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| Bendy pikes. |
I levelled the bases with Tetrion filler and then textured them with thinned PVA and fine sand. In larger scales I’d have brought this right up and around the feet of the figures to hide the integral figure bases, but for most of these unit bases I was able only to run the filler and sand around the outside border. This means that the figure bases still show on the insides as in the photo of some Swedish Horsemen below. The photo actually makes the gaps look accessible but I think I would have got Tetrion and PVA on the figures if I'd tried to texture in between them.
There’s not much I can do about it, and I’m hoping the gaps will be lost in the deep brown shadows which will which will be be basis of figures, unit base and all.
At this stage I had to think seriously about the pikes. I hate bendy pikes even more than exposed figure bases. Indeed, I’ve even ‘campaigned’ against cast pikes on 6mm (Baccus) and 10mm (Pendraken) figures in favour of separate wire pikes, but it drew little support from other punters. For some time it completely held me back from doing a pike army in 6mm or 10mm, but how could I be right and everyone else wrong?
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| All Tetrioned and sanded. |
I had very serious reservations about the thin, fragile pikes on the 6mm Baccus figures but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Well, I should have trusted my instincts. Despite my best attempts to straighten the pikes and to avoid touching them, the simple process of basing, undercoating and general handling has already proved to me that they are a total disaster. And this is nothing to the bashing they are going to get in use on the table. They are going to end up looking like floppy spaghetti prior to eventually breaking off.
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| Swedish Horsemen: Untextured gaps to be lost in shadow... |
I now realise I have no choice but to snip all the pikes and replace them later. Snipping will be easy but replacing them is going to be fiddly and time-consuming. I'm inclined to snip them now which will give me a little better access to paint the pikemen, even though my painting will be minimal in the extreme and may come as a shock to some readers! I’ll then fit the flags attached to dress pins and finally replace the pikes with brown brush bristles. It can be done as shown
here.
The pikes have been niggling me. Having made this decision I am feeling a lot more positive about this project.
Yes, I think bent pikes take absolutely everything away from the aesthetics of having figures and are probably more distracting than any mis-fitting of wire will be.
ReplyDeleteThere are artists palette knives that are ultra thin, almost stupidly thin ...... but they are great for getting filler between small and tightly packed figures.
I have just done a search to find an ultra thin palette knife and can't find one (I shall treasure mine even more now!), so something home made - even a shaved down cocktail stick might work.
ReplyDeleteNorm
ReplyDeleteI'm not cutting away the bottom of the pikes (i.e. the bit from head to hand) so the pin or bristle replacements will rest against the residue of the moulded pikes. Not perfect, but fully consistent with my intention for these figure blocks to be acceptable from playing distance only.
Most of the figures are either very tightly packed (like the pike-and-shot) or quite loose (like the artillery and dismounted dragoons). I used a cocktail stick to get close to the loose ones. It's the ones in between that are a problem. There aren't too many of them. It's not that I can't get a cocktail stick in between them - it's just the difficulty of getting filler or PVA onto the base and not onto the figures. I don't think it's worth adding any more filler but I might try to get a little more PVA and sand into the gaps.
Richard
Snipping off the pike at the hands and then drilling out a socket for the wire pike is exactly the process I would pursue as well. Refitting hundreds of pikes in this manner is not an enviable task and one I would be reluctant to try.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Jonathan
DeleteNot sure I'll be drilling sockets! That's doable but difficult in 10mm. But if it is possible it will give me some purchase.
Richard
Jonathan
DeleteI've clipped the first block to see what it's like. It's really only practical to cut the pike at head level. It's not practical to remove the butt end running from the head down to the hand. Maybe that could have been done before the figures were based, but it would probably have been necessary to separate them and it would have entailed a lot of work. With 6mm figures you have to be very careful even when removing flash as they can bend/break at the ankles. (I'm not saying there is much flash on Baccus figures, but I did encounter it on the helmeted musketeers, and it was difficult to apply a scalpel without putting too much pressure on the legs.)
There's not much point in drilling any holes. There is something of a groove between the residue of the pike and the chest of the figure and I believe that bristles (or pins) can lie in that groove. Close up you will be able to see the residue of the pike. This may sound crude, but it's in accordance with my approach to painting.
Baccus figures are fantastically detailed but nobody is going to see that detail at a distance in a wargames club with mediocre lighting. I'm being brutal, but realistic.
Richard
Hi, I also have a big problem with spaghetti pike syndrome but by being EXTREMELY careful have managed to keep it from getting too out of hand. I thoroughly understand your frustration but could not bring myself to even contemplate their replacement. I could not manage to put basing material between my men either but if you want to see how they come out with just paint and shadow feel free to look at some of the early posts on my blog 1642andallthat.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteHi and thanks for your comments. Nicely painted figures and a very interesting blog I haven't come across before. My approach will be very different - a lot of time will be spent on pikes but little on painting.
DeleteI love the crowded bases. Really look like solid blocks of troops.
ReplyDeleteYour snipping and brush bristle pikes sounds, well, complicated. I don't envy you.
I'm a bendy pike guy. Can't help it. I've got countless photos of beautifully painted figures (by other chaps) but bent pikes. A mate of mine was so annoyed to see figure he'd painted undermined by a bent pike shaft that he offered to fly from New Zealand to the UK to correct it. I promised to do better in future.
Steven
DeleteIt's going to take some time but it's not really complicated. All will become clearer as I post updates.
I want to get the figures on the table ASAP so I can actually start playing TVBD. This means at least getting the first coat of brown paint on them. The rest can follow later.
I've replaced spears and flagpoles on hundreds of 15mm figures, some 25mm/28mm ones and a few 10mm ones. These all involved drilling holes through hands - pretty tricky for 10mm. My figure collection has absolutely no bendy pikes and that's the way I'm keeping it! Whatever the imperfections of this solution, they will not be as obvious as a tangle of limp spaghetti held aloft.
Richard
Why manufacturers insist on cast pikes at scales 6mm and above is beyond comprehension. A waste of their metal and my time (removing them). Good luck with your tedious project.
ReplyDeleteI raised the issue here https://www.baccus6mm.com/forum/General/ProxiesandAlternatives/301-2-ThirtyYearsWar/ and got this reply from Peter...
DeleteThe majority who favour cast pikes should publish photos down the line. It would be a gallery of shame!