Pikeman, Airfix 54mm

[arj]

Hi Folks,
On completing the Elan13 ECW sergeant, I fancied another ECW figure, had a delve into my grey army and came up with an Airfix pikeman (actually, I suppose that should read 'white' army in this case).
The kit had a whole pile of things hanging from his waist belt. There was a knapsack, water bottle and his trusty sword. I think this must have been a design hangover from the Napoleonic kits.
Needless to say, I ditched the knapsack and water bottle and hung the sword from a shoulder belt fashioned from electric insulating tape.
Also, the feathers on the helmet just didn't look right until they'd been worked on with my pyrogravure.
Anyway, this is what I came up with. It represents a pikeman of Lord Brooke's Regiment, 1642.
The scan is from the Osprey book 'The English Civil War Armies' by Peter Young, art by Peter Roffe.

The pike provided by Airfix is scaled correctly and the finished kit is quite tall.

This was the picture that I used as reference:-

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[valiant]

Nice work, Andrew. I had many of these Airfix 54mm kits, all converted into other things, they were a mainstay!

 

[arj]

Nice work, Andrew. I had many of these Airfix 54mm kits, all converted into other things, they were a mainstay!

I'm pleased you liked it Steve.
I still have a box filled with quite a few of the Airfix kits. Most were bought for coppers in sales when Airfix stopped production.
Meanwhile, I've now got the Elan13 Cavalier and Ensign (bought at the Avon show) to work on.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[valiant]

I love the ECW period - not enough figures, IMO, especially larger scales ones

 

[Nap]

Hi Andrew ,

Very nice indeed , like the colour choice as well , you could always do an ensign if you have another in that box !

Good to see these being done still

Nap

 

[DaddyO]

Great job of polishing up this old one Andrew - just shows you what's lurking in the back of those 'roundtuit' boxes

Like Nap says, bring on the flag bearer. Lot's of colourful ones with fairly simple designs still about in this period (I remember Rick Scollins illustrations in MM had some fabulous inspirations)

Paul

 

[swralph]

Very nice work on this "oldie" Andrew,you have really brought it to life.

 

[Oda]

Very good indeed.I have all of Airfix's ECW figures in my "white army" waiting to be converted.Given the quality of the casting and the reliability of the material it is a shame these oldies haven't seen more "action"in the field.They can be easily converted and with little extra work they can produce little beauties like the one above.Only one objection though,the swords issued to simple soldiers in the ECW were of absolutely horrid quality most of the times (the men were using them to chop firewood but did not trust them very much for combat).

Oda.

 

[peedee]

So nice to see this, there's still plenty about at the shows where they are at proper prices, unlike ebay stupid values.

Well done Andrew

Paul

 

[Ferris]

Nice to know that at least some people dig this deep in their stash to pick topics!
I too like your colour choices Andrew.

And that pike sure looks impressive! Pretty sure they left them didn't take them inside when coming home from a hard day at the battlefield.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[arj]

Hi Andrew ,

Very nice indeed , like the colour choice as well , you could always do an ensign if you have another in that box !

Good to see these being done still

Nap

Glad you liked it Kevin.
With regard to the Ensign, as I said in post #3, I've got the Elan13 Ensign to work on.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

Great job of polishing up this old one Andrew - just shows you what's lurking in the back of those 'roundtuit' boxes

Like Nap says, bring on the flag bearer. Lot's of colourful ones with fairly simple designs still about in this period (I remember Rick Scollins illustrations in MM had some fabulous inspirations)

Paul

Thanks for the kind comments Paul.
I'll be researching the flags in due course, but I'l probably paint the Cavalier (Elan13) first.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

Very nice work on this "oldie" Andrew,you have really brought it to life.

Thanks for the appreciative comment Ralph.
This kit was fun to put together and paint.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

Very good indeed.I have all of Airfix's ECW figures in my "white army" waiting to be converted.Given the quality of the casting and the reliability of the material it is a shame these oldies haven't seen more "action"in the field.They can be easily converted and with little extra work they can produce little beauties like the one above.Only one objection though,the swords issued to simple soldiers in the ECW were of absolutely horrid quality most of the times (the men were using them to chop firewood but did not trust them very much for combat).

Oda.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to comment Oda.
These cheap little figures are great fun to work on, and I look forward to seeing some of yours in due course.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

So nice to see this, there's still plenty about at the shows where they are at proper prices, unlike ebay stupid values.

Well done Andrew

Paul

Pleased you liked him Paul.
Like you I do keep seeing Airfix Collectors figures being sold at shows at quite varying prices.
However, I don't tend to be tempted as my collection is quite sufficient.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

Nice to know that at least some people dig this deep in their stash to pick topics!
I too like your colour choices Andrew.

And that pike sure looks impressive! Pretty sure they left them didn't take them inside when coming home from a hard day at the battlefield.

Cheers,
Adrian

Thanks for the kind comments Adrian.
The length of the pike on this kit was quite surprisingly accurate, particularly given the other spurious equipment provided.

Cheers,
Andrew