Military Modeling – My Toy Soldiers & Me

REPLICA… My new sets of 54mm Toy Soldiers.

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

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.

The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (VIII)

Quite effective (and boring) session today… doing dark blue saddle accoutrements on the horses… tedious yes… but nearly there… LOL

Seriously what I can notstand is SUPERGLUE in my fingers… now I use the same gloves as in pandemic times.

Enjoy!

PS: Keeping yellow colour for the last touchs!

The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (VII)

Well, yes I could do the faces (not yet finished of course… it lacks eyebrows, eyes and mouth + sole moustaches and full beards…). So for those who expected Buffalo Soldiers it is not the case that was the primer colour all over.

Coming up slow but sure.

Would be fun to paint the non regulation scarves in differet colours.

And yellow stripes on breeches blue only for NCO’s and Officers.

As I have said horses would be the last.

Enjoy!

The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (VI)

Did the hats and the sack of oats for the horses… also experimenting with braces… not sure about the troopers yet!

Maybe tomorrow will start the faces.

Enjoy!

The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (V)

Keep doing things and adding colours.

Painting rithm well established.

Guess small parts of the minis are faster to paint!

Enjoy!

PS: Long finished nowadays and trying to complete the collection with another batch.

The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (IV) Blouses done.

Having some order at last.

Now it will be more fun as details are less and less cumbersome… will let the horses colours for the end I guess.

It is useful to hold on the horse to paint the soldiers…

Enjoy!

That’s what I am doing nowadays. The Second US Cavalry as portrayed in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. (II), and some distractions on the side…

I had a set of Guardsmen from REPLICA and decided to assemble them after a crisis (I nearly sent them away to be painted!)… then on reflection I thought better paint myself… long winter months ahead (if there is a winter).

Enjoy!

While the US Cavalry is drying… assembling some figures!

That figure would become King Charles III (quite probably!)

A Guards Commander with Binoculars (mounted) and an ADC (4th Hussars aka very young Winston Churchill!)

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.

Trying my hand at 6MM proxies by Baccus slightly modified.

It was somewhat an ordeal, maybe because I am 71, but the delays due to Postal Services mishaps did not help at all.

I first tried pestering Peter Berry about them (to no use), meaning why not a proper Baccus Crimean range?… wishful thinking of course!

Then I finally (and stubborn in a way) followed the Proxies Way!… that meant eliminating with a cutter the “French” parts of the minis (obvious even in 6MM).

Painting them was fast and true… the minor step of the way… you maybe do not believe how fast it is to paint 6MM!

Gluing them into bases was easy.

Then something I have not done for years… sculpting the bases or stands… an awful mess I did of it. To the credit of the Baccus basing system the old pots where still quite useful (except the wash who had evaporated more than 5 years later).

And finally the sets of colours (Napoleonic in fact).

This is my last effort of DIY in 6MM… my daughter has forbidden me to paint less than 54MM (LOL).

Enjoy!