WIP The Ribald Dragoon (90mm - Hearne Originals)

[MalcC]

Look forward to seeing this one come to life.

Malc

 

[peedee]

I was giggling as I read that, thinking of how 'easy' that was for me...and the mounted Crimean Hussar and Lancer from the Crimea.
How far have we come now with our newfangled lightweight resin castings eh?

Have fun it's looking good.

Paul.

 

[OldTaff]

I well remember when this kit first came out from Bill Hearne. One of the chaps in our model club bought one at, which was at the time, a great deal of expense. When asked how he was getting on with it, he said the fit was s**t, he couldn't get it lined up. After more frustrating attempts, it was suggested that it might be moulding warp of the parts. Some wag suggested the remedy for that was a two pound lump hammer, reducing it to a properly fitting ingot, and sending it back.
I sometimes wonder if we were as careful and as patient back then as modellers and painters seem to be now

Alan

 

[arj]

I was giggling as I read that, thinking of how 'easy' that was for me...and the mounted Crimean Hussar and Lancer from the Crimea.
How far have we come now with our newfangled lightweight resin castings eh?

Have fun it's looking good.

Paul.

Resin certainly has its uses Paul. It's lightness in particular.
However, while you can bend it using heat, the white metal can be adjusted incrementally at room temperature.
This was useful when I found that I had to adjust the lady's right arm and fingers to get a fit better to the boot.
Long way to go still, but at least I now think the light at the end of the tunnel is no longer that of the train coming the other way.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[valiant]

Thanks for posting the pics of his German m/c crew and the US MP - these are indelibly etched into my memory and were the catalyst that got me away from AFV modelling into figures way back then! I still think they stand up well, even now!

 

[arj]

I well remember when this kit first came out from Bill Hearne. One of the chaps in our model club bought one at, which was at the time, a great deal of expense. When asked how he was getting on with it, he said the fit was s**t, he couldn't get it lined up. After more frustrating attempts, it was suggested that it might be moulding warp of the parts. Some wag suggested the remedy for that was a two pound lump hammer, reducing it to a properly fitting ingot, and sending it back.
I sometimes wonder if we were as careful and as patient back then as modellers and painters seem to be now

Alan

I hope the lump hammer didn't get used Alan. It may be a bit of a pig to fit together, but it's still a very nice model.
Getting this twosome to fit is simply a matter of taking it a step at a time.
Today I set them up in what I think is the correct position on my temporary base and tried to mark around the chair legs in preparation to pinning to the base. Needless to say, the chair moved when the pencil touched it.
Following a few choice words, I reset everything and painted round the legs with a soft thin brush. No movement.
Pins are now set in all four legs and the base drilled in the centres of the painted areas, and yes, it fitted perfectly.
The dragoon has been repositioned and more paint lines applied to him and the chair. Tomorrow I should be able to extrapolate the lines and fabricate a suitable hidden connection to stop him sliding about.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[valiant]

Hi Andrew - could a Milliput cushion on the chair help? It would allow you to set the dragoon onto the chair with a larger surface area and fill any possible gaps.

Just a thought....

 

[arj]

Hi Andrew - could a Milliput cushion on the chair help? It would allow you to set the dragoon onto the chair with a larger surface area and fill any possible gaps.

Just a thought....

A very reasonable suggestion Steve.
Unfortunately, the fit of the left leg between the chair through to between the female's legs is a tad tight.
Any adjustment at the chair end would translate to a bigger movement at the other end.
I've therefore continued as intended and managed to mark up his bum and the chair.
The following photo shows the short stub in his bum and the locating hole in the chair:-

Here, he's shown in position. Please excuse the large lumps of plasticine which are there purely as temporary bits of 'claggy':-

Now finally, the proof that everything appears to be holding together:-

I think I can now breathe a small sigh of relief, and start thinking about the general fit of the remaining parts, as well as making a start on the final base.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[peedee]

Now that's a good fit after all the juggling !

Paul.

 

[arj]

Hi Folks,

It's been a bit of a while, but I've been plodding along, on and off.
I finally got around to preparing the base. It's comprises three 2mm sheets of plastic glued together, onto which I laid a wooden floor, and finally trimmed to shape. It now requires a bit of light sanding followed by some staining with very thin oil paints.

The locations of the fixing holes in the temporary base were transferred (using tracing paper) to the final base, and I then repositioned her 'ladyship' and chair. Needless to say, the chair did its best to fall apart and knacker my set-up. Luckily, everything finally came together more of less where required. Only a little bit of brute force was necessary to adjust the dragoon's legs to fit. The dragoon's left arm posed a bit of a problem of fit, so I fixed it to ensure that it gripped the chair seat, and then filled around the shoulder to suit. This gives an additional fixity to that provided by the bum peg and chair socket.
This is where I am now:-

I've placed the remaining loose bits roughly around the pair just to see how they might fit.
A few bits of filling remain before I'll be ready to start thinking of priming and start painting.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[peedee]

Only a class act like you could invent and use correctly the phrases 'bumpeg' and 'fixity' mate.

It's been well worth the wait to read those.
Oh....I love your vignette totally

Paul

 

[NickM]

Wow, what a lovely vignette! Really quirky and heaps of character.
Looking forward to seeing the end result

 

[Ferris]

That's really great Andrew. Nice to see the in progress steps. It reminds me that every figure has its own complexities and that I am not the only one in the universe to encounter them!

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[Oda]

It is going to take a while but what a beautiful and original addition to your collection will it be.Lovely so far,I really want to see it finished.

Oda.

 

[Nap]

Hi Andrew ,

A very well done on getting this together , nice work on the base as well , looking forward to seeing this come to life

Happy painting

Nap

 

[sippog]

I bought Bill Hearne's "Plunderer" (mounted Frazetta type barbarian figure) from him in the late 80's shortly before his death.
It was his last copy, used for display. Still intend to build it some day.

 

[Foxwood Figures]

This is an interesting thread for us because we purchased the Hearne masters from Rose Miniatures (who purchased them from Rosedale). We are actually putting together castings for the Winged Hussar, the Crimea Lancer and Hussar, mounted General Lasalle, Officer 4th Dragoons 1798-1808 and the US Cavalry Sergeant . The moulds have produced reasonable castings that fit quite well - a little better than arj is experiencing - but not up to the standards customers expect today. We will therefore release them with warnings. Having said that, we are looking at resin as an alternative: certainly it removes the problem of having to reinforce the horse legs with rods to prevent them buckling under the weight of the horse body and rider. Switching to resin also allows us to cut down on the number of pieces in some cases. Of course, white metal castings are better for some parts, especially the horse furniture. If we convert to resin or have new moulds made, we will improve the masters if we can but bearing in mind the cost of doing so against the number of likely sales to be made: we do need to at least cover our costs.
The 200mm Spartans. We have a complete sitting figure. Again, an interesting piece that we may put into resin first.
We have a limited stock of two of the US Cavalry Sergeant, 4h Dragoon officer, General Lasalle and the Winged Hussar. However, we have not yet progressed to updating instructions and producing box art - the recent purchase of some of the Stormtoopers masters from Stu have interrupted bringing these on or the time being.
These, like all of our older companies range, will only ever be produced in small numbers and in between preparing our main range of current figures. But they are great fun to work on and put together.
Terry
Fowood Figures

 

[arj]

Only a class act like you could invent and use correctly the phrases 'bumpeg' and 'fixity' mate.

It's been well worth the wait to read those.
Oh....I love your vignette totally

Paul

Glad you're liking it Paul.
Just as well that I didn't refer to a butt-plug, or we'd be now be talking about hibernating bears.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

Wow, what a lovely vignette! Really quirky and heaps of character.
Looking forward to seeing the end result

Thanks for the kind comment Nick.
I've only come across one photograph of a finished model. It was on a far eastern website and the name associated with it was Mike Tapavika (sorry if I got the spelling wrong), so here is a taster:-


Cheers,
Andrew

 

[arj]

That's really great Andrew. Nice to see the in progress steps. It reminds me that every figure has its own complexities and that I am not the only one in the universe to encounter them!

Cheers,
Adrian

Many thanks for the encouraging comments Adrian.
The trouble-free model is a true rarity in my world. More often it's down to my own cack-handedness rather than the model itself.

Cheers,
Andrew