Mould-making and sculpting masterclass

Peter F's von Rechten battalion

I spent most of this last weekend at Calpe Towers as Peter F’s guest. It was the long-planned opportunity for me to learn the basics of mould making and pick up some sculpting tips in readiness for my forthcoming venture into Frankenstien monster-like conversions of some Calpe Saxons. We covered so much ground that it’s hsrd to know where to start. So let’s just dive in.

On the Saturday, Peter demonstrated the art of mould making. The creation of a successful mould is indeed an art. Anybody can make a mould but it takes considerable skill and thought to make a mould that captures all the detail of the master figures and can survive repeated use without degradation or damage. I’ve learnt that the orientation of the figures in the mould, the way they’re sculpted in first place, the type of rubber, temperature, pressure and the duration of “cooking” time all make a contribution to the quality of the result. Even how you pre-warm the rubber beforehand makes a difference.

On top of all that, you need a bit of physics knowledge to understand how the forces affect the flow of molten metal into the mould while its in the spin casting machine. Plus, you need to bear in mind that the air displaced from the mould cavities by the metal needs somewhere to go otherwise you end up with trapped air bubbles. Hence the need to cut and drill vent holes in the mould after its been made.

While waiting for the mould to “cook” we started on my sculpting tutorial. Rather than actually embarrass myself, I was content to watch Peter work and listen to him as he described the tools and techniques he uses. He also took the time to explain how he designs figures carefully with minimum risk of gaps and unsupported parts that would result in easily torn rubber in the moulds. Peter also showed me the ingredients and proportions he uses for his mixture of sculpting putty and I ended up mixing up several batches as work progressed on several figures over the weekend. Mostly we focussed on an NCO for the new set of Saxon line grenadiers but we also did some work on some greatcoat wearing figures that will emerge in an exciting release some time next year (once some minor problems with production mould quality have been resolved).

In particular I learnt how to get a smooth surface finish on putty, add fine details of various sorts, add buttons, make shoulder swallows for musicians, create wire armatures for limbs and bulk them out with putty, create folds in clothing and make blanket rolls worn bandolier style. Phew, what a lot to absorb! Now I’ve got to go away and practice. If I do a good enough job, Peter’s offered to make up a mould so that I can cast off a few of my own diabolical creations. No pressure there then

The other job we managed to get done was a short photography session (you can see a glimpse of the output above) and hopefully some of the other shots will be of good enough quality to be used by Dan with my Wargames Illustrated Prussian article. If so, I hope that the article will appear in the next issue.

Calpe Saxon artillery pieces

Calpe Saxon 6-pdr cannon

I’ve finally found time and daylight enough to do some photography this weekend. So the first items I wanted to share were a couple of pictures of the forthcoming Calpe range of Saxon artillery ordnance. The history of Saxon artillery is fascinating and the pieces themselves are highly distinctive with a number of unusual design features. If you’re interested, I recommend the brief introductory section in Napoleonic Artillery by Dawson, Dawson and Summerfield. If that whets you appetite, look out for Stephen Summerfield’s new book Saxon Artillery 1737-1827 which is due to be published by Caliver Books on 1st October.

The two sample castings I have from Peter F. are examples of the M1810 Raabe System of artillery, so-called because the co-leader of the design team was one Major Raabe. This system included a 12-pounder cannon, a 6-pounder cannon and an 8-inch howitzer. The picture above illustrates the Calpe castings that make up the 6-pounder cannon. You can see that the parts include the conventional separate parts for the wheels, carriage and gun tube. In addition there’s a U-shaped piece that fits onto two recesses cast at the back end of the carriage. This piece holds the sizeable trailspike in place when the cannon is assembled.

Calpe Saxon 8-in howitzer

This second picture shows the parts for the 8-inch howitzer. Broadly speaking, it’s the same breakdown of parts with the obvious difference being the gun tube. Peter F. is thinking of writing some assembly instructions to go with these pieces because there are a couple of points to note. For example, the wheels have mudguards on them which must be positioned at the top when assembled. Although Peter F. has made the production moulds for these pieces, the impatient among you will have to wait a little while before you can buy them. Peter has yet to sculpt the crew figures and is currently finishing off the march-attack line grenadiers before switching attention to the artillery crews.

Finally, a note on colour schemes: wooden parts were painted black (or a very dark grey); metal fittings were bronze (sometimes mistakenly reported as being painted yellow).

Home from Colours 2009

Uniforms of Waterloo (Blandford Press, London, 1974)

As I suspected, despite the title above, I was too tired to complete this post on Sunday evening. My feet are still aching from going up and down all the stairs in the venue! Something that isn’t aided by the fact that we did a four-hour family dog walk and blackberry picking outing on Saturday.

My overall impression of Colours this year is that attendance was slightly down but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – either for visitors or traders. The games and trade stands were easier to get at and more comfortable to stay at making for a more pleasant experience and, according to some traders I spoke to, encouraging more actual purchasing.

As usual, my companion around the show was Peter F. and the latest news from Calpe Towers is that the first moulds for Saxon artillery pieces have been made and I’ve now got a couple of these highly distinctive items in my possession. I’m too stretched to photograph them for you now but that delight will follow in due course. Peter’s also working on the Saxon grenadiers to complement the already released musketeers and then artillery crew will follow. The other photo-worthy item is Peter’s entry in the painting competition that came a creditable second in its class – I’ll have a nice picture of that for you soon too.

The demo games were of variable standard and there wasn’t much new or exciting to report from the trade stands yet, despite this lack of excitement, I still really enjoyed the day and picked up a couple of bits and pieces that I’d been after for a while or that had been recommended. I got some 100mm wire pikes for cutting down as landwehr cavalry lances; on Peter Royle’s recommendation via Peter F., I got yet another type of white paint to try (more of that on another occasion); and I acquired some very neat castings of wooden barrels and buckets from Antenociti’s Workshop – these are destined to grace some artillery and command bases.

I also learnt a lesson about striking while the iron is hot (or rather, failing to do so). I saw a second-hand copy of the Blandford Press book Uniforms of the Retreat from Moscow on one of the booksellers’ stands but rather than snaffle it there and then I opted to see what else I might find elsewhere and return later. Of course, the inevitable happened and another eagle-eyed shopper had purchased the book by the time I returned. Never mind, I was forced to console myself with a copy of Uniforms of Waterloo from the same publisher instead. While it’s true that these old Blandfords contain quite a few errors and modern research has superdeded them they are still useful and many of the colour plates are lovely little works of art.

So that brings to a close this year’s visits to wargaming shows for me and, as Autumn begins, I can turn attention to painting again on the cooler evenings. Plus I’ve got a weekend of sculpting and mould making lessons to look forward to at Calpe Towers in a few weeks time.

“Events, dear boy”

This weekend sees another key date in the annual wargaming calendar – Colours at Newbury Racecourse. This is a regular in my diary and I’ve enjoyed it all the more since it moved away from the cramped and difficult-to-park-at Hexagon in Reading. For me, getting there on Sunday (I don’t go to the Saturday of this two-dayer) is a simple drive East along the A4 and the parking at the Racecourse is free.

So I’ll be sitting down to compile my shopping / to-do list tonight though it will be hampered by the fact that the Colours website yet again doesn’t (at the time of writing) have an up-to-date list of traders or demo games. It’s only two days to the show, guys, surely you could manage to make this information available by now?

Still, that’s a minor gripe and, more importantly, I’ll be meeting up as usual with Peter F. So that gives us an opportunity to pick up the Calpe threads after our Summer breaks. We’ve got several things on the agenda: completion of the PayPal functionality for the website, progress on the next Saxon releases and a weekend of sculpting tutorials and mould-making later in the Autumn. If any of you are attending Colours and want to see what a painted Calpe Saxon musketeer battalion looks like, I suggest you check out the painting competition because Peter F. is almost certain to enter a little something.

The other imminent event that’s caught my attention is the latest Foundry open day on 25th September. Plenty of juiciness to this with the presence of Kevin Dallimore (lovely chap) doing a painting clinic and a couple of big Napoleonic participation games. The trouble is there’s a snowball in hell’s chance of me (and I suspect many others) going. Why? Well, apart from a long journey to Nottingham (which Foundry can’t help) they’ve persisted with the lunacy of holding the open day on a Friday. Are they quite mad? Why can’t they schedule it for a weekend?

Lastly, on a personal note, another event I’d like to mention is that tomorrow von Peter and his family end their eight month sojourn in the UK and begin a stately passage back to their home in New Zealand. It’ll take them quite a while to get there because they’re taking in a grand tour of mainland Europe on the way. So I’d just like to take a moment to wish them bon voyage and thank them for their good company and coffee-buying heroics while they’ve been here.

UPDATE 12/9/09: there is now a list of traders on the Colours website but it’s not linked to from the home page (or rather the link there doesn’t work).