Military Modeling – Page 5 – My Toy Soldiers & Me

Mix and Match in 28mm (a long time ago)

A pic of the peak of my own 25/28mm Collection.

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.

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!

“New” Standardbearer… the flag is wrong and has been repainted!

Finally painted the horse white.Original and Conversion.

Also painted the horses lancers in other colours… too many blacks as it is!

They still lack gloss varnish… but you get the idea…

TRADITION OF LONDON: Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Regimental Sergeant Major 54mm small conversion

Curiously enough this cast (unpainted) was one of the first minis I ever painted myself (as it was mean to be… red tunic & all… and there it is still in my collection). One day I noticed I did not have thought of buying from DUCAL a RSM… so… I bought from Tradition of London the kit again and have painted in a new version with pace stick (a bit of steel paper clip).

There you have it hope you like it.

There… it only lacks the gloss finish… will add when dry!

Gloss varnished… project finished!

54MM Toy Soldier (a cast from REPLICA): 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.

Working on small conversion

Probably one of my longest affair with 54MM Toy Soldiers. I wanted to do Nathan Brittles patrol (SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON – John Ford film)… I know I have done it in 6MM… but those are different efforts.

Finally got some weeks ago the casts from REPLICA (Andrew Stevenson)… then I waited for some pistol holsters from DORSET, meanwhile I was cleaning the casts of bits here and there… and gluing the two part kits of horses together… yes… superglue again.

The more difficult model was the troop standard bearer (guidon), Andrew supplied a lancers arm (quite nice on its own I have them on the 9th British Lancers at Kandahar) but it was not what I had in mind… luckily I never throw away discarded parts… so I had a very promissing lance from DUCAL Life Guards I converted to sword carriyng troopers… a bit of paint…

And then an arm (it is a left arm glued as a right arm and would need a bit of putty to disguise the fact)… I was able today of drilling a hole in the hand to receive the guidon… and then I glued all the parts to the body and the horse (it still lacks pistol holster and head).

Was not easy… and I am quite satisfied with my work… so until I finish assembling and painting them… quite a long process because I can do this just an hour a day (and not every day) you will have to wait for more Posts and pics…

Enjoy!

Long ago I did a very good inversion on that! A good mini drill…

Lieutenants Chard & Bromhead by DORSET SOLDIERS (54MM) . (Or maybe Stanley Baker & Michael Caine)

I added those casts as an afterthought to my order and have been painting them on and off while doing other things.

They look more Military Modeling than I thought… my intention was to use them as Toy Soldiers… but I do not know… the casts are truly excellent… practically they painted themselves!… such detail for a 54MM… what you find at default is probably my painting job…

Now… to gloss varnish or not… that is the question! (Finally did varnish them)

Enjoy!

Dorset Soldiers Parcel Arrival

To make a long story short… they are finally here!… you need to have some considerations when placing an order in painted 54MM Toy Soldiers.

In my experience the waiting list is always long. Not always mind, but other factors get in the way… Toy Soldiers Shows… the circumstances of real life delays and not scheduled normal activities… whatever…

In this particular case relations been top notch and cordial I asked politely in November 2022 about the possibility of having a shiny Toy Soldiers Box a month starting February 2023 (note my prudence!)… and so I placed my orders to get five boxes painted and some casts (unpainted) here and there.

Casts of the French Foreign Legion missing items to complete units arrived quite fast (and thanks for that) and also more exotic things as ADC’s and Policemen on Bikes… I dutifully painted those when waiting for February to start things arriving… well, they did not, my carefully arranged shedule of a box a month never worked out and I got the whole lot in a single parcel just at the limit of the time span (meaning February-March-April-May-June)… by the end of June and a couple of days of July I did not mind at all… everything was ready… pics sent to me of the painted units… and parcel dispatched via DHL (Fast&true).

So in the end all worked out alright for me… excepting the “intervals”.

The quality of the Toy Soldiers is TipTop, true to my specifications (some quite complicated because they were necessary to fill gaps on an existing collection). And all is well what it ends well.

I just thought to make this post to clarify the process and to let you know the true value of patience!

If ordering from DORSET SOLDIERS / IMPERIAL MINIATURES say hello to Antony Spencer!… a genial chap and really helpful!

Same thing can be said about REPLICA (Andrew Stevenson) and other manufacturers as Tradition of London or RPWorldModels.

Just have lots of patience and then ENJOY!

“My” British Colonials now complete (+ Allies)

REPLICA PARCEL!

It is always a big pleasure when a parcel containing Toy Soldiers arrives… if they are old looking casts a la Britains to paint myself even better!

Not that it did not include a box of Grenadiers painted (to serve as a guide for painting).

Months ahead of what I am doing they are scheduled for the next future, I have learned to stock ahead… because if not you get lapses of void time (between ordering and delivery sometimes MONTHS elapse!).

Enjoy!

Properly checked… and with a 42MM gift sample!

Dorset/Imperial “new” castings

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.