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Saturday 10 March 2018

Box of Scrap and Prinz August's Army

To this day I don't know why I bought these, but about 25 years ago at a boot fair I became the proud owner of a box of poorly painted home cast figures. There were hundreds of French and British. They cost about £5 and although I did not need them, had no idea what I would do with them, I could not resist this bargain.

They weighed a ton and I remember struggling back to the car with about 10kg of lead under my arm. This is what they looked like:
They were poorly painted in what I can only describe as imagi-nation colours:
For the last quarter of a century these figures have been stacked in a corner, occasionally looked at and then put away. 

The recent bad weather saw me house bound for several days and with time on my hands. I had just finished reading about Junot's 8th Westphalian Corps of 1812. This sparked an idea. Using the the French figures in the box I reckoned I had enough to represent the Westphalian army or a large slice of it. I had some cavalry, artillery and a pile of infantry;enough for 12 infantry, three cavalry and three artillery units. I found some senior officers from my spares box:



Here is the commander (Minifigs), the fictional Crown Prinz August:
The cavalry consists of the 1st Hussars:
The guard lancers:
As well as some French Cuirassiers:
The Guards Division, the Grenadiers Guards:
The Guard Carabiniers and Chasseurs:

There is also a line Grenadier regiment and two French regiments in this division:
The second division consists of five line regiments:
As well as a light infantry regiment:
Finally the Corps is supported by three gun batteries:
So from a box of scrap, I have a usable Wargame army. They were fun to paint, with vague detail and reminded me of my old Spencer Smith figures.  I am now wondering what to do with the British; however, that will probably have to wait for the next beast from the east!










21 comments:

  1. What a brilliant army from scrap ! , well done sir !.

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  2. Thus disproving the old saying about sow's ears and silk purses. The finished figures look remarkedly attractive the way you have painted them. I was given a big box of these moulds and have yet to use them, this has me thinking again!

    Nicely done!
    Ross

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind comment. I used a very basic toy soldier style, which was about as much as time would permit. I seem to remember seeing some excellent results from others, who have painted the old Spencer Smith figures in a similar way.

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  3. Absolutely magnificent Bob! And you did all those in what...a week? It takes me that long to choose a shade, let alone apply it. Hats off to you.

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    1. Thank you. I have found that gloss acrylics allow for rapid progress. Those available today provide very good coverage too. The only downside is that when painting large numbers the paint can dry before the batch is finished. Also the Westphalian uniforms are very simple, with just a few basic colours.

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  4. A great salvage job. The repainted figures look splendid.

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  5. Your salvage effort paid off handsomely! Did you strip the figures down to bare lead before repainting?

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    1. I am afraid that I did not strip them down. I also used a rattle can primer to speed up the painting process.

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  6. I think you answered your own question- I don't know why I bought these - with the old school answer, they just might come in handy one day. I have a loft full of figures for the same reason

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  7. I would not have resisted such a bargain myself. And haven't they paid handsome dividends, in the end?

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    1. Worth the effort I think. Maybe I can do something similar with the British - Belgians maybe?

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  8. They look attractive and the gloss finish enhances the colours.

    Will you be able to use these with your Warrior collection ?

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    1. I doubt they would fit in well with the warrior figures, but I have some later minifigs (the fat ones), which would work well.

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  9. Inspired sir...
    The basic shiny toy soldier look really suites the miniatures

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    1. Darn ... hit the wrong button...

      And they do seem to have been rather well cast.
      Do they compare well with Minifigs ,warrior etc.

      All the best. Aly

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    2. They work well with the current Minifigs range, in fact I have used some Pince August officers to make up Minifigs units.

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  10. I bought these molds and made two armies with them. I think they are nice figures; saying that most of my armies ended back in the melting pot. Your army is truly inspiring. Prince August also made 25mm Battle of Austerlitz molds. Sadly, the figures are posed differently than the Battle of Waterloo figures, so I never bought them, as I don't like the poses.

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  11. You have really brought those old veterans back to life. The painting style and the figures are a perfect match and are very eye pleasing.

    Fritz

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  12. A really impressive result. I have a few of the moulds myself for that “ one day” project.

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