 Flashman14  | 03 Dec 2016 8:27 a.m. PST |
Yes, this looks to be an ideal arrangement: link
However, when inevitably they do bend here and there, now and again, is the paint flaking off in awful ways? I really don't want to spend a lot of time touching up pikes in perpetuity. |
 Extra Crispy  | 03 Dec 2016 8:37 a.m. PST |
If you use the Krylon plastics primer the paint stays on. i use those for aerials on tanks in 15mm and 6mm and they never need touching up. |
| John Treadaway | 03 Dec 2016 8:53 a.m. PST |
Like extra crispy, I've used them for 15mm tank aerials without issue. For spears my recommendation was always hypodermic needles with the pointy end flattened over.
John T
|
| NOLA Chris | 03 Dec 2016 8:58 a.m. PST |
I used them for my 15mm DBM Han Chinese spear army,
I've only had 2 I need to replace over 10 years.
I coat them with PVA after putting them on, before painting (I was too cowardly to do the same for my 10mm Med Pike armies…) @Extra Crispy, do you prime them before gluing them to the fig? |
| TKindred | 03 Dec 2016 9:13 a.m. PST |
I made the decision to go with North Star's metal spears. It costs me a little more, but they are beautiful spears, they don't bend or break, and you can easily cut them to a shorter length if you need to. I glue them in after painting them.I found a way to mass paint them that works well. I found a length of 1" balsa wood. It comes in 36" lengths. I cut it into 12 sections. Then I push the pikes or spears into it, point down, so as to fully enclose the point. Now I spray them with whatever color I want them to be. I use different colors of enamel spray paint for this. They don't bend and the paint doesn't flake. When dry, I glue them into place with CA cement. |
| Hafen von Schlockenberg | 03 Dec 2016 9:17 a.m. PST |
Flash, I get "page does not exist". |
| Flashman14 | 03 Dec 2016 10:08 a.m. PST |
Ya. Don't know why that's happening. Google: "Making Spears and Pikes – the Dux Homunculorum Way" |
| Hafen von Schlockenberg | 03 Dec 2016 10:27 a.m. PST |
OK, Google couldn't find that,but did turn up the blog. Article is 4th or 5th down: link One or two other people have posted about the subject here somewhere, I believe. One method mentioned for the tips was using a heated a nailhead to flatten the end of the bristle,then clipping with small scissors. |
| Scott MacPhee | 03 Dec 2016 11:08 a.m. PST |
Flashman put a period at the end of the sentence / link. link |
| Flashman14 | 03 Dec 2016 1:03 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the fix scomac. |
| bruntonboy | 03 Dec 2016 4:27 p.m. PST |
I always use brown plastic bristles so o ly need to paint the points. |
| major blunder | 04 Dec 2016 11:08 a.m. PST |
Second getting brown bristles. Very durable solution, and less injurious to hands than wire ones! |
 oldbob | 04 Dec 2016 6:13 p.m. PST |
Whats going to happen when your boys find out their using synthetic weapons? Two war-gaming friends have used them for years, they seem to hold up very well. |
| XRaysVision | 05 Dec 2016 4:56 a.m. PST |
Note that nylon bristles can be found in many colors and many thicknesses. Cheap house painting brushes, fox tails (the little brush that comes with a dustpan), brooms, etc. are all good sources. The cheaper the better because they tend to be constant diameter rather than tapered. I've used them for rigging Age or Sail ships and biplanes by cutting to length and attaching with white glue. The glue shrinks and pulls the bristle taught and dries clear. The real advantage is that when you, inevitably, drop your ship of the line on the floor and bend a mast, the rigging just pops loose and you can easily fix it. Black for standing rig and brown for running. |
| Tricorne1971 | 07 Dec 2016 3:57 p.m. PST |
Painting spears in mass
Lay them in a row side by side on a piece of wood with a strip of masking tape underneath the spear heads, another strip of masking tape is laid over the ends of the spear covering spear head, spray wood color, dry, turn over and spray. I did 144 28mm spears in 30 minutes. |
