Christmas has come early to Man of TIN house, as my first order of Jacklex figures has arrived from the new owner Mark Lodge.
Before they go into the Christmas present box to be given to me by the family, I thought I would check my order through – all present and correct.
I have long wanted to buy some Jacklex figures having seen them in Donald Featherstone books.
Whilst they are out of the lovely red box and sawdust packaging before Christmas, I thought I would photograph the figures alongside their 20mm Airfix counterparts.
Jacklex figures were made by the talented Jack Alexander (90 this year, 2019) in the 1960s and 1970s, partly to complement the popular OOHO Airfix American Civil War and Foreign Legion figures.
This ‘origin story’ is told here – I have yet to track down in online scan archives the Featherstone Meccano Magazine article or War Games book review in 1962 that first inspired Jack Alexander to make his toy soldier range:
https://www.jacklexminiatures.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=4
The Airfix WW1 Americans come across as quite slender in comparison with the Jacklex American Punitive Expedition to Mexico just before WW1. Others like the limited WW1 Jacklex range are a far closer size match to Airfix.
Airfix WW1 German and British Infantry alongside the Jacklex equivalents, albeit with mid to late war steel helmets.
The American Civil War figures generally blend well with the Airfix Civil War figures.
My conversions from British Commandos and Japanese Infantry look quite slender in comparison to Jacklex drummers and standard bearers but these are the sorts of figures that oddly Airfix did not produce for their ACW range. Trumpeters and Officers for the American Civil War were produced by Airfix but oddly not drummers or standard bearers. The American War of Independence and Waterloo Airfix range was better served in this way.
The Jacklex horses match quite well the Airfix ACW / Seventh Cavalry and may be a solution to the awkward Airfix horses that do not glue well to their bases.
Again these lovely colonial British and Navy officers and French Foreign Legion officer match quite well the size of the relevant Airfix French Foreign Legion, Arabs and Esci colonials and Zulus.
Lead Mountain Warning – you could happily spend a small fortune on the new old Jacklex ranges (but at least you would have something decent and long lasting to show for it).
I have yet to sample the Jacklex Russo Japanese War, Colonial Natives, Mexicans Ranges but they do look attractive figures. Fighting as I tend to do small solo Featherstone ‘Close Wars’ type skirmishes with only a few dozen figures on each side, I can (almost) get away with gaming a wide range of figure scales and periods without additional storage problems and bankruptcy. Oddly appropriate as ‘Close Wars’ rules are a simple appendix to the 1962 War Games book by Donald Featherstone that inspired Jack Alexander to make Jacklex figures in the first place.
https://www.jacklexminiatures.com
It is a great easy to use shopping website with good customer service, easy payment, fast despatch and some quirky touches like free PDF Andy Callan 19th Century Rules (veteran rules writer Andy Callan is an old gaming friend of new Jacklex owner Mark Lodge). There are also links to these two Jacklex inspired websites:
All Things Jacklex: jacklex.blogspot.com
ABC Wargamers: abcwargamers.blogspot.com
Jacklex – a company and figure range well worth supporting.
Too dark in the evening now to photograph my new figures anymore. Time to pack away for now.
Back in the box they go till Christmas to snooze away the time with their sawdust infused dreams of glory …
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN on 5 November 2019.
Man of Tin blog 
They are lovely little figures, I particularly enjoyed painting up some of the Boer War figures. Historifig’s old Scruby “25mm” ranges mix with the Jacklex ones as well. (Two Jacks! Coincidence?)
Adding a few of both the Jacklex and Scruby ACW figures to my ACW armies is on my list for this winter.
LikeLike
Ross
Thanks for the tip off about Historifigs Scruby 25mm ACW figures, I shall look these up. Rather than startling a whole new period or range, I thought a few Jacklex figures would complement and fill gaps in the Airfix ACW range and Esci plastic colonials. Hopefully some Scrubys should add some heft and a further vintage and wargames history stiffener to my raggedy lightweight vintage Airfix troops.
Good service, good website, lovely figures back in the market again, the new owner Mark Lodge deserves to do well. Hopefully he has a bit of a Christmas present money and New Years Gaming Resolutions rush to get him successfully launched.
LikeLike
P.S. The Two Jacks! Coincidence is well worth a blogpost from you sometime …
LikeLike
Great figures and a splendid Christmas gift. I look forward to seeing them in action…
LikeLike
As I mentioned to Ross, it is good to add some new (command) figures without starting a whole new Army and Period. The ACW and colonials should tuck in well to my vintage Airfix forces just as they were designed by Jack Alexander to do. All I have to do is wait till Christmas now …
LikeLike
Those look lovely- I may have to invest in some.
Cheers,
Pete.
LikeLike
Exactly how I felt – a good investment with a high return in fun and gaming!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great looking figures. Always nice to see ‘classic’ figures being used and even better to see them back and available., especially when they mix so well with 1/72 plastics. One gets the notion that they’d look superb painted and the images from their website confirm that.
Enjoy the pressies, I wonder what you’ll get?!
LikeLike
Thanks – I think they are charming little figures that work (mostly) pretty well with the Airfix figures they were designed by Jack Alexander to complement. This could be one good source of income for the new owner Mark Lodge, “filling the gaps” in what Figure poses Airfix oddly never produced.
The rest of the ranges look tempting but may have to wait until another Christmas.
I can’t wait to paint these but it will be after Christmas as they are embargoed in the present cupboard. This is our family system that we now have to avoid too many unwanted surprise presents by heavily tipping off members of the family (or even buying what you want and setting it aside.) It saves Santa and his Elves lots of unnecessary effort.
LikeLike