Le Toy Van classic space rocket and pound store space figures

Little green men have stylishly landed … Le Toy Van Space rocket 

A classic space rocket to match my Pound Store Plastic figure space conversions. More pictures at – Crossposted from Pound Store Plastic Warriors https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/04/16/le-toy-van-space-rocket

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN 16 April 2019

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Girl with Attack Helicopter or Pound Store Block Figures

Wilko Wilkoblox UK website screen shot 2019

Crossposted for the sheer love of budget pocket money plastic toys  from my Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog –  see the blog post in full at:

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/04/12/the-joy-of-pound-store-block-figures/

Inspiring the next generation of helicopter pilots or engineers? Good STEM / STEMette role Models? Screen shot from the Wilko / Wilkoblox website April 2019 

Blog posted / crossposted by Mark Man of TIN, 12 April 2019

Farewell Google +, ByeBye Google Plus, Hello MeWe

Welcome to the new Peter Laing community on Me We, home to many Google+ refugees https://mewe.com/join/peterlaingfigures

Farewell Google+ Peter Laing pages (2017-2019).

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/06/peter-laing-15mm-google-community-page/

Hello MeWe.

Thanks to Ian Dury.

There will no doubt be more gaming and figure related MeWe groups https://mewe.com/join/aminiaturesgroupaboutwargamesandtoysoldiers

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN on April 1st / 2nd, 2019.

My own Plastic Warrior Show in a box

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/my-plastic-warrior-show-in-a-box/

 

Vintage Pound Store Transport and Plastic Space Warriors

Vintage transport for equally vintage Airfix WW1 20mm figures …works well with 15mm

Cross posted from my Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog, some more great little vintage plastic tat

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/vintage-pound-store-transport/

and in a back garden galaxy far far away

Tim Mee Galaxy Laser Team Space Patrol

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/03/23/tim-mee-galaxy-laser-team-figures

Plastic joy! (In part, thanks to the Duke of Tradgardland).

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN on 29 March 2019.

Peter Laing 15mm and Airfix 54mm German Paratroops

Close up on the baggy, chunky but slight detail on Peter Laing 15mm WW2 German Infantry that could be dual use for paratroops.

I am currently painting up some 15mm Peter Laing WW2 German Infantry into dual 1940/41 use as German paratroops.

Batch painting underway on these Peter Laing 15mm German Infantry / paratroops.

The beauty of these first 15mm figures is that Peter Laing deliberately made them with slight and muted detail so that they could be easily converted by paint or file to other figures. These will be gloss paint or gloss varnish when finished.

“Detail is kept muted so there is no overscale effect … detail in the figure depends on the amount that is put in the painting ”  – Peter Laing catalogue introduction

These 15mm WW2 German rifleman infantry figures have a bagginess of trouser about them that suits paratroop jump suits.  Rifles were also quite widespread issue to paratroops, not all were carrying submachine guns.

A quick uniform check out of the ‘best’ uniform book of my childhood (Preben Kannik’s Military Uniforms of the World in Colour) shows that such grey dual use figures are possible.

This is what I still think 1940 Germans in WW2 look  like … thanks to Preben Kannik.

The Andrew Mollo Uniforms of WW2 book (1970s Blandford), familiar from the childhood branch library, had these slightly grainier, grittier, more photo-realist illustrations.

Home Guard manuals of the time in my collection had interesting uniform plates – this book by John Brophy 1940.

Home Guard manual by John Brophy c. 1940 – uniform plate. “The author of this handbook has a ‘hunch’ that adolescent enemy agents may be dropped in the uniforms of Boy Scouts or Sea Scouts”

German Parachutists as shown on WW2 British Ministry of Information posters c. 1940/41 – note the camouflaged helmet cover.

This interesting ‘spot on sight’ enemy uniforms poster No. 1 shows a camo helmet cover, otherwise a grey uniform, worth bearing in mind when painting. This poster can be found at: https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/0611/presentations/Teaching%20website/images4/uniforms1.html

I’m not sure I fancy painting 15mm camouflage jackets or helmets in such detail as below on my Airfix figures or as Tim did in his excellent Tim’s Tanks Peter Laing 15mm WW2 Blog post.

http://timstanks.blogspot.com/2015/07/peter-laing-15mm-miniatures.html

My previous paratroop camo painting experience was on a much bigger scale, about thirty plus years ago, tackling the camo from the Airfix packaging onto their then-newish 54mm German paratroop figures.

I have recently rebased, renovated and gloss varnished these 1980s Airfix paint jobs for new use.

A bit bashed, rebased but still looking good …

I first painted these German Airfix Paratrooper figures in the early 1980s and they have hung around since then, getting increasingly bashed. I kept them as I quite liked the camouflage effects I achieved then with Airfix / Humbrol enamels.

I must have been following the Airfix painting guide on the box backs or catalogues a5 the time, so checked this online.

As originally painted (in Matt?) I wanted to get a little of the old gloss toy soldier style at a time when I had no lead hollowcast painted 54mm figures to base them on. I must have been reading old toy soldier books in the library.

Three things were needed to  refresh them for modern 54mm Skirmish gaming use.

1. A quick spruce up of the faces in old toy soldier style (pink cheek dots, the lot) matches the original old toy soldier style paint from the 1980s.

2. I have rebased them on tuppenny bases to add some weight.

3. A coat of (gloss acrylic) spray varnish to seal them for play.

I have a few more unpainted ones lying around from job lots that I hope to paint in a similar toy soldier gloss style to match these figures. Then off to the “Operation Back  Garden or Garten” this summer using Don’s parachute “confetti” paper shapes tipped out of a box or toy plane method of simulating airdrops?

My local childhood branch library copy of Wargaming Airborne Operations … now mine!

My reference book for such past figure games was the curiously patchy 1977 Wargaming Airborne Operations by Donald Featherstone, still available in reprint from the History of Wargaming Project. http://www.wargaming.co/recreation/details/dfairborne.htm

Now I need to finish these Laing paratroop figures and get working on the Home Guard rifle platoon to see them off …

Remember – be on your guard – “adolescent enemy agents may be dropped in the uniforms of Boy Scouts or Sea Scouts.”

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN on the 24th March  2019.

If in doubt, undercoat! Peter Laings on the painting table

Peter Laing 15mms on the painting table

In gaming, if you’re not sure what to do, it’s generally wise to make a rule  and roll a dice.

Equally some wise advice I remember from someone’s ‘black dog’  post – if you’re not sure what to do next, undercoat stuff.

I’m busy undercoating Peter Laing 15mms today. I was reminded that I had not painted or posted about Peter Laing figures for a while by the imminent closing of the Peter Laing Community pages on Google Plus and many people’s migration to the social media platform Me We. You can find like-minded Laing enthusiasts  on the Peter Laing section set up by Ian Dury: https://mewe.com/join/peterlaingfigures

Eagle eyed readers can spot about 30 WW2 German infantry that I intend to have use as paratroops, along with about the same number of WW2 British Infantry riflemen to double up as Home Guards.

I feel some 1940 /41 ‘Sealion’ type Skirmish rifle platoon  scenarios coming up in future, joining my small number of Laing WW1 and WW2 figures that are so far painted and based. https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/peter-laing-15mm-ww2-skirmish/

A cluster of backwoodsmen and settlers in buckskins will double up as Confederates and Boers, useful from French Indian Wars through the war of Independence,  Civil War and beyond. Versatile figures! Likewise there are a small number of very useful Native Americans with bows and arrows.

A few more redcoats in slouch hats as Mounties for Skirmish and Imaginations Games. Some Union or Seventh Cavalry or more Mounties  on horseback to join my few finished ones https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/mountie-ambush-game-15mm/

A few strips of redcoats in tricorne hats and grenadiers, along with a mixed handful of British Napoleonic era Infantry.

A mixed bag, some of whom have been waiting patiently on the painting table for a long time.

Getting my eye back in to painting 15mm after a long period on 40 to 54mm seems  a bit strange.

If you’re not sure what to do next, undercoat stuff. Wise words indeed …

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN on a  rainy Saturday 23rd March 2019.