Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!
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This weeks miniature is of a Baron’s War Footsore Sergeant, the first of four which comprise of pack No:1. More than a peasant less than a knight would be my description, certainly from a painting perspective. As he isn’t a knight as such I thought I would make up the heraldry using the rules I shared a short while ago. The shield design is a “Pile” with a star denoting this Sergeant as the “third son”.
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Well It Made Me Laugh
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Give Me Five
Not sure what prompted this, probably the fact that my daughter has now finished school which had me reflecting on my own school days many, many years ago. It occurred to me that there were lots of things I did at school which I have never done or used since. Here is my list of five. Feel free to add, could make for quite a list!
- Used a ruler to draw a margin on every page I write on
- Ended the day by putting my chair on the desk for the cleaner
- Ever climbed Gym Ropes
- Played (or tried to) the Recorder
- Used Pi
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The Knights On TIM’s Modelling Table
Now it’s not very often I invent something, in fact I will go as far as to say I have never done so. However, confronted with a problem I needed a solution.
The problem I was having related to my mounted knights. When it comes to mounted figures I generally drill a whole in the bum of the figure, glue a piece of paper clip into the whole and then press the other end of the paper clip into the end of a cork which I then hold to paint.
Now this method has its pros and cons. On the positive side I am forced to drink more wine in order to have a fresh supply of corks. On the negative side the corks often have a slightly curved bottom to them and they easily topple over which is far from ideal. This matter required some thought. 🤔
What followed was hundreds of man hours spent on numerous blue print designs based on mathematical and geometric theorem together with test model, after test model. The end result, a superb example of modern engineering and ingenuity if I says myself, has now been patented and will be going into mass production in a matter or weeks.
I use a specific clamp from my collection to hold horses and using the latest technology added a drawing pin to the base. Before and after images below display this perfect piece of engineering.
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This week TIM has been listening to …
“I Love To Boogie” by T-Rex. As a kid I did love T-Rex and Mark Bolan. Sad he died so young, killed in a car crash in Barnes not so far from where I used to live and I would pass by the site on my way to watch Chelsea play every other week back in the day.
Unsure what track to go with I settled on this dance mash up because it has a brief glimpse of dancing knight’s from Monty Python’s Spamalot!
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This week TIM has been watching …
“The Pact”, a six part BBC series set in South Wales. Notwithstanding that I predicted the ending, all be it within the last half an hour or so, this proved to be very watchable.
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Remember …
Everyone is beautiful, but sometimes it just requires the right amount of alcohol to see it.
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TIM
The Imperfect Modeller 
I used to like upside down champagne corks for that, with the rounded top sawed flat… But now I discovered wooden spools for knitting thingies I’m in love with the heft of that. But unlike your engineering feat it cannot be used as a lethal weapon… nor it comes blessed with a purity-seal from the Mechanicus…
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Drinking more champagne to get more corks does sound like the better idea unless you’re into knitting. 😉
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Great work on the Knight TIM, with men at arms they would often wear the heraldry of their lord of the manor who raised the army, if they had a complex design it would be simplified to just the background colours.
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Thanks Dave and a great bit of knowledge there for me to take forward. 🙂
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Dave, I certainly wouldn’t call your shield design a “Pile” it looks pretty good to me 😂.
Nice work as always, now five things I’ve not used/done since school….
Long Division
Run cross country (actually I try to run as little as possible anywhere!)
Anything from the Bible
A tie (except for funerals and my wedding)
Sung a hymn (Except at funeral)
Worn black socks (Except at funerals, it’s amazing how much school is like a long funeral really!!)
Cheers Roger
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Haha, very good Roger. Love that list of 5! 🙂
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I like the sergeant! 🙂 Sadly, I have to use Pi on most work days, but I suppose someone has to!
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Cheers John. I reckon that makes you a maths teacher or a fibber! 🙂
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Neither! Well, OK, I maybe tell small fibs! 😉
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Lovely knight, sergeant, guy with a sword and board. I filled my school pages with doodles, no space for margins! Tried the recorder, poorly. And never made it up a rope until I was in the Army.
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So true about doodling in the margins, had forgotten that I’d done that too! 😂
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Great work on that mini mate, I think Dave has it right though – men-at-arms usually wear their lord’s heraldry… if that’s not working for you in a painting sense, this guy’s ‘down on his luck’ look could easily be explained by having him be a Knight Errant… that fluff works well as a 3rd son!
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Cheers Alex, when it comes to the back story for these guys your my man! 🙂
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Love the Sargeant- nice to see a lower status warrior in the collection.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete. 🙂
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I think I’m not quite a peasant and not quite a knight as well haha. The figure looks great man. 1. Never did algebra again (I even told the teacher I’d never use it so what was the point but do you think he listened? NO). 2. Never did Mat wrestling again. 3. Never broke into the school on the weekend again. 4. Never let a teachers tyres down again. 5. Never had a sharpened screwdriver put to my throat again. Hahaha. Yeah my school was a little rough and so was I.
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Well for better or worse those days are behind us. Hope you’re keeping well mate. 🙂
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Sounds like you were in the suburb of Ringworm!! maybe!!
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I like this latest knight a lot. His helmet and shield both look great and while they aren’t as impressive as a mounted knight, when I think of medieval times, I always think of troops like this. One thing I don’t miss from my early school days is having a list of school supplies I had to get. American kids only have to do it in elementary school but that was always a sobering reminder that summer was coming to an end. I feel like if the teacher had a lot of crazy requirements, you knew you were in for a long school year too!
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Glad you like the mini. Interesting about your school days, not something I can ever remember having to do in the UK.
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Hey mate not to keen on the lads head gear but still he fits the era ! I have a similar method to you but as I don’t drink( What Tha… F) I have used soft drink bottle tops with those pins with knobs on them pushed through the bottom and bogged in, then like your self pin drill a hole in the appropriate region an there we go, just remember to cover the bloody pin point with some balserwood or something similar so you don’t get impaled.
As for school all of those you mentioned except for the pi thing , I missed that one as I never did home economics !
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I’m surprised you can even remember your school days Pat! 😉
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Damn nice work on the sergeant. Shield definitely pops. Loved the joke, very moist! And I think I have used everything from school at one time or another. I still use algebra when modeling, especially for figuring out ratios when making molds for casting.
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Thanks Mark. You must be the only person I know who has and still does use algebra! I’m most impressed my friend. 🙂
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Thanks Dave. At least I don’t have to use calculus or differential equations!
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