Sunday, January 3, 2016

'Nostalgia' from PeterD - Prince August Soldiers

For my entry into the Nostalgia theme round, I've gone way back to the land of counterpane and the pioneers of wargaming.  We're going right back to HG Wells and RL Stevenson here.

I have a gun plus two crews in 40mm flats produced from Prince August moulds (but not by me).  I have painted them as English Royal Artillery from the Nine Years War using info from the League of Augsburg forum.


There is a piece of me that would seriously love to game with figures like this but it would require home casting.  The noxious fumes would lead to my banishment from the house, and no-one trusts me with motel metal. Sigh........

The figures were fun to paint, but took more work than I expected to bring out the detail being well..flat.  I like the results even if the wheels on the cannon look wonky in retrospect.




34 comments:

  1. I remember seeing the DIY casting kits in the shops when I were a lad - had they stocked fantasy armies or WW2 kits, I probably would have been tempted, but I had to wait until middle age to acquire a taste for 18th century warfare. Lovely work on an old school formst!

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  2. I loved Prince August, great memories!

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  3. I remember walking round Saltzburg unsuccessfully trying to buy some flats instead of going to the pub. Great stuff

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  4. I have the moulds for this gun as well but not the crew I believe. Anyway I feel for your anguish when painting them, you have to include most of the details yourself indeed yet I worked around this by painting mine as "vintage toy soldiers" with a big coat of gloss varnish.

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    1. I waffled on this for a while. Either way works in m view.
      Cheers PD

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  5. A real blast from the past Peter! I had PA 40mm casting set and loved it. I moved on to 25mm Naps casting not long after but even today I remember how fun those first efforts were...

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  6. Prince August now that is a blast from the past.

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  7. Having wrecked one of my mum's pans and almost poisoned everyone with fumes from trying to melt down some soft plastic sprues, I abandoned my thoughts of getting Prince August moulds when I was a teenager.

    Lovely work on these chaps Peter :)

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. That's what I figured I might do...
      Thanks Tamsin

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  8. I share your problem - the chances of The Wife trusting me near molten metal are minimal! She's only just conceding that I'm allowed sharp scissors.

    Love these Prince August gunners. Well done!

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    1. Edwin
      Sharp scissors are allowed, and my wife reminded me that she trusted me with a soldering iron during our stained glass crafting phase. However she is sure to schedule cabbage rolls when I am unavailable. Just because of a trip to emergency when I lost a knife fight to a 12lb cabbage.
      Cheers PD

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  9. Funnily enough I was looking at the Prince August site just the other day and thinking that it would be wonderful to actually cast your own, but came to same conclusions. These are great though.

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    1. In theory what could go wrong....?
      But safer us better. Thanks Michael

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  10. Remembers me of some SYW figures I cast with my dad in the kitchen some thirty years ago... Wonderful choice!

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    1. So you survived hone casting? Thanks Stefan

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    2. I think not only me but some of my castings survived as well. Somewhere... ;-)

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  11. Flats! I will have some someday, but I doubt my wife will allow me to cast my own!
    I love the bright colors, reminds me of my dad's Barclay podfoot troopers!

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    1. My wife read my post and confirmed the domestic ban, which is probably for the best. I had to google "Barclay podfoot troopers". I had figured it was a football sponsorship comment, but I found Barclay's figures on Ebay - wonderful stuff but must be strong...
      Cheers PD

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  12. Another very nostalgic entry. Although for me it has to be Airfix plastics and the like.

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    1. Thanks Sean. I started with Arfix Nappys but didn't want to deal with floppy plastic. Cheers PD

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  13. These would be a great addition to any collection. I remember the old ads.

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