Crusaders Complete

Despitr lack of blogging about it, and all the Christmas ho-hah, I've managed to complete the Crusader army.   Two pictures below (click oin pictures for large view).

 All that's left is to do the battle-mat, paint the tents, and figure out how to store and transport the lot,

I invented a new word today

I was writing some example sentences on the board today and the English said "Which jerk took my sammich?"   I realized that there's no Latin word for "sammich" and in a flash created the new word "PANIMENTUM"   (panis=bread,  suffix -mentum = thingy).

Paints

I use a variety of craft acrylic paints for the miniatures, most of them are just fine, and there's little to be said about them.


Recently, when I was ordering miniatures from a site, I decided, more on a whim than anything else, to try to order some additional paints, wanting a flat red and a flat bluish color.    I got such colors in the "Tamiya" brand (a Japanese model company).   They come in largish (for model paint) bottles with screw top lids.    I really like the colors, in fact, but there's one weird feature.   They smell just terrible.    I have to gag a bit when I open the bottles each time.   I don't know what they put in the paint but it just reeks.

Crusader army moves along, Knowledge gained

I've gotten 18 Crusader cavalry complete so far, plus I've prepped 30 infantry or so, and 9 more horsemen.   I've learned a few things so far:


Manufacturers
1) HaT Industries is my favorite brand of plastic 1/72 scale miniatures right now.   The casts are big, clear, easy to nip, easy to assemble.
2) Italieri are my second favorite, they're a little smaller, and harder to nip from their sprues.
3) Caesar are my least favorite, they involve a lot of assembly, and they are noticeably smaller than HaT figures, yet they have more detail, which actually makes for a worse final product.
4) Airfix has a lot of sentimental value to me since I owned a ton of them when I was a kid.  The casts are simple and clear, but not as vivid as HaT or Italieri.   They don't have a lot of appropriate sets for this project however, just the Robin Hood set for archers and pilgrims.


The Ins and Outs of Glue


Assembly:  Lock-tite Brand special plastic glue is necessary and totally awesome for HaT and Italieri assembly purposes (Airfix too, but little assembly was necessary).  Soft plastic can be a problem, but this glue solves it.   Caesar uses a harder plastic, and plain superglue works fine.  I suspect that model glue might work, but decided not to chance it.


Temporary Popsickle Stick Attachment

For gluing figures to wooden sticks for priming and painting, plain old super glue is best.   It holds all the sorts of plastic well, and comes loose by just a gentle twist.   For this reason, it's no good for permanently attaching plastic figures to wooden bases.


Permanent Base Mounting

To permanently attach plastic figures to a wooden base, the best thing is Elmer's Glue (or similar white glue).   The down side is that you have to let it sit over night, but the upside is that it makes a super-strong bond that requires a screw-driver to chisel it loose (or a chisel I suppose), and you have a few minutes to adjust the position when doing the mount.

TURKISH ARMY TOTALLY FINISHED

I decided, on the advice of Katie, to skip one more step (gluing sand to the bases) and so now, the Turkish Army for the Dorylaeum project is now totally complete.  It consists of 24 stands, each containing either 2 or 3 cavalry or 6 infantry figures.   Each stand is 2x4 inches.  There is a colored stripe that identifies which group of 4 stands each stand belongs, and an identifying number (1-4) for each as well.

Here are some pictures, as always, click on picture for larger view

Stage 2 Complete and Stepping Back from Madness

I managed to finish painting my Turkish army on Monday.   I have some more heavy cavalry coming in the mail, but I may or may not need it.    I managed to paint only 24 of the infantry, and pack the other 72 back in the box and put them away.


I need to decide whether to base the Turks next or start painting the Crusader army or perhaps start working on the terrain.    I really do need some more crusader horsemen, I have some coming in the mail, but it's been a long time (they had to be shipped from Europe to Arkansas to me).   I'm thinking of getting some alternative ones from my more reliable sources instead.

Stepping Ever Closer to Madness

I've got my "Caesar" brand Saracen horsemen painted.   As I feared, they are stuck fast to their popsickle sticks.   The HaT figures from the "Command" set I've also been working on just pop right off the popsickle sticks, but the Caesar figures are made of harder plastic and they stick fast.   I'm trying to cut the sticks up, in order to turn them into the mini-bases that the Caesar horsemen otherwise lack, but I haven't found a good method, utility knife and hobby hacksaw are both less than ideal.   I'm going to try tin snips next.

The larger question is my slow slide into OCD or perhaps full blown madness.  I've painted all the mounted figures I need for the Turkish side (less 1 box of heavies that haven't arrived yet).  But, I bought a box of Moorish infantry too.  In the historical battle I'm trying to model, the entire Turkish army was mounted men, but I figured a few stands of infantry to guard the camp was not unlikely nor unreasonable.

The problem is that the box of Moorish infantry has 96 guys in it.   Reason tells me to paint 12 or maybe 24 tops, and consider the Turkish army complete and move on to the Crusader army or the terrain mat or the camps.   But the voice of madness cries in my ear:  "You're not REALLY done with the Turks until the infantry is painted"  or "You can then stage the battles at Antioch or Jerusalem"  or "You'll need to have individually mounted infantry if you want to do siege action or skirmishes" or "If you leave the infantry unfinished, who knows if you'll get back to them, and they'll be sitting there mocking you for years perhaps"