Tuesday, 26 April 2022

Heavy Metal - Minifigs 25mm drum carriage completed.

As I finished this off this morning and wanted to share a few images around various places I'm giving this lovely old Minifigs model it's own dedicated post! It is of course for the collection of  'Old John' Cunningham and I have to say it was an absolute joy to paint. I basically copied the colour scheme from the supplied picture reference. Note that I still need a couple of minor touch ups here and there (spotted after the photos were taken of course!) and that the extended axle rods require cutting back - they actually proved useful during the painting to grip without touching the paintwork.

As the standing drummer arrived minus sticks I fashioned a pair for him, fiddly but worth it I think. had a few practice goes before painting all of the miniature yellow crowns on the carriage, horse furniture and livery, more of an impression really but I think they work well. Everything has been given a couple of coats of satin varnish and will be very careful packed for posting of course. John and I like to recycle packaging wherever possible and so the same set of boxes has travelled back and forth between Kent and wales so many times now I have lost count.

I have been trying to find out when this was first produced by Miniature Figurines, can't see it in the 1973 catalogue (here) but sure it was in the later catalogue, the one with soldiers from all different eras represented on the front cover, possibly early 80's?

I hope you like the pictures, not something I get to paint very often. 












 

20 comments:

  1. Nice. Glad to see in the all-up photos your postillion is riding the left-hand / near-side horse, I reckon that's where he ought to be.

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    1. Thank you, the supplied illustration did show the rider on right side but I do agree that left side is correct.

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    2. Not sure why my comment was anonymous... anyway it was me.

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  2. Beautiful! A great choice of colours to highlight a lovely model.

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    1. Many thanks :) The colour scheme was copied from a printed reference supplied by John, I think it's Swedish?

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  3. Love the carriage - but I always think your horses are the best

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    1. Thanks JBM :) The horses are bloody HUGE!

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    2. Note sure, of course - they are splendid horses, but they look like Hinchliffe to me.

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  4. Had to pop back to check this out after my previous comment and glad I did - this has turned out very nicely indeed - the colours certainly look Swedish!

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    1. Thanks rross, it was such a joy to paint and John's supplied colour reference was just what I needed.

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  5. You’ve done a superb job on this, I always wanted one when I couldn’t afford it and now I can’t find one 😁 The colours you have chosen really make it pop. Old John must be mighty pleased.

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  6. Drum carriage think still available from Caliver Books, the horses are actually Victorian funeral carriage horses from Colonel Bills Depot battalion range, and yes carriage is Swedish for Great Northern War, i got the idea from a pic in Helions Wargames No4 Waking the Bear, wasn't too clear but asked around and the chap who owned the model picture kindly posted a clearer photo on League of Augsburg blog, which i printed off

    totally impressed and very grateful to Lee for all his fantastic work for me over the years
    cheers Old John

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    1. Thanks for clearing up the question mark re horses, they certainly are a couple of beauties! Glad you supplied that colour reference photo John or I may not have known where to start, it made the painting much easier for me. And as always many thanks for your support.

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  7. Awesome kettle drum carriage, lovely horses too!
    Best Iain

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  8. Saw the image in the Helion PDT "Waking the Bear" as I start my GNW projects, remembered I have it unpainted and unassembled in my shed, now for some bigger horses!

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    1. It's a wonderful piece of metal! I think the horses were Victorian Funeral horses that Old John got online somewhere.

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