54mm – My Toy Soldiers & Me

FASHODA (gone the wrong way or what if?) (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…

French Troops (by Dorset Soldiers and REPLICA)

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!

HRH King Charles III

Finally decided to change the command figure of my Trooping the Colour display.

It took me almost two years to decide.

HRH the late Queen Elizabeth II has been moved to another shelve. She is still on display, but certainly not on a central role.

Time moves on.

The new figure (a REPLICA cast) painted by me.

That’s what I am doing nowadays. The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (I)

Finally I am doing them, it has been a busy task to drill the holes to fit the heads, and also put the arms in place. A normal procedure when buying casts and a bit of DIY. Of course that is after gluing together the two parts of the horse (YES the casts come in two parts and you have to glue them). Had to add pistol holster (from DORSET SOLDIERS) and add the guidon from my spares box (Old DUCAL lance). Not complaining at all but it is not my favourite time with them… I enjoy painting but the assembly part is like work in a way…

Now, the pots of Vallejo painting have been buyed long ago… I will prim the figures and let them dry. And then it would be the usual Henry Ford approach of painting in a “line of production”. That way when you have finished the last figure (54mm REPLICA) the first is already dry and so on.

Really it is more fun to show what I am doing instead of simply posting what others have done (syndrome of “look Ma what I have done!”).

You can simply skip those Posts if not interested.

2023 was a very chaotic tasks jumble with the production of the Baccus proxies for the Brigade of British Guards in the Crimean War interrupting all the time work in other scales. With them finished and out of the way finally able to do Nathan Brittles Second US Cavalry patrol.

The need to add them to my collection has always been there… but until Andrew Stevenson produced the sample (see bottom) I was not able to locate the casts at all (with my own specifications and variations).

Hope you enjoy.

More from Tony Dilley.

It’s been a while…

And here it is… the last published pics on Facebook.

The details are superb, cuffs, chevrons, and horse attelage… for once matt finish is to the point!

Enjoy!

Dilley’s (Senior) works…

Always have admired the work of the Dilley’s (father & son)… even bought the book (the original one in e-bay or amazon second hand shops… not sure exactly) done years ago and it is a treasured one in my collection.

I do not paint in mat, more Toy Soldier Classical gloss varnish for me… but as with Military Modeling I do appreciate CRAFTSMANSHIP!…

So…

Enjoy!

Nile Gunboat

Those asiduous in this webpage will recognise a recurrent theme… a lot of wargamers and modelers actually enjoy doing Nile Gunboats! Even yours truly indulged in scratchbuilding a tiny one in 25mm for my MINIFIGS (LOL) I must look in the vault to see if I found a pic… (a sorry example compared with those in 54mm).

Enjoy!

Dilley’s work.

Ok. Let’s pay homage and follow suite… guess those pics of Grenadier Guards by the talented Mr. Dilley will suffice… after all I was born in 1952 and she has always been there as a Queen (“THE” Queen in fact)… so it is part of my life too!

Outstanding models as usual… and never take this for granted…