Visits: 53
I recognize quality when I see it.
Enjoy!
Awesome detail.
Category: General
Police (on Bikes)
Visits: 50
As Dan Allen once said my collection is basically Toy Soldiers… but I have some Policemen (notoriously the Royal Canadian Mounted Police)… so… I’ll give you on my birthday a couple of motorbikes with them… a joy to paint… specially the dial.
Enjoy!
And my last British Dismounted Officers.
Visits: 55
Due to my strange ways of collecting I had a number of horses without rider (because they were meant to be there when the chap dismounted I guess… “Empty Horses” as David Niven mentioned in his memoirs a Movies Director saying so – too much of a gentleman to say who – well… to cut a story short I am a firm believer in symmetry at the start (not that you can not game asymmetrical games of course!… but better have the option)… so if the French had two dismounted ADC’s… the British needed them too… life is like that… sometimes years pass between one action (buying stuff) and the other (completing collection)… LOL
Charles Saganne
Visits: 54
Or my newest French ADC (finished) see previous Posts… IMPERIAL MINIATURES (Thanks to Antony Spencer).
Curiously the idea come to me “in the making”, I was an ADC short in my collection, but the idea of using the character Charles Saganne (from the French film epic FORT SAGANNE) was not in my head at all… and then after priming the figure and consulting book of uniforms… Officer of Tirailleurs Algeriens if you please… the jigsaw pieces in my mind falled in place.
Enjoy!
A matter of ADC’s
Visits: 55
I must be boorish today talking about me projects… you see I am still “squaring” units, so while DORSET SOLDIERS does the last 16 soldiers to complete ny British Army (Khaki)… I am doing some odds and ends because of some old horses I got (do not remember why at all)… First I did Young Winston (see elsewhere in this Blog)… now I am working on Charles Saganne (Depardieu) as a French ADC (mounted) … he is already primed for paint… and his horse has got a new “rouleau” just for the fun of it! (I am getting better with plasticine or milliput)
More to the point a couple of dismounted ADC’s for the British Army (see pic).
And what is even much more fun a couple of motorcycle riders! Full circle I guess (they were my first toys those kind of chaps!)…
So … try to Enjoy!
VINTAGE
Visits: 42
Quite an “antiques” approach today… you have to like authenticity, rarity, exclusiveness, original paintjob, many years long actual state, in a word: VINTAGE Toy Soldiers…
If you look closely at the pics you will see the figures that are pictured in the rightly famous among collectors book by James Opie “Collecting Toy Soldiers” (Paperback edition in English).
It is not my speciality at all and I do not have the financial means to go chasing for rare sets in public auctions… (but if I had would not do at all… would go for paintings or rare first editions of books if you understand me), and what is more I have a penchant for the bright shiny new toy soldiers be that new future vintage or not… I do not give a fig if they will become vintage because I won’t be threre…
I guess that really Vintage means not bright and shiny anymore and the charm is “another thing”, the fact that the paint has gone away in parts (faded or fallen out) provokes in me an unnatural desire of scrap the remaining paint and do a new paintjob and use gloss varnish on top! (maybe I am insensible to the concept vintage at all… but I keep my first toys in that way for nostalgia reasons… even if they are cautxuc and less than ten items… and nearly as Old as me…) so I am in it for nostalgia reasons after all.
I guess Collectors of VINTAGE Toy Soldiers deserved a Post… well… here it is by courtesy of John Mullenger! (as seen in Facebook).
Enjoy!
John Clarke Radio Station…
Visits: 53
54mm Toy Soldiers have their artists too!
Magnificent set.
Enjoy!
Nathan Brittles Last patrol (in 6mm)
Visits: 65
After all those 54mm pics of the French Foreign Legion I thought it would be refreshing… perish the thought!… it is really difficult to take pics of 6mm!… the human eye is much better than the camera (at least mine).
Here you have a sorry try to picture what is in fact a very interesting wargame (role playing a bit) for SOLO wargamers as me. If you look closely all the characters are there (some inside the wagon I fear). So, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON it is after all…
The poor quality of the pics is only my fault… but Baccus 6mm are the best to date to my knowledge to do it in this scale. Have always been a big fan of John Ford’s Cavalry films… (Not exclusively those called “The Trilogy” by smart asses…)
Enjoy! (if you can see them)
Winston Spencer Churchill as a young lieutenant…
Visits: 58
I promised yesterday… so…
It was a poor attempt to “model with miliput” because it is never been “my thing”… but I was tempted to try to do a “Toy Soldier piece unique” (as I can not match the “true” Bill Horan’s in our miniature world).
It all started simply enough, I had a redundant arm with pistol… a couple of horses (Empty Horses David Niven would say in his memoirs) with no rider… and I asked Antony Spencer from DORSET SOLDIERS to send me a British Colonial Rider without right arm. Still planning to do a French ADC (mounted) for the other horse…
Once I got it… I decided to try my hand at what Antony Stevens does effortlessly, meaning adding binocular case and a haversack to a rather “plain figure”… I also worked a bit on the horse (which was already painted since many years ago) adding valise and equipment… I showed all that to you in a Post not so long ago (about end of December 2022).
Well here it is the result of my job in some pics… and YES he is standing on the stirrups!… not at a 100% satisfied but not bad for a first try since God knows when… Never thought “minimalist” Toy Soldiers would be so difficult to do!
Enjoy! (not so easy today!)
Toy Soldiers “in action” by Scott Lesch!
Visits: 67
Nowadays a hard core of aficionados has rediscovered the charm of wargaming (without throwing pellets) in 54mm scale with Toy Soldiers. After all it is a normal consequence of 28mm skirmish type of games… I am in it in spades… you will see in a couple of days when I post my “new” additions to an Army of French Foreign Legion figures by DORSET SOLDIERS… painted by myself because once retired it is a rediscovery (not exclusively for the less money involved.. because you get it exactly right!… and even fastest than to wait fot them to paint them).
Not that I do not buy painted one’s… in general they do paint better than me (specially Andrew Stevens who seems to get his shop REPLICA ready for business again!… and that is a piece of excellent news!). Dorset Soldiers (now amalgamated with IMPERIAL MINIATURES and ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN) do paint better than me too!… bu I have the patience and the time (Or whatever amount of time remains… LOL).
Enjoy!
