Revolution is here...3D Scanning and printing miniatures !!

Hello all, today I bring a very special topic ... scanning and 3d printing miniatures!!!

For me, this is the greatest discovery in my history as a wargamer.

A few months ago, a friend of the hobby, who is a dentist, told me that he has a  (veeeeeeery expensive) 3D scanner in his clinic, designed to scan and model teeth, in order to print them using a good quality 3D printer.

Well, he thought it would be easy to do the same with a miniature, 

Next step...I suggested the possibility of scanning miniatures and then modifying them on the computer, its size, and we tested it with 1/72 miniatures, with an equally satisfactory result.

Here you have the only plastic miniatures in the market of later XVII c. Spanish, by Mars.

 The only thing is that they lose some quality, having a lesser quality sculpting than any 28mm miniature...

I will try to paint them properly in order to "camouflage" their lack of detail. so that I can add any miniature to units made up from conventional 28mm miniatures.

I must say that all this is absolutely legal in Spain, provided it is for private use. What is illegal is to use this technology to violate intellectual and industrial property rights and above all to profit from illegal copies.

all primed black now.

Disclaimer,

I repeat again that the purpose of this experiment is simply to test this technology (new for me), and to modify the size of miniatures or to convert them for private and personal purposes. NEVER to make copies and distribute them or stop buying from my favourite manufacturers. I feel a deep respect for the companies that risk their money to provide us their fantastic miniatures.

Regards

28mm Front Rank "Miquelets" PART II, unit completed!

Hi again,

Yesterday I posted the first 4 miniatures painted, and some "work in progress"... Now they are full unit, 8 skirmishers based individually for open order style, like in Warlord's Pike & Shotte, and with a movement tray for close order or others systems like "Baroque".

I tried to paint them random and with historically accurate colors, although artist's license was taken. you may notice there are Warhammer Empire militia heads here and there, and Bretonnian gear in some of them... As Front Rank miniatures ar beefy, they are more or less compatible with Warhammer bits, lucky me !

the next 4 miniatures:

Sorry for the quality of the pics! I will do more... Now some family pictures with the base completed.

I hope you like them, Regards!!

Spaniards for late XVII Century PART II

Hi guys,

I have painted some examples of the comissioned sculpts. Please note these are not profesionally sculpted miniatures, so their quality is average, but good enough for me, for rank and file troops they are ok, or to add some variety to the Northstar 1672 Range.

I use Front Rank miniatures for slightly later period (1690's) but I think for 1660-1690 they are fine.

Lets start with a Pikeman with cuirass, I painted with the colors of Tercio de Madrid "old reds"

Now a foot dragoon, or musketeer If I convert the boots into common shoes and paint red legs...

Finally a Caballo Coraza or Cuirassier riding a Northstar 1672 horse. I wanted the miniature to be very close in size to that range, because I like it a lot and I can use the horse command group with my own miniatures.

I hope you like them!

In the near future I plan to paint a Tercio mixing some of my pikemen and my officer (not painted yet) with Northstar 1672 miniatures.

Regards

Conversion time! Front Rank 28mm "Miquelets" or "Migueletes" PART I

Hello everyone,

I put here a small "work in progress" of a unit of skirmishers or shooters of the seventeenth century Catalan guerrilla known as the migueletes or miquelets, rough people of the mountain and the rural areas near the border. They fought both on the side of Spain and to a lesser extent, of France recruited in Roussillon or rebels and deserters on our side of the border. Despite being a body that was not officially part of the Spanish army, they were not 100% irregular and guerrilla, because they were paid by the crown and in 1695 they were more than four thousand men that caused more casualties to the French than the regular army and the allies of Spain on that front of the Nine years war.

These miniatures I want to represent here would be Miquelets, both from the Dutch war of 1673-78, and from the Nine-years War of 1688-1697. The chronicles of the time describe them dressed in civil clothes, peasants, armed with muskets, hunting shotguns, a pair of pistols and white arms (swords and daggers) as well as a wallet that could be carried sideways or in the belly, and canteens made from pumpkin. Many Miquelets covered their heads with the typical Catalan cap, the barretina.

I have taken Front Rank figures from their excellent late 17th century range, references shown here are from Monmouth rebels, and I have converted them slightly, some heads wear a hat very similar to the barretina others wore a typically English woolen cap so they were mercilessly decapitated and I replaced their heads or hats by other plastic Warlord and Warhammer, also some details such as canteens, knives, bags or ammunition cartridges. I will paint them!

There are 8 in total, all of them different... Here you have some conversion work and the first 4 painted.

The painted minis are based individually but with a movement tray (not shown yet), they will support my forces in Pike & Shotte, Baroque and BLB !

Regards!

Miniatures for late XVII century Spaniards

Hello guys,  my interest in the late XVII century Spanish tercios started some years ago (more or less in 2013) When I saw for the first time some publicity of Barry Hilton's Warfare Miniatures and ex Copplestone Northstar 1672... Until that time, I preferred the 30 years war, as a Spaniard I chose the Spanish army, although it was much less powerful than in the previous decades of the century.

I discovered there were not proper Spanish miniatures, except for the short lived "Phoenix Miniatures" XVII Spanish range, which was more or less part of Northstar 1672, but that range was not complete and now abandoned. Thank God I was able to buy enough miniatures for my army.

Those miniatures are suitable roughly from the War of the Devolution 1667-68, until the League of Augsburg War,  but there were not enough poses or officers or even cavalry, so last year I started building a mini range just for my personal collection, sculpting (not me!) some miniatures to add variety to my regiments.

The following illustration, by Jose Maria Bueno, shows some examples of the characteristic Spanish uniform of the time, infantry and different types of cavalry.

You can se the front lapels of the justacorps, you can easily sculpt them on Northstar 1672 miniatures or even Dixons Miniatures Grand Alliance Range or some Front Rank miniatures...

Now some expamples of the sculpted miniatures, nowadays I have some examples casted in metal.

 Caballo Coraza or Cuirassier, until mid 1680' the cavalry used cuirasses. The horse is Northstar 1672

                                                          Armoured pikeman

                                                           Foot dragoon

comparison pic. Left to Right, Warfare Miniatures, Phoenix Miniatures, Northstar 1672, mine, mine, Northstar 1672, Dixon Miniatures and Front Rank, all 28mm

Spanish officer, Ceuta (North Africa) 1668, by Jose Maria Bueno.

I hope you like them, next time, some painted examples and some other ideas of reproduce Spanish uniforms.