Sunday 22 July 2018

Hinchliffe Outlaws

In my last post I showed off my old collection Hinchliffe Mexican Banditos, which I had rebased and touched up their paintwork. At the same time, I did the same to my smaller group of Hinchliffe Outlaws and here they are.
At the far left is outlaw leader, Clay Allinson. I am aware that there was a real life Old West gunfighter called Clay Allison but it is pure coincidence that they share similar names. When I ran my Outlaw Campaign in the 1980's using my 54mm scale figures, Clay was my player character and leader of a gang of brutal and sadistic killers. My players really enjoyed playing bad guys and getting away with murder and mayhem. The campaign ended abruptly when the gang decided to rob a Mexican bank and just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Most of the gang were killed. Some were arrested after being wounded including Clay. He was imprisoned for a long time. Others who were arrested faced the hangman's noose. I guess it was a fitting end as it proved crime does not pay. This figure is an almost exact copy of the Airfix Cowboy figure that I used to portray Clay. Clay is armed with two Colt .45 Peacemaker Pistols.
Clay's best friend for many a year was "Mad Jack" Duncan, a crazed psychopath who did some unspeakable things in my campaign. In my campaign that I mentioned above he suffered numerous wounds in the final battle, was easily arrested and swiftly hung. He is armed with a Colt .45 Peacemaker Pistol, a 12 Gauge Scattergun and a Bowie Knife. Note this figure is not produced by Hinchliffe. He is a plastic toy that I got from a Christmas cracker and he is a perfect 28mm scale copy of the Airfix Cowboy that was used by one of my players in the campaign. I made two alterations to both 54mm and 28mm scale figures of "Mad Jack" and that was to convert his Winchester Rifle into a Double-Barrelled Scattergun and to add his Bowie Knife to the back of his belt.
Next in line is Frank Harlan, who did not take part in my old Outlaws campaign. However, he is going to be part of Clay's new gang when I introduce them to my Six Gun Sound campaign. Frank is 42 years old and looking for one big score so that he can retire and settle down. He is a reliable ally with nerves of steel. He is armed with a Colt .44 Army Pistol.
Last up, is new recruit, Adam "Rustler" Madden, who at 23 years of age is the youngest member of the gang. He is an expert rider and very good with horses. "Rustler" is armed with a Colt .44 army Pistol and a Knife.
I'm looking forward to using this gang in Six Gun Sound, especially as I know Clay and "Mad Jack" so well. It'll be interesting to see how they fare this time around.

18 comments:

  1. Great looking outlaws Bryan, must be great to get these old models out and put to good use again

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  2. Nice poses but the sculpts are showing their age.

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    1. Thanks, Phil. I certainly agree with you but even so, they have a certain charm about them. Plus, I've seen far worse.

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  3. Old maybe but great looking all the same Bryan, nice of you to name one of them after little old me :)

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    1. Many thanks, Frank. Naming one of the gang after you seemed like the gentlemanly thing to do. :-)

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  4. I love 'em Bryan :-)
    "a plastic toy from a Christmas cracker" - Wow! Yule not find things like that very often ;-)

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    1. Indeed! It was the only thing from a Christmas cracker that I have ever bothered to keep or want. Unbelievable!

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  5. Great stuff Bryan, I have that Airfix set (well some of them I think) somewhere up in the loft from my childhood days, and when we played gunfights back at my Chester Club days I used that 54mm figure you call "Mad Jack" as my character too (not my figure though as mine are still unpainted). Thanks so much for sharing this it really does take me back!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Many thanks, Roger. The old Airfix 54mm scale set of Cowboys had some truly great figures in it and all were so well sculpted. I bought a second set just so I could convert the figures.

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  6. While I do recall the Airfix 54mm cowboys I cannot recall what they look like.

    That said these look like suitable baddies and lawless to me. I think if you choose they will fit in with the previously shown Banito's vey well.

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    1. Thanks, Clint. The Airfix 54mm scale Cowboys were very different and vastly superior to the Airfix 20mm scale Cowboys. Quite often, both sets would be identical apart from their sizes. Not so with the Cowboys, Indians and 7th Cavalry.

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  7. Hi Bryan I'm inclined to agree with Phil about the sculpts, all except the cracker figure, I think that one is fantastic, he's got such a solid stance and the scattergun looks spot on. He's a great find, I never get anything like this from my crackers :)

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    1. Cheers, John. I'm still amazed at that Christmas cracker toy. He's made of hard plastic and incredibly well detailed. He's definitely a better sculpt than any of the Hinchliffe figures. He was a very lucky find for me.

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  8. The westerners look FAB Bryan. I add that when I read of AIRFIX in any content, recall comes flooding back of childhood memories. So a big thanks for that. ;-)

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    1. Many thanks, SW. Like many a wargamer, Airfix figures and models are what got me into the hobby. Happy memories!

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  9. Awesome job. Your cracker toy happens to be my favourite of the bunch. I would never had of known had you not mentioned it. Stellar job!

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    1. Much appreciated, Simon. The cracker toy is my favourite too.

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