Not Smart Enough To Let Well-Enough Alone......28mm Jacobites for the '15

       My First Grade teacher repeatedly told me that if I were ever to go to prison it would be the result of me not knowing when to leave something be. God rest your soul Sister Mary-Margarete Cavanaugh but I never made it as far as prison (not for want of trying in my younger years, mind you!) but you were right in that one regard; I never did learn to just leave something as it was. I suffer from the dual demons of being easily bored and the (often false) impression that I can improve upon things by fiddling with them.
       Cars, custom rifle cartridges and carpentry all nearly killed me at one point or another because I wasn't smart enough to know that there are lines that aren't meant to be crossed. As the years have passed I have gained knowledge and refrain (largely) from tampering with lethal subjects. I have learned to confine my instinct to amend things to areas less likely to result in a one-way trip to the morgue. Particularly wargaming rules and the associated miniatures.
       The advent of hard plastic minis has been a boon in many ways but it has cost me hours of otherwise productive painting time by allowing me to modify, customize and alter the multi-part figures. Some of these have turned out rather well, other less so.
        That long-winded lead-up brings us to tonight's subject; turning Wargames Atlantic's Dark Ages Irish Warriors into Jacobite Highlanders for the 'Fifteen. Yes, yes, I know there are loads of perfectly good figures designed by competent sculptors out there. There is no need for me to be wasting time on such trivialities. In my defense I say that I have simply TONS of bits and bobs from other figure sets (OK, mostly the old Wargames Factory WSS range) lying about and it seemed an awful shame to just let them go to waste.........
          Let us descend into Dr. Anton Frankenstein's laboratory, BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!

 

the first victim loses an arm in the cause of updating his wardrobe

 

but he gains two back with big fancy cuffs!

 

in addition he gets a targe and a dagger

 

much better now,  

tube cement really helps here as it has enough "grip" to hold the parts in place as it dries

 

in need of a targe and a head

 

looking the part now, I finally found a use for the ridiculous "mohawk" haircut head

the top of his head will be quickly covered with a hat

 

next, this fellow gets away without be hacked to bits,

 just a few additions such as a musket and sword

 

carefully cut out the bit of the barrel that would be held inside his grip

 then use a tiny dot of glue to affix the musket to the closed fist

 

like so

 

I gave this guys sword, if he is pointing he has to be the guy in charge, right?

officers get fancy swords so there we are!

 

another use for the neo-nazis shaved-head , he will get a hat as well

 

that is two out of six......

 

now, let us get radical....

 

remove the whole upper torso! 

a matte knife is better than an X-acto for this

 

add one of the spare torsos and musket-wielding arms from the Wargame Factory WSS infantry set

 

now we have a Highlander seeking to snipe a lobster-back officer

 

but he needs a head! this is also from the WSS infantry set, 

the waxy English plastic makes conversions a breeze

 

hat brim trimmed away to allow for the transformation into a Highland Tam

 

head glued in place and a dollop of tube cement added to begin the shape of the Tam

 

the cape might be a little overdone.....

 

 once I get started chopping people in half I just can't help myself

 

 

a spare torso, arms and head round out his fellow,

at least the legs and shield are from he original kit!

 

ready to land a blow for the Stuart cause

 

sometimes you need to lend a had, or an arm....

 

you could never do this with lead minis

 

oops , this arm needs a cuff ........

 

.......and a musket

 

another figure loses a left arm

 but is soon to gain two arms, a sword and a musket!

 

and a cape! 

very dramatic!

 

I figured it was OK to use one of the heads straight-up from the Dark Ages set

 

the gang's all here!

 

and there is their backs

       The Wargames Factory (now sold under the Warlord Games label) figures have so many spare parts on each sprue that I just tucked them back into their boxes and set them aside for later use. Over the years I have used them for many conversions and as a source of spare parts for scenic terrain bits. I do have to admit this is the largest conversion project to date and I probably would have been wiser to just buy some other company's product. But, truth be told, I enjoy converting figures more than painting them (especially when there are tartans involved!).