BLOG – Page 25 – My Toy Soldiers & Me

Custer & Little Big Horn

Today’s anniversary… 25 June…

Since I saw Errol Flynn killed by Anthony Quinn in THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON it become a lifelong interest… I was puzzled as a child because it seemed to me the US Cavalry HAD to WIN no matter what… of course real life is not like that… I guess I have already mentioned that on other Posts in this Blog but nevertheless…

It has been a rewarding passion mainly reading&collecting books about it and trying to understand what happened that 25th of June… of course all films (but Little big man) related to and hundreds (literally) of miniatures for wargames purposes (in 28mm, 15mm and 6mm to do not mention my 75mm Playmobils).

Baccus 6MM (ACW proxies… easy conversion… just scratch the sabers off)

Actually (2025) only interested on the actions and fate of Custer’s Battalion, Hq + C.E.F.I & L companies… the rest are out of reach I fear

After 70 years exposed to it I have come to the conclusion that Custer was put on a NO WIN – NO WIN situation… mainly by fate and circumstances but also for bad scouting, not believing his own scouts, and betrayed by his own experience fighting Plains Indians… the whole Reno Benteen paranoia is simply that a paranoia… the Native Americans where there in enough numbers (ask Crook), interior lines of communication, perfect ground for his tactics, and the will to fight for survival. The Indians Won. That’s that.

My Old set of 25/28MM figurines: Natives from all available sellers… 7th mainly Wargames Foundry or Foundry nowadays… still have some Dixon’s used for a LBH very old boardgame.

A magnificent American drama for the Centennial of the Nation.

Not much to enjoy about that of course… but a fascinating subject. There are a lot of trash books about it (and films too)… I can recommend the opus of Frederick Wagner III THE STRATEGY OF DEFEAT and the novel (fictional-history but it reads as History) A ROAD WE DO NOT KNOW.

Even did the full 7th Cavalry with Playmobils…

Be impartial!

Here we go again!

Excuse me if you have already seen this pic (my own for a change) 75mm Customized Playmobil (Just the headgear I guess)

Congratulations to the British. The civic attitude was paramount and those public and privately professionally involved gave a lesson on “how it is done”. There is no better example to compare. Long live the King!

This webpage would again be alive as from today with the usual business of giving you your daily ration (or dose) of Toy Soldiers. Cheers.

Mourning

There will be no new posts in this site until the 10 days of official mourning have past. I was born in 1952 and has never been a British subject… but in a way HM Queen Elizabeth the Second (The Great as already are saying) was my Queen too. So it is normal to show due respect and start talking about Toy Soldiers again once the official mourning has passed.

A job well done. (DIORAMA by Nicholas Breul as seen in Facebook)

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 Cavalry Officer’s Minis bought already painted

It is a pleasure to collect in 54MM… because it remains the Toy Soldier scale par excellence.

Sometimes I do order them by Post, sometimes I buy in Ebay (less frequently).

In any case the results have been quite satisfactory so far.

REPLICA and DORSET/IMPERIAL SOLDIERS are just two of the best manufacturers around.

Enjoy!

Bought on Ebay (expensive way of collecting).

General Wolseley painted by Andrew Stevenson (REPLICA) one of my first ever buys from REPLICA.

French ADC post 1870 painted by Antony Spencer (DORSET SOLDIERS or IMPERIAL MINIATURES)

REPLICA: My last Three Mounted 54MM Toy Soldiers (casts painted by me)

I am getting older for all that. But for a last effort in 54MM they are not so bad… after all they ARE Toy Soldiers!

Next would be basing some 6mm Baccus 24th Colonial Zulu Wars Infantry and then to the wargames table.

I always seem to think I have finished my collection (in the sense that I won’t paint anymore excepting maintenance…)

Collecting already painted boxes of Toy Soldiers still goes on. And my orders for 2024 are done, sent and agreed upon… so in due time in the next months they would appear here.

Also plan to post some pics of the excellent work of Antony Spencer from Dorset Soldiers and Andrew Stevenson from REPLICA METAL MODEL SOLDIERS.

Enjoy!

PS: YES! they still lack the gloss varnish but I always wait about a week to do that… a lesson learned in 25mm (silver and gold colors tend to wash all over if not properly dried!)

From left to right: Scot Guards Brigadier (VC); HRH King Charles III; and last but not least W.S.Churchill as a 4th Hussar.

Toy Soldiers: Vignettes to end a collection

You must be tired of my wanderings, but that surely completes the big cabinet.

Now, if only Andrew Stevens admits orders in September I would be sorely tempted in adding three or four figures to the other cabinet…

Nurses and a Medical Officer (STEADFAST)

And the Military Policemen set by STEADFAST

Could not resist adding Lestrade (Plian Clothes Detective STEADFAST)

The joint Band of Life Guards/Blues&Royals in State dress.

Those musicians are badly needed in any Trooping the Colour ceremonial.

Incidentally as spectators you have the Duke of Wellington, the Emperor of the French N.B. and Admiral Nelson… the only Napoleonic 54MM in my collection.

Enjoy!

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 nine 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.

French Line infantry from Dorset… lack green bases still…

French Line Infantry Charging… same as above.

French Line Dragoons with lances (circa after 1870)… REPLICA METAL MODEL SOLDIERS (You can not go wrong with them!)

Another view (spectacular!)… Years trying to get those!

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)

They now have equilibrium and that was the point of the work on them

Only a coat of gloos varnish and that’s it!

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

Filling gaps on the RPWorldModels (Steadfast) sets. (Front)

Two 21st lancers officer’s have been transfered to other Regiments!

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.