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I was curious to know how many of you folks replace lead, pewter and plastic spears/pikes with steel spears.
Something like these:
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=407

Spears and pikes seem to be the most breakage-prone parts of medieval and fantasy models. I've seen this type of spear/pikes on historical models and it looks like a neat way to put virtually unbreakable spears on your troops. On the other hand, many gamers are used to the look of plastic and metal spears which have more detail and are "heroic" in thickness so as to be less breakage prone.

Anyone have any experience with these?

Personally I have not delved into such realms, however the replacement of lead spears and pikes with piano wire, guitar strings, or nylon broom bristles, is an old art with historical players.

A cheap and effective way would be to use brass pinning rods. Its what I used for my Iron Fang Pikeman and it works wonderfully.

Here is the tutorial I used. Should be easily adapted for spears and such.

http://archive.brushthralls.com/modelling/brass-rod-tutorial.html

I used similar ones from another mob to replace all the spears in my mantic elf army - they kept breaking.
It meant drilling out every spear hand and gluing them in place, but apart from the odd stabbing when reaching into the case, it's been worth it.

At first I thought they were brass with steel heads, but it turns out they were ALL steel, with a laquer coat to look like brass.

No, they would,nt work with my skaven spears.

Beside the spear shafts are durable enough [unlike the arms ]

Like others, I've seen a lot of people (mostly historical wargamers, but also the odd fantasy/40k player) replace plastic weapon hafts with brass rod and the like. Those people generally keep the plastic/white metal weapon heads (as in darefsky's link), though, and use thicker rod - heroic weapons need to stay heroic, otherwise the the feeling is lost. If going that route, the Old Glory spears become less desirable, as you pay a premium for heads you won't use and waste time removing them, instead of working with cheaper round stock from the get-go.

I haven't replaced any weapon parts with stiff metal, personally, because I haven't had any problems with breakage, thus far. Granted, I do very little gaming and am generally gentle with my models, so I have less reason to than many. For the historical wargamer, the ready-to-go spears are a nice option, but the aesthetic and proportions don't jive with many of the games out there (the majority of games of interest, when you consider Dakka's demographic), so I wouldn't expect to find too many people using them, here.

Thanks for the input. I've got a bunch of Essex Medieval miniatures (very similar to Brettonians) that I'm going to use for a KoW "Kingdoms of Man" army. They all come with separate cast metal spears, but they are pretty easy to bend. The Old Glory steel spears with cast tips seem like a much better option, especially if I end up having any pikemen.

The price is certainly right for the peace of mind it'll bring.

An alternative to the brass rods you get in hobby shops is to go to a shop that sells welding supplies and get some brazing/brassing rod. This is bronze and should be a lot cheaper, especially if you want a lot of it.

 Eilif wrote:
Thanks for the input. I've got a bunch of Essex Medieval miniatures (very similar to Brettonians) that I'm going to use for a KoW "Kingdoms of Man" army. They all come with separate cast metal spears, but they are pretty easy to bend. The Old Glory steel spears with cast tips seem like a much better option, especially if I end up having any pikemen.

The price is certainly right for the peace of mind it'll bring.

I have the OG with cast tips, and they're not that great. I fact, I never use them. The cast head is ridiculously large for the haft of the spear, and they're a pain to assemble. I ended up using one or two of the cast tips as a banner top though.

Instead, I bought a blister of wire spears from Perry Miniatures (available from Architects of War, Warstore), which is a steel spear with the head formed from the end of the spear, so it blends in more naturally (especially at that scale). Now, there is no 'wrapping' or anything to separate the head of the spear from the haft, but that's easier to add.

I didn't realize that the OG spears and tips are separate. That's good to know, thanks!

Perry Miniatures used to sell a kit of East Asian wire spears, whose name escapes me. The heads were elongated, and could be a perfect fit for Lotr Easterlings. Much better than normal wire spears.

However, I cannot find it in the webstore, and nothing shows up on Google. Would any knowledgeable kind soul around here please help us out?

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, the Old Glory pike/spear heads are horrible, even on brass rod or steel pike/spear hafts. Tried it, hated it.

I have bunches of those steel pikes, and I find they're sub par for a couple of reasons:
1) They are sharp, so grabbing them and handling can be a pain
2) They're inflexible, which can make storage a pain; and
3) They're inflexible, and pop out of hands rather easily, necessitating repairs and repainting in some cases

I have moved to using broom bristles. Some of the kitchen brooms (I have both green and grey bristled brooms) are the perfect thickness for spears and pikes. They're made of a plastic that can be shaped by squeezing with pliers, and paint up nicely. In addition, even after painting, they're fairly rigid, but can flex without breaking or popping out of hands.

*edit: Can't get photos to go face up, and EEK, I didn't even notice the Necro...

 Karak Norn Clansman wrote:
Perry Miniatures used to sell a kit of East Asian wire spears, whose name escapes me. The heads were elongated, and could be a perfect fit for Lotr Easterlings. Much better than normal wire spears.

However, I cannot find it in the webstore, and nothing shows up on Google. Would any knowledgeable kind soul around here please help us out?

Thanks in advance.

After nine years I'm sure the OP has either found suitable models or moved on by now.

Please do not commit acts of thread necromancy, locking now.