54mm Conversions and "cheap dip"

I've done more than a dozen conversions for my 54mm En Garde project.  Almost all have involved removing muskets to add swords.  Sometimes additional daggers or pistols have been added, quite often head swaps and green stuff.  The "A Call to Arms" figures I used were almost all musket armed and this meant a lot of conversions. 

I have played a lot of En Garde!  I knew what I was after with these figures, swaggering swordsmen rather than militia musket men, and this meant snipping away muskets, bending arms and repositioning hands to take swords.



Several figures needed a lot of green stuff.  Sir Huge, a Falstaff like fat Knight required a big belly as well as boots and cuffs, belts and hat feather.  Not clear in this shot is the grenade he also carries on that sash just behind him here.

The left hand pistol needed some work after this picture was taken.  Sir Huge is slow, but has the powerful attribute... just look at those arms!

Huge's  decrepit henchman and Servant is the "Ancient Pistol," his real name is long forgotten. He is named for his weapon off choice, the snaphaunce Pistol,  of which he carries two, as well as two slow match pistols hung on his belt.

Like his master the Ancient Pistol is slow, but in combat he is a real handful.


At the point of this photo the figure needed detailing and a dip coat, followed by a varnish.

It was also at this point that I discovered my Strong tone Army painter had dried up, and the gunk that was left beneath a crust in the tin was oxidising any paint it contacted.  Time for a re-think...

Here is my solution, at £3.65, in a 250 ml jar from Boyes, it's a lot thinner than Army Painter, but applied with a paintbrush it works fine.  I'm never paying £20 for dip again.
It is a redder brown than strong tone, but it works.


What it doesn't do is give a protective coat, just the dark stain, so a jar of Humbrol gloss (or satin or matt, take your pick) finishes the figure off.  These are big toy soldiers so I went for gloss as a personal preference ( but usually I'd be satin)

The fat Knight,  modelled with his doublet burst open from his belly and his assets swinging free... need to touch up that hand.

Quilp the Highwayman with a dirty secret...

This is the swordsman Corporal Nym, showing the oxidisation on his hat here.  I killed that with a brush over in turps, followed by stain, followed by gloss.  Actually  I stained his face again after this, and of course he needs his name on the rear of the base.

Captain Lee

Captain Cushing, from the same base figure as the Priest.

Bubbles McGurk, from a pound shop army man plastic figure.  She is around 40mm tall, so basically a double dagger dealing dwarven doxy.

The next game I'm planning is a return to the Queen's Head, where the gang of the duellist Rathbone are determined to kill the fat Knight, whose friend, Catholic Father Dick Emery, has hidden in a priest's hole behind the fireplace to avoid Captain Lee...  Game on...