Plastic Pikemen Problem?

As flagged in an earlier post my next project is probably to try and cover the various Jacobite risings/wars from the fleeing of James II to the last Highland Hurrah at Culloden.

I have a slight problem with the earlier period as I'm pretty sure that pikemen were involved in some way, and also that not everyone was wearing tricorns. 

The hat thing is a bit of an issue, but as no one makes late 17th century 1/72 plastics with that turned up broad brimmed hat, I'll stick to using tricorn wearers and keep people back from looking too closely at the figures.

The next issue is actually sourcing pikemen themselves. Luckily Strelets have just released a set of French pikemen suitable for the 1690s, so close enough for government work.

I therefore splashed out on a couple of boxes. The way I intend to use them means I may only need one box, but I thought, why not get two? After all, the postage was the same. There's 36 figures in the box, including a 4 figure command sprue. That'll give me 8 elements of pikemen per box. Because of the pose mix I can't use the command figures to pad out the units, but that's not really a problem.

Here's a quick look at the sprue. The poses are okay. Plastic Soldier Review had a bit of a hissy fit as the charge for horse pose is bracing on the wrong foot, but once based up it'll hardly show unlike if they were drilling with the wrong hand.

Because they're  specifically French they're wearing back and breast plates. That's a nuisance as I don't really want troops in armour. However, I can carve off the shoulder straps, and remodel the front with a soldering iron if necessary. Or use thick paint, which is what I do with my Airfix cuirassiers masquerading as dragoons.

The main problem is the pikes. They're soft plastic and because they've been rammed in the box they're all a bit bent. You can straighten them with a bit of steam or hot water, but the main problem is the length. The PSR reviewer noted that they were short, but thought you couldn't tell. Yeah. Well. Hmmm. As an ex-pikeman I can assure you, you can tell. They are sure stubby. As a guide a pike needs to be clearly more than twice the height of the figure. These aren't.

And the other problem is that almost no matter what I do, long thin weapons like that won't hold the paint. The pikes were going to have to be replaced. No problems, as I am happy to make my own from stiff plastic broom bristles, as I explained in this blog. 

Removing the pikes wasn't too bad - although honestly, guys, why not make them with open hands and save us all a lot of bother? I experimented with the bottom left and bottom right figures above.

For the figure holding the pike upright I simply cut the thing out of his hand and made a groove to take the pike. A little recess drilled into the base meant they had a good fixing point top and bottom, and superglue meant the job's a good 'un.

The charge for horse figure, however, was a different issue. In the end I just cut the pike away either side of the hand then drilled it out with a hand held pin drill. This sounds much more awkward than it was. My replacement pikes are slightly thinner than the originals, so there's a good mass of plastic to drill through, and you can make a pilot hole to hold the drill with a pin if you want. Shaping the butt end of the pike into a slight point meant it slid through the hole comfortably and rested nicely against the restraining foot. I think you can hardly see they're not original from the above picture. Except they're green.

Here you can see them posing besides the base figure still on the sprue. The smaller pike head looks better too, as does the thinner replacement. Yes. Job well done.

Now to apply some paint and see how they look formed up.