German Character Conversion: Part 1

Hello all!

Today the postman delivered several parcels, which, fortunately for me, contained all of the orders I needed to get cracking on a little conversion I had in mind for a German character. After several hours of careful fiddling, I can post a bit of progress!

Most folks out there that are interested in VSF wargaming know of the legendary Major General Tremorden Rederring's Colonial-era Wargames Page which, unfortunately for all, was taken down from the web. Thanks to the Internet Wayback Machine, however, the site is still accessible here. One of my favorite games of their was their Sher-Li Temple game, which as a surprise featured a German Zeppelin and a squad of "Luftkommandoes" under the able leadership of Herr Major Rittmeister Manfred von Strickland. This He-man carried around a sword and a first-model Maxim gun, which he fired one-handed. I have always wanted one of these figures for my collection, so I tried to tack one down.

As it turns out, the site's originators had converted an old out-of-production Citadel Mordian Guard figure for their von Stickland, which I could not track down cheaply. So I decided to take another route and design my own figure in the same spirit. I briefly considered doing him in all plastic from GW parts, but then I found this (also OOP) old Citadel Imperial Guard Commander figure on eBay which I liked and was relatively inexpensive; I also thought that his cuirass would be interesting and fitting to the character's Teutonic nature. A few bits and bobs later, and I had what I needed.



Citadel IG Commander body, GW Empire Militia pistol arms, Broomhandle Mauser from Ironwind Metals, and a Maxim gun from Brigade Games.

First things first, I took a sharp X-acto knife to the figure to remove unwanted detail. I know there are some out there that cringe at cutting up OOP figures, but I won the auction and they didn't. I removed the big dumb eagles, the modern pistol and holster, the commander's headset and sunglasses, and some sci-fi detailing on his boots, leaving me with this:

Front

Back

Next I started work on the plastic pistol arms. I removed the big flintlocks from both arms. For the right hand I left enough of the flintlock in his hand to represent the pistol grip which was on the back of the first model Maxim, but for the right hand I completely removed the pistol entirely, leaving an open hand which looked like it should be holding a pistol. I trimmed the grip on the Ironwind Broomhandle Mauser (which I had separated from its wooden holster/stock) and inserted it into the hand, which fit snugly and looked like it belonged. I secured hand to pistol with a small drop of super glue. I then trimmed both arms so they would fit flush against the figure's body at the angles I wanted, leaving me with this:

Arms modified and ready to be attached. Note how well the Mauser fits in the right hand... I'm rather pleased with how it came out, if you can't already tell.

With the major cutting and shaping work done it was time to move on to greenstuffing. I added an Imperial German cockade to the Major's field cap, attached the Mauser's holster/stock to his right hip at the belt, and attached his arms. Here's where I left off tonight:

Front

Back

Side

I'll let the greenstuff dry for a day or so before I continue working; the Major still needs epaulettes and his Maxim gun.

I've made the Major a member of the elite Garde du Corps heavy cavalry, hence the cuirass, riding boots and straight sword. He should be quite impressive when the conversion is done and he's all painted up.

Also, I received another figure for my project with my Maxim guns today: a British officer holding a cup of tea. If that's not in the spirit of Space 1889 then I don't know what is.

He's from NorthStar's "Tea Time" range of figures. I look forward to painting him.

Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated. thanks for looking!

-Chuck