You could shave the havelocks off Foreign Legion figures too. A tip from Battle magazine circa 1978!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good suggestion Jef, although I am rather loathe to chop up my small FFL collection!
DeleteThey look splendid Bob, a proper old style conversion.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it is interesting to see ho many comments this conversion has attracted - we must all be Airfix lovers at heart!
DeleteAgreed! I wouldn't have known had you not mentioned it. What did you use to pin and glue the heads to the bodies?
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Hi Stokes. I drilled about 5mm into the body, inserted an ordinary dress makers pin and cut it off leaving about 2mm produding. I then drilled a similar hole into the head and attached the two using contact adhesive.
DeleteSimple and effective!
ReplyDeleteThe final results are quite encouraging.
DeleteFine conversions!
ReplyDeleteAnd very enjoyable too.
DeleteExcellent results!
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt.
DeleteVery nice Bob...
ReplyDeleteI remember doing the same... but I used the as Franco-Prussian War.
All the best. Aly
I remember painting some Germans as FPW figures, but never got around to doing the French. The Germans were then needed to fight the Zulus a bit later on!
DeleteWhat great conversions, well done!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comment.
DeleteThey look really good. I remember head swapping with Napoleonics back in the day- had quite a mania for it!
ReplyDeleteExcellent! When I first saw the thumbnail I thought "surely he didn't" but yes and done very well indeed.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, these look better than the originals.