I have in my possession a large army belonging to an old friend of mine who now lives out of town (very far). I have offered to rebase this army to a satisfactory standard as it is 40+ years old and most of the basing is sad and tired and in some cases biodegrading. A few of the figures were also succumbing to lead rot so they were whittled out, a few were repaired to keep unit numbers up.
I'll let the pictures show the scope of the collection.
This is a work-in-progress with several more boxes worth of figures to process as well as things like missing/loose spears to sort, tufts and static grass to apply and storage boxes to fit.
I hope to play a few solo games to test out bits of this collection against some of my own and also a set of rules which I largely keep in my head.
Och, it was easy. Just place a based figure in a tray of cold water for a day or two, take it out and use needle nosed pliers to rip off the old base, easy if its cardboard, harder if it is wood, file base of figure if it is not flat, scrape away any remains of old glue or scenic material/flock/static grass. Repair/reglue any loose spears/javelins/shields. Glue figure to new base and leave to dry/harden. Lightly sculp ready mixed plaster over base to level of figure base, taper slightly to base edge, score gentle depressions from front to back simulating sand ripples leaving flat area near rear of base for marker tab and leave to dry. Glue marker tab to base. Paint entire base a golden sand colour, two coats if necessary. When dry highlight raised areas with a light sand colour and then edges of base with a dark brown colour. Use a lining pen to add unit number to tab. Repeat 700 or 800 times.
MDF bases by Warbases.
What a terrific army , great figures and the so deserve some TLC in the terms of new basing.
ReplyDeleteThey have a nice consistent feel about them now.
DeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very nice army. And you;r right in touching up the bases again. Rather then the figures, it's the bases that mostly determine the visual look of an army.
I am quite pleased with the way they have turned out, hope their owner approves. Might not see him again until the show circuit opens up again.
DeleteVery nice collection - like it.
ReplyDeleteAlas they are not mine.
DeleteWow, very impressive and gorgeous parade!
ReplyDeleteDoing another 30 light cavalry with Kontos today and two more library boxes worth to explore.
Delete700 to 800 figures - and there only looks to be about 500 there. A mighty host and figures from just about as many manufacturers.
ReplyDeleteThere's another 100 or so in preparation and a couple of library boxes to look at yet.
DeleteI'll give a complete inventory when finished.
Just checked the numbers for you.
Delete824 figures if all are deemed usable and can be based.
About a dozen have been binned.
OK. If it takes you the better part of 2 hours to go away and count them that's a lot of transfer files. Manufacturers include Hinchcliffe, Citadel- that's the main culprits for lead rot, Dixon, Castile, Irregular, Lamming and possibly a couple of Essex. Bases were a mixture or cardboard, balsa, beer mats and even some nice plywood. 1.5% campaign losses over 40 years is not bad. I've just been looking at a Mili Mod from 1982 covering the 1882 Egyptian campaign. It has an ad for the "brand new" Freikorps Moghuls. I bought some of those at Northern Militare and recall buying the first portion of this army at the time.
DeleteI think that these rebased figures will last another 40 years now.
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