Sunday, June 14, 2009

Early Medieval Gun - still under construction!




No, I haven't been lazy - just overworked! Too much crazy hours at my day job at the moment.

This model isn't finished yet. It should have only taken one day to build but due to all the crazy hours we are working (even when I'm not at work, I'm tired!), I'm into my second week working with it. There are still a couple of men to be attached, and also extras such as spare cannonballs, buckets etc. I'll probably put one or maybe even two of my spare wagons with it too.

The idea is that this will be the centre-piece of my attacking army for the castle siege I am planning for the Collector's Show in August (if I can get the whole thing finished in time!) It is an early medieval heavy gun, shown from:

1: the front ground view, just showing the barrel of the gun between the wooden shield (designed to protect the crew from enemy fire) and the ground.

2: the front view, slightly higher up, so you can see some of the men working with it.

3: the side view which shows what is behind the shields. The two guys down in the pits are controlling a rope, use to lower the front-center shield when the gun isn't firing, and raise it when it is ready to fire. The rope pieces didn't come with the model so I had to unweave a piece of string and use two of the strands for the ropes. If you get up real close to the model you can see they are only glued onto the back, rather than hooked through a hole in the top of the shield.

I also had a lot of trouble getting the two guys carrying the bag on a stick hooked up right, and again if you get up real close, you can see their stick is bent, and one of them doesn't really have it cleanly in his hands. I was a little annoyed with that, as a very similar grouping that was part of my Japanese Civil War collection fit together perfectly.

Those are just minor niggles though. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it is turning out. Just have to find time to finish the thing!

What I'm really hoping to be able to do is start a medieval campaign in the first week of July, with the commentary on this site, so you can get an idea of what goes in to the battles behind the scenes. All going well, and IF the timing works out right, the campaign should lead up to a siege just in time for the Collector's Show, and it will all fit into a nice little story line that comes to life here in Bluffton on the night!

(Collector's Show now only just over two months away, and I haven't even started building my castle, much less the other houses I want as part of the display! Then, of course, there is the czmpaign to start up, and all the paperwork that will entail. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!)

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