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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!)
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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…
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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!
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The Gordon’s REPLICA original set complemented by Paul Watson’s casts and still pending additions (to be also painted by me) from Imperial/Dorset… LOL
Got three more minis already primed and pending painting in detail… a bugler and two pipers with pith helmet from IMPERIAL/DORSET miniatures…
The Heliograph duo was a gift from Paul… one really makes friends in Facebook!
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I have been collecting sets from Tradition of London from decades… I was actually a bit distracted by others periods and scales… but they are always on my mind.
I recently put an order to give a bit of colour at one of my cabinets and Erik supplied (quite fast!) the following set: 1 Officer (British), an NCO (Indian) and two lancers for 4 Regiments with different uniforms… so far so good.
Once the parcel arrived one of the lance shafts was broken above repair and so I contacted them. A replacement is on its way… EXCELLENT service and Communications…
As I loath to gave anything away I did a bit of repairing on the “broken” lancer and he has been raised in rank (twice…LOL) and decorated… and sent the pics to Erik if that can help other customers…
Here are the pics of the little tale…
Enjoy
See broken lance above left.
Detail.
Inspected and small “retouching”
Raised to Corporal (and out of bits of the lance to have a pacing stick)
Raised to RSM and decorated… I did not want to threw it away you know… I try to never do that… sometimes looks good enough!
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The move is completed.
See the cabinets in Andorra la Vella: Three kinds of British Armies (Khaki-White FSH-SIMKIN times); Two (but complementary) kinds of French Armies (Basically North of Africa / Colonial and more Continental/Regular one). They are my “best enemies” always.
Some exotic units are also there Second US Cavalry (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon) and lots of Bengal Lancers.
Still waiting some reinforcements but nearly there. Probably this year I will top the needs… never the capricious sudden whims (I know).
Enjoy
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As a matter of fact, it was obvious enough… once the table and painting area has been moved and put together. The cabinets in Andorra la Vella now stock all the Toy Soldiers with wargaming potential (quite Old School). Will add more pics tomorrow.
Now Pal holds the marching figures and ceremonial units.
See pics.
Enjoy
