Medieval Handgunners
Very early handguns always fascinated me ever since, as a boy, I saw them illustrated in Knowledge magazine. I suppose they reminded me of 'cracker guns' my mate and I created to shoot stones from lead or ceramic pipes across the garden.
Below are three conversions and a structurally unaltered metal figure second from the left. The first figure is made from an Airfix WW2 German. The third figure is converted from a very old plastic SF figure with antenna removed. The fourth figure is a converted plastic cowboy.
The barrels of the guns of the converted figures are made from paintbrush covers, the exception being the space figure which already had a hefty gun.
Brilliant really gets me thinking when I read your blog
ReplyDeleteThanks David. Those early handguns were really like 'hand cannons'. I think that it must have taken courage just to shoot them. I wonder how many 'misfires' there were due to the wrong amount of gunpowder in a particular charge. In a wargame I suppose you could include a misfire possibility.
DeleteI'd contact the Royal Armouries in Leeds UK they would know keep up the great work
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