American Heads Wearing M-1 Helmets

[Mako]

I posted this in the Cold War section, since I'd like to see a sprue of these made, instead of having to sacrifice numerous, whole troop figs to do conversions.

I'd like to see these produced, with a small, thin stalk below their necks, in order to permit them to be inserted into holes drilled with a small pin vise drill bit, for a more secure fit.

The WWII American heads in helmets will be useful for converting US Marine bazooka men wearing caps into proper WWII, and/or Cold War Danish and West German, early period soldiers.  I imagine they'd also be useful for converting some of the other WWII figs that are also wearing caps.

For the Cold War, they'd be useful for both the Danes and West Germans, and I suspect, many other nations as well.  Danes wore WWII British uniforms, and/or American ones, during the early Cold War period, and in some cases, right up until the end of the Cold War, but they had American M-1 helmets.

Also, these heads would be useful for converting existing British Falklands troops to Danish ones too, e.g. their Carl Gustav and 66mm M72 LAW figs.

Feel free to add your support below, in a reply, if you'd like to see these produced as well.  The more interest we get in them, the more likely they may be produced.

Of course, I'd love to see Pendraken produce a kneeling American figure firing a bazooka, especially the 3.5" model, also, for the Korean War and beyond, so I don't have to do conversions for the American Marine one, if they'd prefer.  Would save me a lot of work, and they can be used for other nations as well, e.g. Danes, and West Germans too, amongst others.

Would love to see both a kneeling/firing figure, as well as a prone/firing figure also.  Loaders for both would be appreciated, but I can overlook those, if that helps produce two poses of the guys firing the bazookas.

[Sunray]

We had a discussion about a sprue of heads - not unlike Peter Pig does in 15mm - on this forum some years ago.   Meantime quite a few of us have done head and "waistband" conversions.   The M60 gunner in the Vietnam range is, I recall such a conversion.

I would like to hear from Phil (Techno) about the practicality of sculpting a head  in a manner - say with a "neck pin" - that allows a cut and drill torso to receive the head.   

Three key questions

1.  Is it possible in 1/150 or would it look "odd" ?  In this scale figures don't have a lot of neck - the chin is exaggerated above the collar.

2.  The total cost of the exercise. 

3.  Demand - related to 2 by the economies of scale.

Cheers

James

[Techno]

1.  Is it possible in 1/150 or would it look "odd" ?  In this scale figures don't have a lot of neck - the chin is exaggerated above the collar.

2.  The total cost of the exercise. 

3.  Demand - related to 2 by the economies of scale.

Cheers

James

1).....I think some conversions would look absolutely fine and spiffy......But I reckon, some would look a bit odd....The tiny variations in the size of the bodies, could possibly make some heads look too large or too small, and a bit 'waffy'.

2).....Each individual head wouldn't cost a vast sum sum from the designers point of view.....But depending on the number of different head variations which I could see folk suddenly asking for, it could end up eating more and more into Leon's design budget, which isn't limitless......The cost is also increased as Leon/Dave would have to spend more for buying, making and casting the moulds, and also their time involved, unless they knew they were going to sell absolute shedloads.

3)....If Leon knew for certain they would sell oodles, it might be something he could consider in the future.....But I reckon he'd have to sell them at a premium price, as there would probably be quite a few mis-casts because of them being so small.

I don't think it's a daft idea at all...But it's just probably not practicable for Leon to consider at the time being.......But it IS his train-set, and I may be barking up the wrong tree completely ! 

Cheers - Phil

[Ithoriel]

Is there really much demand for this or for individual weapons?

I'm not above doing a little surgery on 10mm or even 6mm figures but most of it is done with a paintbrush rather than drills and snips.

I will confess that a man with a bazooka is a man with a bazooka as far as I'm concerned and a man with a panzerschrek is a man with a bazooka of you snip the shield off. Coming from the era of Plasticene, banana oil and chopped up Airfix figures maybe I'm not as rigorous in my need for strict accuracy as others are (just as well for my Sumerian project where I struggle to find figures from the right millennium let alone the right decade!).

I'd hate to see Pendraken diverted from outstanding projects to this unless there's considerably more interest than I'd expect.

[Sunray]

1).....I think some conversions would look absolutely fine and spiffy......But I reckon, some would look a bit odd....The tiny variations in the size of the bodies, could possibly make some heads look too large or too small, and a bit 'waffy'.

2).....Each individual head wouldn't cost a vast sum sum from the designers point of view.....But depending on the number of different head variations which I could see folk suddenly asking for, it could end up eating more and more into Leon's design budget, which isn't limitless......The cost is also increased as Leon/Dave would have to spend more for buying, making and casting the moulds, and also their time involved, unless they knew they were going to sell absolute shedloads.

3)....If Leon knew for certain they would sell oodles, it might be something he could consider in the future.....But I reckon he'd have to sell them at a premium price, as there would probably be quite a few mis-casts because of them being so small.

I don't think it's a daft idea at all...But it's just probably not practicable for Leon to consider at the time being.......But it IS his train-set, and I may be barking up the wrong tree completely ! 

Cheers - Phil

Thanks Phil, the spectre of mis-casts of small fiddly items did come up in the last discussion. 

I must admit I have disarmed a few Minifig modern Soviets to clip away an AK47, and made my own LAWs out of fine plastic pipe.    I have a very nifty French resistance fighter - whose Adrian helmet was filed down to a flat cap, and rearmed with a US Marine sniper rifle.   My kids call him the  Jackal

    I am on waist band conversions tonight as WW1 Brit torsos are bonded to  a variety of Russian/Soviet tummies/legs to make passable East German type police in jackboots.  Saw off the barrel of the SMLE and add a salami slice of plastic sprue and - bingo a PPSh -41 

Perhaps we could have a competition for the best Pendraken figure conversion ?

I think Ithoriel has nailed the key question .  Demand . Apart from pestering for a few 1970s Soviets, the Pendraken 2017 Korean output will keep me painting/gaming for a long time to come.   Boy those KPA masters look neat Phil !

[Leon]

I think separate heads or weapons isn't something we'd be looking to do any time soon.  As Phil has said they can be a pain to sculpt/mould/cast properly especially with a small pin in the base of them, as the metal wouldn't flow up that very well.  You'd probably have to make the pin much thicker for casting, then the customer would have to cut that off, drill a hole in the head and insert a fresh pin in it's place.  That's a lot of work and effort involved, and not that much easier than chopping the head off an existing figure really.

[Techno]

Perhaps we could have a competition for the best Pendraken figure conversion ?

I'll enter under an assumed identity.......And then get REALLY annoyed when I don't win.

Cheers - A Cheat.

[Mako]

Yea, I can see where the pins for the heads might be an issue, so you can drop that.

I can use a bit of thin wire inserted into the head and body, if you'll consider this request.

Probably drop the LAW too, since that can be made from a bit of plastic tubing, or wire.

Would still like to see the 3.5" bazooka though, since the ends of it are a bit harder to scratch build.

RPG-7s would be nice too, since they're so ubiquitous, along with the Panzerfaust 44s.

I hate the idea of sacrificing whole figs just to get their heads.  Seems a bit gruesome too, when you think about it.

Certainly better than trying to sculpt new helmets out of putty at such a small scale, and they could be widely used for converting many figs, so I hope you will still consider this option.  Doesn't use up much metal, so perhaps 20 - 24 heads to a pack, all arranged in a row on a single sprue, to make casting easy?

These would also be of use to future sculptors, I suspect, when you do get round to producing more WWII, Korean, Vietnam, or Cold War American figures in the future too.  They can be added onto existing prone, standing, and kneeling bodies to make all sorts of new figures, rather quickly, e.g.:

Danish and West German MG42/MG3 gunners
Danish and American Carl Gustav gunners
American, and Danish M72 LAW gunners
Danish Reserve and Home Guard troops wearing WWII British surplus uniforms with M-1 Helmets
US Army bazooka man firing, and wearing a helmet (instead of a US Marine soft cap)
US, Danish, and West German prone machine gunners and assistants
US, Danish, West German, NATO, African, and Central/South American troops wearing M-1 helmets
etc., etc..

My guess is I have a better chance of getting these produced than proper Cold War Danes, Americans, or West Germans, anytime soon, and I really do need them now.