54mm Medieval Knight

[Didrik]

Great that PA enter the knight market. A lot of boys will love this figures.
- They would be even better if you could change the head on the figures.
- Please do the same figures but in the 40mm. Then the viking could be used together. As Robin Hood or Prince Valiant (Viking born).
- Don't forget to do a crusade knight for Ivanhoe and for Arn Magnusson.

Looking forward to see the rest of the figures.

Good luck

[lensman]

I just saw the “greens” for the new knight figures to be released by PA and all I can say is “curse you Prince August!!!” ;o) They are SO gorgeous that I will be forced to have them immediately, and me right in the middle of producing my Prussian and Austrian armies from PA 54mm moulds for pity’s sake. If you keep coming out with such lovely “must have” moulds I’ll never get done! And you say there are archers and mounted knights as well? That means a WHOLE army at one go and no problems with making opponents or anything! I think I have died and gone to heaven! Well got to dash. Must finish 7 Years War stuff before these come out.

John

[lensman]

I was so excited by the greens for the new knightly range that I posted information about them to some of the toy soldier groups I am a member of and one thing everyone mentioned was that they would be a whole lot happier with PA if you offered the same figures with interchangeable heads , arms and weapons so that the hobbyists can add some variety to their armies. Frankly I hadn’t thought of that since I will, as a matter of course, modify the heck out of my castings using a razor saw and milliput but now that I think of it they have a good point. Your wonderful 54mm Prussian set has a lot of parts swapping built in as does your traditional toy soldier line. A little exchangeability of heads, arms and weapons would go a long way to making a very nice set of figures outstanding.

John

[Scott]

Ditto the request for 40mm with additional arms and heads. Don't forget the "grunt" spearmen and archers!

[Didrik]

Hi,
New news letter more picture of knight this will be a great serie.
But please PA could we get more action on the horse?
Looking forward to see a crusader on full speed forward.

[lensman]

I just saw the “green” for the mounted knight and I can hardly wait until they come out! One suggestion however, please, please, please (!!!) consider making several different interchangeable horse halves. Even two for each side would give us, the customers, FOUR different horses at a very little additional cost or effort to you. They don’t even have to be all that different or dramatic, just change the leg positions a little--left front leg up on one, the right on another and ditto for the rear legs. Just that little effort would provide us with a great deal of variety. Doing heads and necks in different positions by scratch building them out of plastic card and milliput is dead easy (I do it all the time for my PA horses). If there is interest in how to do it I will write up something for the tips section.

Keep up the good work (work faster, work faster ;o ) )

John

[Prince August]

lensman said:

I just saw the “green” for the mounted knight and I can hardly wait until they come out! One suggestion however, please, please, please (!!!) consider making several different interchangeable horse halves. Even two for each side would give us, the customers, FOUR different horses at a very little additional cost or effort to you. They don’t even have to be all that different or dramatic, just change the leg positions a little--left front leg up on one, the right on another and ditto for the rear legs. Just that little effort would provide us with a great deal of variety. Doing heads and necks in different positions by scratch building them out of plastic card and milliput is dead easy (I do it all the time for my PA horses). If there is interest in how to do it I will write up something for the tips section.

Keep up the good work (work faster, work faster ;o ) )

John

Please send us your technique on building heads and necks in different positions, I will post it on the next newsletter, crediting you as the expert.

[lensman]

The secret to making horse necks is to remember that the length of the neck from where it joins the body to where it joins the head is the same as the length of the head from nose to ears.

With this in mind your first step is to cut off the neck from the body and throw the leftover metal back in the melting pot. That is one of the major advantages of casting your own figures -- nothing goes to waste. I generally cut off the necks before I join the two halves of the body as it is easer to simply cut them off with metal shears rather than a craft saw. You don’t have to be too neat at this point since the joint is going to be hidden by the putty that you will be using later.

Next you need to cut a new central core to the neck out of a sheet of plastic card (although I suppose other materials such as metal from a tin can, balsa wood or even cardboard could be used) this will be roughly triangular (wide at the shoulders and tapering towards the head. This piece can be fairly thin (from side to side) so long as it is strong enough to hold up the head until the putty dries, and can be straight or curved as you wish with the only firm rule being that the entire length cannot exceed the length of the head. Extend a little extra card, wide enough to touch the top and the bottom of the hole where the neck should be, into the body of the horse to provide a firm foundation for the neck.

. This will serve to anchor the neck to the body. If you haven’t already joined the two halves of the horse’s body, do so now, and when that is done, attach the neck core to the body using your favorite glue. It is important to emphasize that he neck can be attached at any angle that looks natural so long as the length of the neck (measured down the center of the card) does not exceed the length of the head.

Once the neck core is dry, attach the head at any angle you like (pivoting around the center line of the neck core) so long as it looks natural. Once this has dried you can further customize your horse’s neck by gently bending the core to the left or right, again making sure that you don’t over do it and make the angle too extreme.

Now comes the fun part. Build up the neck out of your favorite filler. I prefer Milliput (for reasons that will be explained later) but before I discovered this wonderful substance I use model airplane putty, Green Stuff, Plumber’s A/B putty and several other substances so whatever works for you is fine.

The building process should be done in at least two stages with a rough core (about ¾ as thick as the final neck is going to be) being applied first, allowed to dry and then the final coat (with all the detail) added later. Since it is going to be covered by the outer material this inner core can, if you wish, be made of some other (perhaps less expensive) material. Since I use Milliput, which is fairly expensive, I find it
cost- effective to make this bit out of plumber’s A/B apoxy putty (the stuff that comes in two colored strips which is cut off and worked together to cause it to dry).

When the core is dry, cover it with the final layer. Now is the time to work in the muscles, but don’t go overboard! There is one large muscle on the upper part of each side of the neck and a smaller one below which is what gives the neck the long thin groove that runs most of the length of the neck near the front. It is not as prominent on real horses as it is on some figures of horses you might see (Historex comes to mind). Look at pictures of real horses and also at your other Prince August horses for guidance here. Believe me, too little is way better than too much, so if you have any doubt at all simply don’t bother with the muscles and make the neck smooth!

This might be a good time to make a small detour into the topic of “fillers,” putties and other mysterious substances. As I have said, over the years I have used just about anything I could lay my hands on provided it dried hard and could be sanded. Recently I discovered Milliput and I can’t praise it too highly. It is easy to work with, dries rock hard, is very smooth and can be sanded, filed and drilled. But the thing I prize the most is its ability to be worked with water. I find that if I dip my fingers in water I can work and smooth Milliput to an extraordinary degree, often getting a final finish that doesn’t need any sanding or filing. Regardless of what material you use, make sure that the finished neck is smooth and that the joints between the neck and body and neck and head are smooth and well finished.

Now for the final step -- making the mane -- and this one is fun! Lay down a thin strip of filler in the area that you want the mane to be (if you don’t know where this is look at pictures of horses) and then go back with a thin edged tool (knife blade etc.) and work in the texture. I have found that with patience this step is very easy. Just make little lines in the filler running in the direction the hair would lay and, from time to time, remove a little filler here and there to make a few small gaps.

And that is it! Let the mane dry and check that everything else is smooth and you are ready to paint. It actually takes longer to explain the steps than it takes to do them. I did my first horse neck back when I was in Junior High School, some forty years ago, and I have used all sorts of cheap, hard to work fillers, and no matter how hard I try I have never had one go wrong.

Doing different necks for all your horses is quick and easy and really makes your troops look alive. So give it a try.

[steve]

Hi, my name's Steve. I live in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada. I recently pre-ordered the three Medieval warefare moulds, actually, I expect that they will arive any day now.... It's been mentioned that there are some pictures of "greens" of future Medieval Warfare molds... Could somebody, please, direct me to where I might have a look at them? Thank you, Steve

[Prince August]

The 'greens' were on older newsletters. But I will add more pictures of them in future newsletters.
Now we have 6 mould sets from the knight series, and there is more to come, including the mounted knights and archers and crossbowmen in firing poses.

if you have not done so, I advise signing up to the newsletters. This will keep you informed.

[Didrik]

Dear PA,

Thanks for the new mould at 54 mm knight.
Please more action. I support John please make the consider making several different interchangeable horse halves.

I have don it buy my self when I copy Airfix 54mm horses. (They are to big for the PA figures)

Please PA think over what John wrote to you.
Why can’t PA do horses which is running?

When will you release horse with armour?

Please make head, arm and weapon separated so it easy to change.
Best Regards
Didrik

[gneisenau]

Do I dare what happened to the Knight series, *again*? I was just scrolling down the lists of molds and I see that once again the series has taken a hit. Are the molds that are listed as "unavailable", unavailable do to master damage as was the case last year or are they truly gone? And, when can we hope for a crossbow figure that is actually shooting and not just the perennially "reloading"...? Some sprucing up of the 54 mm category as a whole is desperately needed. One of the posts was correct when the member mentioned that one or two taverns is plenty. The advantage of casting is producing large armies that cannot be easily purchased or without a huge outlay. I can pop for the occasional scenario set that's "store bought." I need some riflemen of all stripes, and knights for that matter, that are actually being..soldiers in action, not just laying about.

[Prince August]

gneisenau said:

Do I dare what happened to the Knight series, *again*? I was just scrolling down the lists of molds and I see that once again the series has taken a hit. Are the molds that are listed as "unavailable", unavailable do to master damage as was the case last year or are they truly gone? And, when can we hope for a crossbow figure that is actually shooting and not just the perennially "reloading"...? Some sprucing up of the 54 mm category as a whole is desperately needed. One of the posts was correct when the member mentioned that one or two taverns is plenty. The advantage of casting is producing large armies that cannot be easily purchased or without a huge outlay. I can pop for the occasional scenario set that's "store bought." I need some riflemen of all stripes, and knights for that matter, that are actually being..soldiers in action, not just laying about.

I agree with you about the 80-series and have argued against another 'tavern' scene. More soldiers have always been my preference.
the Romans have taken up a lot of our time this year but we will address the Knights later in the year and also we do have the masters for the crossbowman firing as well to release. All will be done by the end of the year.

[Prince August]

We are releaseing 3 new French Knight moulds in February 2009. This is the final release in this series for the moment as we will have to make new master figures to expand it further.
This release will include a crossbowman firing, a Sergeant and a Man at Arms.