Work In Progress WIP 1: I have been busy this weekend basing and rearming some of last week’s new arrivals in the form of “Bashed and Broken” Britain’s North American Indians.
A Prince August 54mm homecast toy soldier hand does the job well enough for one of this fine pair of Johillco Braves missing their tomahawks.
After drilling through body and hands, rifles or muskets were built up from wire and masking tape.
Broken Britain’s Indians as they arrived last week …Broken Britain’s Indians with rifles or muskets repaired.
Making Fimo polymer clay tuppenny bases for two footless Braves …
I chose bronze or copper for flesh tones after studying closely the variety and range of these recently acquired bashed Indian figures and others in toy soldier reference books.
Toy soldier Indians often had a limited but lurid colour palette which I hope to keep close to.
More paintwork to do in toy soldier style of Gloss paint. Very much work in progress.
Hello I'm Mark Mr MIN, Man of TIN. Based in S.W. Britain, I'm a lifelong collector of "tiny men" and old toy soldiers, whether tin, lead or childhood vintage 1960s and 1970s plastic figures.
I randomly collect all scales and periods and "imagi-nations" as well as lead civilians, farm and zoo animals. I enjoy the paint possibilities of cheap poundstore plastic figures as much as the patina of vintage metal figures.
Befuddled by the maths of complex boardgames and wargames, I prefer the small scale skirmish simplicity of very early Donald Featherstone rules.
To relax, I usually play solo games, often using hex boards. Gaming takes second place to making or convert my own gaming figures from polymer clay (Fimo), home-cast metal figures of many scales or plastic paint conversions. I also collect and game with vintage Peter Laing 15mm metal figures, wishing like many others that I had bought more in the 1980s ...
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6 thoughts on “Rearming the Native American Indians WIP 1”
If I could spend ten minutes teaching you how to use wire and a soldering iron, you would be done with the temporary tape wrapping method for good! 😀
Thanks Michael. A Soldering iron is my next technological step up and possible future acquisition. New tools open up new opportunities such as a finescale small pin vice hand drill bought recently.
At the moment, I’m exploring the rough and ready potential of wire, file, superglue, Fimo polymer clay and masking tape to make old broken figures robust enough again for garden games and the tabletop. I have the battered finger tips to show for it.
I can see your rifles area good substitute as the originals were basic anyway and not too hard to replicate. That is a clever idea using the paper tape.
Although the original figures are a little crude I note that the faces are quite good.
The Britain’s On Guard Indians do have a basic rifle as can be seen from surviving examples that was close enough to what can be achieved by wire and masking tape.
The Johillco braves’ rifles were a trickier wrap to get the rifle butts right but should look good enough when painted. I did think of paint stripping the original figures as there is some good detail on face, trouser plumes, beads and muscles to explore.
Thanks Marvin, I’m happy with the way the unrealistically shiny copper colour is working for skin tones better than trying a red / brown mix and in keeping with the original factory toy soldier look.
I’m looking forwards to doing the bright colouring in of the original Britain’s three colour system for non-native troops, in this case Gloss yellow, red and blue trousers or leggings.
Man of Tin blog 
If I could spend ten minutes teaching you how to use wire and a soldering iron, you would be done with the temporary tape wrapping method for good! 😀
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Thanks Michael. A Soldering iron is my next technological step up and possible future acquisition. New tools open up new opportunities such as a finescale small pin vice hand drill bought recently.
At the moment, I’m exploring the rough and ready potential of wire, file, superglue, Fimo polymer clay and masking tape to make old broken figures robust enough again for garden games and the tabletop. I have the battered finger tips to show for it.
LikeLike
I can see your rifles area good substitute as the originals were basic anyway and not too hard to replicate. That is a clever idea using the paper tape.
Although the original figures are a little crude I note that the faces are quite good.
LikeLike
The Britain’s On Guard Indians do have a basic rifle as can be seen from surviving examples that was close enough to what can be achieved by wire and masking tape.
The Johillco braves’ rifles were a trickier wrap to get the rifle butts right but should look good enough when painted. I did think of paint stripping the original figures as there is some good detail on face, trouser plumes, beads and muscles to explore.
LikeLike
Good to see the war party growing daily. I think your choice of copper/bronze and the original colour palette are good choices.
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Thanks Marvin, I’m happy with the way the unrealistically shiny copper colour is working for skin tones better than trying a red / brown mix and in keeping with the original factory toy soldier look.
I’m looking forwards to doing the bright colouring in of the original Britain’s three colour system for non-native troops, in this case Gloss yellow, red and blue trousers or leggings.
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