Airfix 54mm Napoleonic French Line Infantry

[Steve Brodie]

Amazing stuff neil, i could probably cut the figures from the sprues and butcher them, but that would be it, they would all end up as zombie fodder !

[Neil Merryweather]

Amazing stuff neil, i could probably cut the figures from the sprues and butcher them, but that would be it, they would all end up as zombie fodder !

Thanks, Steve, I find this bit much more fun than the painting part- each to his own, I guess

[Steve Brodie]

Thanks, Steve, I find this bit much more fun than the painting part- each to his own, I guess

We will have to colab one day aka Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars :smiling5: :smiling5: :smiling5:

[Neil Merryweather]

Even though I’ve been silent on this for a while I haven’t been entirely idle over last couple of months.
I realise I haven’t stuck very rigidly to the principle of using up the stash- in fact I’ve added quite a bit to it for the purposes of this build alone ….
As it turned out, though, in that second job lot there were not just some Fusilier arms but two almost complete Fusiliers-


So in order to use up the stash I feel I just have to do Fusiliers 7 and 8 …..

Number 7 is standing firing, but I want him to be slightly different to Fusilier 1 so I used the Fusilier body but the arms and legs from a 95th Rifleman. I had to tweak them a bit because the butt of the Charleville musket is longer than that of the Baker rifle and the hand didn’t reach the trigger. I filed a groove in his shoulder and all is good now. I will have to alter the cuffs. The head is another of my World War 1 gunner sculpts



So, the same only different, hopefully.

Fusilier 8 will be kneeling with bayonet fixed, so I will use a pair of Rifleman’s kneeling legs, but I will graft on some gaitered feet and calves from a fusilier- in the next exciting instalment…..
And I'll need to revisit the composition I think.
Many thanks for looking in
Neil

[Steve Brodie]

wow

[Neil Merryweather]

And so on to Fusilier 8. He will be kneeling with his musket grounded and bayonet fixed, so I am using some kneeling legs from the Airfix 95th Rifleman.


These are trousered though and I want them gaitered ,so I am going to perform some transplant surgery.
First step is to remove the gaitered parts from the standing legs and then using them for measurement, cutting the trousers off at the knees. I pinned them with 1mm copper wire which gives me an instant fit and a bit of bend if I need it.

His right foot needed to be bent so I sawed a V almost through at the toes



And glued it into position



The body and arms come from the Fusilier,



The shako and musket are Historex spares and the head is another of my own sculpts.
So now I’ve got that out of my system it’s time to get back on track with Fusilier 5 , who still needs piping and buttons on his tunic, a bit more hair and his equipment fitting. Hopefully that will happen this coming weekend.
I'm still Mojo-less as far as painting is concerned, though
Thanks for watching

N

[Tim Marlow]

More plastic surgery on show, and fine work it is. Great stuff :thumb2:

[PaulinKendal]

The brutal conversion work is a revelation - just shows what can be done, if approached with confidence and a clear sense of what's intended. I'd bottle it, I'm sure!

[Jim R]

Neil, that is really impressive altering and scratching.

[Neil Merryweather]

Tim, Paul and Jim,
many thanks for your kind comments, but this is the part that comes easy to me- it's the damned painting part I worry about.
cheers
N

[JayCee]

Were you a surgeon in a previous existence ? Lovely work Neil.
John.
P.S. painting isn't so bad. A 2" brush, close your eyes, and that's it ! At least that's what my figures look like. :smiling: .

[Neil Merryweather]

Were you a surgeon in a previous existence ? Lovely work Neil.
John.
P.S. painting isn't so bad. A 2" brush, close your eyes, and that's it ! At least that's what my figures look like. :smiling: .

PLASTIC surgeon, maybe :tongue-out3:
But thanks John

[JR]

Someone's certainly enjoying himself . Thought that photo of the sprues you showed had the look of a family tree about it :smiling3:
Fantastic stuff Neil, out of interest what size is that copper wire please .

[Neil Merryweather]

Someone's certainly enjoying himself . Thought that photo of the sprues you showed had the look of a family tree about it :smiling3:
Fantastic stuff Neil, out of interest what size is that copper wire please .

Cheers John.
I use 1mm for arms legs and heads and 0.5mm for hands. I drill with a pin vice, and I have one permanently set up for each size, so there's very little mucking about.

[Billski]

I've never kit bashed miniatures before so I'm really interested to follow this thread. I normally buy Perry's or victrix but I like the detail in the airfix