While as usual, the dashing light cavalry are hogging the limelight, I've been pushing on with my Spanish (actually Prussian) dragoons. This is one of the few cavalry sets produced by HAT that I actually like. It's made in that somewhat rubbery soft plastic, but it can be glued and I now have 16 dragoons staring at me from my odd jobs box.
I will need to add an officer and a second figure to each set of eight, as well as doing a third set of eight. The question is now, whether that should be a standard bearer or a bugler?
And fundamentally that's what this blog is all about, wrestling with these deep questions.
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Why not add both a standard bearer and bugler? Nothing succeeds like excess.
ReplyDeleteWell I could, but that would mean leaving out an officer. I've found that if I have painted figures that aren't used in the game, they tend not to get used too much.
DeleteOK what have you found that glues HaT rubbery plastic with. I have used PVA recently but yet to be sure that works!!!
ReplyDeleteIan
I find superglue answers rather well.
DeleteHummm...go for both. The bugler is needed for command/control, and the standard is always needed for a dash of color and style. (Not to mention being a "focal point" for the tabletop unit!)
ReplyDeleteI have found that if you undercoat the "bendy" HaT figures with a slightly diluted white glue, it stiffens them up considerably, and as a side benefit the paint adheres better to the figure. A final coat of clear acrylic (Future Floor Polish) insures that the figure will stay uniformed for years to come, despite hard service on the table and in storage.
It's an argument that is not without merit - I actually decided to ditch an officer in order to have both. Now to check my references and pick three different dragoon regiments.
DeleteThe PVA treatment has always worked for me with the bendy plastic.
For awkward plastics, I use gel superglue on one part, then PVA on the other, or on top of the superglue - then quickly put the parts together. The superglue or PVA will take about 30 hours to harden on their own, but the superglue sets the PVA in seconds, the combination giving a fairly good bond.
ReplyDeleteI also get my superglue from Ebay, 60ml for £7, as opposed to 3ml for £2.50 from Sainsburys and the like.
Mark
I'll have to try that one, Mark. It can be tricky enough to get the bendy plastic riders to stay if the bond isn't immediate.
DeleteIs there a particular eBay seller you'd recommend?