netherlands musketeer

[WPS]

Some time ago this model found its way to my doorstep.

After some thinking on what to do with it in the sense of a vignette or diorama I just started to do the build and see what will develop.
By opening the box I got a bit of a shock, ,I cursed some...and some more.
The sprues looked like a bad model from the early days, lots of flash and totally non fitting parts.
But... at least this company tried something different in bringing a modelsoldier of a small nation on the market and in doing this they've taken the risk it will only sell in smal numbers.
First I started with the head, it's in two parts and is glued together on the jawline. The face is actually full of character and I hope it will pop up when painting. Next came the helmet, glued together it looked flat so I decided instead of doing a lot of cutting, sanding and cursing I'd better create a new one from scratch.
I am in the lucky situation, being a shipmodelmaker for a company in the netherlands, to have acces to all machines that are needed for the shaping of all kinds of material like a lathe, bench saw, sander etc.

From polyurethane I turned a dome of 16mm in diameter and 12mm high which I cut in half taking out 4mm. Between the two halves I glued a piece of 0.6mm sheet and formed the crest. The rim was turned diam. 21mm with a hole of 16mm and 0.4mm thick, cut in half and placed on the helmet so it formed a slight curve. It now looked like a spanish helmet. After this I hollowed out the helmet to fit the head.
By now I started on the legs and found the left boot 1.5 mm slimmer than the right, so... on with the putty (I use a polyurethane car filler for this)
I hope to be back soon with new developments and better pics.

groeten (greetings) Willem

 

[dinovision79]

Hi Willem,

interesting piece, actually I'm first seeing a Miniart figure. Will you do some conversion or just improove the kit?

Look forward to see the progress!
Thanks
Denes

 

[megroot]

hallo Willem,
Never hear of this company before. but you have a real re-modelling figure what is for me the first dutchfigure.

marc

 

[billyturnip]

I too am very interested what you are going to do here Willem.
Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Roger

 

[John Bowery]

Willlum,
Nice figure but you look like you have a lot of work ahead.
Good luck and keep plugging away.
Cheers
John

 

[WPS]

thanks for your reactions.
to be honest Denes I'm thinking of a second figure next to it which is aiming his gun. this will involve some recasting and resculpting.
To keep the pressure up I´ll try to do a topic each week to show you the progress.

see you Willem

 

[Henri]

the musketeer

I bought this model too, with his two collegues : one french musketeer and one other figure which would look like a "Cardinal de Richelieu" guard. The differnce is in the colour of the tabbard, but actually I'm not sure these guards really existed. Also, these interesting figures have no historical notes in or on the boxe, which is for me more a problem than the faults in the moulding process. Having said that, they are really innovative, and a good basis for improvement or conversion. I've started one and I hope to show you some pictures sometime, when I am able to log them on the site.
They have a cuirassier and lots of roman and medieval knights, so plenty of possibilities on the bench...

 

[vergilius]

We have to find out more about this firm !!

 

[captnenglish]

For more information on MiniArt Studios, (who BTW make great 1/35th kits) go to http://www.miniart-models.com/

 

[dinovision79]

Willem,

so you will partially copy the figure and partially resculpt it to have the aiming guy?? It sounds you pushing this project further!
Let us know how it goes!

I only read about their 1/35, and they get excellent marks, I can't see it on their website, but they have civilians too. But only saw their 1/16 line in graphics.

Denes

 

[Roc]

Willem, it appears you really have your work cut out for your self, and indeed a challenge.
I'm looking forward to your intersting step by step.

Cheers
Roc.

 

[DaddyCool]

Is the figure actually 1:15, not 1:16, as seen on the photo?

Regards.

 

[WPS]

This is a interesting Question Daddycool and it is one that stirs up a debate everytime it's mentioned.
For me it's like this:
length of figure x scale = real length
in 1:16 scale this means in this case 120mm x 16 = 1920mm
1.92 meters tall is even for today a very tall man.
The average lenght for men in the 17th century Netherlands being 1.63 meters. Even for today's standards, average lenght being 1.82meters, he'd be tall.
So in 1:15 scale it would be 120mm x 15 = 1800mm.
This comes close to todays average but there is still a big gap between the average lenght in the 17th century.
This gap is 0.19 meters and to give you something to work with it's the size of one head.
I'm sorry for readers from a country that uses inches for not knowing how to work them and showing the differenses in lenght.
I also took the lenght of the gun and found it's also closer to 1:15 scale and will continue in this scale.

thanks for vieuwing and "de groeten"

Willem