My Prince August Project (Update 12/10)

[Commander Vyper]

Nice!

I had the men at arms mould. Remember heating up the prince august nuggets in the little ladle and that bloody mould clamp.  Jesus that hurt when it twanged!

[Jevenkah]

Nice paintjobs on some interesting poses!

DIY metal casting for kids? Why did they not sell this in the USA? Damn our litigious society!

Pleased to meet you,
Jevenkah

[Zoggin-eck]

Great work on the skeletons, they look much better than most photos I've seen (including Prince August's!). I've been trying to tell myself I won't pace an order with them

Any chance you have a photo of them next to some more recent models? I don't mind skeletons a bit smaller than usual, but I worry they'd look like children...

[robh]

Nicely done. I had several of those moulds in my youth, great fun to mess around with and a good way to quickly populate a D&D dungeon. Great thing being you could re-use the same metal over and over so a new set of monsters each weekend!  Even if the smell of burning off the old humbrol paint as they melted down did linger in the kitchen for hours.

The Orcs you have there (plus the unarmoured ones and the Hobgoblin figures) match perfectly in height and bulk with the GW Lord of the Rings Orcs/Uruks. I have many of them scattered amongst my Mordor forces.

[phreedh]

Jorny, just noticed you're in Sweden (well - assuming, based on your history with Drakar och Demoner) - where you at? I'm in Kävlinge, a bit north-west of Lund.

If I take the plunge (not very likely, but still) and get a few molds maybe we could arrange for an exchange of sorts? Do you get the casting metal locally or straight from PA?

[Jorny]

Jorny, just noticed you're in Sweden (well - assuming, based on your history with Drakar och Demoner) - where you at? I'm in Kävlinge, a bit north-west of Lund.

If I take the plunge (not very likely, but still) and get a few molds maybe we could arrange for an exchange of sorts? Do you get the casting metal locally or straight from PA?

I live in Umeå! But we could maybe arrange something by mail? PM me.
I get my metal from PA.

[Jorny]

I cast up a couple of more minis the other day, with mixed results to say the least. I haven't found time to paint them yet. Hopefully I can get some time this weekend.



This are the men at arms from PA674 and the remaining orc stormtrooper from PA684. All cast relatively easy.


This is the silvan elves from PA 691. These were hard to cast, and what's worse, there is something wrong with my mould causing bad mould slipping. The one with the bow might be usable, the other one are completely ruined and the mould has to be replaced, something I am not sure I feel will be worth the money. Have to think that over.

The disaster with the elves where quickly forgotten however when I found these guys in a box.



It is a couple of Mithril miniatures I bought back in the 90's. When i was a kid these (and later some warzone miniatures) were the only cast miniatures available for sale in my hometown. They were kept in a wire basket behind the counter in the toy store, so you had to ask the rather grumpy ladies working there if you could take a look at them...

I will paint these up as well as soon as I get some time on my hands, some have to be stripped from old paint first though.

[mrtn]

Nice nostalgic stuff!
I used to cast a lot as a kid as well, and last summer I brought my moulds back from my parents and started casting again. I've been saving any off-cuts from metals I've bought, and the numerous sprues on stuff like hats, helmets and heads I get from Warlord Games means that for every new box I can cast up a couple of minis.
I cast and painted quite a few dwarves and some goblins which can be seen here.
I've also used some of their bigger moulds, like the barbarians, to convert and use with 28mm historicals.

PA's website have some good tips on casting, their tip to drill holes through the mould for venting is something which has been very good and means I cast much better models now than 20 years ago. The shields and such that always used to miscast doesn't any more.

[Jorny]

Those PA dwarfs are great! Nice paintjob on some of the best PA miniatures. A friend had that mould, and I know I casted some for myself with that. I wonder where those are now.

[Jorny]

PA's website have some good tips on casting, their tip to drill holes through the mould for venting is something which has been very good and means I cast much better models now than 20 years ago. The shields and such that always used to miscast doesn't any more.

Yeah, I found that really helps. Wished I knew those tricks back in the day. Nowadays the casting is a lot easier.

[Jorny]

Got some paint on two more PA miniatures.



It's the remaining Orc Stormtrooper from PA684 and one of the Men at Arms from PA674. The orc was fun to paint, the Prince August orcs are certainly growing on me. As you can see on the paint job, the men at arms are not as fun to paint. The miniatures are not that exciting either.

[phreedh]

It's the remaining Orc Stormtrooper from PA684 and one of the Men at Arms from PA674. The orc was fun to paint, the Prince August orcs are certainly growing on me. As you can see on the paint job, the men at arms are not as fun to paint. The miniatures are not that exciting either.

I think they turned out great, both of them! Agree the man at arms isn't the most exciting miniature, but it still looks good!

I sometimes miss the old PA paints... they had a blue reminding me of the one you've used. It dried very, very flat - almost chalky.

[DeafNala]

The Orc's strong points are an abundance of charm & personality; unfortunately the lack of a visible face leaves the Knight without either. HOWEVER, they are both SPLENDIDLY painted. WELL DONE!

[Jorny]

I finally got some time to complete my Men at Arms after letting my PA project rest for a while. The Prince August miniatures came back to the forefront of my painting table because I was getting a bit tired of painting a gazillion skeletons for my Tomb Kings. I also invested in some new moulds which of course helped with the motivation!


These are the Men at Arms from PA674. Not the most exciting miniatures, but they came out better than expected.


I have made a little detour from the purpose of this project with buying this mould. This is one of the three wizards in PA657. I never had this mould and I can't remember seeing it in any shop or catalogue as a kid. I have the other two wizards and three dwarfves from PA683  casted and waiting for some paint!

[DeafNala]

COOL STUFF! The Lads & Lady painted up BEAUTIFULLY...GREAT WORK!
There is a lot of appeal to casting your own minis. I wonder where that would have taken moi should the molds have been available when I was a lad...way back when.