Alejo Dorca – Page 31 – My Toy Soldiers & Me

BRITAINS new (late XXth) cavalry sets from the Indian Raj (edited to show repairs)

I did not bought all of the sets or individual figures, only some, and I am glad I stopped because they are quite brittle (not a problem if you do not mess with them… but I do). I had a set of Central India Lancers with very bad stability -the horses had a tendency to tumble sideways- not all the 3 legs “touched” the ground at the same time… and I tried to fix them as I do with other commercial Toy Soldiers… OMG!… how easily broken (I stopped after 4 disasters!) -now trying to solder or weld them professionally- In fact I am interested in seeing if they can be mend at all.

As a thoroughly obsessed collector I even placed an order with London Bridge spare parts to see (if the ironworks repairing process does not work) if I can try another tack myself. A tangent on collecting and painting not much explored yet!

Will keep you posted. In fact see below!

Detail of a bad repair! (the near rear leg has now three parts instead of two so it is too long… the horse stability is great though!) the eagle eyed among you surely did notice

Mended joints with Plasticine (or Milliput)

I bought three replacements just in case… lol

Just to get the right shade and there you are…

Curiously (as bought in ebay.co.uk) some of the sets more than a quarter of a century old are very well preserved, on the contrary some were not. The true nature of ebay sellers is not revealed until packages delivered, some are true optimists about items descriptions… but the majority of them are OK.

Look at the pictures and you will understand.

Hope you enjoy the info.

Disaster!… really imposible to bend the leg at all… the painting of the Toy Soldier was quite good mind!

I stopped after 4 “breaks” in a couple of minutes… Now sent to an ironworks place to see what happens…

Two sets of Hodson’s Horse in very good condition… had to paint some little “chipping” but very few and small areas. I painted the guidons dark blue under the red top to be more historical. The level of finition of the original Toy Soldiers I did find very good!

Did some works on the “sash” ends… lancers just plain dark red.

Another view. I am considering now (maybe tomorrow) to complete the sash on the right side of the rider (overpainted blue originally)… see what I’ll do… not decided yet.

On the left the original paint, on the right once modified.

Next unit to be checked and repaired: Skinner’s Horse (Yes both units are now with lances upright), the yellow coats were badly chipped off and it was difficult to match the original colour (in the end mixing yellow and orange Vallejo paints did the trick. Not as beautiful as Hodson’s Horse (IMHO) and have prevented me buying more sets. Work in progress.

The 8 sets of the 21st lancers were a complete success!… horse stability is fantastic… and repainting the horses was easy and fair. Still waiting for three figures to come to me from a profesional manufacturer (Dorset Soldiers – aka Antony Spencer)… he will supply Colonel Martin, Lieutenant Churchill and a non historical standard-bearer because I fancied one! Will add pics when they are all gloss varnished.

You can read more about them in the Post 21st Lancers at Omdurman in this same web page.

NEW SETTINGS FINISHED. Cabinet almost full

After a shuffle of space in my ex-office… all begins to fall in place.

Cabinet has been reorganized, and now the British are on the right of the picture and the French on the left (seems apropiate somehow…)

The Armies (both) would be completed this year 2025 I guess… and then all hell will break loose… Not exactly Imagine-nations, but certainly imagination will run free (NO ENTENTE CORDIALE AT ALL I FEAR), I only collect what I like so it does not matter to me to pitch them against each other from time to time. I do not collect Russians or Prussians or other more exotic Armies… I stick to what I know best and that’s that.

Enjoy.

French Foreign legion Units (and French Artillery).

The rest of the French Army (still expecting reinforcements).

British Army (SIMKIN TIMES). It lacks the Naval Brigade.

British Kakhi Army (Colonial NWF/SUDAN etc)

A GENTLEMAN’S WAR WHAT IF SCENARIO: FASHODA (gone the wrong way) (I)

Maybe in 2025 you will see “FASHODA GONE WRONG” an Old Toy Soldiers & Old Wargame entertainment (SOLO). 54MM AGW affair using British and French Colonials (NO entente cordiale… LOL)… in fact I am pretty sure that this one would be my next wargame (Old School).

You see I do not like to “kill” natives or indigenous people in my wargames… I do not collect them as “cannon fodder” (Not even in 6mm mind!)… One thing is collecting miniatures (read Toy Soldiers) and the other is not being aware of the more grim aspects of colonialism (as if Persian, Greeks and Romans… to name a few were not “colonialist” or “conquerors”)… BUT here is not the place for discussing seriously the inhuman race.

Get a sight of the troops that would be involved on the pics below. All the affair would be precipitated by the French Commander in place… General Armand d´Hubry et Nemesis desire to win the Legion d’Honneur…

Finally finished Army (The armoured car is a secret weapon proptotype only used in the NWF)… same as the Indian Army Units (Guides&Gurkhas)… Bengal Lancers not going to FASHODA either. This pic shows the full Kakhi British Army in its proper cabinet next to the wargames table).

French Troops (99% by Dorset Soldiers and a REPLICA General!)

British and Allies (meaning Indian Raj Troops) by REPLICA and Dorset Soldiers.

Of course, after that incident and its consequences either Calais or Dover would be involved in a messy action… follow that here website for more!

Britains Little Army (soon to be reinforced) is awaiting the second battle as a consequence…

Cheers!

My very first Toy Soldiers… they are more than 70 years old… the rest was the “follow up”

In fact 70 years old and a bit… The state is original… those are the rests of the original paint… on anything not rigid (or even quite rigid) paint peels off I am afraid. Those three are all what remain of my big box of infancy…

My maternal grandfather used to play with me back then… that been the case it started a life long love for the “Mounties” only slightly superior to my obsession with the French Foreign Legion as a result of been exposed to BEAU GESTE (The book if you please)… and of course the Guards Regiments (Horse and Foot)… my parents always looked North from Spain… anglophiles but also liked France. My father even studied in Liverpool before the Spanish Civil War made a mess of a lot of things…

Lucky me I was born in 1952… so wars were a thing of the past… or in far away exotic places (Korea, Vietnam, Falklands,Iran, Irak, Afghanistan)… not in Europe anymore (well the Balkans)… and mainly USA wars (sometimes with staunch allies at his side)… the XXth Century was the USA Century to be sure…but we lived a long peace.

Enjoy,

RCMP REAMSA rubber/cautxuc soldiers of aprox 45mm scale

That lead me later to this of course… Collecting 54mm gloss toy soldiers come many years after… and they are DUCAL (99% of the set, Tradition of London 2 figures, 1 REPLICA -a cast that is now once painted my personal avatar- and 1 an iconic BRITAINS)… you need all sorts you know…

Detail of the last addition by myself (converting and painting)

Finally got one of the iconic Old Britains figures (well, maybe not so old… but iconic not the least)

54MM BRITAINS (New Centenial Series) Scots Grey’s set (bought 2 sets in ebay.co.uk)

It all started last winter… (2024)… I discovered a lot of sets of NEW Britains I did not knew about on ebay.co.uk! (not easy to buy them because a lot of ebay sellers do not send to ANDORRA!… only the really good businessmen among them (some of them real gentleman!… mind!).

Afterwards of a lot of madly buying (feeding frenzy when applied to sharks)… I decided to buy Norman Joplin’s book about those sets… the normal thing would have been the inverse procedure. A quick read showed me that I had not done so bad after all… BUT… introduced me to sets I did not know existed at all… as this present Scots Grey’s set (2 sets I bought from the same ebay seller!).

Well, in less then 24 hours after their arrived in ANDORRA… I have already converted a sergeant into a trumpeter… could not avoid the temptation…

Enjoy!

One of the segeants has been converted (quickly) into a trumpeter…

Only had to change the arm and paint the plume red…

The main reason behind buying those sets… magnificent sentry boxes!

54MM Toy Soldiers from REPLICA! arrival of a brand new parcel!

Not complaining at all because the order from 2023 arrived on 2025!… quality compensates in spades.

The “cottage” industry of Toy Soldiers has that… limited production… long queueing… but SATISFACTION!

The Toy Soldiers Britains never did… not in its heyday (classic times)… not in his centenary sets either… bespoke orders… simply fantastic output.

You can also buy from him… see replica metal model soldiers in google or email “HQ@replicametalsoldiers.co.uk” HQ@Replicametalsoldiers.co.uk and just wait to be satisfied… it helps if you are not in your seventies like me!

Enjoy.

And something completely different… an armoured car (Rolls&Royce) if you please… a model a bit late for my period… but I guess the fact that is a secret prototype can adapt well to my needs!

54MM Toy Soldiers NEW William BRITAINS (from the nineties) small conversions

Followers of this website must know I am now collecting sets of the BRITAINS CENTENIAL COLLECTOR SERIES (1993)… to use in AGW Old school wargames.

With the Infantry there is no issue as they come in sets of 6… so two sets makes a complete Unit and that’s it. On the contrary Cavalry Sets have 4 Cavalrymen… you buy two boxes and then you have two redundant figures (redundant is a term I do not use at all) to be converted in something else.

Bought two sets of the 4th Hussars and then one trumpeter and one sergeant were promptly repainted to represent another regiment of Hussars of SIMKIN times… they will be added to the General Staff (A General always needs a trumpeter and a flag!)… or whatever… had fun messing with them… still not gloss varnished mind… probably work a bit more with the flag too (in the pic it is not correct… mend it by now!)… and why not paint the trumpeter’s horse white? (done too!)

Enjoy!

“New” Standardbearer… the flag is wrong and has been repainted!

Finally painted the horse white.Original and Conversion.

Also painted the horses lancers in other colours… too many blacks as it is!

They still lack gloss varnish… but you get the idea…

54MM Toy Soldiers BRITAINS and REPLICA (and DORSET artillery) Victorian Army (SIMKIN TIMES)

Well, finally taking shape!

I expect some brigades of Infantry from Andrew Stevenson before the 30th of June of 2025.

They do mix very well indeed even if the design and finition of REPLICA is superior, a case of the disciple surpassing the master.

Will add pics of the Hussars once conversions finished.

Enjoy!

Royal Marine Artillery and Westminster Rifles (Territorials)

The Cavalry minus the Hussars (not finished).

Royal Artillery (DORSET SOLDIERS) and BRITAINS LINE INFANTRY in the background.

54MM Toy Soldiers NEW BRITAINS (modern… but more than 30 years old!) Centenial sets of the nineties

I am nowadays buying some of this sets to hurriedly complete some projects (British SIMKIN times Army and others…).

I can not wait for the more traditional way of collecting. Probably some of this units will be “embellished” with paintjobs in the near future… I can do that mind!

Just thought to mention that for me the only “toy soldier shop” available nowadays is ebay… and that’s that… nearly instant satisfaction… at nearly 73 years old is what I need in spades!

Enjoy!

Recent arrivals… the General is a Dorset figure…

British Hussars (two of them would be “converted”.

54MM Toy Soldiers from REPLICA… My new sets

The two sets of Victorian (SIMKIN TIMES) Cavalry

Forefront 6th Dragoon Guards (Carbineers) and 16th lancers in the rear rank. Pic “in process” by Andrew Stevenson.

Finally here! (meaning ANDORRA)

They are part of a larger order… but Cavalry always have an extra appeal to me.

In 2023 (by the last months) I placed an order with Andrew Stevenson (REPLICA METAL MODEL SOLDIERS)… this is part of it.

Intended to be a part of a little British Army to play AGW (Yes you’ve guessed right I will of course mess with the original rules!)

Never thought the vast amounts of patience needed nowadays to collect “la creme de la creme” (si j’ose dire)… days, weeks, months, more than a year sometimes… but well worth the wait.

The problem (main) is not the wait itself… it is my age LOL)… time is now an issue…

You can not “hurry up” Andrew… he is IMHO an “artist”… multiple interests…. multiple ranges…. multiple novelties…. multiple objectives… he also collects!…. whatever… Probably the best if you are affected by BRITAIN’s nostalgia… I have never indulged in collecting “antiques” if you think pre-WWII (or WWI for that matter) Toy Soldiers…. do not have the time… neither the money (or budget)… neither the interest (pure or purist). On the contrary I do collect NOW the Centennial sets by Britain! (You need all sorts you know…).

The use of REPLICA models in wargames is a bit of an heressy as I considere them “collector’s items” on their own right!. But boy do they bring “class” to your tabletop…

Enjoy the pics!

Cheers