This past March, I took some figures to sell at the Seven Years War convention in South Bend, Indiana. My reasoning was I am going to be 55 this year, and still have a basement full of unpainted lead. I figured by painting some of these I would be have the double pleasure of getting rid of them, and deferring part of the cost of my trip. As any of you who have been to this con will know, the greybeards who attend, go through a lot of "cerveza" in the evenings while solving the problems of the world. Plus it is always great to have a drink with Professor Chris Duffy, and listen to him espouse on the virtues of the Austrian army. Although this year, his presentation was on the Jacobite conflict. Anyway, I digress.
Well this year I shared a table with Herb Gundt of H.G. Walls, the "Terrain Master General". Herb noticed that some of my figures had spears, and others flagstaffs, that were made of plastic. He wanted to know where I got them. I told Herb that I've been manufacturing my own spears/pikes/flagstaffs for the past twenty years or so. I had tired of the metal spears that always broke, or would not stay in the figures hands. He asked how I did this, and that is what led me to writing this article.
Properly scaled spears, etc., have, in my opinion, always been a problem for the figure manufacturer(s). in order to get them to scale, they become very delicate and any regular usage on the wargame table inevitably leads to breakage. The idea of casting these items seperately obviously helped some, as it made it possible to replace broken items with new spears, flagstaffs, or such. However, this led to the problem of figures being used regularly having these items popping out of the figure's hands from time to time.
Many years ago a friend of mine struck on the idea for replacement spears, of using the strands or fibers from a plastic broom; we used back then a company called O'cedar, which I don't know if it is still on the market or not. I immediately observed the advantage of this, and being the typical wargaming consumer type, went out and purchased the largest one I could find. I've been using this same broom for replacement parts since the early 80s, and am only about half way thru the thing now.
Anyway, by taking a pair of scissors and cutting the plastic fibers at the broom head, one can then measure the length of spear, lance, pike, flagstaff, or whatever, to meet one's needs. Once cut, I take the flat end of an exacto knife and flatten the end of the fiber. I do this on both sides a couple of times to insure the end is as flat as I want it to be. Then using the sharp end of the exacto knife, I cut across the flattened end at 45 degree angles on both sides, thus making my spearpoint. Then if I don't like the result, I just cut it off and start over. Once the spearhead is done and the staff is cut to the length I want, I will prime the spear. I usually do a number of them at one time, and then cut the other end to the length I need. Following this, I will either paint the item before gluing it to the figure, or glue it and then paint it. Doesn't seem to matter much either way, I just go by which will be easier to do.
Once finished, you will find these spears, etc., will hold onto the figure, will rarely if ever pop out, and will never break. If struck by a wargamer during a hotly contested battle, they will bend, and then just pop right back into place. As I stated, I've been using this method as an alternative for about twenty years, and found it useful for all kinds of purposes. I have been known to fix broken bayonets on 25mm figures with this method. I suppose it could be done with 15s as well if you are patient enough. I once used this alternative to make a pair of glasses for a 25mm figure. By slicing down the end of the fiber, one can cut very narrow strands of fiber that are very maleable and relatively easy to work with. You have to be careful with this technique, as it is very easy to leave a piece of your finger on the worktable when doing this fine a cut. Further, I've used this material in all kinds of terrain modification jobs, the only limitation being one's imagination I suppose.
Now I know a lot of you are going straight to find your own O'Cedar broom so you can do this yourself. So remember, any plastic not straw fibered broom should do. Look at the thickness of the indivdual fibers to insure they will meet your needs. My guess is that after you have successfully tried this a few times, it will lower your frustration level with those broken spears just a little. Good wargaming, and thanks for listening.
Back to MWAN #118 Table of Contents
Back to MWAN List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com