So I like 1/72 miniatures, HO/OO scale, 20mm plastics, etc.
etc. etc. I know, it’s an odd
thing. The world seems to be jam-packed
full of 28-32mm figures, a very large number of them very attractive and full
of character. But I like the small-scale
plastics. The size just feels about
right to me. It is a scale, however,
that does not much go in for character figures, or really any figure that is in
any way much different from the other figures.
1/72 plastic toy soldier companies seek to provide large armies at a low
cost, and that means multiple copies of multiple poses. Now, I do love my Hat Zulu War British
Infantry, despite what some have said about them. But all of the figures have the same uniform,
same bayonet, same trousers tucked into same gaiters, and so on. (Well, except one figure who seems to be some
sort of auxiliary.) There are no
character figure, a figure you can devote your very best paint job to and set
him at the head of your army, no matter the time period or genre. There is no little one-inch Colonel
Flashman. So small scale plastic
warriors must either do without, or do some converting. So I figured I’d try my hand and see what I
could do about getting some characters into my games. Most of my conversions so far are nothing
more than headswaps, but a couple are a little more involved. Here are a few snaps of my most recent efforts.
First up is Dorothy Copperpot, daughter of the famous explorer and treasure hunter Chester, and a world-renowned archaeologist and explorer in her own right. She's outfitting for an expedition now, with a coil of rope, archaeological tools, and she has just unearthed a neolithic skull.
I made Dorothy from a Caesar partisan, and cut her head down enough to accommodate a sun helmet from Hat's WWI British Infantry in tropical dress. The coiled rope is simply a length of twine, and the tools are from the Imex settlers set.
The second, more major conversion, is a Voodoo bokor. In Caribbean voodoo tradition, or at least in some variants of it, bokors are sorcerers who are often evil. I made this guy out of the top half of a Strelets Mounted Boer and the bottom half of a Hat Natal Native Contingent. The staff/ensign/whatever is from Hat's Roman Auxiliary Cavalry.
My plan with the bokor is to have him leading a band of Tonton Macoute and zombies against a United States Marine Corps expedition in Haiti sometime around the turn of the century. I really wish both my camera and painting skills were a bit better, but over all I'm pretty happy with how these two turned out.
