Collectors – My Toy Soldiers & Me

PLAYMOBIL: ACW skirmish games build up (I)

After a long interval I decided to play some skirmishing with small units, got plenty of yankees but no Rebs remaining in my collection, so a bit from here and there (grey kepis still in transit), and here we are, nearly ready to play!

Dusty Fog rides again!… but also the Michigan Brigade & G.A.Custer… I also am going to modify the guidon of the Rebs to enhance a bit.

They are perfect for small scale wargames.

Enjoy

Two versions of G.A. Custer (if I have to choose I prefer been a Custerophile)

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.

Luiz Fleury collection Sudan/NWF and French Foreign Legion 54mm

If you want to see the full collection of pics try to join the International Toy Soldier Club (ITSC) club 93 members but growing and if I may say so great quality (not talking about my contributions). And there you can comment and post and interact with other members.

Enjoy! I did

Guess he is attracted by the same themes as me!

British Khaki Colonials is also a favourite of mine

Of course one advantage is that as long as your scenery is a bit neutral it can be used very easily in the NWF and in North Africa.

See the French Foreign Legion pics below.

Smacks of March or Die… but who does not!

I thought I was the only one indulging in FFL manning Artillery!… suddenly I do not feel alone

Excellent models (or Toy Soldiers)… I guess mine are a bit more on the Toy Soldier side

ROY DILLEY ARTWORK

On the border line between Military Modeling (Scale Models) and Toy Soldiers (of the best quality), IMHO over the line and much more models than “toys” sure enough.

He did those works (artworks) in the fifties… with very limited materials at hand, to say nothing about paints and brushes.

A pioneer and a master of so many that he has become “the reference”.

Today he would have been a hundred years old and his heir Tony (see other posts about his work) posted those pics in Facebook.

They do not need comment or words from me… I just framed and polished a bit the pics.

Enjoy! (And get a copy of his book).

REPLICA special comission for James Opie. 54mm Toy Soldiers

If you do collect 54mm Toy Soldiers it would be a good idea to join The International Toy Soldier Club… really good company!

Look one of the last Posts there… A highlander late campaign uniform (kakhi) full Band (Band + Fifes&Drums)… done by Andrew Stevenson for a customer no other than James Opie of worldwide fame expertise on Britains Toy Soldiers.

A fantastic set (bespoke… so unique)…

Enjoy!

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!