I've been working on some headswaps for my 15mm KNIL. I want this KNIL battalion to be entirely in hats of various types. It gives a nice tropical/colonial look to the little fellows. The True North infantry came with the correct headgear, but unfortunately my Peter Pig support weapons and the True North command packs came in helmets, kepis, or sidecaps.
I had two sources for heads - a pack of Peter Pig separate heads and heads cut off of some surplus True North figures. The Peter Pig heads are easy to deal with because the head comes mounted on a cast-on rod. All you need to do is chop the head off of the figure you want to convert, drill a hole for the new head, and glue the head in the hole. Simple and the end results look good.
OK, there was one complication: I didn't have the right size drill bit for my pin vice. I used a .025" bit and it was too small. I had to work at enlarging the whole and reducing the size of the rod to make it fit. I'm going to look for a little larger bit before taking on a major headswapping projects.
Here's a Peter Pig Dutch machinegunner before the surgery:
Here's what he looks like after substituing the new head from Peter Pig pack #6-25:
The end result looks pretty good in my opinion. In fact, the proportions look better with the new head. The original figure looks a little pumpkin headed, although I think the picture exaggerates the size of the head due to the camera angle.
In addition to the Peter Pig weapons crews, I also swapped heads on a True North officer figure wearing a side cap. I forgot to take a 'before' picture, but here's what he looks like with his new head (which I took from a surplus True North figure):
This operation was a bit trickier as I had to drill holes in both the head and the body. I cut a small piece from a pin to form the connector between head and body.
It's a good feeling to have all of the figures converted. Fear of headswapping was holding back my progress on the KNIL. Now I have no excuses - full speed ahead!
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