40mm - Pack Ponies and Mules Conversion

I wanted some pack ponies and mules for my 40mm collection. I've been collecting up suitable sized horses and donkeys from toy sets for a while. So I stuck the horses/donkeys on to bases, added simple harness and loads (loads made using model railway accessories). For someone to lead the ponies/mules I cast some artillery figures from one of my Creartec moulds. Here they are ready for priming and painting.

They have been added to the painting queue. That old painting queue seems to be getting bigger again - currently in progress are 25/28mm figs - a regiment of cavalry and some smugglers/highwaymen.

Palace Interior (3) - Furniture ?

I've been trying to find suitable scale furniture for my palace interiors, so far no joy. I was lucky today when I found one pack of miniature dolls house furniture at my local 'car boot' sale; can't find it on the net so may be no longer in production; annoyingly its just the right size - figure shown with chair from set.

Anyone any ideas where to get suitable scale size furniture ??

Garde Suisse on Parade

Late one sunny afternoon the King gets a pleasant surprise as the Garde Suisse regiment puts on an impromptu parade with the guard infantry band providing some appropraite music.

The King inspects the Garde Suisse and stops occasionally to talk to some of the men ...

The King congratulates the Colonel on the turnout of his regiment ..

[figs: Garde Suisse - Jacdaw 30mm french; guard band - Minifigs french napoleonic band]

Palace Interior (2) - Entrance Hall

I've finished the first of my palace interior rooms, the entrance hall (as shown in http://tidders-kingdomofwittenberg.blogspot.com/2009/08/palace-interior-1-initial-tryout-rooms.html ). I had great fun with this room, the stairs took a bit of working out but it came right as you can see. I used the same tile paper for the main floor on all the steps and the upper landing. I kept the pink decor (saved repainting the walls) as it does really go well with the black and white tiles. Pictures were reduced and stuck to cardbrorad and the gold frames painted on. So now for some pictures - a view looking into the middle of the hall; the garde suisse are on duty as they guard the closed doors to the royal appartments.

The King and Queen have come out to see how their new portraits look now they have been hung in the hall, first the King looks at his ...

and the Queen looks at hers ..

40mm: Fort Zunder

After finishing my bridge over the river oudear I had a lot of 'minibrix' left over; I had a couple of fortress type guns sitting in the 'what to do with?' pile - aha ! a fort could be useful. I had enough minibrix left to make up a few wall sections and two gun positons - these were based on cardboard and sprayed with grey primer.

In the lower reaches of the province of Tripavia, in the south of the Kingdom of Wittenberg sits the small garrison town of Zunder. The fort is the local recruitment and training centre for the Wittenberg army; it is manned by a company of garrison troops. Currently in training are some replacements for the Boritzy Freikorps grenadiers (who suffered heavy casualties in the last raid by Saxe-Jarslberg), plus some artillery crew practicing on the fortress guns.

The fort from the sharp end (it faces a small gap in the range of hills that is the border with the Imperium).

A view from the side

A view down the main street of Zunder

[Figs: a mix of 40/42mm ranges; garrison company - Irregular Miniatures; grenadiers and artillery crew - cast from Creartec moulds; civilians - mostly Sash & Sabre with a couple of Eureka]

40mm: Saxe-Jarlsberg Dragoons

Some more to add to my growing collection of 40mm figs. These are for the forces of Saxe-Jarlsberg (Monrovia's ally) who is currently involved in a border dispute with the Kingdom of Wittenberg.

The first squadron of the 1st regiment of Saxe-Jarlsberg dragoons (I've another squadron to add yet - some more casting to do), they are out on patrol with a couple of civilian scouts..

A closer looks at the dragoons ...

and the scouts ...

[figs: Dragoons - Irregular Miniatures austrian dragoons on horses cast from Creartec moulds; Scouts - converted Irregular Miniatures]

Fenwick - Wittenberg Legion Artillery

Another little project finished. The Duchy of Fenwick's artillery for the Wittenberg Legion (uniforms loosely based on Hanoverian artillery).

[Figs: guns/limber/draught horses - Reiver Castings; outriders - Front Rank; gun crew and dismounted staff officers - Old Glory; mounted staff officers Front Rank]

Palace Interior (1) - initial tryout rooms

To go with my palace diorama (see http://tidders-kingdomofwittenberg.blogspot.com/2009/04/grand-designs-7-palace-diorama.html) I also wanted to have some rooms to represent the interior of the palace. I looked round for suitable items to start from and eventually settled on using cardboard DVD and CD boxes. I bought one of each to make up some 'tryout' rooms; I removed one side of each box and put it aside for spare cardboard along with the lids.

The DVD box I have made into the palace entrance hall. The door porticos and the floor tile sheet are from a Dolls House supplier; columns are made from wooden dowel. The stairs are made from foam board and cardboard. The decor will not be pinky red when it is finished !

The CD box I made into a generic room (the door porticos and carpet are from a Dolls House supplier). The idea is to make sets of items to give different rooms - eg bookcases for a library.

Full decoration and fitting out of the rooms may take a while. I expect to finish the entrance hall first.

Bridge over the River Oudear

One of the things I'd planned for my wider river sections was a bridge. I was stuck for ideas until I found two old tins of 'minibrix' at a car-boot sale (minibrix was a pre-cursor of lego made from a rubber compound). Ah-ha I thought just right to build the structure of a bridge, so I bought them. After spending an afternoon playing with the bricks and accessories, I decided to use them to to make the basic bridge structure and then add a flat wooden bridge top - the idea being that an older bridge had been repaired. So here it is with a few figs to get some idea of the scale of it ...

40mm - Saxe-Jarlsberg Grenadiers

The forces of Saxe-Jarlsberg (one of Monrovia's ally) have been added to with a grenadier battalion. I used the ones from my existing infantry regiment and cast another 15 figs from Prince August moulds, these boys were painted with light blue coats and red facings.