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Author Topic: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics  (Read 4875 times)

Offline Psychlic Bob

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  • Posts: 76
Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #15 on: December 15, 2017, 11:41:54 AM »
Firstly your renderings of these is very good Scaldingus and I look forward to seeing them painted. Your 4/4/4 approach is simple and effective. The Viking-types are particularly good mate.

Was somewhat underwhelmed by the sprues however - they are a weird mix of clothing and even weirder helmets. If they had all been dressed in long-sleeved tunics and trousers with a choice of bearded bare heads and spanghelms they would have made almost any Germanic/Goth/Roman unarmoured cavalry for about 350 years.

Just wondering what the armoured Romans are going to look like now as they should have been similar with mail armour to be super-useful... 

Will bash some of mine in the New Year and would be interested what you think




Offline Coenus Scaldingus

  • Mad Scientist
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Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #16 on: December 15, 2017, 02:53:38 PM »
Thanks all, glad to see the pictures were liked.

On the one hand, I agree that it takes some of the other kits to really make the most out of this set - especially for a later Dark Age set, something actually rooting them in that age (such as a viking hat) does make a great addition. Then again, the only reason I made these was because I might as well use the dozens of extra heads and weapons I had leftover from other sets to make them even better. For a single set, I could have replicated most of these poses with bits in the set (different standard, spears rather than javelins, other heads), but had a slight preference for the created versions (not least to have plenty of spares to now stick on infantry figures). However, after a first box variation will be tougher to achieve, which is where the bits box certainly comes in handy.

Was it difficult to cut the arms so that they fit with the new bodies?
Given that the figures already consist of 6+ parts, an extra cut and snip somewhere aren't much work. A big advantage of the cavalry figures is that they have short sleeves with narrower long sleeves underneath, which means that any arm cut above the elbow should fit incredibly easily. Once you get the arm cut at the right place and angle, it might as well have been made for the job. (Heads may require a tiny bit of puty or an extra slice off the neck; neck sizes seem to differ a bit between sets.)

Quote
As for the limited selection of bodies, would it be possible to cut some bodies in half and then swap the upper bodies with those from the Dark Age Warriors set (cut into two in a similar fashion)? This would provide for a wider selection of poses, though cutting the figures in two might be somewhat time-consuming.
Considered doing so very much, and probably will for a second set. There are three main obstacles here: Firstly, it will indeed cost some time and effort, and I wanted to get these done quickly. Secondly, the bodies are easily split just above or below the waist where both infantry and cavalry wear a belt. One of the cavalry figures (the raised right arm) is posed at such an angle that a newly transferred torso will probably still have to twist that way. Finally, the cavalry figures wear knives at their belts extending beyond the belt upwards, while various infantry have those left arms stuck to the body extending below the belt downwards with hands at least. Either way, some careful cutting or a decent amount of resculpting will be required. In additon, those stuck-on arms means the supplied shields won't fit when on horseback, so you'd need smaller bucklers or so (although they're well-posed to go without shields holding their reins actually. Could always have a shield strapped to their back or hanging from the saddle.).
~Ad finem temporum~

Offline Belisarius

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Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #17 on: December 15, 2017, 04:20:58 PM »
You,ve sold me on this set , C.S. , I,ll be buying a box after seeing what can be done with them . We need more of these “ kit bashing “ features , very well done and I look forward to seeing some painted up .

Offline pbjunky1

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 220
Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #18 on: December 15, 2017, 05:50:16 PM »
I'm  very impressed with what you have done with these. I'll definately buy some and have a go at kitbashing them.

Offline Hu Rhu

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Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #19 on: December 16, 2017, 08:07:41 AM »
Very nice conversions. Are you planning so show some of them painted?

Offline Duncan McDane

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1191
Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #20 on: December 16, 2017, 11:46:40 AM »
Yes, pretty impressive what you made of those.  :)
Leadhead

Offline AdamPHayes

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 600
    • Wargame Warrior
Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #21 on: December 16, 2017, 12:07:32 PM »
Great conversion but I’m not convinced by those horses heads. Maybe they’ll look less weird when painted.

Offline KGatch113

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 171
Re: Kitbashing the new Gripping Beast 'Dark Age' cavalry plastics
« Reply #22 on: January 08, 2018, 05:01:06 PM »


Those horse heads and necks look awful.

 

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