Thanks Michael. They are well worth it
Don't worry Blue. They will see paint!
Today's subject is a slightly more ambitious conversion. I call this one 'The Towton tap' - the fatal knock on the head with a warhammer, dealt to fleeing Lancastrian soldiers ridden down by remorseless Yorkist men-at-arms... The poor fellows had chucked their helmets and weapons away in their desperate flight, and were easy pickings for the pursuing prickers and scurriers, who smacked them down from behind. Several of the bodies in the Towton grave pit bore the telltale square section puncture hole in the cranium from the beak of a hammer swung down from above, or the massive crush damage of a hammer blow. But enough of such gruesome history...
Now in my ideal world, the rider figures in the new Perry MMAA set would have consisted of separate legs, torsos, heads, and both left and right arms.
Unfortunately - for perfectly understandable reasons of space on the sprue, economy, and (presumably) ease for people who want to be able to build figures quickly, whilst the set includes an abundance of heads and separate right arms (with lots of separate weapons choices) the left arm is moulded onto the rider bodies. Each body consists then of rein arm, legs and torso, all in one piece. There are four body types included, in four different styles of armour - but all in the exact same pose.
I'm not complaining by the way, just saying a bit more flexibility would have been nice. But I understand entirely why it was not to be...
However, if you want a figure twisting in the saddle and / or leaning down, you have to be prepared for slightly more ambitious surgery.
Here I have sliced off the upper body and left arm, and replaced it with the forward leaning upper body from the WOTR box command sprue. I've then added a left arm made up in two parts from the same source. The head - wearing a visored sallet, sans bevor, is also from that set. The right arm and hammer are from the MMAA set. A dab or two of poly cement works wonders at concealing and smoothing the joins, and these will be even less apparent under the paint.
And that's it really. Here he is. The Towton tap.
Usual caveats apply - he's not been properly cleaned up yet.
And now another bonus foot figure - this one uses the head and hand axe from the MMAA set, with the arms, body, and a targe from the Mercenaries set, to give me a desperado Scottish mercenary. Tiny bit of conversion to slice away the fingers on the right hand so that the fingers clutching the hand axe slip neatly into place. Again, a generous splash of poly cement covers up a multitude of sins.
If I find the time to do one or two more tomorrow, I will. Otherwise there may be a hiatus of a day or two. But fear not, this thread will live on until I've done 24 horsemen