Due to my strange ways of collecting I had a number of horses without rider (because they were meant to be there when the chap dismounted I guess… “Empty Horses” as David Niven mentioned in his memoirs a Movies Director saying so – too much of a gentleman to say who – well… to cut a story short I am a firm believer in symmetry at the start (not that you can not game asymmetrical games of course!… but better have the option)… so if the French had two dismounted ADC’s… the British needed them too… life is like that… sometimes years pass between one action (buying stuff) and the other (completing collection)… LOL
An “Empty Horse”Andrew Stevens (REPLICA) model…My work… thin layer of plasticine to make boots instead of puttees… using DORSET/IMPERIAL FIGURES CASTS.Back view.
Or my newest French ADC (finished) see previous Posts… IMPERIAL MINIATURES (Thanks to Antony Spencer).
Curiously the idea come to me “in the making”, I was an ADC short in my collection, but the idea of using the character Charles Saganne (from the French film epic FORT SAGANNE) was not in my head at all… and then after priming the figure and consulting book of uniforms… Officer of Tirailleurs Algeriens if you please… the jigsaw pieces in my mind falled in place.
Enjoy!
Final shot varnished in gloss etc.Lateral view.Another view.Back view.
I must be boorish today talking about me projects… you see I am still “squaring” units, so while DORSET SOLDIERS does the last 16 soldiers to complete ny British Army (Khaki)… I am doing some odds and ends because of some old horses I got (do not remember why at all)… First I did Young Winston (see elsewhere in this Blog)… now I am working on Charles Saganne (Depardieu) as a French ADC (mounted) … he is already primed for paint… and his horse has got a new “rouleau” just for the fun of it! (I am getting better with plasticine or milliput)
More to the point a couple of dismounted ADC’s for the British Army (see pic).
And what is even much more fun a couple of motorcycle riders! Full circle I guess (they were my first toys those kind of chaps!)…
So … try to Enjoy!
This is the chap my ADC’s are based on…The Horse with “rouleau”.Primed and prepared for painting (see horseman on the left)On a more sunny job I corrected the medals on my French General! Count that as a bonus against boredom.
Quite an “antiques” approach today… you have to like authenticity, rarity, exclusiveness, original paintjob, many years long actual state, in a word: VINTAGE Toy Soldiers…
If you look closely at the pics you will see the figures that are pictured in the rightly famous among collectors book by James Opie “Collecting Toy Soldiers” (Paperback edition in English).
It is not my speciality at all and I do not have the financial means to go chasing for rare sets in public auctions… (but if I had would not do at all… would go for paintings or rare first editions of books if you understand me), and what is more I have a penchant for the bright shiny new toy soldiers be that new future vintage or not… I do not give a fig if they will become vintage because I won’t be threre…
I guess that really Vintage means not bright and shiny anymore and the charm is “another thing”, the fact that the paint has gone away in parts (faded or fallen out) provokes in me an unnatural desire of scrap the remaining paint and do a new paintjob and use gloss varnish on top! (maybe I am insensible to the concept vintage at all… but I keep my first toys in that way for nostalgia reasons… even if they are cautxuc and less than ten items… and nearly as Old as me…) so I am in it for nostalgia reasons after all.
I guess Collectors of VINTAGE Toy Soldiers deserved a Post… well… here it is by courtesy of John Mullenger! (as seen in Facebook).
Enjoy!
Vintage Toy SoldiersA couple of shelves full of treasures… see on top right corner the figures used on the cover of the James Opie book.They would get high prices on an auction… because of their rarity.Another view…
