28mm Captain Haddock

You Wait For Ages...

I'm annoyed.  I've just gone to the trouble of converting a figure to use as Captain Haddock.  For anyone who doesn't already know, the Captain is Tintin's best friend and sidekick (after Snowy, the dog) and you can't really have one without the other.  I previously built Copplestone's excellent Tintin and Snowy and needed a Haddock to go with them.  So, here's my model:


Haddock is a perpetual and extreme drunkard, but is fiercely loyal and has an impressive command of nautical-themed invective.  He is usually dressed in a blue roll-neck pullover, captain's cap and a black blazer, but I couldn't find any model quite like that.  There were the occasional U-boat commanders or similar models that just about had these elements, but they really looked too thin and fit to be the past-his-prime Haddock.

In the end, I used a figure from Black Cat Bases - a seaman with gun and pipe - but I've removed the pistol and replaced it with a whisky bottle.  Haddock is sometimes seen without the blazer, so I think this is acceptable.  I'd have liked my model to have less in the way of sideburns, but that's perhaps a bit picky.

Then Two Come At Once!

So, if you have read this far then I bet you're wondering why I'm annoyed.  After all, this is a pretty good figure, right?  Well, I had just finished this figure and was wondering how to model Professor Calculus, Thomson & Thompson and possibly other members of the gang.  I'd even gone so far as to inquire on The Miniatures Page after sources of 28mm umbrellas (basically, there aren't any available as separate pieces).

Then I discovered that someone else, with rather more sculpting talent than I have, has done this.  Not only has he worked out Pulp Alley stats for Tintin and his mates already, but he has made his own figures for at least some of them!  And there's more: reading down the thread, there's an intimation that these models will soon be available from 1st Corps Miniatures (note that there is no mention of this on the 1st Corps website, though - and this would seem to be a bit of a departure from their usual offerings).

So, maybe if I'd just waited a month or so then I wouldn't have needed to make my own conversion or spend long hours pondering how to make the other models needed for a game...