My Thyer Brigadia Militia and Volunteer Firemen’s Colour Party is finished, made up of repaired or converted hollow-cast 54mm Britain’s toy soldiers.
I wanted them to look like a Britain’s style set with shiny factory painting, straight out of a red box.
They started out looking battered and broken like this:
These battered Britain’s Redcoats needed new heads, new arms, rifles repaired and a repaint to restore a little shiny pride.
The recast rifle arms and firemen heads were ones that I had in my spares box, obtained from Dorset Model Soldier Company.
Two of the headless Britain’s guardsmen had rifle points missing, the other four were missing their moving right arms completely.
After drilling a hole with a pin vice, the missing rifle points were repaired with fine wire, masking tape and superglue. One has a fixed bayonet, the other doesn’t – a small oversight.
In my Forgotten Minor States of Europe ImagiNations world, this is the colour party of the Thyer Brigadia Militia and Volunteer Firemen.
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Their Thyer Brigadia national story is told here:
The proudest part of the Thyer Brigadian uniforms is the brass cavalry style plumed dragoon helmets which are often copied by Fire Brigades worldwide. Interestingly these Volunteer Militia troops are also the Volunteer Fire Brigade in their various towns and villages (hence the variations in uniforms), making sure that their native Alpine wooden houses and mountain forests do not catch fire. A fireman’s axe is carried on fire duty and state occasions.
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They display the Thyer Brigadia Volunteer Firemen’s flag of blazing red orb symbol on a yellow background, a flag proudly made by some of their wives and mothers.
Shiny Toy Soldier style faces with the pink cheek dot fit complete the look
Alan Gruber suggested that they should have some ‘wheels’ in the form of a Fire Engine. In the absence of an old fire engine (I’m sure I have the reissued 1/32 Airfix unmade kit one stowed somewhere) I made do with a 1940 Ford 1:32 scale fire truck (obviously imported from America). The uniform has obviously not changed by the 1940s.
I shall have to track down a suitable Dalmatian fire dog to accompany them on parade.
This gives me another unit / outlet for broken figures, once I have ordered some further arms and heads from Dorset in future.
Happy with the shiny!
Blog post by Mark Man of TIN, 12 September 2020.
Man of Tin blog 
These have come up splendidly and look great. They are fortunate fellows to have such a splendid fire appliance, loving imported after some fund raising ( I have a metal badge somewhere I got in Switzerland as a boy which was sold by a lady in traditional costume who was collecting in aid of the local fire brigade as the fire brigade band played on) from the USA. I do hope they will feature in a game in the not too distant future.
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I hope to add some more shiny fellows to these as I go through my mending box. That badge selling and more is obviously how they fundraised for their Ford but in the nineteenth century these would presumably have had hand pumps or horse drawn pumps.
The Volunteer Fire Crews, stations and vehicles are an interesting feature of the lovely Forgotten Georgia blog. We have a fair number of part time rural local fire crews in my part of the West Country and I suppose another equivalent would be local lifeboat crews and fundraising.
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Wonderful!
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Forgot to say that axe carrying fellow made me wonder if they might also act as a pioneer unit? They could be used to build temporary bridging, cut paths through hedges and barricades. Such a unit has immense gaming potential for scenarios such as demolishing a bridge to cover a retreat or building one in an advance.
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Indeed – The axe was a nod to the farriers and pioneers without the Sergeants beard and ceremonial apron (until I find a headless aproned drummer bandsman).
As you say they open up several new construction, destruction and repair scenarios.
The very Trumpton “do everything” nature of these literal Home Guard volunteers makes them a Militia / Pioneer / Firemen force to be reckoned with.
Another heads and arms order to Dorset beckons!
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Fantastic work Mark! They could do with the old Timpo horse-drawn fire engine.
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I shall keep my eye out for something suitable, unless / hoping I can find my Airfix 1/32 fire engine kit stowed somewhere.
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Really super work, an excellent creation. Put it in one of those fancy old-fashioned style cardboard box and it would be the bees knees.
With these uniforms they remind of the comedian Will Hay as Captain Viking and his crew in the classic 1930s film “Where’s that Fire?” – one of my favourites of his.
I can see them recreating the brilliant High Street scene where they get the extendable ladder stuck trying to turn around and cause a huge traffic jam. I recall a young Charles Hawtry making a fabulous cameo as a know-all schoolboy teaching them geometry to extricate their ladder!
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I misremembered – they were taking delivery of their fireman’s pole!
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Thanks Marvin. Great photo. I used to watch the odd Will Hay film on Saturday TV …
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Lovely work, always nice to see old toy soldiers restored for future enjoyment!
Michael
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Thank you. It is a curious pleasure and it’s own reward.
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