What a good paintjob can do for the castings (all of them) is wonderful.
Her Majesty’s Guards (or Household Division Troops) are a popular choice among collectors or simply aficionados whatever the level. It has much to do with that the daily exposure in such well know military procedures as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, The handing of the keys at the Tower of London, and similar at Windsor castle. The more “touristic attraction” the more popularity in children minds… So, let it be.
Hardly original subject… but a CLASSIC IMHO. As seen in Facebook.Even with a bit of patience you can do it with Playmobils. (Those are my own).By the end of your “collecting life” you would have gone megalomaniac (well, a bit). Those are mine.
I have many times explained that this is not my particular field of interest as a collector or simply aficionado… but one has to take his hat off when see something like that (in facebook of course!).
First two pics by John Firth and the last by John Clarke. All easy to see in Facebook if you go to A GENTLEMAN’S WAR group… I dutifully bought the rules by Howard Whitehouse… they are fun to read… but not what I do with 54mm Toy Soldiers… You need all sorts you know…
Those are very fine Toy Soldiers and excellently painted, I do not use mine with those rules, and I have to say they are more “historically collected” and only for display because I have them in 6mm too… and there is where I wargame…
French LancersRather fancy lancers…The officer is out of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA… aka Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
There was a time when the Gunboat policy was efficient… that is MY time… As if you do not know it… not interest at all in modern times on my own particular selective pastime or hobby. Of course I am not an Imperialist in real life but those were romantic times…
In fact I think like the child I once was in matters of Toy Soldiers… not that I am not aware of modern times… I keep posted enough thanks… got my dose of real news every day in this mad world.
Reading and enjoying Kipling if you know what I mean.
There was a time when that was enough! (Quite French if you ask me… see sailor)Paul Watson’s own gunboat! See in Facebook the evolution of the Deep Sea Diver… great!
Seen in the H.G.Wells Group in Facebook (in fact even before my holidays)… I found them very Tintinesque or Tintinophile look alike. Do not know the scale exactly but the caption in Facebook must help I guess…
Kevin Dallimore, painter extraordinaire, just posted this. 30mms from Mark Copplestone’s new inter-war range. Look for NORTH STAR MINIATURES.
French Officer… as seen many days ago in facebook.
I am sorry I did not keep track of the author’s name… It is quite impressive the painting skills of a lot of Military Modelers. Enjoy
Fabrimore’s production…Same as above… as seen in facebook
I own very few Military Modeling pieces… see elsewhere in this web page… I love them… but not for playing with them at all… once they are finished they are only for display… Toy Soldiers or Wargame minis have much more appeal to me because I can “do things” with them! Nevertheless it is a prominent part of our hobby and often brilliant!
Paul Watson’s Own… quite delightful if you ask me.
Sometimes, but not always, I ponder about the futility of it all… I mean what’s the real (or imaginary) purpose of this web page?… to keep you entertained? (I mean people I do not know but surely have the same interests as me)… so, you have your daily ration of Toy Soldiers from me?… surely not… Is it me?… meaning do I have such a boring old life nowadays that I feel the need to communicate with the rest of the world to “justify” my last days giving away my experiences?… LOL (It has been a hot night damn it!). Summer is prone to those divagations… so I better end in a positive note… gonna try to finish reading the OSPREY: THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 1863 (1) (they have promised two more volumes)… and for once they have nailed the text , the info, and AT LAST! the illustrations (and I mean the new art in colour) the old photographs we know by heart!… A book I can recommend without reservation.
Funny, today I have a bit of time to write… well… the pic is to the point… by then I mixed and matched manufacturers… I did find DIXON horses fantastic coupled with FOUNDRY riders (but not exclusively… TO THE REDOUBT and OLD GLORY too!).
It was the apex of my involvement in wargaming on that scale, I had a moderate surplus of bits and pieces from here and there and I could easily change “heads” at will with my PROXON minidrill and vice… had a lot of horses of discarded projects (that I would use in fancy units as the mounted Regiment of the French Foreign Legion)… and life in the hobby was FUN.
I still used painting services for the rank and file, and only did paint myself “specials” or closer to my heart subjects. You see I had NO time enough to paint because my real life as an Architect used my time… and I have a family too!… so the only way was to organize, list, buy, get the parcels, customize, send the biggest part to the painters with full instructions… and paint a little myself.
I enjoyed those years of my hobby to the full because time was so scarce. I am older now… over seventy (bot my grandfather and father were dead at my age)… no longer can I have fantasies about long term projects… I’ve done that, been there, got the T-Shirt as they say… but surely enough those new technologies help me pass the time and share my experiences with other people with similar interests.
The Michigan Brigade of Volunteers is a pet subject (as the ACW is) and Custer was better served in the Civil War than in his “Indian times”… the famous 7th had NOT the same stamina as the wolverines… understandable too of course… I own more than a hundred volumes on the Little Big Horn and after reading them… you can have a moderate sympathy with Custer as a man doing his job… but the so called “Indian Wars” were frustrating from a military point of view.
That Custer is better known for his death in a NO WIN situation that for his campaigning in the ACW is one of those ironies in History.
Wow!… time to write without interruptions for a change!… count the present one as an extra Post. Hope you enjoy too.
Several dys ago I posted (a share) this awesome piece in Facebbok, I must find the author and pay due respect… found the water splashes fascinating… an unusual approach to say the least!
Indian tribes did make war to one another before the “manifest destiny” pressure (to be euphemistic)… I am not a good Military Modeler myself (say average-low) but I am duly impressed with works of art like that. I think the author is a Spaniard… Asociacion de Modelismo Alabarda is all I know…Congratulations!
Not what you will call a group of Toy Soldiers… but I do… I do… I do…
