English Civil War Pikemen with open hands

Started by arthur1815, 13 June 2019, 11:19:07 AM

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arthur1815

I like your ECW figures very much, but do wish there were pikemen, marching and standing, cast with open hands to take vertical wire pikes, like the figures in your League of Augsburg range. Ideally there would be figures in armour, and unarmoured, with a mixture of helmets, hats, Monmouth caps and monteros.
Does anyone else feel the same? If so, please join this topic!

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Welcome Arthur, warning - we will insult you and derail your threads with monotonous regularity.

IanS  :o :o
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Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

fsn

Oooh! He starts with a hot topic!

The Open Hands debate rages quite regularly on this forum. You may invoke the ire of the sculptors.


Anyway, welcome to the Forum.

May I just ask, 1815? This would suggest a Napoleonic interest, or is a quarter past six significant? Stuff the ECW, have a look at the new Napoleonics!
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

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3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
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2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Ithoriel

Welcome to the forum arthur!

You will doubtless find it warm, welcoming and wacky , by turns :)

I hope you enjoy your time here.

As to open hands for pikes, etc. ....... Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! No! Life is way too short to faff about endlessly gluing pikes to hands. Give me cast-on every time.
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Ignore FSN, or Nobby, he is Very Very strange, even when he's taking the frog pills.
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Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

fsn

Told ya!

I'm just saying the new Napoleonics are very, very good.  :D
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Norm

Given a choice, I would prefer open hands and wire.

Techno

A very warm welcome to the forum, Arthur. :)

As one of Pendraken's oft' used sculptors.....

Open handed, against a 'pre-made' pike, halberd....or whatever....often gets mentioned, here. (As 'Nobby'..aka fsn says)...(Not to mention, Mike....aka Ithoriel...ditto)

It would be wonderful if the figures could be made 'either, or'.....But that makes the cost to our esteemed leader (Leon) more than double.....
As far as I can tell....Most ? folk prefer 'ready made' in place 'spears' etc.

From where I sit....I can see the advantages/shortcomings of both.

Cheers - Phil




Poggle

Welcome, aye, welcome!  :)

My preference is for cast pikes. My aging eyesight and less than successful record with super glue practically requires it.  ???

mollinary

Welcome!  I can live with either, but my one request is that if they are going to be moulded on, then they should be the right size.

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Leman

I have just binned a load of beautifully cast, but very wobbly, loose 15mm pikes and replaced with steel ones. The figures were cast open-handed and then supplied with soft metal pikes - pointless exercise.

Welcome to the forum. wherever possible I prefer open handed figures, and, in the bigger scales, hands that can be drilled so that steel pikes don't then fall off (Old Glory are good at that). Some companies do provide a choice and I for one don't much care for bendy pikes on the table. Same goes for lances and spears.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

mmcv

13 June 2019, 03:59:55 PM #11 Last Edit: 13 June 2019, 04:12:31 PM by mmcv
While there are sturdiness benefits to wire ones, the extra faff involved in fitting them in large numbers isn't really worth it, though with pikes it probably is a borderline one given the lengths involved. Then again I have big fingers and more likely to stick the wires to my fingers than the small hands of the models so cast on is handy.

Also, welcome to the forum!

Techno

Quote from: mollinary on 13 June 2019, 03:39:09 PM
Welcome!  I can live with either, but my one request is that if they are going to be moulded on, then they should be the right size.

This is probably one of the biggest problems, especially at smaller scales

As one of the sculptors.....I could make the shaft/s of the pikes/whatever as thin as you want. (ish)

Once it goes into the mould......The impression of the shaft will be there, in the rubber.....But to try and get the 'hot liquid' metal to go up such a tiny channel is VERY difficult.
My guess is.....Leon/Pendraken would have to spin the mould up to ten times, to just get a single figure that would 'look right'.

Leon THEN has to send these out.

What chance would those have of getting 'home' without being completely  and totally bent ?

That's why I tend to mess about with the length of things....like guns.

It's actually a very difficult process.

Cheers - Phil


Ben Waterhouse

Arma Pacis Fulcra