Here is my brilliant (?) idea - pictured above is a Redoubt spearman with his weapon. Lead/pewter spears can be a pain to straighten (and keep straight), so I thought that it might be nice to replace the shaft with brass tube. The tube is nearly the same diameter as the spear, and would stay straight, while the interesting spear tip and butt would be added to the tube. This would require a hole to be drilled into the spear tip so a length of brass rod could be glued in, and the assembly could then be glued into the tube:
Here is the procedure party of the way through. This is the easy part.
The result! The first two spears were made without a problem, but on the third I encountered the defining issue - the spear tip is not much bigger than the drill bit used to bore it out, and with one slip I put the drill bit into my finger. So, further thought is required.
Also shown above is the inside of the huge Redoubt Figure-8 shields; lovely. The Eureka shields have no detail on the inside.
The pic above shows the options I have come up with so far - my brass composite; a spear purchased from Footsore; a piece of plastic rod that I shaped into a crude likeness of the original Redoubt spear; and a piece of steel rod that could have a spear tip added.
The thickness of the original spear, brass tube, and plastic rod seem to be a bit thick for my tastes. However, the Footsore spear is too plain in my eyes. Decisions, decisions.
One last pic:
.
Greg, minor progress is much better then no progress! Your work on spear replacement looks good to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeleteGreg, have you made an order for Redoubt since the figures changed ownership?
ReplyDeleteJon, yes I have and I am still waiting for it six weeks later. It might be foolhardy but I am going to wait for it, as Andy (owner of Redoubt and Grubby Tanks) realizes that he is far behind, according to people in UK that have talked to him in person.
DeleteNice work on the spears, Greg. I agree the original spears can be bent rather easily. I ended up leaving mine as is, but your replacement job looks good and will certainly be lot sturdier.
ReplyDeleteThank you !
DeleteYour a better man than I am Greg,I just use florist wire and paint the end metallic!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Better? No way; just a wee bit more crazy ;)
DeleteYears ago I used to use piano wire to replace pikes and very long dress pins for spears. These days I use Northstar spears but they are very sharp indeed.
ReplyDeleteI am almost certain that I will use the commercially-available approach as well
DeleteI like the hollow spear concept - It might be easier to just trim the lead spearpoint to a point and stick that point into the brass rod...the thought of drilling a finger is a bit horrifying!
ReplyDeleteI've been using piano wire for years, but it is a bit stiff and pointy and something of a menace to careless gamers. I'm now filing down all the points with a dremel sanding bit.