Dear Strelets,

The figures are very nice, beautiful even, especially the officers. I must however say, that the helmets are wrong. Spikes are ok for infantry, but not for artillery. Their helmets had a round ball instead of the spike. No figures in 1/72 have yet been done for early Great War German gunners.

Superb overall sculpting again! But eagle-eyes spotted right: The artillery ‘spike’ was a (cannon)ball.
Here’s a sample of a Prussian artillery helmet:

http://www.kaisersbunker.com/dunkelblau/helmets/dbh18c.jpg

And a Feldkanone 96-crew wearing helmet covers:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/7.7cm_Feldkanone_96_n.A._with_crew.jpg

For some close up portraits scroll down to ‘artillery’ (BTW: Kaiser’s bunker is an excellent source):

http://www.kaisersbunker.com/pt/uberzug.htm

The spike would make them Bavarian Field Artillery (foot troops picklehaub) though Im not certain the Bavarians used the howitzer in question, however its easy to remove the tip....

Cheers

I like the two dancing guys....

they look a little effeminate

these look very well sculpted,and should be a best selling set for strelets.
now do you mind having this guy sculpt some sets in periods that i collect?
i have some money burning a hole in my pocket.

Dear Strelets,
A fine set for WW1-why cant this sculptor made the crew for the Roman catapult ?

best regards
Richard

Dear Strelets

I'm not going to thread hijack and try to change the subject onto other periods. I'm happy that you are making some more WW1 figures and equipment for us WW1 modelers and gamers. We don't have as much available to us as fans of other periods do, and those people could just start a new thread with their wishlist - even an incredibly long wishlist could have its own long and dull thread, explaining how ACW figures in a particular shade and type of plastic would make you into millionaires overnight etc etc.

What I will say, though, is what has already been said. With a minor adjustment the spike could be turned into a ball. As they stand, they only suit one particular formation, but with that small change they would appear to be representative of most of Germany's artillery formations.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Dear PDA,

will it be a major difficulty for a buyer to slightly trim the spike if he wishes so ? We're talking here about those ones, who will notice that spike shape altogether. Kindly note that actual figures (and masters) are about the size of the boots of these master models as you see them on the screen.

Best regards,

Strelets

Dear Strelets,

thank you for your prompt reply. No, it would be hardly any trouble at all to adjust the spikes, and I will buy the set regardless. But the point has been mentioned a few times (pun intended), and I just thought if it wasn't too much bother for you, it would be the icing on the cake, so to speak.

Why don't you do what I did with my Airfix artillery conversions, just ask your wife to buy you a fine fingernail file and gently sand down the point. Easier than a cutter, which will only yield another point.

Since this is important to you I'll also add your wish for WWI German Artillerymen with balls instead of spikes to that futures list next time I update it.

There is always the officer in the HaT heavy artillery set and do a head/helmet transplant if the ball/spike is so important. Normally I remove spike from early WW1 German troops as many pictures indicate this to be a common practice.

I assume that Garrison is referring to the tasty much maligned Northern(English version!) meat dish with his comment about PDA!

Being serious it is important that figures are an accurate representation but this is a minor problem. However the proof of the pudding is what the guns are like. I look forward to both the outstanding guns.

Ball helmets please, as they are more versatile, correct, and have never been done before in plastic.

Early war 21cm in action Western front these ones were towed by traction engines escorted by a group of Uhlans... the four guys to the right are carrying the ammo... notice the almost complete absense of picklehaubs in action this seems very typical, on the march is another matter..




Cheers

Here is another vote for ball helmets (vs. spiked helmets): Apart from one rather poor HaT figure, these helmets have never been done in 1/72 plastic.

Wonderful sculpting by the way. If I needed to be picky I'd say the seams on the tunics' backs were too accented, but in general I think these are the best figures Strelets have done so far.

Yes but remember that the helmet should be covered which makes the ball look rather more like short blunt spike.. helmet covers are normal practice except for parade, the feldmutze with almost no other kit often not even belts generally being worn when operating the gun in field conditions... its heavy work... with the picklehaub with cover generally being worn with the rest of kit on the march...

the pic above is the only one for this type of artillery I could find from several hundred that I looked at mostly from albums, that actually had a guy with a picklehaub... he may be an officer.. but Im sure now many more will turn up...

Best Regards

I am convinced you are right about the headgear. Maybe I should now admit I would like to use the Strelets figures to crew field artillery pieces.

Ahh thats what I thought however Strelets may do other german artillery sets... perhaps they will do a set of early war field artillery in picklehaubs, goodness knows theres enough artillery pieces to choose from....

Best Regards