Hello – My Toy Soldiers & Me

54mm Toy Soldier Collection: Folding up!… filling gaps on the ranks and “final steps”

I’ve been collecting gloss Toy Soldiers in 54mm (and other scales) for what it seems forever, and believe it or not I can see the end of it. A collection you will learn is never complete or “finished” but the addition of items slows and becomes much more sporadic.

If you have minimally programmed objectives one day they will come true, and that’s that. Of course items seems to continue appearing on the radar from time to time… and then collectors act and add them to the collection without a second thought!

To be fair, in my particular case I am nowadays rounding up units (or Armies) Recently from Tradition of London I got about 6 painted pieces and 4 castings to be painted by me. Also waiting from STEADFAST about ten more Toy Soldiers to complete sets. My yearly order from DORSET is being done by Antony Spencer, and only one more order has to be shipped to me by Andrew Stevenson from REPLICA fame.

As you will see in the pics the world is not perfect at all and even some mishaps occur, the painting jobs of the added Toy Soldiers by Tradition of London did not match the old one’s (and that from the same company mind!), so I am repainting the bits that offend my aesthetical eye. Even more strange I got 4 casts missing a bit of the right foot (with the consequence -obvious- that the toy soldiers did not stand upright… because “unbalanced” was the result (steadiness is of course expected from the British Infantry!…pun intended) a tricky job… repair included gluing little bits of iron clip to the right foot, a bit of plasticine to “reconstruct” the boot, and then the painting job would be possible (will add pics of course when all finished). In the process I had to cut out the nice bayonets because one was already “falling off”.

Close up of the iron clip bit glued on to get “balance”

Had to repair a third time… but I am quite stubborn!

First coat of imprimation. In the end I had to cut out the bayonets because one was nearly out anyway… a pity mind!

By now the right foot is not a very nice piece of modeling but seems to hold on tight (what it was all about I guess)

The one on the right is the original one, the middle one has only been partially mended, and the left one waits for the correct shade of sky blue colour.

Royal Navy Landing Party completed as a 12 sailors unit… at last

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.

PLAYMOBIL: Playing with Playmobils was and is a rewarding experience (II)

We checked all the figures, added a few lost items (very few), did some changes of headgear (mainly ADC’s), took a lot of pics, and enjoyed the time.

Their collections are in great shape as you can see in the pics. Armies usually have 4 line Infantry Units (regulars), 1 Light Company, 1 Grenadier Company; two units of Cavalry: Light Dragoons and Cuirassiers; Artillery (a couple of pieces); Sappers, and even a Doctor and assistants. Actually the Armies also have a mounted spy (masked) and a Religion Priest. Plenty of Generals and ADC’s too of course. Mainly the figures are straightaway from Playmobil figures and pieces (you are really spoilt for choice in the “tricorne period”) and apart from some resin headgear variations for the sake of shaking a bit the “uniformity” it is fairly easy to build your Armies. Old School Wargaming is probably the best approach IMHO

BTW the Red Army (British) is in the hands of the younger of my grandsons, but I do not mess with it because he is too young to take it too seriously and has to parade them a few years more I guess.

I reread the rules “Three Inch Glory” wargaming (XVIII Century) available for download free in google, recently they added a skirmish rules for 10/12 figures I must read too!

As usual an image is worth a thousand words, so here they are.

Enjoy

The back of the headgear of the Grenadiers.

A basic unit, a company of regulars of the “white Army” (Spanish or Austrian is just a matter of clipping the right colours in the hands of the standard-bearers)

Sorry for the “angle” but it was the only way to get a pic of the table.

The Grenadiers of the Blue Army (French or Prussian if need be)

The basic Unit a regular Company of Infantry.

In the front facing left the Cavalry of the Blue Army (looking right you can see the backs of the White Army Cavalry Units).

The Blue Army Light Dragoons (resin helmets by Javier Jimenez – MALONE-)

The Blue Army Cuirassiers.

The Blue Army Colours (French in this case)

A French King with dog. (In fact is based on a Prussian King figure!)

The White Army Colours (Spanish this time)

PLAYMOBIL: Playing with Playmobils was and is a rewarding experience (I)

This is a summing up, there are more Posts in this present web page about Playmobil Toys… probably never intended to become Toy Soldiers (in the true sense) at all mind, but the GEOBRA brand did enjoy producing Pirate Ships and Romans (probably very reality hard core violent subjects in the real world)… so it is more a matter of deluding themselves I guess.

The Sport of Kings it was called, and small profesional Armies took rendez-vous (more or less) shooted a bit to each other and claimed victory (sometimes both sides) see Barry Lyndon film.

Football and TV had not yet been invented so you had to do something completely different if you follow my thoughts.

Seriously, the potential as entertaining friendly wargaming is there, I recognized, collected, customized, and give as a gift to my grandchildren (I am more into lead Toy Soldiers myself). But still have kept some in my own collection!

Yesterday, we took a look at their collections, well preserved (to my surprise!) and reorganized the whole lot. It was my intention (completely wrong) to buy from them instead from ebay the imaginary “scraps” of the lot because I feared once interest outgrown it is always the bin nowadays… LOL… WHAT A SURPRISE!… Now I will probably buy some items (the less interesting that anyway they will inherit no matter what!) to give them pocket money… but will preserve their collections (the best parts)… and stop messing about with them. Sometimes with the best of intentions you are proved completely wrong!

If I have time (and interest) I will probably write a fastplay set of rules for them. (I only know about the “3,5 inch rules” that are not bad at all… but I love them more concise and not so complicated.

Have some pics (I will add more today I think!) as a summing up.

Colonel Le Sage et the three Geste brothers

Texas Light Cavalry Company C (Dusty Fog’s own)

Yesterday pic, nice Spanish Grenadiers with custom headgear. More pics today.

How time flies!… I remember showing themselves how to parade them… they have grown up a lot! the elders are 17 and 15 this year… and I thought (maybe wrongly) that their interest would have faded and toys forgotten… LOL. I did not mess up with the small boy in the middle and his even younger sister because they still play with them from time to time I have been told.

I heavily customized some characters in their collections, and it was FUN!

Those are my personal pets (I still have some in my collection… YES… I have a small collection myself too!)

The Band of the Guards took me a lot of time to complete… hard to find Tubas I remember.

Trooping the Colour is one of my pet subjects in any scale…

The 7th Cavalry… I even tried to sell them to no avail… LOL

French Foreign Legion (I sold some of them)… the rest are for keeps.

NEW SETTINGS FINISHED. Cabinet almost full

After a shuffle of space in my ex-office… all begins to fall in place.

Cabinet has been reorganized, and now the British are on the right of the picture and the French on the left (seems apropiate somehow…)

The Armies (both) would be completed this year 2025 I guess… and then all hell will break loose… Not exactly Imagine-nations, but certainly imagination will run free (NO ENTENTE CORDIALE AT ALL I FEAR), I only collect what I like so it does not matter to me to pitch them against each other from time to time. I do not collect Russians or Prussians or other more exotic Armies… I stick to what I know best and that’s that.

Enjoy.

French Foreign legion Units (and French Artillery).

The rest of the French Army (still expecting reinforcements).

British Army (SIMKIN TIMES). It lacks the Naval Brigade.

British Kakhi Army (Colonial NWF/SUDAN etc)

My very first Toy Soldiers… they are more than 70 years old… the rest was the “follow up”

In fact 70 years old and a bit… The state is original… those are the rests of the original paint… on anything not rigid (or even quite rigid) paint peels off I am afraid. Those three are all what remain of my big box of infancy…

My maternal grandfather used to play with me back then… that been the case it started a life long love for the “Mounties” only slightly superior to my obsession with the French Foreign Legion as a result of been exposed to BEAU GESTE (The book if you please)… and of course the Guards Regiments (Horse and Foot)… my parents always looked North from Spain… anglophiles but also liked France. My father even studied in Liverpool before the Spanish Civil War made a mess of a lot of things…

Lucky me I was born in 1952… so wars were a thing of the past… or in far away exotic places (Korea, Vietnam, Falklands,Iran, Irak, Afghanistan)… not in Europe anymore (well the Balkans)… and mainly USA wars (sometimes with staunch allies at his side)… the XXth Century was the USA Century to be sure…but we lived a long peace.

Enjoy,

RCMP REAMSA rubber/cautxuc soldiers of aprox 45mm scale

That lead me later to this of course… Collecting 54mm gloss toy soldiers come many years after… and they are DUCAL (99% of the set, Tradition of London 2 figures, 1 REPLICA -a cast that is now once painted my personal avatar- and 1 an iconic BRITAINS)… you need all sorts you know…

Detail of the last addition by myself (converting and painting)

Finally got one of the iconic Old Britains figures (well, maybe not so old… but iconic not the least)

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 does a magnificent set (a la BRITAINS) of the Royal Navy in 54mm

Published in the web of the ITSC (The International Toy Soldier Club) this is an awesome set done by Andrew Stevenson for a customer (a lucky customer I will add full of positive envy!).

It reproduces one mythical set of Old Britains with figures ad hoc (many of them Britains never did I must clarify!).

Never have seen something so awesome in years of collecting.

Enjoy!

Royal Marines Light Infantry… and Bluejackets pulling limber…

The massive box and the superior tray… Awesome!

REPLICA 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!

The Best Books about Collecting Toy Soldiers

You will have in this quite complete list the books I own (or have owned or going to get very soon!)… and those complementary on the subject. Sadly no “flats” or zinnfigurine oriented because I am not a fan of them… they appear on some of the books… but not my passion at all. Sorry about that.

I wish I had had a list like that many years ago!… would have saved time and trouble. BTW my comments are only my opinions (but frankly a bit tired of amazon publishing comments criteria… I have stopped trying to fairly review there… lol) but after more than 70 years I can be quite frank about it.

Get them all if you can, they are very informative (even if some do overlap with others)… maybe one day I will do a list of wargame books classics too! (Not that I do not use some of my 54mm gloss toy soldiers to wargame the Old School Way… but no marbles or rods involved… do not want to spoil the paint on them you know… just dice and fun).

Hope you enjoy this list.

Thi one is the book you need as a great generalist book about collecting toy soldiers (even if Britains centred the ideas and concepts are superb) Imprescindible even on paperback (actually I have the paperback edition myself). A MUST HAVE!

Fairly useful as a general intro (mainly 54mm). It stops when NEW toy soldiers begun to be on the market (it deals mainly with Old Toy Soldiers)… HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Probably his second best book. I bought first as a kindle book and afterwards ordered a real book.

Simply lavish! A must have on the second Britains era. (Second Century)

Probably the best book on Britains Toy Soldiers by James Opie. Imprescindible (and I do not collect Old Britains). Simply fantastic!

It dissapoints at first read… but slowly grows upon you… an international reference. I nearly throw it away and now I am a fan!

Now outdated but a classic nevertheless… he saw it coming! One of my personal favoutites as a DUCAL collector.

The description of a Collection (quite fantastic if you want an opinion). Excellent pics even if a bit dark. VERY GOOD!

Interesting book… from a British point of view.

He tries very hard but fails a bit short… better stick to his BRITAINS books!… no idea at all about Playmobils or Legos outpout, but interesting nevertheless.

Impressive and completionist but too many items are not Toy Soldiers I am afraid. (I bought at Hamleys and later sold my copy)

Less known book… get it too! I do not own a copy myself yet… (and I have give up after two unsuccesful attempts via amazon… no luck at all I am afraid))

On the limt (a very thin line) between Toy Soldier and MODEL (Military Modeling). A MUST HAVE!

Probably one of the oldest on the list… but clever and advanced for its time. Recommended.

Very short… but much to the point, recommended too. It come as a nice surprise.

It is what says on the cover, a guide on prices of Britains, if you collect them a must have! Sadly nothing of interest in it for me… and to add insult to injury it is a black&white book!