Some Conversions

Hello everyone!

A quick post today. After reviewing the Spanish Guerillas for my last post, last night I started clipping the required number of round-hatted guerillas for a battalion and decided to convert some command figures for them. Here's how they turned out. (Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

Front view.

Rear view.

The officer (on the far left) is a conversion from the same standing Italeri French Marshall figure from the French Imperial General Staff set that I used as a Spanish Staff Officer in my General de brigada (I've been doing my best to get a lot of mileage from this set). Like the staff officer, I've removed the figure's medal and shoulder cords. In addition, I removed the hilt of his scabbarded sword and replaced his right hand with one holding a sword from the officer figure from the Waterloo 1815 Polish Infantry set.

The two standard bearers are from the same Polish Infantry set by Waterloo 1815. The flagpoles have been stripped of their flags and eagles and they have been given a simple head-swap from two different Hat Spanish Guerillas in round hats.

Finally, the drummer on the far right is a Strelets-R Pole, from their Polish Infantry and French Engineers set, again with a simple head-swap with a Hat Spanish Guerilla.

That's all for today; I was really pleased with how they turned out and wanted to share. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck

1/72 Review: Hat #8116 Spanish Guerillas

Hello everyone!

Not much going on here at the moment except a series of pretty nasty thunderstorms. School is winding down and finals are next week, so I haven't been able to paint a lot. I am, however, working on a command stand for my French cavalry; I should have them done before the end of the week (fingers crossed).

Meanwhile, I thought I'd do a quick review of some new 1/72 plastics that I recieved the other day. As the title of this post reads, it is Hat's Spanish Guerillas. (Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

Initial Impressions

The set consists of four identical sprues as shown below, each with 24 figures. This gives a total of 96 figures, which is a substantial number of minis in one set. The plastic on these is pretty soft, and all of the muskets and bayonets are quite bendy, which is a downer. Casting quality is decent, and they shouldn't take long to clean up. The box art is, however... well, let's just say it doesn't really turn my crank.

The box art is just kind of... meh.

Scaleability

These guys are on the medium-large end of the 1/72 spectrum, being similar height-wise to Italeri figures. This makes them pretty big compared to standard 15mm minis, but put together in their own units they should look fine.

Sprue shot.

Quality

As I mentioned before, the plastic is pretty darn bendy... I'll have to be really careful about how I finish these guys to keep the paint from accidentally chipping. The quality of the sculpting is ok, but some figures are definately better than others. Uniforms I guess are pretty accurate. Most of the figures seem to be in one of three or so "regiments" while there are a few that seem to be sporting civilian attire... I'm not sure. But they certainly seem to be dressed the part of Spanish guerillas. It might be time to rewatch some Youtube clips of Sharpe...

Price

I bought these guys off of eBay for $17.28 shipped. Divided amongst 96 figures that comes out to $0.18 per figure, about half of what I've paid for 1/72 scale figures in the past. As far as price goes, these are a pretty good deal, even taking into account the meh sculpting and bendy plastic. There are plenty of figures for a couple of units as well as plenty for conversion fodder. I wish they were a bit better, but you work with what you have to hand.

I plan on painting up a full unit of the lads in round hats (aka top hats) as a regular Spanish infantry battalion wearing blue or brown coats faced red. I've found several plates in Osprey books and elsewhere that depict this uniform as well as a number of other wargamers online that have painted up similar units.

Not red facings, but you get the idea.

Coming soon: more command stands until my summer break starts. I've also got it in mind to base and paint up a few 1/72 figures individually for some small-scale skirmish gaming... it depends on how many figures I would need, how difficult the terrain I would need would be to make, and what rules I would use. Who knows, it may come to fruition or it may not, all I really know is that finals are next week and they are approaching quickly. Wish me luck!

Comments, questions and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for looking!

-Chuck

Spanish General de Brigada and Staff Officer

Hello everyone!

I've been busy as of late, but I was able to complete a couple more Spaniards in the meantime. Departing from my usual procedure of painting up units based on actual, historical Orders of Battle, tonight I have a generic command stand representing a Spanish Brigade commander, or general de brigada.

(Remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions.)

 

The uniforms depicted here are based on a number of different uniform prints. The (mounted) general is based on two paintings: his horse furniture is drawn from Francisco de Goya's painting of General Palafox, while his white uniform coat faced in black, with red breeches, is derived from the famous painting of General Castaños accepting the surrender of French General Dupont at the Battle of Bailen in 1808.

Goya's General Palafox

The Surrender at Bailen by Jose Casado del Alisal. Castaños is tipping his hat in the painting's center.

The standing figure is a member of Spain's Cuerpo del Estado Mayor, or the General Staff Corps. His uniform is pretty much directly copied from the prescribed uniform (as shown below), with dark blue, single breasted tunic faced in light blue, with a light blue sash and gold trimming.

 

Uniform of Spain's Cuerpo del Estado Mayor

However, carrying on in the long tradition of Spanish officer's generally ignoring "prescribed" uniforms and wearing what they pleased, I gave the staff officer a pair of buff breeches instead of white. I noticed in researcing these uniforms that many contemporary painting of officers pictured them wearing buff breeches, and decided to give my staffer a pair as well.

Both figures are Italeri 1/72 plastic figures taken from the French Imperial General Staff set #6016. The staff figure is a standing French Marshal with the mini's original medal and shoulder cords trimmed off. The General is a mounted French Marshal,without any modifications.

Coming soon: Probably not a whole lot of battalions until the semester ends. With only a couple of weeks left in school and lots of final projects due, I won't have a whole lot of free time. I do have a couple of other brigade commanders that I can work on in the interim, as they are quick to paint, being only two figures to a stand. We'll see what I can get done.

Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for looking!

-Chuck