New Gun Crew, At Last

Back when I built my artillery bastion, I said that I needed a more suitable guncrew that the couple of old geezers I had mucking about with the gun back then.

Finally, I've finished them!

 They were converted from some Glorious Revolution artillery crew from Reiver Castings. My finished versions are here with a couple of examples of the originals. I bought a pack of these figures a while back because they represented excellent value for money and provided plenty of potential for conversion to all the various sorts of people who appear on battlefields who aren't infantry, cavalry or dragoons, like sappers, commisaries and the like, as well as gunners.

The main part of the conversions was to replace the existing heads with new ones from Redoubt. A couple of packs of these give vast variety, and they fit well, scalewise with these and others.

Being from a period roughly forty years later than the Civil Wars, some modification of clothing was necessary. The matrose with the linstock gained ties at the bottom of his trousers, laces at the neck of his shirt and a sword hung on a baldric. The linstock is scratchbuilt - the original disappeared sometime during the conversion process!

The master gunner was converted from shirtsleeves to a jacket, with cuffs and shoulder rolls, plus a sword and powderhorn.

 Above, they can be seen manning the small fortification swivel gun, looking a bit more like they know what they're doing than the two old codgers there before.

Below, here they are again, this time in the company of three other gun crew, built for a separate project that's ticking along in the background. These three are all ex Redoubt, and were a pleasure to paint. Note that the matrose on the left is supplied empty-handed - I built the swab for him.

Here are all five, mucking about with that swivel again. As Duke of Wellington may have said (according to some sources...)  "I don't know what effect these men will have on the enemy, but by God, they terrify me."

Enjoy!