"15mm Black Hat Knights in need of lances!" Topic

Good morning chaps!

I've purchased some fine 15mm feudal knights from Black Hat Miniatures, but they don't come with cast on lances. Its rather unbecoming for them to ride into glorious battle unarmed!

I've never been a great modeller but they are rather nice figures, so what would be the procedure for making simple lances for them? I imagine some length of wire, but what diameter and length would be appropriate?

Thanks in advance for the assistance good folks!

Regards,

Paul F

I think you need to have them about 8-9 foot:

These are from the Maciejowski bible, just try google image searching using this link

Assuming you want 13th century knights?

It depends what you want.

You could buy a cheap nylon brush and cut the bristles off, trim to the length you want and use them. It looks fine but you cannot really put a point on-no worse than an unpointed bit of wire and they never come off.

You could buy a pack of pointed wire spears from Black Hat and use them which is what I did.

Or buy some Florists Wire, cut it, flatten one end and clip it pointed.

As to diameter 2mm I think.

I think 8-9 feet is probably a slight underestimate – liebaart.org/lans_e.htm suggests 3-4 metres, more like 10-13 feet, around the end of the 13th century. Artists sometimes have to reduce things like lance length to fit them in the picture.

Yep, grab a bit of thin (I use 0.8-1mm) wire, cut to length, (I reckon 3.5-cm for 15mm if that looks good to your eyes) squeeze one end with pliers to give a bit of a point and glue in place.

Funnily enough I'm thinking of ordering in some Black Hat medievals myself :)

Cheers,
Aaron

@Oh : that's funny, I could have sworn I never found a pack of separate lances/spears on Black Hat's site, but then I'm not the most observant of folk. I'll have another look, the hands on the figures seem to have been moulded 'open' to accept a weapon so I did think it peculiar that I didn't find separate weapons.

@Temporary like Achilles: thank you, that's excellent advice! I'll make a quick foray for supplies tomorrow, if you like I can post pictures of my project if I get anywhere with it. I went with Black Hat for the value for money but the figures look much nicer in the flesh than their store photos I reckon.

I'm planning on using these for a Hordes of the Things pseudo-historical feudal/Outremer setting, so it would be nice if I could have them do double duty for late 12th/13th century. I'm went with 13th century figures, especially for the foot because of the greater variety in helmets.

I've some nice separate pikes/spear/lances in stock – bit.ly/18Oh30R

Warning: they are very sharp.

--
Martin Stephenson
Vexillia: Wargames Miniatures & Accessories
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I've found 0.8mm to be best (2mm would be enormous!)
I use lances supplied by Martin (above) or a couple of other people as I get through so many spears that I got bored of doing my own.

Alternatives – I've seen nylon sweeping brush bristle used well. If I make my own metal spears, I've tried three things.

Florists' wire (sold in straight pieces – don't bother with the stuff from a roll as it is very hard to get it straight). Easy to squeeze the end flat and then cut. Often sold by gauge – I think 21 gauge is about 0.8mm.

Brass rod. Fairly easy to squash flat. A bit harder to cut to a spear head and more likely to need filing. I think some people grind them to a point first.

Dressmakers pins. Get untempered steel as it is much easier to flatten the head – the point of the pin gives a small but good spearhead. I assume these are pretty easy to find – I got mine from Hobbycraft in a big mixed pot. Not sure if all are the same thickness.

To squeeze the above, I use pliers but put the rod as close to the hinge as possible where there is a flat spot. The extra leverage makes squeezing them much easier.

You may find that you get to like the look of the spears enough to start replacing cast lances with bought or home-made steel/brass. I have.

They are tucked away AG.

link

I just discovered last night that Donnington also sells tapered lances in the New Era range under Equipment. Sadly, no pictures.

- Ix

Hi

Oh said the following but, I think he missed the point…

"You could buy a cheap nylon brush and cut the bristles off, trim to the length you want and use them. It looks fine but you cannot really put a point on-no worse than an unpointed bit of wire and they never come off."

I agree with buying a brush. I'm not sure if mine has nylon bristles but the pliability is like an old Airfix figure's arm.

Adding a spearpoint is easy. Just squash the end with your pliers. Now use the nail clippers you got in that old cracker (Ok, you can buy one if you want). Now clip and shape the flattened end to a point. You can do it in two chops after a few tries. There are plenty on the brush to practice on.

The shafts are unlikely to break but will bend. Luckily, I bought the brush with the brown bristles so less repainting is needed.

You can close open hands gently with pliers and then drill a hole. I think it looks more like a proper grip and I'm less likely to knock the spear, pike or staff off.

Have fun,
Cavcmdr.

P.S. My supply of spears and javelins came complete with a free dustpan.

I did indeed miss the point!