ACW officer conversions - more from FN 11

A while ago I came across a rather nice ACW officer, converted from FN 11, French Napoleonic Line Infantry Officer in greatcoat. I also found I had two further mystery ACW officers and had a discussion with Roy, who said these too were based on the same figure. I was not so sure but now I have had the chance to compare them with an original FN 11 I can see that as always Roy was 100% right. The figures have been converted, then mastered and cast. The first picture shows the first conversion mentioned, with kepi, while the other two figures are in the second shot.

Catching up

Not much progress on the blog front recently, partly due to work, partly due to deadlines for online tax returns, and partly diverted by a large pile of plastic wagons, Airfix ACW artillery, and battlefield accessories for which I have finally bitten the bullet and started trying to sort out. Amongst other things this has involved painting 30 Airfix artillery pieces. On a similar note, I was delighted to find the parcel I was picking up today was the artillery pieces, caissons, limbers, horse teams and small arms ordered from Musket Miniatures before Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing whether the MM sabres are more successful for me when trying to replace broken swords than pin swords, which I have never got to work well, despite investing in a miniature anvil, special hammer etc...

I'll hope to get some posts with pictures moving again soon.

ACW units using vintage castings

In addition to my ACW "dodgy castings" project, I have a small number of units or part-units using originial figures. I am posting some pictures of these. There are also some S Range units I have posted on the Lone S Ranger blog and some by other manufacturers (Rose and Minifigs 20mm) I am posting on The Old Metal Detector. As often with ACW figures the Confederates with a more "Regulars" look mainly use nominally Union figures.

The picture here is an unnamed unit using CS6 Confederate infantry charging in broad-brimmed hat and blanket roll.

ACW project

One of the projects which has been on hold because of work on the three blogs is my ACW one. About 18 months ago I acquired a largish (400 or so figures) collection of Hinton Hunt ACW figures in very tatty paint jobs and with obviously poor castings. I stripped some of the figures and sorted them out; they included a number of conversions from Hinton Hunt napoleonic figures. In additon to the cavalry from FN44 figures and the officer from FN 11 which have been posted previously, they also included some Prussian PN 3 line infantry charging, which had had their shakos cut down into kepis. I fiddled around a bit with these to turn them into a Landwehr battalion.

The figures are very poor castings and I suspect may not be original Hinton Hunt production. The infantry figures contain a vast over representation of zouaves, both Confederate and Union. I also have some other completed units with original figures, not just Hinton Hunt but also from Jacklex, Rose, Minifigs 20mm and Minifigs S range ACW. A recent major PC meltdown led to a temporary halt on blog activities so I have made a start on getting these figures into service.

I started with the foot generals for both sides, followed by the artillery, and am now in mid-cavalry mode. With the other manufactures, particularly Minifigs 20mm and Jacklex, there are around 100 mounted troops and I am in the process of sorting these out.

I'm hoping they will all work reasonaly well together. I am thinking of this as a medium term project and hope to make some reasonable progress soon.

ACW project: Confederate and Union Generals CS 7 and US 7

My regimental and brigade commanders should come from this group. From L to R, two CS 7, one US 7 painted as Confederate, the converted FN 11 napoleonic French Infantry Officer in Greatcoat charging previously posted, and four US 7.

ACW project: RSM 95 20mm ACW Mounted Generals

One glaring gap in the Hinton Hunt ACW range is the lack of any mounted generals. The ones on foot are very welcome and quite stylish (particularly the Confederate CS 7) but somehow I feel divisional commanders and above should swan around on horseback. I found I had two examples of this figure, which is an RSM 95 from their 20mm ACW range, which I think was originally designed by Steve Hezzlewood under the Pax Britannica banner. I have painted one for the Union and one for the Confederacy - he is painted, honest, but on the photo he doesn't really look like it. I've mounted them on S Range horses and am quite pleased with the result. There are some Confederate Generals from Jacklex on the next post, and I have some more to paint, to populate the upper echelons of these forces.

ACW project: Jacklex 6 mule supply wagon and Generals

A little off topic, this is an ACW mule drawn supply wagon, together with 6 generals and two cavalry officers. These are Jacklex items, which are still avalable from Peter Johnstone at Spencer Smith Miniatures. The wagon is a recent cast obtained new from Peter, the figures and horses are a recent e-bay purchase rebased and with a quick refurbishment. I have decided to try to dispense with flock, which gives a pleasing vintage-age-of-wargaming look. (I could have said Old School but I think that phrase now has so many different meanings to different people, many of them negative and some of them so very far away from anyhing that interests me, that I have decided to call it something else).

American Civil War range

Hinton Hunt produced a small American Civil War range, comprising 8 infantry figures, 1 cavalry figure, and 4 gunners each for Union and Confederate sides. Additionally there were limber riders and a driver in the US range (Union), with a limber and a 12 pounder Napoleon field gun.

Thanks to Don who provided many of the photographs of figures in this range.