The other week my wife who was looking for knitting related items on eBay said - "there's somebody selling toy soldiers here" ! . I had a look at the dealer and as well as the aforesaid knitting items , a collection of old plastic phones (?) and other bric a brac there where 16 Britains 54mm Red Indians !? - going rather cheaply - so I made an offer and duly received them . To boost their number to 20 I bought a few more and dumped the whole lot into bleach to strip the paint off .
This removed the rather grungy paint from the original figures and revealed that their rifles had been repaired using match sticks (?) . However several of the others where painted in a metallic copper colour for their flesh - this has withstood multiple immersions in bleach/paint stripper - I hate to think of the toxicity of this pain job - they must have use similar to paint the bottom of warships or the coating of the inside of nuclear plants , so it's going to have to stay and I've decided to paint the flesh of the others in a copper metallic Vallejo acrylic to match . Further updates when the painting starts .
Glad you gave these a good home. I sometimes feel that no one is interested in these vintage cowboys and Indians. I like these figures and I have similar which l really enjoy gaming with after repairs. Vintage Britains metal cowboys are full of character too. I use them as irregulars in my Maple Leaf Country games on both sides.
ReplyDeleteWill be using them as 'native' auxiliaries fro my AGM armies , must look at the Cowboys too .
DeleteVery nice pieces Tony! You never know what you will find until you strip them down to the metal. It could be copper radiator paint that is giving you a tough time. I do like that copper metallic paint color for "native" toy soldiers, it looks great on the wargame table!
ReplyDeleteYes your right it could be radiator/heater paint , I will be interested to see how the 'copper' skin idea works out .
DeleteA fun project at a fair price, sounds good! I got a real satisfaction restoring these old toy soldiers which I never had with my 28mm collection.
ReplyDeleteMichael
Think being hollow helps as well sticking things to them and repairing something that is at least 50+ years old .
DeleteCowboys and Injuns are surprisingly affordable still as a battered joblot.
ReplyDeleteI too went with the shiny copper body paint, it somehow works with toy soldier Injuns.
https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/american-indians-first-nations-or-imagi-nations/
Yes they seem not to be as popular as toy soldiers .
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