"Perry Plastic AWI British Flag Poles" Topic

Has anyone replaced the flag poles/staffs for the British ensigns in the Perry AWI set? I use GMB flags,and they poles are MUCH too short for the flags. I didn't realize this until after I painted the figures unfortunately..

Bob

I would replace any plastic poles, just because they are plastic and easy to snap off. I always cut my brass rod poles to fit the flags I will be using.
I had to replace the Old Glory cast on flag poles in many instances for the same reason.

I would replace any plastic poles, just because they are plastic and easy to snap off. I always cut my brass rod poles to fit the flags I will be using.
I had to replace the Old Glory cast on flag poles in many instances for the same reason.
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Yeah, Old Glory Second edition flag poles are too short as well. I'd love to use brass rod,IF I could find it! :-(

Bob

Bob, look for piano wire. You have to cut it to the length you want, but it works well.

Matthew

John can you see the logic fail in what you say?

You'd advocate replacing the plastic muskets as well?

I would not use plastic to begin with.

Hence forth know as the "P" word…

I really like the look of the casually marching poses you can get from the new Perry plastic set, but I am not wild about plastic figures. They do tend to break. I don't understand why the made them holding poles. I would think an open hand would have been easier to cast.

Matthew

As mentioned already, yes replace any plastic flag poles and if possible any spears & pikes (Ancient & Dark Age sets). Other gamer fumbling around the game table will get caught up in the flag pole before the musket. As far as the muskets go, I don't see the need unless the musket is being held up in a high position ubove the figure. Thus the reason to replace the flag poles. I use a mixuture of both types of figures (lead and plastic) and have had musket ends and bayonets break off from both.

Your choice…goodluck!

P.

North Star 100mm Spears with a leaf head are your friend. The head looks like a flag finial and you just cut them to length to fit your GMB flags.

Bob – the Napoleonic infantry sets have the same problem. I don't try to replace the poles but rather cut them in half and add something else in the middle to extend the length. I use wire pikes that the Perries and others sell. Cut a bit off the top of the plastic pole so that the extra bit of wire pike can go into the area that is covered by the flag itself. Add a small blob of superglue to each end of the wire bit, then use pritt-stick or whatever to wrap the paper flag around the pole at the same time. It's fiddly but you then have increased the length and because the extra wire bit is embedded inside the flag it doesn't look any different.

I haven't explained it very well, but hopefully you get the gist of how I approach this.

Giles

They do tend to break.

I hear this a lot and don't get it. Mine don't. My LOTR and GB plastics share nice big sections in a foam tray so about 20 of them can get to know each other between fights and they haven't broken yet.

Which is probably a dumb thing to say before the vikings get unpacked at the club tomorrow.

In my experience, plastic flagpoles and pikes, tend to bend, rather than break. Sure catch it wrong and it could break, but it's far more likely to bend.

And rather than the flagpoles being too short to accommodate the GMB flags, it's possible that the flags are oversized to begin with. I prefer to keep the original flag and make a xerox copy reduced by an appropriate factor to ensure that the flag is in scale with the figure [1/56].

Hello, 95th Regiment:

Our local Hobby Lobby, here in Texas, carries "K&S Engineering, Chicago, IL" brass rods and flat bar of various sizes. I also found them at a "national" hardware store which has since closed down.

I use thinner rods for sergeant pikes/halberds/kurzgewehr's, and sometimes for colour poles. I also like the a thicker size, when I can find them, for colour poles.

They also make flat strips,1/64 x 1/32, which I have used to give Victrix British officers a rapier-like brass sword blade to replace the plastic. I sense that these are too thin, but the 1/64 x 1/16 is just too thick.

GdeP

Brill, Giles.

I think Ligniere has it right – many flags are oversized; however, there is also the matter of hand positions. The Perry flagpoles are usually the right scale/size for 28mm figures, but the hand positions can make it awkward to fit the flag onto the section of the pole above the upper hand. This can be avoided by cutting a section out of the flag so that it fits around/over the hand; use some Milliput to "cover" the upper hand so that it looks like it is gripping the flag AND the pole together.

As 45thDiv says…Piano wire makes really good flagpoles.

I prefer brass. Piano wire does make good flag poles and pikes, but it is hard enough to chew up wire cutters. Brass here is probably more available, about as sturdy for my purposes and cuts much easier.