So my metal pikes arrived today so I decided to do a test run on one of the pikemen. First off I clipped off the pike and then attempted to drill out the hand. In doing so I snapped the arm at the biceps. Eventually I got through and snapped the fingers off too.

Now this is about half the width of the other one, 1mm diameter actually. I reckon drilling all the hands out will be a bloody nightmare. I think I will do a pile of hands with the holes drilled though in the software. That way I can snip hands off and then superglue everything back together and paint it up in situ.
Amongst our many beasties we have a pair of geese. These are Shetland geese and as such are a bit rare. Every year the goose sits while the gander mooches about picking up unattached grey lags. For the last four years she never hatched a single gosling… so this was a definite surprise!

We do wonder if he wasn’t the only one picking up unattached grey lags!