Saturday 2 November 2019

Fixing Broken Bayonets

I have collected enough Hinton Hunt French Fusiliers (FN15) to provide the figures for the fusiliers for 2 French Line Battalions.

Unfortunately most of them have lost their bayonets and require fixing.


I have in the past tried plastic card and this has been moderately successful. This time I used a plastic HaT figure to be my bayonet donor. The size and shape of the bayonet are almost the same as the HH bayonet and it most importantly it looks like a bayonet.


I cut the bayonet and the end tip of the musket of the plastic figure. I then cleaned upon the HH figure and filed a straight edge before scoring the ends the of the joint to make a rougher join.

I stuck the replacement to the figure using super glue and a little PVA glue. Once set I reinforced the joint area with a little Milliput.  Once dry this can be gently sanded.



I have tested the join and it is solid. The flexibility of HaT plastic helps as it bends without putting pressure on the join.  Hopefully I can get the paint to adhere and not flak.


And the final comparison photo showing my repaired next to a complete one. Once painted I think it be near impossible to tell the difference.




11 comments:

Jim Duncan Wargamer said...

As a famous comedy duo once said, 'you can't see the join'.

Anonymous said...

Looks good. I thought of using plastic but haven’t seen big enough muskets before so that’s really useful.

I’m not sure if you glued the plastic to the metal directly. If you did, you could think of drilling a hole in the metal and putting in some thin fuse wire and pinning the plastic to it. That will make the bond much stronger. As an alternative, I have drilled a hole, glued in a piece of thicker fuse wire the length of the broken bit but with a slight S shape to have a barrel length and a bayonet and then built up the rest with putty to the shape of the musket.

There is also this method.

https://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/search?q=Bayonet




WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Agreed. Your work looks very good already, and I for one would not be able to tell the difference if the figures were painted. This too is an issue I occasionally wrestle with, but as yet have done nothing to address.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Stryker said...

Looks like a good solution to the problem, which Hat figures are you using?

Mark Dudley said...

I classic line from M&W. My favourite is “I’m playing all the right notes—but not necessarily in the right order"

Mark Dudley said...

I did glue the bayonet directly to the musket. I will try the extra pin with fuse wire but that may be a bit too fiddly for me.

Mark Dudley said...

Broken bayonets, swords and figures with weak ankles are part and parcel of collecting 50 year old figures.

Mark Dudley said...

I used the French Line Infantry 1808 to 1812 (set 8095). Plastic figures are useful for all sorts of bits and pieces.

Wellington Man said...

That is an extremely clever and innovative solution, Mark. I've found that 15mm Minifigs muskets work quite well too - but one has to have a stash of them of course....

Rob said...

What sort of super glue did you use? There a 'Plastics' variety that comes an applicator for a separate solution that you apply before using the glue that has successfully held together my Merit trees for some time now. There are more details on the glue (albeit with a different applicator - mine is more like a felt tip) here:
http://www.baueda.com/plastikornar/painting_guide.html
PS I think I'd try with a fine steel wire for additional security but my current drill is probably not up to it.

David said...

OK, so that is a technique I will have to steal! I have notice very few actual broken bayonets in the Tennant collection, but have noted that the NCOs do not have a bayonet. Was this a normal thing for NCOs not to fix bayonets, or was Dick perhaps just making them easier to distinguish? He is such a stickler for detail that I have to think NCOs didn't usually fix bayonets.

Love the innovation with the fix Mark!

David