By David Barnes
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I looked anew at the roofing tacks as I came back into the kitchen (a warm place where little fiddly things get done as well as cooking). Seeing the tacks in a row sitting on their heads - I only half took them in - "What is that row of figures doing there?" I thought. They are about 15mm "in scale" and the head makes a good round base to stand on (Figure 1). "What about making infantry, at least, from them?" I thought. Two sides, painted up red and blue, the points painted up into the Slade era helmets, a dab of pink for the face and hands, rifle painted on "at the short trail" (Figure 2). 1 have still to find something to make cavalry but for artillery I have used an offcut of that same dense expanded polystyrene: I have cut a gun and limber out of it, using the other side (of course) of the kitchen chopping board (also incidentally made from a double sided bit of plywood with Formica bonded to both sides - also flotsam). I just cut the polystyrene with an "Opinel" pen-knife, made in France, quite cheap and good for that, paring ewes hooves or skinning dead lambs. The blade takes a very sharp edge. It isn't stainless however. Next time I go to Fort William I'll pop into the hardware and buy a few "regiments" - keeping an eye open for "cavalrypossible" objects too. Have you any ideas? Back to MWAN #96 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1997 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 |