Tips on How to Assemble the Persian Scythed Chariot (60 PSN 07 Y) By scott lam

Transcription

1 Tips on How to Assemble the Persian Scythed Chariot (60 PSN 07 Y) By scott lam Introduction The war chariot is invented during the Bronze Age circa 1800 B.C. by the nomadic people of Central Asia. It starts out as a two-horse vehicle. Its main components are the carriage with spoked wheels, the horse-team and the drivers. Both the horse team and drivers have to be trained in order to be effective in war. By the time of the Persians, the chariot has lost its primacy as a war machine being replaced by the horse cavalry. By then, horses have been bred to a sufficient size and strength to carry a man into combat. The chariot becomes a vehicle of prestige and sports. However, under certain circumstances, the chariot can be an effective weapon system when deployed under good tactical leadership. The Persians introduced two innovations into chariotry: the four-horse team and the scythes. The scythed chariot is a terrifying weapon especially if the opponent is unprepared for its appearance on the battlefield. It is especially effective when used in pursuit and in attacks against disorganized infantry. It is not without just cause that the Celts continued in its usage into the Iron Age as most of their wars were inter-tribal, against massed hordes of tribal infantry who were weak in missile support. Design Notes Under the Persians, the art of chariotry is probably still extant on the flat plains of Mesopotamia, namely Babylonia. There are records of chariot-lands in the province of Babylonia relating to military levy under Persians. We have thus designed the driver to be wearing a Babylonian-type of helmet with a bronze mask as described by the ancient sources. He wears armor on his arms and upper body as he would not be able to hold a shield against enemy missiles. We have also given him a team mate as any combat system that sends an isolated individual into close combat would have been unwise from a morale and practical point of view, and unlikely. For his escort, we have designed a Phrygian-type helmet which we like very much. The Phrygians were famous as mercenaries during the ancient period. He is designed as a javelin-thrower, but customers may swap his arms with the archers found in our other Persian infantry box-sets. The chariot can also be transformed into a command vehicle by giving the escort a long spear and flag/banner from our Persian range of models. The horse team is armored with metal in front (chanfron and peytral) and caparisoned with quilted cover at the flanks to give the chariot a better than average chance of reaching the enemy. Missiles that hit the horses at a glancing angle would likely be deflected by them. With the horses on the run, the protection of armor is thus much more effective than one would imagine if the armor is being shot at as a stationary target. A horse is a robust animal and the Persians have a special breed of large horses known as the Nicaean Horse. White horses are mentioned in the records and we thus make the entire horse team in one color for effect. The carriage and wheels are based largely on the gold model chariot of the Achaemenid period in a British museum. We actually designed a bench-like structure for the chariot but it will take up a lot of tooling space and we decided to have an extra figure model rather than producing the bench. The bench (as per the gold model) is used as a seat or probably for getting up or down from the carriage for VIP passengers, but the drivers of a scythed chariot are sadly rather expendable. No bench shall be provided. 1

2 Assembling the Model. General Tips:- 1. Do not apply glue in the first instant. Always do a trial run to assemble the parts to get a feel of how they fit together. 2. Use a sharp modeling scalpel or wire clipper to cut off any flash or irregularities. 3. Plastics are heat malleable and easy to bend when warmed. Heat the item with a hair dryer or place the item in hot water (not boiling). The item will soften when warm and becomes malleable. Rapid cool the bent item in a running tap to keep its new shape. Do NOT use naked flame as it will damage the part. 4. When assembling human models, align the head facing with the weapon direction for a natural posture. Use blue-tack if plug is loose. Once the right arm and head posture is satisfied, the posture of the left arm should fall into its natural position. Glue only when position and posture is confirmed. 5. When plugging parts into holes or slots and the fit is too tight, heat up the plug slightly to soften it and it should fit in easily. 6. Feel free to trim or cut excess plugs or re-shape joining parts to facilitate assembly or to create new postures or troop types. Heads and other parts are designed to be inter-changeable as much as possible, and it is the constraints of production that have imposed restrictions on what we can offer in packaged sets. The Assembly:- 1. There are three components to the chariot set:- (i) the chariot (13 parts) (ii) the 4-horse team (18 parts) (iii) the driver team (10 parts) 2

3 2. Start with the chariot. Assemble the parts as follows:- 1. Parts (13 pieces):- 1 x carriage + 2 poles/shafts 1 x yoke (cross bar) 3 x side panels (front, left and right) 2 x wheels 2 x double spears 4 x scythes 2. Fix the side panels to the floor board as shown. Do a trial run without glue. It is easier to glue the side panels to each other first - aligning the top edges evenly. Then, glue the entire three-sides onto the floor board as one step. 3. Slot the wheels to the axle with the bigger hole. The big hole on the wheel hub was designed to enable the weight of the chariot to rest on a thicker axle. The assembled wheel should look like this. Repeat with the other wheel. 4. Check that the two poles are straightened and perpendicular to the front edge of the carriage. Fix the yoke (cross-bar) to the two poles. Do not glue. Be careful to ensure that the side of the yoke with the four v-slots is faced towards the front (to be slotted onto the horse armors as shown). Glue the yoke to the poles only when confirmed. 5. The 4 scythes and 2 double-spear heads are to be affixed to the wheel hubs, yoke and poles as shown. However, it is better to glue these after the horses have been assembled and the chariot and horse team are glued onto a base-board (see below ). 3

4 3. Next, do the horse team. Assemble the horses as follows:- 1. There are 4 horses, made up of two distinct horse models. One of the models requires the chanfron (head armor) to be glued on to its head. All the horses are supplied with full armor (peytrals and quilted caparisons) that need to be glued. 2. Get a cardboard and cut to size 20cm x 22cm to serve as the baseboard of the chariot. (You may consider cutting the packing box supplied and gluing the cover and base together.) 3. Place the horses onto the cardboard base. Align the four horses together with their (plastic) bases touching. 4. Place the yoke over the horses such that its v-slots are aligned with the collar harnesses of the horses. (Slight misalignment is not a problem). Adjust the carriage to a horizontal position (i.e. the floor of the carriage should be horizontal) and apply glue to the wheels to fix them to the cardboard base. Align the yoke v-slots to the collars of the horses and glue them in place, one by one. Finally, glue the bases of the horses to the cardboard base. 4

5 4. Now do the driver team. The team comprises of the driver and his companion. Assemble the models as follows:- 1. There are 2 human models: one to serve as the driver and the other his escort or team mate When assembling human models, align the head facing with the weapon direction for a natural posture. Use blue-tack if plug is loose. Once the right arm and head posture is satisfied, the posture of the left arm should fall into its natural position. Glue only when position and posture is confirmed. Place the human models on the chariot as shown. Suggest you use blue tac on the soles of the models to keep them in place rather than glue so that different combinations can tried. Using the archer arms from the Persian or Macedonian range, the escort can be transformed into an archer. Likewise, by converting the escort into a standard bearer, the chariot can be transformed into a command vehicle. 5. End 5