What will 2022 bring?

Anyone else made any foolish unachievable resolutions for this year’s gaming?

Battling Bronte Sisters (Bad Squiddo 28mm Little Wolves Amazons) meet 25mm Prince August Homecast cavemen boggarts. As close as I will get to Silver Bayonet?

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It’s that time of the year when New Year’s Resolutions are optimistically made … but maybe not in this house.

My New Gaming Year’s Irresolutions for 2021 were kept deliberately vague …

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/new-gaming-year-irresolutions-2021/

but even then my vaguest plans for New Gaming Year NGY 2021 often went awry, mostly due to COVID.

The local village Spring Flower and Craft show 2021 never happened so no #FEMBruary figures from Bad Squiddo painted as planned but I did paint some later in the year – The Battling Bronte sisters.

Thanks to Covid levels, I never made it to the Woking 2021 54mm Little Wars Revisited Games Day when it finally happened. Covid dependent of course, but hopefully I might make it in 2022 with my Boy Scouts and snowball fighters who need more gaming time https://littlewarsrevisited.boards.net/thread/847/woking-games-saturday-march-correct.

My local history research project talk on WW2 in my local area (as a fundraiser) was postponed by COVID from autumn 2021 to late May 2022.

I think the NGY Irresolutions 2020 will still stand after a year or two interrupted but who knows what might happen in 2022?

New Gaming Year’s Irresolutions 2022

In no particular order

1. Cataloguing Peter Laing 15mm figures as part of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the now out-of-production Peter Laing figures, possibly the first 15mm figures when they launched in October 1972.

https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com

As well as cataloguing what I have over the next ten months, fellow members of the Peter Laing collectors circle on MeWe have been helping me identify figures and supplying photos of figures I don’t have. Then there’s painting and basing more of my unpainted Laing figure stash and getting in some more 15mm skirmish games?

Peter Laing 15mm Chasseurs d’Alpins (WW1 Range) complete with walking sticks!

2. England or Cornwall invaded – Variations on Operation Sealion / Leon Marino

Still playing around with skirmish ideas as part of my Look Duck and Varnish Blog ongoing Operation Sealion Home Guard games, but also found out more about the WW1 ‘Gorgeous Wrecks’ or Volunteer Training Corps, good for future VTC Wide Games and Victorian / Edwardian / WW1 era ‘what if’ games.

Arma-Dads Army! 1590s Home Guard Elizabethan Muster of conversions and ECW figures against the Spanish Fury, Chintoys Conquistadors and pound store Pirates …

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/arma-dads-army-elizabethan-home-guard-1580s-1590s-operacion-leon-marino/

3. More Close Little Wars forest skirmishes and Close Little Space Wars Games in 54mm … I didn’t get a backyard garden galaxy game in this year.

My lovely Bold Frontiers cardboard trees didn’t get enough of an outing in 2021…

Two Britain’s Ltd. broken Scots charging – a favourite pose – with part repaired rifles, two more figures from the Waifs and Strays group of figures 2021 – “Waifs and Strays” sounds like it should be a Victorian Regimental nickname.

4. I look forward to some more enjoyable tinkering with 54mm repairs of broken lead figures to add to various units. Over the years I have been stashing away battered and broken figures from various donations – cowboys, Indians, redcoats, Scots and Khaki figures – along with the odd intriguing figure bought online.

Arrived last year and put away for Christmas – some very heavy, solid lead and fairly paint distressed Terraton 54mm-ish German semiflats to repair and rebase. Indians, redcoats, trees and farm animals …

5. What else might happen?

Weather permitting maybe will even get some more home casting done outdoors?

Pound Store Plastic figures, Early War Miniatures 1940 Range (for Svenmarck invaded!) and vintage Airfix OOHO figures to restore or rebase for some skirmish games.

More time for Bronte ImagiNations?

My Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Snowball Games need attention!

My skateboarders could do with painting!

Not going to run out of fun things to do …

What are your New Gaming Year plans?

I hope that your gaming plans for 2022 go agreeably awry as well.

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, NYE 31 December 2021 / 1st January 2022

Repairing Broken Toy Soldiers # 1 Waifs and Strays

A post about Repairing Broken Britain’s, Crescent and toy soldiers from other makers including these battered Hanks and Sutton Zulus, c.1912

54mm Khaki Infantry, Cowboys and Injuns, redcoats and home cast flats with an interesting back story, all needing repair. One of my winter projects …

See more toy soldier pictures here:

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2021/10/09/repairing-vintage-toy-soldiers-1-waifs-and-strays/

Posted on my Man of TIN Blog Two site, set up ready for when I reach my free 3GB capacity on my original Man of TIN blog WordPress.com here.

MGB’s new 54mm Wargaming and Toy Soldier Repair blog

I have been chatting by email to MGB recently about repairing old toy soldiers and received an interesting parcel of plastic figure bits and bobs for future conversion work. Thanks MGB!

MGB mentioned that he was starting a new blog about his 54mm repairs and gaming.

It’s well worth a look https://wargamingwith54mmtoysoldiers.blogspot.com/

Some very fine colourful medievals in his latest September post.

WW2, Medievals, Colonial era – lots of interesting things so far and some fine repairs and repaints.

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN

Repairing Broken Britain’s: Thyer Brigadia Colour Party Finished in 54mm

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:

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/old-britains-54mm-on-the-repair-table-thyer-brigadia-troops/

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.

Suitably red and silver and shiny … this 1940 1:32 fire truck is from Texaco c. 2008

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.

Old Britain’s 54mm on the repair table … Thyer Brigadia troops

Some battered hollowcast Britain’s from job lots that are long overdue for repair.

They are due to lose their battered Redcoats and acquire new heads, new arms and handsome navy blue jackets. I shall keep the navy blue trousers and red trouser stripe.

I have some Dorset Soldiers recast arms and spare firemen’s heads so this seemed a good chance to create some 54mm shiny toy soldier versions of my scrap 15mm Thyer Brigadia Militia and Volunteer FireFighters.

They will eventually look like armed Victorian Firemen in their shiny brass helmets.

Combined Militia and Fire Brigade, now where have I seen that before?

Dad’s Army BBC TV episode “Brain versus Brawn” where the Home Guard become firemen …

These are part of my ImagiNations Forgotten Minor States (FMS) in MittelMittel Europe pictured and described here in the mid to late 19th Century

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/scrap-napoleonics-ready-to-scrap-forgotten-minor-states/

WIP Work in progress …

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN 6 September 2020

Britain’s Deetail Conversions – Guards?

Thanks to a gift of broken and surplus figures from Alan ‘Tradgardland‘ Gruber, I had five damaged or oddly painted Britain’s Deetail Guardsmen to play with.

Some of them already had some bright and colourful but playworn repainted uniforms. I have sensitively repainted some of the more scuffed paintwork to keep these colourful ImagiNations and Ruritanian uniforms.

A rear view of the repainted and varnished figures

This is how the figures arrived from Alan Gruber. Many are already repaired as you can see at https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/02/garage-gleanings-plastic-figure-rapid-repairs/

Such wild paint or uniform schemes (OBEs or Other Beggars’ Efforts) deserve to be preserved and enhanced. The blue and yellow ones have a colourful Scandinavian or a Swiss Guard inspired feel.

Up close, the two red coats along side each other goes to show how easily Britain’s Deetail could have made more traditional Line Infantry with spiked Home Service helmets rather than more modern Guards.

The rifle needed to be modified or repaired with ammunition clips removed to make it more old fashioned. The metal base and feet lugs were missing so feet were drilled, wire pins inserted and fixed through and underneath a card base.

These will be robust enough figures for Little Wars style 54mm games.

Original Britain’s Deetail (left) and my Line Infantry repaired conversion.

The Line Infantry style conversion was done simply by repairing the rifle and removing the original head. The new spiked infantry helmeted head was a spare one in the bits box that I had cast from the Prince August 54mm Traditional Toy Soldier Homecasting set.

A hand pin vice drill was used to drill a hole in neck and head and joined by short piece of wire and superglue.

A quick gloss spray Varnish added to the toy soldier look. A pink cheek dot is still required.

As more such broken Britain’s Deetail figures turn up, I now have several ImagiNations type uniform schemes to add to.

Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 11 August 2020

Unboxing Box No. 4

An EBay glimpse and hunch that paid off? 

Join me in a virtual rummage  through (Christmas 2018)  Box No. 4. Who knows what you’ll find!

Crossposted from my other blog Pound Store Plastic Warriors https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/unboxing-box-no-4/

If you enjoyed this cross-post, you might also enjoy this recent rummage of a blog post https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/my-plastic-warrior-show-in-a-box/

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN, April 22 2019.

More Toy Wreckage for the Repair Bench – Opening Boxes 1 to 3

 

Box No1. Damaged horses and cavalry

Cowboy turning in the saddle to fire, nice pose

Box No. 1 Zoo animals and oddities – an elephant and a giraffe each with a broken leg.

Box. No. 1 Damaged foot figures and infantry – bits of Zulu, footballer, cowboys and soldiers and some stray heads and horse legs.

One of the delights of slowly unpacking presents after Christmas is to look in these wreckage and repair boxes. I bought these cheaply online over the least few months to store away, bought as part of my Christmas present in advance, paid for using my Christmas gift money.

Box No. 1 contained some interesting zoo animals, lots of cowboys and cavalry along with some battered foot figures.

Box No. 2 contained an equally eclectic mixture of damaged and destroyed figures to be repaired and converted. None have reached the stage of melting down.

Box No. 2 colourful Cowboys and Indian figures.

Some spirited Cowboy and Indian poses to repair.

Box No. 2 bronzed American Indian on horseback, nice pose

Box No. 3 contained another eclectic mix of makers and figures from cowboys to redcoats.

Box No. 2 – Aluminium Yeoman of the Guard by Quiralu or Wendal?

Box No. 3 had an interesting mix of much less damaged figures. I photographed these fast against fading natural light.

Box No. 3 – An interesting mix of figures and makers. The cavalryman is a fine figure!

Box No. 3 – Some more serious “military miniature” figures 1805 Austrian Infantry by Prokop, and in Blue a damaged Fine Art Castings. Willie Figures horse at top.

Who could resist this cheeky wee chappie, whoever made him. See comment below – Zinnmeister 40mm moulding. 

Box No. 3 Useful infantry figures for repair including a stretcher case with feet embedded in plasticine to make him stand and play again.

Box No. 4 – a shoebox of delight – still remains to be explored and photographed.

It is always a delight to explore these joblot boxes and work out what to repair first.

Some ragtag motley regiments may be possible, once repaired and repainted where necessary,  figures made suitable again for garden or floor games in the spirit of H.G. Wells.

Using some wonderful illustrated toy soldier  books by Norman Joplin, Andrew Rose and James Opie, I should be able to work out who made some of the less familiar figures. This gives me clues towards whether to repair, restore or convert.

Another order for Dorset Soldiers spare arms and heads may be due later in the year, once my current batch of Broken Britain’s figure repairs from 2018 are finally off the repair bench.

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN January 2019.

2018 blogposts on Broken Britains and broken lead toy soldiers include:

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/10/man-of-tin-advent-calendar-day-10-the-boys-to-entertain-you-or-broken-britains-rearmed/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/rearming-the-native-american-indians-wip-1/

 

Man of TIN Advent Calendar Day 10 – The Boys to Entertain You or Broken Britains rearmed

“Meet the gang, for the boys are here, the boys to entertain you …”

That was the  familiar opening to the 70s WW2 Jungle sitcom by David Croft and Jimmy Perry,  It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, stalwart of my childhood along with their other sitcoms such as Dad’s Army.

This group of Broken Britain’s have the look of  a dodgy ENSA show or music hall chorus line, cheap comics in a strange troops revue.

Seen from another angle, they are more Broken Britain’s – East Kent Regiment in Khaki on guard –  from a donation by John Forman, all broken  figures that would otherwise probably be scrapped.

The East Kent Regiment based and rearmed, defending my stylishly camouflaged gun emplacement.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/from-old-digital-radio-to-54mm-houses-and-coastal-gun-emplacement/

There were seven types of Broken Britain’s infantry in the group kindly donated by John Forman, variously missing feet and bases and all missing rifles.

1. Britain’s Guardsmen firing – six classic figures with broken rifles – not sure which Guards Regiment, as they were play-bashed enough to have no obvious plume colours.

The figures as they arrived from John Forman.

Rifles repaired, busby repainted and figures tuppeny based, otherwise I have kept the patina of battered body and face paint.

2. Britain’s Line Infantry (spiked helmet in black home service  with black facings firing  rifle – Royal Irish Regiment set 156, wearing gaiters – 1 figure.

3. Britain’s Line Infantry (spiked helmet white foreign service) with yellow facings  on guard with rifle – Worcester Regiment set 18 c. 1930,  wearing gaiters – 1 figure.

4. Britain’s East Kent Regiment on Guard, The Buffs Set 16 – yellow facings,  second version with square base, on Guard. Produced 1910 – 1930, wearing gaiters – 2 figures.

5. Britain’s  East Kent Regiment on Guard, service dress set 326a produced postwar in Steel Helmets (my “boys to entertain you”, above) – 5 figures.

6. Gloucester Regiment (Boer War) firing, produced 1901 to 1941 – 3 figures

7. The 3 charging Highlanders seen in a previous blog post

East Kent Regiment in Khaki Service Dress 

They have rifles missing as well as feet or base missing, so replacement bases are required, easily made from Fimo polymer clay to suit tuppeny 2p coin bases.

Rifles repaired, feet made from cocktail sticks glued into Fimo polymer clay bases. Third figure   East Kent Regiment in Khaki service dress  and fourth, Gloucester Regiment firing.

The rifle repairs are more fiddly, requiring drilling a hole with a 1mm pin vice or hand drill into the broken section. If this is a stubby section of broken rifle this is quite tricky, whereas it is much easier to drill into the hand section where it grips the rifle, which has a greater thickness of lead.

Drilling into the rifle hand of another of John Forman’s damaged Britain’s Guards riflemen..

So finally  how did the ENSA “boys to entertain you” turn out in the end?

My Boys to Entertain You (and Mr Hitler) from the Britain’s East Kent Regiment …just a little work to do on tidying and painting the Fimo and tuppenny bases.

 

And for a suitable ear worm … the theme song to It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. Whilst the services / Seventies humour might have dated and the Indian characters would be handled differently today, as a child and still today, to me Windsor Davies is every bit the archetypal comic Sergeant Major to his “Lovely Boys”.

Blogposted by Mark Man of TIN on Advent Calendar Day 10, 10th December 2018.

 

 

A poor old Toy Soldiers Home?

 

A great little “tum te tum” poem about old forgotten toy soldiers from Tony Kitchen’s ever interesting blog Tin Soldiering On. 

If you’ve not visited, look up Tony’s website http://tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com

The Broken Toy Soldier by Marguerite Tracy 

We wear no medals on our breasts for gallant battles won;

No pension-bureau offers us reward for service done.

Yet no one of Napoleon’s, nor one of Caeser’s host,

Has made himself a record such as event I can boast.

 

Toy  soldiers must work harder than real troops, you see;

A march of fifty thousand miles is nothing much to me.

I lost a leg at Marathon, an arm at Monterey,

Was left for dead at Gettysburg – all on the self same day.

 

And now that I’m forgotten and no longer fit to roam,

I wish some kindly boy would found a poor Toy Soldier’s Home.

 

Marguerite Tracy

Having read this poem on Tony’s website, I was curious to find out more about the poem and some of the references.

This poem was first published in December 1897 in St. Nicholas:  An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks Magazine Volume 25, No. 2, a fact mentioned in the footnotes or endnote section of the book Sing Not War: The Lives of Union and Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America by James Alan Marten, 2011. This makes it sort of sad toy related Christmas poem. The original can be seen here: https://archive.org/stream/stnicholasserial251dodg/stnicholasserial251dodg#page/120/mode/1up

I like the HG Wells’ Little Wars style illustrations.

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Monterey? Had to look this one up. This was a short battle or landing by US Navy and Marines to occupy this part of California in the Mexican American War in July 1846 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monterey

Along with Gettysburg being mentioned,  it suggests the poet was American?

I found this  short poem strangely quite moving, wistful  and resonant: “Was left for dead at Gettysburg – all on the self same day.”

I often wonder what battles my bashed and broken figures (collected for repair from various people and online auction sites) have had in their old days. How did they lose that leg, arm, head or rifle?

There is an element of truth to the poem – before you could afford to buy or had available every figure / period ever, in the old days when your few figures stood in for everything, green were generally  the good guys, grey and all else the enemy. (The power of Imagi-nations?) One figure could indeed fight Gettysburg, Marathon and Monterey all on the same day or at least the same weekend.

Tin Soldiering On … website

“And now that I’m forgotten and no longer fit to roam …”  

At last a pointless vocation! All those broken Britain’s figures under repair – I’m turning into a poor Old Toy Soldier’s Home.

I hear the cry “Lead Medic! Lead Medic!” and come running. A call goes out for a Lead Vet to fix a missing horse leg. Farewell dear friend? No shooting if injured for these noble old animals in my Remount Department.

Hopefully Tony might  catch  the old Toy Soldier Home bug and start repairing bashed and broken vintage figures.

The Good Soldier Svjek 23 November 2018 at 08:40
Have noticed lots of broken figures on Ebay and having seen your good work on repairing them I’m tempted to have a go myself .

MIN ManofTin 23 November 2018 at 12:35
Huzzah! Go on and do so, Tony. Restore their battered dignity … and give them a new lease of gaming life. I’m not damaging my supply options – there are more than enough battered figures on EBay for everyone. If you do, I look forward to seeing them feature on your blog.

Here are a couple more of my current  lead veterans from various makers in need of minimal repair  help, just a broken rifle to mend for each one.

A small pin vice drill to drill the rifle holes to insert  some stiff wire, thickened out with masking tape should do the trick. Stout enough for gaming again.

Some may need repainting, others have enough original paint that there is no need to disturb their bashed and playworn “veteran” patina.

Guardsmen, fusiliers and line infantry with repaired rifles, ready to trim and paint.

Lying firing – in red ceremonials or khaki battle dress  – with repaired rifles.

Repaired missing left leg, right foot and Fimo polymer clay tuppenny base and with a new rifle in place of a tomahawk. Now needing trim and paint.

Fimo polymer clay base and wire / feet repairs on these attractive braves.

A headless farm worker becomes an airfield mechanic in overalls with a Dorset Soldiers head. A battered armless ARP Decontamination worker achieves ‘super stardom’ with a Prince August home cast arm holding what will become a laser sword.

All on the road to recovery,  ready for for some 54mm skirmish games next year.

Inspired?

A few of my figure related blogposts ranging from early experiments with cocktail stick rifles and heavy Fimo bases (now debased and re-repaired or upgraded) to more delicate pin vice drilled wire, masking tape and super glue repairs:

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/the-old-toy-soldier-remount-department/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/20/recalled-to-the-colours-54mm-metal-detectorists-toy-soldier-finds-restored-to-fighting-condition/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/13/fixing-broken-britains-part-1-three-charging-highlanders-head-out-for-a-coffee/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/on-the-repair-bench-rainy-day-update/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/the-remount-section-gets-a-visit-from-the-lead-vet/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/old-britains-never-die-article-from-an-old-mil-mod-manual/

and plenty more to find on the blog – I hope some I them are helpful.

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN (at Ye Olde  poor  Toy Soldier Home) November 2018.