Hats

[martin goddard]

Some of those sombreros are really big. Possibly to preserve social distancing?
Even then there are distinct types. The Rurales (federal police) have really tall pointy ones.


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/company-rurales-mexico-mexican-1847970610


martin

[Leslie BT]

I think the heads range will need a very broad hat with not much of a crown and a broad hat with a very pointy crown.

Some of the existing figure ranges will be good for some figures. Some of the Russian caps look about right.

[Colonel Kilgore]

I found Martin's current hats very easy to modify when doing Western figures and head swaps.

[sjwalker51]

Is it practical to refine the sculpting process to offer 'headless' figures with separate heads in the pack, to make it easier to do multiple head swaps?

So Mexican Federales Infantry might be supplied with heads in caps as standard but there would be a separate pack of heads in sun helmets for added variety

[martin goddard]

In a perfect world that would be great.  Unfortunately Simon it cannot be done easily.


Here is why.
If the hole is in the man's body the mould will have to come from front and back of the figure then also down the figure.This down would just snap off after the first spin.
If the hole is in the head then the head would need to be pushed into the mould. As most heads would be wider at the top due to the hat, the mould would be torn again almost instantly.

I may be able to make some head packs for folk to do their own head swaps if they wish?

martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

I'll probably just confuse things here, but would headless figures, with maybe a dimple to aid drilling for heads, be an option?

Might not be very commercially attractive ("Peter Pig - purveyor of headless horsemen" ) though...

Simon

[John Watson]

They would be great for your new Zombie Apocalypse rules though Martin.
John

[Radar]

Those Mexican hats at the top look rather like the Irish ECW heads, but with a neater brim.

In an ideal world headless figures would be brilliant, some figures are really difficult to headswap easily (I'm thinking of some of the firing poses/ECW loading) but I imagine a lot of people would want the cast head on option. A logistical nightmare (leaving aside practical issues like casting). Headless would probably only make sense for armies made up of groups of individuals rather than matching uniforms.

(Now if only there was a pack of heads wearing secrets...)

[shedman]

would headless figures, with maybe a dimple to aid drilling for heads, be an option?

I think for the MexRev ranges it's a good idea.

There are at least 3 types of Federales headgear - Samur kepi, British style cap and Sun helmet

It would make sense to have 1 pack of headless figures with a choice of headgear rather than 3 packs, one of each type

[sjwalker51]

Shedman, that was my thinking as well, but I appreciate from Martin's explanation why that might not be practical when casting - and knowing how some people complain about assembling 28mm plastic figures I suspect that separate heads on 15mm figures will be deemed 'too fiddly' by some.

Maybe some head packs such as those mentioned, and figure poses chosen that make it easier to do swaps, might be the happy compromise?

[Colonel Kilgore]

Simon,

That does sound like an eminently sensible compromise. Some poses are easier to head-swap than others!

Simon

[Andoreth]

Photographs of captured Villista fighters and revolutionary firing lines show about 75% sombreros 20% western style cowboy hats and the remainder bare headed. An interesting set of heads for the Americans would be for their Apache scouts who have hair braids and seem mostly to wear misshapen doughboy hats or the round brimmed hats worn by Geronimo's followers.