Spanish Royal Guard Music Unit

[Santi Pérez]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm currently living under circumstances that make it very difficult for me to paint figures, so I have had to pause all my pending painting projects. (By the way, if there is any member of the forum who is a millionaire and very generous, please contact me. ).

Fortunately, what I can continue to do is to design new projects, as well as convert and prepare figures for them.

I'm working on two of these projects, both on the same subject. One I prefer to keep secret for now, but the other I can talk about.

Taking advantage of the re-released Airfix Guards sets already received and the idea suggested by Chris (C M Dodson), I'm starting to work on the representation of the current Spanish Royal Guard Music Unit.

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=26789

As suggested by Owen (CliosPaintingBench) in the same thread, the main problem for the conversions would be the headgear, as with a good paintjob on the original figures you can get almost any uniform.

These would be the figures to be achieved:





And these are the original figures to get them:



As a test I started with a tuba player:



My first intention was to replace the head of the figure with that of a German Afrika Korps soldier also from Airfix, as his headdress seemed easy to turn into a ros, the typical ‘shako’ of the Spanish uniform.



However, due to the great difference in size between the two figures, once the substitution was made, the result was a very large head:



So I removed the added head and on the initially amputated one I cut and modelled with white wood glue (my usual material for sculpting) the ros with its plume. This was the final result:



I'm quite satisfied with the look of the figure and the process to get it, which was not too difficult. Other figures will require more in-depth conversions. I'm already trying to decide which band member will follow this one.

Thank you for watching.

Santi.

[Rich W]

Looks good Santi! I’m sure you’ll make a fine job with this project.

[Bill Slavin]

Nice work on the ros, Santi. And I love the look of these old school figures - very toy soldierish!

[Santi Pérez]

Thank you very much for your kind opinions, Rich and Bill.

I'm already working on the second figure, the first of the drummers. In this case the conversion work is a bit more complex, as it not only affects the head, but also the position of the arms and the increase in size of the original drum. As soon as I have it finished and pictured, I will bring it here.

Considering that I have designed a band with 24 members, I have embarked on another long-term project that you know when it starts, but not when it will end.

Santi.

[Santi Pérez]

The second member of the band is ready.

As I announced in the previous post, this is the first of the drummers. And as I also told there, in this case I had to work on three elements of the original figure to get the final result:

- Elaborate the new headgear, something common to all the band components.

- Make the drum a bit longer by adding half of another one.

- Change the position of the arms to make it look like he's really playing the instrument. This was only possible by cutting the arms at the elbows and gluing them in the new position, as this plastic can't be bent and keep the shape.

The original figure:



And the new one:



The next figure is already in progress. In this case it will be one with a totally original instrument not included in the Airfix set.

Santi.

[Ochoin]

Documenting projects in detail is always fascinating. Problems, solutions, planning.
This particular project has already captured my interest & I eagerly await a long series of posts, culminating in a unique diorama.

donald

[Peter]

You could have used the heads of the Africa Corps Type 1 figures. They are more of the size as the Guards band figures.



And what I see now looks very promesing for the rest of the project! Looking forward to your next steps and to see them painted of course.

[Santi Pérez]

Documenting projects in detail is always fascinating. Problems, solutions, planning.
This particular project has already captured my interest & I eagerly await a long series of posts, culminating in a unique diorama.
donald

Thank you, Donald. You're absolutely right. Personally, I distinguish between two types of documentation in my projects. The first is about the history and costume/uniforms of the figures I'm going to produce. And the second is about the figures available on the market that will allow me to get the ones I have in mind... after an almost inevitable conversion process, of course.

You could have used the heads of the Africa Corps Type 1 figures. They are more of the size as the Guards band figures.



And what I see now looks very promesing for the rest of the project! Looking forward to your next steps and to see them painted of course.

Very good suggestion to use those Airfix figures, Peter, I hadn't thought of that. However, I assume that being a long defunct set it will be very difficult to get them at a minimally affordable price.

However, the final result of the project (the diorama with all the painted figures) is still a long way off. Where I'm living at the moment I only have available to work with my tools and materials for conversions, my little bags with spare parts for them and four unique sets of figures: Caesar Miniatures Modern PRC PLA Troops, Airfix Afrika Korps (type 2) and both sets of Airfix Guards.

At least I can carry out the conversion process for the 24 members of the band. In fact, the third figure is ready. I hope to be able to take pictures and post them here tomorrow or the day after.

Best regards.

Santi.

[Ochoin]

Santi, not that I don't want to see the finished project but isn't the journey, the solving of problems & progress also a great part of the pleasure?
I hope this project lasts just the right amount of time for you. It will end in triumph I have no doubt.

donald

[Santi Pérez]

...isn't the journey, the solving of problems & progress also a great part of the pleasure?...donald

I completely agree with you, Donald.

The third member of the band is here. He's a bassoon (fagot in Spanish) player. Since the Airfix set doesn't include this instrument, I decided to make it from the saxophone, so this was the starting figure:



To make the conversion, I cut off the lower end of the saxophone and then added two new ends to lengthen the straight instrument, one at the top and one at the bottom. I got these ends from the machine gun barrels of two figures from the Airfix Afrika Korps set. I kept the curved top end of the original saxophone as the mouthpiece of the resulting bassoon.



This was the bassoon obtained, compared to the original saxophone:



Finally, I sculpted the ros on the head and this is the finished figure:



The next figure will be the drum major.

Best regards.

Santi.

[C M Dodson]

It seems a shame to chop up those excellent Africa Korps chaps but that bassoon player is wonderful.

I am watching your work with interest as I fancy creating an Austrian band for something different.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Susofrick]

Been thinking of buying these. I have some originals lying about, but the plastic is very fragile. But seeing the original sculpts next to your conversions make me save the money. Wonderful as usual! And they look much better after you have put your work on them! Looking forward to see them finished sometime in the future.

Gunnar

[Bessiere]

Amazing work Santi. I keep dreaming about a French Imperial Guard band hoping someone will create one but you make me wonder if I could make it myself. I am patient but enough to create an entire band (20pc) ? Not quite that patient. I'll have to wait. Yours is coming along very nicely.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Iceman1964]

Excellent work Santi, these conversions are amazing !!!
Hope to see soon the proceeding of the job

[Santi Pérez]

Thanks so much for your feedback, Chris, Gunnar, Bessiere and Enrico.

...I am watching your work with interest as I fancy creating an Austrian band for something different...

As you can read in the first post of this thread, Chris, the original inspiration to start this project came precisely from this comment of yours in a previous thread.

Been thinking of buying these...

I highly recommend you to buy them, Gunnar. Not only because in my case they have put an end to a childhood trauma I had been carrying around for years for never having been able to own them, but also because they are an excellent raw material for different types of bands from the last two centuries, both military and civilian, as I know of no other manufacturer that has produced such a complete band in 1/72.

Amazing work Santi. I keep dreaming about a French Imperial Guard band hoping someone will create one but you make me wonder if I could make it myself. I am patient but enough to create an entire band (20pc) ? Not quite that patient...

It's true that for the band you want, Bessiere, it would be necessary to deeply convert the original figures of this set, due to the important differences in the uniforms. But if you have the patience, I invite you to give it a try. I'm convinced that the result would be worth the effort.

Another possible solution would be to use the musicians from Strelets' set 013 (Napoleon's General Staff), complemented with the drums and fifes that almost all Napoleonic infantry sets usually include:

...these conversions are amazing !!!...

No more than yours, my friend.

Back to my Spanish Royal Guard band, the drum major figure is costing me more than I thought, as I'm finally not using the figure included in the set as a starting point but a different one.

What I have also done at the same time is to replace the tuba player's head with a new one, as the almost absence of the collar and the shape of the ros didn't convince me. Here is the figure with the new head compared to the old one. I think the improvement has been worth it:







As soon as I have the drum major ready and photographed I will post the pictures.

Best regards.

Santi.

[Susofrick]

This a very nice thread. I've been fond of the sound of the tuba since childhood so when I saw that Speira had a tubaplayer I couldn't resist. At 33 € for each figure it is a much better and cheaper option to do like you do.

https://speira.net/product/american-civil-war/union-tuba-player-w/

Found him and his pals! Had a little trouble at the time with a puppy that was convinced that eating toy soldiers was good for you. And some paint too!

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22702&p=248564&hilit=funky+but#p248564

Gunnar

[Rich W]

Santi, this must be one of the more joyful projects on here!

[Santi Pérez]

Thank you, Gunnar and Rich.

This a very nice thread. I've been fond of the sound of the tuba since childhood so when I saw that Speira had a tubaplayer I couldn't resist. At 33 € for each figure it is a much better and cheaper option to do like you do.

https://speira.net/product/american-civil-war/union-tuba-player-w/

Found him and his pals! Had a little trouble at the time with a puppy that was convinced that eating toy soldiers was good for you. And some paint too!

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22702&p=248564&hilit=funky+but#p248564

Gunnar

The Speira's tuba player is undoubtedly better than Airfix, Gunnar. Although its price is 3.3 euros and not the 33 you mistakenly say, it's still a bit high compared to the 7 or 8 euros for which you can buy the 44-figure Airfix set.

And It was good to see your post on the American western town diorama again.

Santi, this must be one of the more joyful projects on here!

Well, Rich, you know there are still a few more posts to go until I get the whole band together, hahaha.

I have finished the drum major today and hope to photograph it tomorrow..

Santi.

[Santi Pérez]

At last the drum major of the band is here.

To achieve the desired result I didn't use the figure included in the set, but I thought it was more appropriate to use the drummer figure, which required less conversion.





Apart from the conversion of the headgear, I also removed the drum sticks, changed the position of the arms and added a new staff/mace made from two strips obtained from a broom bristle (following the advice of someone in an old thread who used them to make the pikes of the Macedonian pikemen).



And this is the figure obtained:



Mmm, now that I look at the pictures it seems to me that the upper end of the staff/mace is too long in relation to the lower end. I think I'll have to shorten it.

Best regards.

Santi.

[Susofrick]

Ooops! I was thinking SEK and wrote € . A little small difference. Good idea to use the drummer! This is a very joyful project!

Gunnar