Completed Airfix 54mm French Line Infantry

[steeleagle]

Wonderful work. Good to see I’m not the only one who is fiddling with “ left-overs” and swapping parts. I also am trying( trying!) to build more than I buy

Good luck with that...I've been trying to do that for years and it's next to impossible. Just ask the Boss! She reminds me every time she goes into my hobby bunker.

 

[Merryweather]

Historex spare parts are very useful, well made and cheap as chips. Recently used them as the basis for a 1914 French cuirassier, now working on a German uhlan to go with it.

I know, and it's fantastic that they are still available in these days of resin and 3D printing.

 

[Merryweather]

Good luck with that...I've been trying to do that for years and it's next to impossible. Just ask the Boss! She reminds me every time she goes into my hobby bunker.

Wonderful work. Good to see I’m not the only one who is fiddling with “ left-overs” and swapping parts. I also am trying( trying!) to build more than I buy

I've failed miserably on this build alone....

 

[Merryweather]

I still wasn’t happy with the position of Fusilier 5, so I had another go at him.
I only had a right arm with the Fusilier cuff, so I’ll have to scratch the other one from Milliput

I left it there ready for milliput in the next session and in the meantime I found this job lot at a great price on evilbay

…which I knew had at least 2 sets of fusilier arms in it, so I waited until the goodies arrived and came up with this, and I think I am finally ready to go with it.

And here he is after some filling ,filing and fettling

So that's where we are at the moment.
Thanks for looking
Neil

 

[Nap]

Historex spare parts are very useful, well made and cheap as chips. Recently used them as the basis for a 1914 French cuirassier, now working on a German uhlan to go with it.

Hope we see them and more Stephen

Good to see modelling with kits many of us started out with

Nap

 

[Nap]

Hi Neil

Great find with all those bits and bobs .......challenging and frustrating at times but your getting there

Thanks for the latest update and pics

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[Peter Day]

Nice, nice , nice.

 

[Merryweather]

Even though I’ve been silent on this for a while I haven’t been entirely idle over last couple of months.
I’m afraid I haven’t stuck very rigidly to the principle of using up the stash- in fact I’ve added quite a bit to it for the purposes of this build alone ….
As it turned out, in that second job lot there were not just some Fusilier arms but two almost complete Fusiliers-

so in order to use up the stash I feel I just have to do Fusiliers 7 and 8 …..
Number 7 is standing firing, but I want him to be slightly different to Fusilier 1 so I used the Fusilier body but the arms and legs from a 95th Rifleman. I had to tweak them a bit because the butt of the Charleville musket is longer than that of the Baker rifle and the hand didn’t reach the trigger. I filed a groove in his shoulder and all is good now. I will have to alter the cuffs. The head is another of my World War 1 gunner sculpts

So, the same only different, hopefully.

Fusilier 8 will be kneeling with bayonet fixed, so I will use a pair of Rifleman’s kneeling legs, but I will graft on some gaitered feet and calves from a fusilier- in the next exciting instalment…..
thanks for watching
N

 

[Steve Brodie]

Super duper stuff

 

[Merryweather]

Super duper stuff

Very kind, Steve, thanks
N

 

[Warren SMITH]

Good to see your still growing this build.... I eagerly await your next installment..

 

[Nap]

Good to see your still growing this build.... I eagerly await your next installment..

Agree there

Great use of the spares box

Happy benchtime

Nap

 

[NigelR]

Good to see you back on this, this thread has been one of the inspirations for my own attempt at serious conversion work. Keep up the good work!

 

[Merryweather]

Good to see your still growing this build.... I eagerly await your next installment..

thanks Warren-it's on its way

 

[Merryweather]

Agree there

Great use of the spares box

Happy benchtime

Nap

Cheers Nap, benchtime's a bit hard to come by these days....

 

[Merryweather]

Good to see you back on this, this thread has been one of the inspirations for my own attempt at serious conversion work. Keep up the good work!

I'm pleased to hear that Nigel, it's good to know, thanks.

 

[Merryweather]

And so on to Fusilier 8. He will be kneeling with his musket grounded and bayonet fixed, so I am using some kneeling legs from the Airfix 95th Rifleman.

These are trousered though and I want them gaitered ,so I am going to perform some transplant surgery.
First step is to remove the gaitered parts from the standing legs and then using them for measurement, cutting the trousers off at the knees. I pinned them with 1mm copper wire which gives me an instant fit and a bit of bend if I need it.

His right foot needed to be bent so I sawed a V almost through at the toes

And glued it into position

The body and arms come from the Fusilier,

The shako and musket are Historex spares and the head is another of my own sculpts.

So now I’ve got that out of my system it’s time to get back on track with Fusilier 5 , who still needs piping and buttons on his tunic, a bit more hair and his equipment fitting. Hopefully that will happen this coming weekend.

Thanks for watching
N

 

[Merryweather]

So, let’s get on with Fusilier 5.
I made the piping from 0.3 lead wire as before, stuck with CA. Sadly, my cheapskate button punch(0.7mm mechanical pencil) has died, so I thought I would try the hobnail technique, but this time using plastic rod.

I drilled 0.8mm holes and used 0.75mm plastic rod. Glued in with EMA model weld, and left to dry overnight.
I guess it worked but I think I will go back to the old way next time.
Anyway, here he is with his hair and kit, ready for priming.

Also, as promised, Fusilier 2 has a hair on his new head.

His ramrod and musket need a bit of TLC…..
So I’m going to knuckle down and get the painting done. It’s over a year since I last had a go, but I’m sort of ready now, and I’m not going to work on any more figures till these are all painted.

Thanks for looking
Neil

 

[NigelR]

Nice work on the details, I really like the animation of fusilier 5. I hope the painting goes well......

 

[Warren SMITH]

Excellent work.. Its making me keen to get another Airfix kit out of the stash and have a play... I'm not brave enough to take on what you have done tho..