Born in 1952.
Married in 1976. Two sons and a daughter. 4 grandsons to date, 3 boys and a girl.
Arquitect in 1978.
Retired in 2016 aprox.
Lifelong Toy Soldiers aficionado.
A nearly forgotten pastime… (by yours truly)… painting your own figures… meaning buying the casts naked of paint… and DIY job… it was fun (again)… the toy Soldier style is much uncomplicated.
Thanks to Antony Spencer from DORSET SOLDIERS who understood perfectly what I needed and took the trouble to assemble the kits for me.
Curiously enough they mix very well with my old figures (they have decades in real time difference).
Thought you would like to see some of mine for a change!
Enjoy!
54mm DORSET figures (some painted by me)Kneeling Officers done by me.Detail before painting bases green (Front row are “new”… back row “old”)The whole new additions waiting Varnish…(Yes there is Young Winston too! more tomorrow about him)I gave some medals yesterday… LOL
Vaguely 54mm, all in rubber/cautxuc… more than 65 years old (the figure… me going on 71… so it probably is nearly 70!… lol)… Original state and paint… paint that obviously peeled off from a non rigid material… played with by at least three generations consecutively and rescued before going to the bin… I used to make him run obstacles and tracks on the sheets of my bed… do not know how he survived so many crashes!… I remember having at least two of them… but also French Gendarmes by Norev (rubber too) and one in Aluminium (Quiralu?) the last two were with sidecar and had very “funny” figures on them.
A nostalgic way to close a forgettable year… hope the next is best!
Policeman on a BikeAnother view…the tie was a nice touch.
OMG! getting out of lead to paint again!… UK Postal Strikes!… yipee!… what else can go wrong I ask?
REPLICA figures painted by Andrew Stevens (much better painter than me) used as “models”… sometimes I think I am a silly ass and should have concentrated in other model like Brigitte Bardot if you know what I mean… my only consolation is that my collection of models do not age up…
Will add pics this afternoon of the job finished.
Enjoy!
That was an early pic… 54mm by Dorset castings.A bit more of progress…REPLICA (Andrew Stevens) Originals used as “info”…All new additions in place!Rear view (my painting efforts on the left)Frontal view (mine on the left)The other set of flags…Lateral view of the Colours… my painting on the far right.The last Gordons…
I have a lot of ideas and pics to post this days… but those arrived yesterday and have got priority no matter what… My FFL order to complete an Army is underway and in good hands… simply ask Antony!… he will deliver… this is as silly as commending a good Restaurant… afterwards no way to book a table for you!… but he deserves it in spades… ask Scott Lesch if in doubt!
Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I do.
FFL bugler charging!Another view of the same figure!FFL ensign or standard bearer charging!FFL Officer charging on foot!
Sometimes perfection needs a bit of variety… meaning that the REPLICA set was great but strangely enough the 4 gunners where a bit repetitive… 4 gunners in the same instance or attitude made 8 for a battery… so… with the passing of time I become obsessed by their looks and finally decided to add ramroads and bullets to them… see second pic. It was just a matter of ordering some bits&pieces to IMPERIAL/DORSET miniatures… and glue them on.
Now they look much better in my collection I guess… same to be done to an Indian Raj Battery (Only the bullets). There, now you know what obsessive collecting is… at least mine!
Enjoy!
Royal Artillery Set by Replica (Original)Same set with “improved” gunners.See what I mean?Redundant officer “conversion”
See spare arm with colour
New arm is fixed in place.Only painting remains (see also new big plume for the trumpeter done with plasticine)New additions.Will add some more detail on the colour later on…Lacks gloss varnish but almost there…
Since a very young child I was a fan of P.C.Wren, yes I was able to read at a very young age… since then The BEAU GESTE trilogy (in fact five books and some short stories here & there) influenced my taste for toy soldiers and have collected them in all kind of scales (see elswhere in this Blog). In 54mm my DORSET collection precedes the REPLICA BRITISH 2nd AFHGAN WAR at least a couple of decenies… influenced by A GENTLEMAN’S WAR wargame rules (Howard Whitehouse) I am nowadays squaring the collection into 12 minis units to fight each other (for fun and tweaking the rules a bit). Of course the minis are not only used for AGW… a lot of scenarios can be played with each Army alone… more of that one day.
I let you with two recent additions by Antony Spencer head of design at IMPERIAL/DORSET (and ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN too I guess).
I was rather laconic yesterday (health issues)… nothing to worry about too much I guess. It is not always fun to be seventy.
Today I will show you what excellent service means… You ask for some French Foreign Legion castings with a detailed note explaining what you want… then Antony from IMPERIAL/DORSET SOLDIERS takes the trouble to send you the pics of them TO BE SURE the match is OK.
You can not ask for more!
I will be back buying from them in a monthly basis… already other orders are on the pipeline. You can not have a better deal!
It was a necessity… specially for the small cabinet… the “TOKIO Tube look” is gone… so are The French Foreign Legion and the late British Empire (Kkaki)… gone to my old office to play A GENTLEMAN’S WAR with them…
So there you have it, the part of the collcetion in action stances is gone back to wargaming in Andorra la Vella… and the “ceremonial part” stays in Pal.
About time if you understand me. Yesterday afternoon it was a lot of work putting the Toy Soldiers in boxes to be moved and reorganizing the display on the small cabinet… the whole of six shelves was “gone”… but the result is satisfactory… I was already told once in Facebook that my figures needed space to “breathe”… alea jacta est.
Enjoy!
My original French Foreign Legion set… nowadays much “reorganized” in 12 men units as per AGW. Now gone to Andorra la Vella to be wargames figures again.So did the Kakhi British in Afghanistan… 6 shelves emptied in total…This is the new look…You could do with some close ups but you got the idea alright!There it is… door closed and all tip top.The “big” cabinet slightly thinned down in numbers…There you have it… closed down and “up to the nines”…
