Scale Link - Belgians 1914

 I've had it in mind to make a unit of Belgian infantry to go with my Funny Little Wars armies for some time, largely influenced by this:

The picture above featured in the May 1991 edition of Military Hobbies and shows the WW1 Belgian Dog Cart kit made by Scale Link, I've been a big fan of this company since the mid 1980's and have used their heads, arms etc. in numerous conversions.

The donor figures, mostly WW2 French infantry made in China by Hing Fat and sold cheaply in poly bags, the weapons can be a bit fanciful and oversized but I like the originality of the poses, particularly the grenadier.  Also some incomplete Britains Deetail French Foreign Legion, missing arms have been replaced with reissues made by DSG of Argentina, the colour doesn't match so I have no qualms about repainting the whole figure.

Rebased on metal washers for stability, head changes, a few replacement arms from the bits box and they're ready for priming.  

A recent lucky win of these recast Britains French infantry painted in Belgian green provided the impetus to kick start this particular FLW project, I added the old school style basing and now just need to paint in some detailing.

This is the 1989 Scale Link catalogue, the beautiful fine line cover illustration was drawn by John Piper the owner of the company who has signed and dated it (1986)  in the bottom right corner.  I think this was the only catalogue he ever issued and inside it's illustrated with all of his figures drawn in the same linear style with each page copyright dated from 1984 through to 1988 as the range grew.

Scale Link produced figures depicting the WW1 Western Front but also sold their constituent parts: heads, arms and equipment in these small packs shown above, the header cards all drawn, signed and dated by John Piper.  

I  became a regular customer, and got to know John, when he moved his business from Kingston to Twickenham, where he lived, and opened the Scale Link shop in Church Street.  I hadn't realised his main business was producing a wide range of accessories for model railways and architectural design models, which he also sold through the shop along with paints and modelling materials.  John got into WW1 military figures almost by accident when the National Army Museum commissioned him to produce two dioramas for them.  

The shop closed in 1991 when he retired and sold the business.  Coincidentally he lived just four streets away from Roy Selwyn-Smith who had sculpted figures for Timpo and Herald before becoming Managing Director of Britains Ltd. I wonder if they knew each other?  It never occurred to me to ask!

I don't know the chap who took over Scale Link from John Piper but over the years he seems to have bought up several producers of metal castings, mostly for model railways, and built up a portfolio of specialist brands.  The notice above accompanied my latest order advising that the Group was being disposed due to retirement, I thought I'd include it in this post because some people are interested in this sort of minutiae.  In the meantime if you want to acquire some of these Scale Link parts you'd better stock up quick!

Japanese Warrior Monks

 Many many moons ago Chinese firm Hing Fat produced a set of Ninjas, quite nice little figures and all in original action poses with a variety of suitably Japanese weaponry.  You used to see them everywhere, but nowadays not so much.  Now my understanding is that Ninjas are some sort of super stealthy assassin, so not the sort that you want whole armies of, with that in mind I turned some of them into Warrior Monks:

I converted these six just to see how they would work, I think they're good enough to justify making up to a unit of twelve, then maybe another sect in blue.  I like the idea of having varied units that can act as allies to the main armies of a period, it makes the converting and painting less onerous when you know you only have to make a few.

This is a modern solid metal figure made by Frontline, from a set of medieval cavalry that were given away with magazine partworks, they came freestanding without a base, which makes them prone to falling over as they are rather heavy and have a high centre of gravity

This was the only Samurai figure they made in the range, shame really as they are beautifully painted, I added the base for stability and it makes a very welcome addition to the collection I am slowly building up.

Not Quite Victorious Army

 But I'm sure they will be when they eventually get onto the table for a game!

For some time now I've been building up a generic Chinese army, I'm not sure why and I can't remember how it started, perhaps I just like the colours.  And the flags, the flags are great.  Anyway, there is no grand plan, I just bang out another unit every now and then when an idea comes to me, it's quite therapeutic, doing something different.  Here's what I've got so far:

When I call them generic what I have in mind is that they will be used as an opposition in a Colonial scenario or possibly in the "Back of Beyond" or even at a stretch against Samurai.

These irregulars in black pyjamas and red bandanas are based on the Vietnamese Pavilion Noirs, mostly made from Hing Fat and other pirate figures, some have been given shields from wooden disks, others have Chinese heads (from Dorset Model Soldiers) just to give a bit of variety.

The flag has been cut out using pinking shears to give it a scalloped edge.  The inscription means something but I can't remember what, hopefully nothing rude.

Imperial Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry in the centre, irregular horse on the flank.

The matchlock men are more Hing Fat pirates, their tunics extended with plasticene, otherwise just a paint job.  The spearmen are medieval knights, made in China, which are currently available everywhere, and very useful they are too.  For a more Quing period look they've been given plumes on their helmets and replacement spears from metal rod with tassels added.

The cannon started life as a table cigarette lighter, it looked sufficiently gaudy for the job and just need a spruce of paint.  The crew have been given Mandarin hat heads (Dorset Models again).

The Imperial Cavalry started life and Italieri Mongols, the flags I found on the internet and just played around with them in Publisher.

The irregular Cavalry are the remains of the Italieri Mongols padded out with some Huns made in Spain by Jecsan.

More of the irregular Cavalry.