A Birthday present to myself.

 

I have been painting some figures for a friend and with the money earned I decided to put a bid on these chaps on eBay as a potential birthday present to myself.(my other birthday presents being of a more essential nature -socks and a new fleece top)

Nobody else seemed interested in them and much to my surprise I won them (I decided I wasn't getting into a bidding war)for £36 including p&p which I thought reasonable

They are 54mm by Steadfast Soldiers - a firm I haven't heard of before and beautifully painted in enamels . An unusual subject and as I haven't deployed a Machine Gun on the tabletop before, potentially a shock  for 'Blue Army' when they confront it ! 

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YeeHa ! (now with added lasso)

 

Several weeks ago (.: Reclaiming 'Buffalo Bill' .) I cleaned off this Buffalo Bill figure and have got him painted up,varnished and provided with a lasso made from some parcel string . He needs a bob of 'bluetack' on the saddle to keep him mounted and I've added a base to the horse to help with stability .He is the last of my 'to do' painting projects for the moment and as the Summer seems to have returned it's back to gardening again.

Garden Toy Soldiers in the sun.

 

Whilst all the 'real world' work is going on I manage to snap a couple of pictures of a patrol of the Borcesters on patrol in the borders of the Great Patio lead by the redoubtable Sergeant Kyte ..

These are odd figures that appear quit often in various guises on eBay ., they are semi flat about 50mm tall (a tall 42mm figure and a short 54mm one) and I'm not sure which collection they will fit in ?. I would say they are home-casts from an old mold.

They are not very stable (the two outdoor photos took ages to snap as they kept blowing over) , so I'm sticking them to bases . Here they are with another few figures from a previous batch which were badly painted (daubed) I've stripped and been doing some repairs on them and I'll undercoat and paint up to match the others. 

Reclaiming 'Buffalo Bill' .

 

The Witch's brew - I have decided to strip the entire 'Buffalo Bill' model .: Another mysterious figure .and so left him and his mount overnight in neat 'Dettol' to bring the paint off.

Getting ready to clean up the figures - rubber gloves and a [very] old toothbrush .

Cleaning off the gunk under a running tap - I didn't grow an extra arm or balance the camera in my mouth I am indebted to Mrs K for her assistance ("I hope you clean the sink out !")

The finished result , the horse has had extensive repairs to it's neck using 'Milliput' , which was a bit of a surprise , there is a lot of detail on the rider , most of which was obscured by the paint . I hope to get them undercoated and start painting them next week. 

Bringing up the BIG guns .

 

I bought this Britains 18" Howitzer just before we went on holiday and have just got around to checking it out . I've been after one for years and with the shells etc they can be quite expensive , however this one didn't have the ammo and the barrel was lose so it was going cheap . Here we see Charlie inspecting it - having found it isn't food he loses interest .

Here we see the Gunners of Army'Red' manning it with General Crawley and of all people H.G. Wells in attendence . I rather played up it's damaged state and got a bit knocked off the price but with a bit of TLC I managed to get the barrel remounted and the elevating screw to work .

Here we see the General inspecting the breach mechanism , I must keep an eye open for some of the shells and casings on eBay.

A view down the impressive breach and barrel of the Howitzer , it just needs a bit of a clean up and it will be ready for tabletop action. Just done a bit of research and I believe this model was produced from 1955 and was discontinued in 1980..

Another mysterious figure .

 

I bought this figure from eBay , bit of a strange one and I haven't had time to do any research on it but it is hollow cast and the rider is separate (held on with blue tack at the moment) I'm not convinced the horse is the original as it has a different paint job (repaint?) , the rider has the look of Buffalo Bill and his left had has a hole in it that could hold a lasso or whip ? . As they are not well painted I'll probably strip the horse and repaint it and perhaps touch up the man's paint job But as we are going on holiday soon this will have to wait.

The rejuvenated Evzones .

 

Well I've got the figures repaired , painted over the 'milliput' and gave the paint a slight varnish to try and match the original finish . I decided not to repaint anymore of the figures and leave scuffed paint as it is as a tribute to their past services .

The face of a veteran 

To repair or not to repair ? - that is the question.

 

I bought these off eBay (rather cheaply I think) they are Britains Greek Evzones from Set No.196 and the where produced from 1916 to 1966 - BUT these must be pre 1946 as they are red jackets - after this date they where painted in blue jackets . So that makes them at least 79 years old ! 

As you can see they have been in the wars , as well as the inevitable paint loss they have holes in the stomach area .

And a couple have holes in the back as well , I investigated and this seem to be dues to a very thin layer of metal (being hollow cast of course) 

One has a missing rifle as well . The dilemma is to repair or not ? , 'Proper Collectors' would say "No !" you devalue the figures ! , however I would like to use them on the tabletop- so I'm going to have a go at repairing them !

So I've packed the holes with tissue paper and filled them with 'milliput' , I repaired the rifle with a pared down cocktail stick coated in super glue . I will repaint the damaged bits but I think I will not touch up the original paint - leaving their battle scars as testament to their service over the years . Too be continued ...... 

 

A wet day task .

 

Well I got the dog out early and just got back as the rain started - neither the dog or me are keen of the rain. These figures have been awaiting a varnish and I have bought a new tin , sadly not my usual brand - this one smells funny and takes ages to dry ! . The 54mm Zouaves are some I bought from eBay, three of which are quite old and I have decided only to based them and  not to repaint them . There is the German Naval Attache and another converted figure which I will tell of later ...... 

The Annual Christmas game.

 

Wargaming colleagues 'S' and his son 'O' (who henceforth shall be know as 'S' junior) called around this morning in that time of year between Christmas and New Year when you don't know what day it is or are the shops open etc etc. They deployed their troops and I slightly re-jigged mine to counter this and we began the game . They had to capture the high ground in the centre of the board to win.

'S's Zouaves move up behind a skirmish screen (he had been reading the rules up obviously) as I bring up my Infantry to counter this.

My General was hampered by his Mistress interfering with the command structure - ie he kept loosing one of his hand of cards ever activation !

'S' and 'S' junior survey the battlefield - sporting their Christmas jumpers (luckiy not to garish)

'S' junior moves his Infantry forward using fire and movment which drove off my Artillery crew and on their rallying finished them off . I quickly try to bring up my Infantry to support my gun.

I finally get to deploy my 'Inconvinient Citizen' (in the form of a Clergyman) which stops 'S' juniors artillery from shooting by him getting in the way.

'S' in the depths of dice rolling dispair as his center unit only inches slowly forward and the Zouaves suffer heavy casualties from my Jaegers on the right hand ridge.

At this point things grew heated and I forgot to take photos - 'S' junior's Infantry having killed off my gun crew and causing my infantry to retire captured the left hand high ground . In the center'S' managed to finally get his Infantry to charge and drove the Jaegers back (they had previously been under constant Artillery fire and so had been whittled down) .

The 'S's survey the stricken field - having captured two of the three pieces of highground and with about half of my Army in retreat I conceeded the game . It was quite a close thing, I managed to drive off the Zouaves on my right and the Cavalry but my left crumbled as did my center . A great game , the rules are simple enough not to get in the way of playing the game and everyone had fun - another successful game .

Preparing for Christmas - well the Christmas Game at least !

 

It is a tradition for us to have a Christmas Game and this year we are having one on the day after Boxing day, so I have been tidying up the gaming room and setting up the tabletop and sorting out the forces ready fot the big day. My Wargaming Colleague 'S' is calling round and is even talking about bring his son 'O' with him - I have warned him to tell 'O' that we will be playing with LARGE figures so he doesn't get culture shock .

'S' and 'O's forces sorted out ready for the off. 

My General glares across the soon to be battlefield and for some reason not yet explained is accompanied by a member of the Clergy ?? - all will be revealed in the battle report after Christmas .....

A glimpse of a Golden Era of Toy Soldier production.

 

I came across this series of photos of the Britains factory circa late 1940's when most of their products went for export to pay for World War Two . They are from a Pathe News film which were shown in cinemas as news articles before the big picture These two ladies seem to be cleaning up castings .

Here we see a young lady painting up cavalry figures - OMG just look at that pile of figures !.

Serried ranks of metal goodness.

Another view of the painting process .

Here we see the figures being picked ready for packing into their boxes.

Just look at all those boxes of toy soldiers !!!

They are held in place in the boxes with thread .

'Changing the Guard' a  magnificent set of figures in their presentation box , worth a small fortune nowadays.

The finished product in the familiar red box. I find these photographs fascinating a glimpse of a bygone era .

Command for Army 'Pantalon Rouge' .

 

When I fought my last 54mm battle using my Army 'Pantalon Rouge' I suddenly realised they didn't have a General to command them ! . So in my last casting session I cast up a semi-flat figure and converted him into a suitable General .

A glimpse from the Britains factory .

 

I found these photos on the Britains Toy Soldier Facebook page , the are of the Britains factory at the time of the 1953 Coronation .

This young lady seems to be painting figures.

OMG ! fancy having to paint all those figures !!!

The full Coronatin coach and escort - bet it cost a pretty penny in those days - it certainly would now !