 Der Alte Fritz  | 13 Aug 2023 6:02 p.m. PST |
I am prepping some new ACW plastic figures for priming and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to clip off the bayonets. My perception, right or wrong, is that ACW troops didn't fix their bayonets in the normal course of things. Opinions please. A typo on the thread title. It should of course be Clip Off Fritz |
| donlowry | 13 Aug 2023 6:04 p.m. PST |
Might depend on the pose. Figures firing, yes, marching, yes, "advancing," maybe not. |
 gamertom | 13 Aug 2023 6:35 p.m. PST |
Bayonets were fixed in place when ordered AFAIK. I usually leave the bayonets on my figures, even the firing pose one, as it's a pain to clip them so as not to leave a bump on the rifle/musket. |
 enfant perdus | 13 Aug 2023 7:15 p.m. PST |
I know you're doing this in 1/32, so a consideration if you clip them will be that the bayonet socket will still be visible on the muzzle and absent from the frog. |
| Perris0707 | 13 Aug 2023 8:20 p.m. PST |
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| 79thPA | 14 Aug 2023 4:10 a.m. PST |
I leave 'em however they come in the package. |
| Brechtel198 | 14 Aug 2023 4:17 a.m. PST |
I'd leave them as, depending on the mission, bayonets would be fixed, and as at Battery Wagner, Rappahannock Station, and Upton's assault at Spotsylvania, muskets would be loaded but not capped so that the troops would not stop to fire when going in. Plus I think they look much better, especially in 54mm, with bayonets. |
Old Glory  | 14 Aug 2023 7:09 a.m. PST |
Bayonets just look cool -- sticking up all about nice and shiny and menacing.
I have never cut them off--- they are just to cool. Regards
Russ Dunawsy |
| Brechtel198 | 14 Aug 2023 7:42 a.m. PST |
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| Der Alte Fritz | 14 Aug 2023 9:40 a.m. PST |
Thanks for your opinions everyone. This is all very helpful. I already clipped off some of the bayonets but going forward I think that I will leave them on unless they are bent too much out of shape. These are 1/32 scale plastic figures so some of the bent rifles and bayonets can be fixed with the hot water-cold water method, but sometimes the bend is too much to deal with. |
| Extrabio1947 | 14 Aug 2023 9:57 a.m. PST |
Per Chamberlain, the order for the 20th Maine to fix bayonets on Little Round Top wasn't issued until the regiment's ammunition was exhausted. Ramming a charge down a fouled rifle barrel with a bayonet in place has to be awkward and perhaps more time consuming than otherwise. But if you clip the bayonets, you will end up with no mounted bayonet and an empty bayonet scabbard (if that would bother you at all). |
| Frederick | 15 Aug 2023 7:57 a.m. PST |
I tend to leave them on but I am pretty sure that in most ACW battles "Fix Bayonets" was an order of desperation |
| The H Man | 15 Aug 2023 7:02 p.m. PST |
It could be cool to cut them off, trim the end of the gun of any trace and then glue the bayonet to a short piece of brass tube. That way you can give such an order yourself, then spend half an hour carrying it out mid game. |
