Saturday 1 July 2017

Early Minifig 20mm Napoleonic


This morning I sorted through my 20mm Napoleonic figures and selected a unit of French early 20mm French Voltigeurs advancing (FN16) and 2 Voltigeur Officers (FN25).

I bought these figures from BMW Models , Haydons Rd in Wimbledon back in 1971 ish.
I had painted these in white and used them as Austrians.


At 9 o'clock this morning they looked like this. A bleach bath was made used full strength bleach from a local retailer.


At 17:30 they were removed from the bleach, using rubber gloves, and scrubbed with an old tooth brush. As you can see only a little paint has survived the process and the figures have come out unscathed.



These figures are clearly based on Hinton Hunt figures however these castings are  far cleaner with very little flash.

My plan is although these are Voltigeurs to paint them up as 3rd Swiss. My original Hinton Hunt Swiss unit was transferred to Stryker service many years ago.

As I only have 22 of these figures I will use a Douglas Voltigeur standard bearer and sapper to bring the unit up to full strength.


As you can see they mix ok.


5 comments:

Wellington Man said...

I like Alberkens too, Mark. They're really rather good and I hope to paint up a few mhself at some point.

I love the Douglas standard bearer!

Chris Gregg said...

I remember having them but can't say i particularly like them now compared to more modern figures. In the late 1960s on teenage pocket money they were the best you could do though. Well done on that cleanup job - very efficient. i look forward to seeing them painted.
Chris

The Good Soldier Svjek said...

Now there's a blast from the past !

Archduke Piccolo said...

It is nice to see, in 2017, someone else on the planet who has first generation Minifigs on active service. I don't have many, and for many years my 36 French guys were relegated to garrison duty, but they have been fully restored to front line service. My Brunswickers Have always formed their own corps.

Your remark in respect of their being modelled on Hinton Hunt figures tends to confirm my impression that a job lot of rather rough figures I bought many years ago at a bring-and-buy were probably pirated from HH originals. They were supposedly Bavarians, but I made them into Austrians.

Cheers,
Ion

Stryker said...

Good job Mark - glad to see that the bleach worked. I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out as Swiss!