British / Canadian (1943-45) kit bash idea
- This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 2 weeks, 3 days ago by
.
-
Love the new Brit plastic box but wanted a prone figure or two in my units . Went through my spares box and found 4 sprues of 8th Army figures . Now I never ordered these , they came free with my online store orders over the last couple of years . The last 2 orders I got gave me a sprue of Roman Auxiliaries and Napoleonic French .Thanks I guess , but I only build WW2 . Putting on my thinking cap I thought except for the shorts , the 8th Army guys would work . I first tried the green stuff / Vallejo putty route with little success . Then I remembered I had a few of the original Brits , you know the 5 man sprue with smaller bodies and spindly arms . Although the kneeling and walking figures look i]right , I always thought the 3 standing figures had skinny legs that looked out of place next to the newer troops .
So I cut the bare legs off the prone 8th Army body , eyeballed the length of the standing figures legs and hacked away . A little sanding to flatten what would be the underside of the leg against the base and a little putty , and it turned out great . I used the Bren Gunner arms from the 8th Army set and various other rolled up sleave arms from the parts box . The other soldier has arms from the new Brit set . Still have 15 – 20 bodies in short pants to deal with though …….
Attachments:
I was never fond of prone figures, but I think this was because of a bad childhood experience. When I was a kid, I bought multiple boxes of Airfix American Civil War figures. In fact, I bought all the boxes the hobby store had at the time, which were, if I can remember correctly, two boxes of Union infantry, three boxes Confederate infantry, and two boxes of Artillery – yes, even as a kid I was a figure fanatic. (see pics below for those that don’t know or would like a blast from the past)
Anyway, the first box I opened was the Artillery (of course), but then the Union and Confederate infantry. I noticed that only the Union infantry came with prone figures. In fact, ten out of forty-eight are prone, so about 20% of the box has prone figures. Now, this didn’t mean much at first, but later I found Airfix Guide #24: American Civil War Wargaming, and what a fantastic and useful book! However, that’s when I realized I needed more boxes of Airfix figures. Lots more, but unfortunately, because of all those darn prone figures, even more boxes of Union infantry. In the end, I had a big bag of prone Union infantry figures which had little use. Yes, I did try to make casualties.
Because of that, I think that is why I’m not keen about prone figures for tabletop miniature gaming. That being said, your figures look very good. In fact, I like what you did to make your prone Bren Gun team. I’m actually very tempted to do the same thing. That’s what I already did with some of the prone figures we get with the plastic US Airborne and Soviet Infantry box sets – the first sets that were released because you don’t get prone figures in the newer sets (Hmm, I wonder why?). The prone figures were used to make LMG teams, and for the Soviets, AT-Rifle teams, but you only need so many, so I try to find other uses for prone figures like snipers, forward observers, and what not.
I have so many prone Soviet figures ., I gave a bunch away . I think I’ve built 8 boxes of the original troops and 4 of the winter box , and 2 of the new guys . You can only so many guys with a rifle , light MG or anti tank rifle . I borrowed panzerfaust and binocular arm pairs from my German parts box which fit with a little sanding . Plus I’ve done some leg swaps from other Russians so it looks like the soldier is diving to the ground . I’ve also cut and adjusted the torso so it sits a little higher off the ground for a couple of guys throwing grenades . . I used the Japanese prone figure as a dead guy on his back which took a bit of work adding the details not included on a figure who is laying down . I used the extra small Russian rifle ammo pouches to sub for the Japanese kit , and then green stuff cross straps and belt . A couple of the Soviets in the quilted uniforms ( I hate those molded on packs and bed rolls ) can be fitted with the capes from the new box . If you trim the back pack off , the cape covers the mess you make . And the running guy can be depicted climbing a ladder or into the back of a truck if you give him the right arms and twist the feet a little .
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.