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).

“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).

Down to work

Saxon officer work-in-progress.

The trials and tribulations of my various palette experiments are complete so there are no remaining excuses for not starting on the job to paint up my first Calpe Saxon battalion. I’m beginning with the 1st battalion of the Prinz Friedrich August regiment – that means green facings and yellow metal buttons.

I’m going to ease into things by working on just a couple of figures at a time to begin with and then scale up to doing a company at a time (i.e. eight figures). I’ve aleady posted a photo of the white trousers on one musketeer, so I thought I’d show you something a little more colourful this time. The second figure I’m working on is an officer. There are several interesting uniform features of note with this chap.

Firstly, the colour of the metal buttons (white or yellow) was used as a distinction between the Prinz Friedrich August regiment and the other regiment with green facings (the Prinz Clemens regiment). But buttons weren’t the only metal parts of the uniform that followed this convention. The officers’ epaulettes and the tulip-shaped plume holder on the shako were also in the regimental button colour. Note that the chinscales on the shako were always brass, regardless of regiment. Yellow metalwork on the figure pictured is painted with Vallejo Flat Earth, Brass and Gold.

Secondly, the shako cover. The Saxons had their own distinctive shako covers (more about these another time) but when supplies were short (as they often were on 1813) the Saxons used French ones. These were the linen-coloured ones with the earflaps that could be tied up. The officer I’m painting at the moment has this latter style and though the upward fold of the earflaps is hidden behind the chinscales, Peter F. has sculpted the ties behind the plume holder. I’ve painted the shako cover using a palette of Vallejos: Flat Earth, Ochre Brown, Yellow Ochre, Buff and Ivory.

Thirdly, the coat. Officers had the choice between wearing the distinctively Saxon blue-grey surtout of the normal white uniform jacket with lapels, cuff and collar in the regimental facing colour. The surtout was more practical but also made officers easier for the enemy to spot. The officer I’m painting is in the white jacket. For the green facings I’ve used Vallejo Black Green, Deep Green (I love this colour) and Intermediate Green.

Lastly, the trousers. There are plenty of options here. Sometimes officers wore white breeches but they also worn overalls in grey or the same grey-blue as the surtout. These overalls often had a stripe down the outside in the regimental facing colour. The figure I’m painting has the stripe sculpted on which makes it nice and easy to paint. I opted for colourful blue-grey overalls using Vallejo Prussian Blue and Blue Grey with a final highlight of Sky Blue. The picture here makes the effect look a much brighter blue than it is in real life.

There’s not too much left to do to complete this figure: hands, sword and some work on the turnbacks (with their fiddly buttons and piping).