Brunswick Paint Restoration

As part of the recent collection I received was a unit of Brunswick Line Infantry.  On examination they were in fact Austrians recasts that had been paint converted to Brunswickers.

I had a few options with these figures including stripping and painting as either Austrians or again Brunswickers.

Before doing this I thought I would try a quick paint restoration on a single figure to see if I could produce a reasonable finish.

Firstly I get to remove them from their metal bases. I removed the polyfila first and then holding the metal base with a small pair of pliers I gently heated the base on a gas ring. The heat melted the glue, which looked like araldite, and allowed the figure to be gently prised of the base.  We careful the figure gets hot and you need to make sure you don't over heat as there is a risk the figure could melt.

The photos below show the before and after paint restoration and a coat of gloss.  The result looks good enough so  I will do a paint restoration on the unit and add the 1st Brunswick Line to my allied order of battle.

The previous owner had converted a couple of standard bearers which I will use but there were no other commands figures. It just so happens that in my spares box I had an old Kennington Brunswick command pack and I will use these.

They are a close enough and once painted black will fit in nicely.

Der Kreigspielers Catalogue

I came across this 1973 Der Kreigspielers Napoleonic Catalogue.  There are some interesting photographs which may help with identifying figures.

This catalogue and other useful information can be found here.

http://www.vintagewargamingfigures.info

Figure Identification

Yesterday I received a large box full classic Napoleonic figures as part of trade with a friend.

The figures had originally been part of a collection passed on following the bereavement of a fellow wargamer.

In all the box contained approx 300 figures. Some are Les Higgins, Lammings and a few old Alberken.  The vast majority were Hinton Hunts. These are a mixture of JC recast, original HH figures and some possible old copies.

Amongst the figures there are a few that I am not sure of what they are.

Firstly I have 2 British Infantry. The figure on the left is a HH BN7 with separate musket. The figure on the right is however a bit of a mystery.  I cannot find any reference to this pose in the HH lists. The figure certainly looks like a Hinton Hunt but is it?

Whatever the providence of the figure I will probably repaint/touch up these figures rather than strip and repaint.

Secondly there are some Hinton Hunt Prussian Landwehr Lancers on the right. On the left there is a Prussian Dragoon. The mounted figure looks virtually identical however the horse and base are different. My guess is that these are Alberken/early Minifigs and are perhaps a good example of Peter Gilders alleged copying of Hinton Hunt figures.

Finally there are were some Brunswick one piece Hussars on the right. I do however need a couple of extra figures to make the unit up to 12. These figures will need a bleach dip to remove the old paint.

The figure on the right is I think another early Minifig figure but in this case the pose is less like the original Hinton Hunt figure.

Other HH figures included:-

Austrian Infantry painted as Brunswick 1st Line Regiment. A bunch of British Light Infantry advancing. A good selection of British command figures and various small numbers of other figures including British Fusiliers and Light Infantry.

In all a very good haul

Rifles to me

This morning I finished the basing on a 2 companies of Hinton Hunt British Rifles.  The figures are all JC recasts which I picked up last year during a visit to Wales.

My organization for Light Infantry types is 2 companies of 6 figures and us based on the unit organization in Charge but reduced by 50%.  Light Infantry will normally be used a 6 figure independent company.

The castings are pretty good however did need a bit of cleaning up.

The bases are MDF and required 3 coats if Humbrol Grass Green to cover.

In addition to the 12 figure unit I also have my obligatory Sharpe look a like who I have chosen to represent Captain John Kincaid.