Mittlealterliche Reiterschlacht by Babette Schweizer.

 An unusual find at the Toy Soldier Show last weekend were these three figures from the "Medieval Knights Battle" series made in Germany by Babette Schweizer, the oldest manufacturer of zinnfiguren still in existence.  

I was drawn to the group because they are unusually large for flats, measuring 95mm from the base to top of the helmet. I also liked the shape of the horse' head and neck together with the accurate portrayal of long spurs which gives them the look of illustrations from a medieval woodcut.

The style of armour appears to be 15th Century and they have retained their original paint, happily sword and lance on these two are also fully intact.

It was suggested to me that this was Joan of Arc (it isn't), while I thought maybe Richard III (not him either!) because his standard has a rose engraved on it although the colours are those of the Holy Roman Empire.

There are by far and away more books on Zinnfiguren than any other genre of toy soldiers and as I started searching for more info on these knights my friend Claudio de Angelis not only identified them for me but very kindly sent me the picture above which shows the complete set in the Babette Schweizer catalogue, the designs for the set were commissioned from the artist Hans Rohm in 1908 and they are still available today.

The firm was founded in 1796 by Adam and Monika Schweizer.  Babette Schweizer ran the firm from 1872 until her death in 1896 after which it was run by her son Adam who retained the business in her name.  After 230 years it is still run by the same family, the current owner being Karin Schweizer.

More from White Tower Miniatures

 There's a lot more to White Tower Miniatures than the new Mexican Revolution range, Matthew also brought along enough of his "Legends of the West" range to fill an additional two tables:

I've been eying these fine resin copies of the Elastolin composition tipi for some time and couldn't resist the temptation any longer, Matt told me that he kept the original and uses is as a guide to match the colours and style when he paints them, and I think he's really caught the vintage character here.  I've bid on original tipis several times in the past but never been successful so I'm particularly pleased to have picked this one up.  The damaged Chief kneeling, made in Germany by Leyla, was languishing in a junk box, unloved and unwanted, so I felt compelled to rescue him - No toy soldier left behind!

This is a selection of the spare parts offered by White Tower Miniatures, as you can see the castings are very crisp and clean of flash.  The shields and visors are replacement parts for Britains Wars of the Roses Swoppet knights, very useful as these are invariably missing from the originals, I'll be using them on conversions.  The bunchuk with cattle skull is a replacement for the one carried by the Elastolin plastic mounted Mongol.  I can find plenty of uses for the pitchfork, mace and axes which comes from White Tower's own range.

Knowing that I have been steadily building up a Samurai collection for wargaming, Matthew very kindly gifted me these Tamiya figures which he'd found at at car boot sale and thought I might find a use for. Although they are quite delicate it won't take much work to complete them and just look at how much work someone has put into painting the designs on their leggings!  Many thanks Matt.

Mexican Revolution from White Tower Miniatures.

 I went along to the London Toy Soldier Show at the weekend to see Matt Thair, who was showcasing a mass of his new castings for the latest range of White Tower Miniatures Mexican Revolution figures, here's what they look like:

A much overlooked period for collectors and wargamers, Mexico had a turbulent and continuous history of  revolution through the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, as it struggled to transform from an Imperial Adventure to Dictatorship and finally a Federal Republican Government.  Involving shifting factions and sometimes spilling over the borders, it was rather a haphazard irregular affair offering endless scenarios for gamers, something like a "Back of Beyond" in Central America.

There are some new artillery with their attendant crews, like this heavy cannon (looks like a Parrot gun to me) and a French 75mm, very useful for several armies as it was widely exported.

An unusual touch, but very welcome, are several train riders, peasants and accessories designed to go on Timpo trains, they also fit nicely inside 54mm vehicles.

More of the train riders and a mounted Mexican General, the Federales are on their way!

The ladies haven't been forgotten either, there are plenty of Soldaderas armed to the teeth to support their menfolk.  The new 75mm gun can be seen with it's crew in the right background above.

The figures are available painted in a matt finish or as unpainted castings and mix well with western figures from all plastic manufacturers.  Matt also brought along new castings of replacement weapons for Britains Deetail etc, you can see them and the full range of Mexican Revolution  figures on their website here: White Tower Miniatures

Lineol, Elastolin etc. 1930's composition toy soldier display.

 Another display has recently made it to the shelves, this time 1930's Composition figures in combat poses, mostly made in Germany but also from France Belgium and Czechoslovakia.

On the left the tinplate vehicles crossing the bridge (Kubelwagen and Schwimmwagen) were made in Czechoslovakia by Gonio in 1992, they are 1/24th scale to match most German composition figures.  They are extremely well detailed with opening doors, folding windshield and accessories such as tools and weapons.  These two Axis vehicles came in different paint schemes for the European theatre, Afrika Korps and Medical variants.  There were also vehicles for the Allies; Willy's Jeep with trailer, Dodge Truck and M3 Half Track. 

In the Centre the attack is in full swing, machineguns give covering fire while the infantry charge home against the Allied trenches.

On the left, just in the nick of time reinforcements arrive to bolster the Allied line.  The cavalry and marching infantry to the rear left were made in Belgium by DURSO while the anti-aircraft gun and heavy trench mortar were made by Solido.

The anti-aircraft MG and loader (bottom right foreground) are in a hollow plaster material were made in France by DC - Domage et Cie, probably the most consistent and prolific of French toy soldier manufacturers.  They produced hollow lead figures from the 1920's and Aluminium under the name ALUDO (ALUminium DOmage) from 1937, during the war years 1939 to 1945 they made the figures shown above in plaster composition as metals were unavailable, post war they resumed production in metal until the early 1950's when they began to phase out the hollow lead range replacing it with acetate plastic figures under the name ACEDO (ACEtate DOmage).  The ALUDO and ACEDO ranges continued to be sold together through the 1950's with the aluminium figures being steadily phased out and ACEDO moving into more modern thermoplastics until production ended in the late 1960's.

Allied planes swoop in to straffe the Pioneers using flamethrowers to assault the Allied trenches.  

Support troops, Engineers and Signals get to work behind the assault units while Luftwaffe troops guard the airfield.  The two Fokker Triplanes are modern tinplate tourist items purchased in Greece and probably made in S.E. Asia, they are rather crude models but fit well with vintage composition figures.

Anti-aircraft fire hits one of the British planes and it crashes in No Mans Land (Elastolin made a very dramatic model of a plane crashing but this one is a modern resin aquarium ornament).

The General Staff observe the action and await reports from the front line, the two sturdy looking officers cameoed in the centre of shot were made by Kienel, a minor German maker who produced a range of high quality distinctive figures.

The tinplate machinegun (left foreground) and anti-tank gun (centre) are good examples of the camouflage pattern and colours used by Elastolin in the mid 1930's.

A pair of British infantry by Lineol drag a tinplate cart with machine gun, the officer behind them, scanning the skies with his binoculars was made by DURSO.

Right foreground, the telephone operator (headless!) and prone Officer with binoculars sheltering behind a log are copies of Elastolin poses made in Czechoslovakia by Durolin.  The large Elastolin explosion beyond them originally contained a small bulb wired to a battery to simulate the effect of the blast. 

There are some other composition figure displays to come; Parade and Bandsmen, Mounted, Medical and Campsite, 1920's and earlier, Wild West, Postwar Warsaw Pact, 54mm and Personalities.  It might just take a while to get around to them all.

It's all Greek to me, or Italian.....maybe Rumanian?

 This is a "What are they" post.  I bought a unit of these on ebay because nobody wanted them, so they were dead cheap and I thought they might be useful for something, but looking at them now I'm not sure what they're supposed to be.  I put these two pics up on facebook asking which army they represent and got lots of likes but no answers, not even rude ones! 

The two officers on the left have been converted from Britains hollowcast German infantry by changing the heads and arm, the infantryman marching on the right is a modern white metal casting and has no marking. The officers have green epaulettes and trouser stripe, the infantryman is wearing gaiters and a blanket roll. It would be easy to say French but the uniform isn't quite horizon blue and the Adrian helmet was in widespread use by armies worldwide for decades.

It was only after taking these photos I realised that the paintwork needed quite a bit of touching up, which is fine but there are fourteen of them so I don't really want to get into a whole repaint if I can avoid it.

Can anyone suggest which army they are supposed to represent? I was thinking WW1 Greek or Italian, any other ideas?

The Mad Hatter - so rare he's uniuqe!

 I've had this little fellow for many years, I obtained him in a large junk lot of lead figures at a Phillips Auction in the early 1980's.  I don't know who made him but he's typical of the sort of conversions that members of the BMSS (British Model Soldier Society) had been making from toy figures since the mid 1930's.

He is the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", who was trapped in a perpetual tea party for upsetting Time. I let him out once a year on All Fools Day. 

He is hollow cast lead and is a conversion made from the body of the Charbens Costermonger and the head from Britains Village Idiot, the crown of his hat is the upturned bucket from a zoo keeper (possibly Taylor & Barrett), the brim and his collar are made from metal strip. The price ticket in his hat reads 4/- (four shillings) which is an error because it should be 10/6 (ten shillings and sixpence). 

As a conversion he is a unique piece and I would love to know who made him, sadly whoever it was is probably no longer with us and has left us no indication.  I do wish modellers would leave some mark on their work for posterity but there we are, he remains a charming little character and for some decades has found a safe home among other such curiosities

Medieval figures on display.

 Slowly getting around to putting figures back on display after they had to be packed away for work on the house a few years ago, a change is as good as a rest and it's good to see them out again.

Medieval figures always add a good splash of colour and and these are some of my favourites, lots of conversions and some will get pulled out from time to time to serve in a wargame but mostly their purpose is to please the eye.  

The Playmobil ship is crewed by Einar and his men from "The Vikings" movie, as portrayed here in plastic by the French firm Ougen, Matt Thair has now produced the set in metal and you can see it here: White Tower Miniatures  

The castle walls and towers are from a Foreign Legion fort gifted to me by another friend Barrie Blood who commissioned it from a chap called John Russell, who exhibited his wargame buildings at the first Plastic Warrior Show and built the Spanish Town shown in the previous post One Hour Wargames - Double Delay

 The fort was built in scale for 54mm toy soldiers and rather large so I solved the storage problem by incorporating it into this display, it should come out without to much difficulty if needed for a wargame.

In the foreground an assortment of figures made in Poland by PZG (Polski Związek Głuchych - The Polish Association of the Deaf), rear right a mounted knight made in Italy by Nardi and Joan of Arc made in France by Starlux.

Two Elastolin siege engines, behind them a group of crossbowmen made in France by RF (Rene Fisher).

Lords and Ladies of the Court, too many to list but included are figures by Elastolin and Starlux with many conversions and also a few chessmen.

More conversions with a resin model of Joan of Arc (mounted) sold in France as a tourist item.

Some folk heroes are dotted around in this corner, including Robin Hood figures made in England by Crescent and Italy by Res Plastics, some of the Wiliam Tell set from REAMSA of Spain (Resinas Artificiales Moldeadas S.A.- Moulded Artificial Resins Ltd.) and yet another Joan of Arc on foot which is a Starlux conversion.

In another corner the musicians and jesters strike up the band.  The larger yellow jester was made in Germany by Heinerle, Manurba, Domplast (take your pick) the smaller one beside him is a ceramic knick knack and the seated piper is a shepherd boy made by Elastolin.

In the foreground a group of crossbowmen made by Res Plastics and offered in Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, there are four figures each with different styles of armour, pavise and bows.

In the foreground various footmen made by Starlux, behind them Edward The Black Prince is a Starlux conversion made by Vince Mattocks and the mounted knight to his right was made in France by Guilbert.

In the tower are three figures from the Alexander Nevsky set made in Russia at the Progress factory in Moscow, I bought these at the second Plastic Warrior Show back in 1987 from a chap who was importing figures made in the old Iron Curtain countries, I think he was the only dealer at the show that year.  To the right of the standard bearer is the portrait figure of Albrecht Gessler from the William Tell set made in Spain by REAMSA (Resinas Artificiales Moldeadas S.A.- Moulded Artificial Resins Ltd.), this is the later reissue made by Oliver.

You can never have enough archers, the front row kneeling are Starlux behind them are mostly figures by Rene Fisher.

Books at Christmas - Die Zinnlaube

 Several books arrived over the holiday period, so here are the new additions:

Die Zinnlaube started life as a magazine and is the; Journal of the German society  "Collectors of Old Toy Figures" but has become an annual publication and is now more of a book, this is volume 15.  Printed as a limited edition of just 200 copies, 140 pages (incl. cover), illustrated in full colour throughout, text in German and English, it costs 15 euro plus postage.  

The coverage is very much German centric and aimed at the top tier (i.e. expensive) end of the hobby, mostly early tin flats and solid lead figures, rather out of my league but always fascinating to see some different and unusual toy soldiers.

contents of this issue include:

Prince Murat and the French General Staff of 1870 

The Fire Brigade made by Spenkuch

Female Colonels-in-Chief as toy figures, 

The toy soldier workshop of Christian Wollrath, 

Spanish General Espartero made by Sohlke, 

Solferino - two testimonies of playing with tin soldiers in the 19th century, 

The Little Wars of Fieldmarshal August von Mackensen and his toy soldiers.

There is now a website for Die Zinnlaube where you can download the first three issues as PDFs for free, buy back issues and subscribe.

The Airfix Handbook

The Airfix Handbook - James May's Toy Stories, ISBN 978 1 84486 116 3, 96 pages illustrated in full colour throughout, I would describe this as being in the nostalgic format of childrens "Ladybird Books" but stand to be corrected on this (the illustrations are photographs).  

James May is a UK TV presenter best known for co-hosting the motoring show "Top Gear" but in 2009 he also created a six part documentary series to showcase his choice of the six most notable toys on a grand scale.  

One of these projects was to build a 1:1 scale model of the iconic Airfix Spitfire kit, and this book tells how they did it, it's split into three sections:

Introduction and The History of Airfix (50 pages)

The Big Build - full size Spitfire model (30 pages)

Complete catalogue of Airfix kits by year (8 pages)

I watched the programme when it aired and was thrilled to receive the book unexpectedly on Christmas morning (Mrs C. had found it in a local charity shop) so I don't know if it's still in print but you can probably find it on the internet.  Thoroughly recommended.

The life size model built for the programme is now on display at the Royal Air Force museum in Cosford.  Among the other projects were a basicule bridge to span a canal made out of Meccano (on display at the University of Liverpool), and a full size habitable house made out of Lego bricks, which had to be dismantled after the series because it didn't have planning permission!

The Toys of Astra-Pharos

 The Toys of Astra-Pharos, privately printed in 2007 by the author David J. Booth, soft cover A5 format with 72 pages illustrated throughout mostly in black and white, ISBN 978 0 9556361 03.  My copy cost £16.50 from the author via ebay.

I've known the Astra range of toys from early childhood, we lived near the factory in West London and their products were popular locally, yet I've never owned one.  They are big solidly built pieces of model engineering, distinctive and iconic, the 1939 catalogue is full of Anti Aircraft guns and working searchlights, strangely prescient of the Blitz about to engulf the nation.

This booklet is seriously punching above it's weight, covering the history of  the company from the end of WW1 until it ceased to trade in 1975. It charts the entire toy product range, the boxes, accessories, catalogues and instruction leaflets, with each item illustrated.  Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of toys and toymakers.

Toy Soldier Battles II

 Toy Soldier Battles II, Antonio E. Belmonte Cerezo, ISBN 9798272688880, 95 pages, illustrations designed and text translated by Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant  (one paragraph has been missed and is still in Spanish!). 

This is a strange one, I saw it advertised on facebook and thought I'd give it a punt as I fancied trying some simple, fast play WW2 style rules, which is what these are, but not in the way I'd imagined.   

The coloured illustrations throughout are quite charming and drawn in the form of Army Men toy soldiers like the ones shown on the cover.  And that's a good introduction to what the book is about, go online, buy a couple of those big bags of green and tan Army Men, the ones that come with tanks, jeeps, planes, helicopters and bunkers, grab a couple of dice then settle down on the floor with the kids and have yourself a wargame.

There's a bit more to it than that, units are given a profile based on their armament, mobility and resilience/armour, casualty modifiers affect range and cover, dice for random event activation and there are Victory points at the end. Officers play specialised roles with eight different strengths they can bring to a unit like; Medic, Communications, Mechanic etc.  There are chapters for Army Lists, running a campaign and four trial scenarios.  It's all stuff we recognise in a set of wargame rules but it's all kept fairly simplistic so it's easy for a newcomer to pick up.

So it's more than a stand 'em up and shoot them down toy soldier game but I'm not sure it's one that will appeal to regular gamers.

Plastic Warrior Show 2026

 The date for this year's Plastic Warrior Show has now been released:

......And here are the directions to get there:

TRAVEL GUIDE

 

Directions to The Plastic Warrior Show

BY ROAD

From Outside London take M25, M3, A316, go over one roundabout and entrance to the winning Post is after 500 metres on your left.

From Inner London, after Richmond Circus follow A316 and continue straight on over three roundabouts. You will pass the Winning Post on your right. At the next roundabout take the fourth exit (returning back the way you have come on the other side of the A316 dual carriageway) and entrance to the Winning Post will be on your left after 500 metres.

FREE PARKING. There is extensive free parking at the site and in the residential roads behind the Winning Post. The Harlequin Suite is to the right of the main building.  The venue is in the London ULEZ charging zone so you will need to check that your vehicle complies with the omissions requirements or pay the relevant fee.

BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT

From Central London and the South of England by overground train (South Western Railways) from Waterloo or Clapham Junction to Whitton Station. There are eight trains an hour and the journey time is approx. 30 minutes, this is a loop line so four trains an hour run from two different platforms at Waterloo Station.

From the North of England by train to London arriving at Kings Cross, St. Pancras or Euston.

Take the London Underground Victoria line just six stops to Vauxhall and change for South Western Railways to Whitton Station as above. Whitton Station is just three minutes walk from the Winning Post.  Turn left out of the station past Jubilee Avenue and Pauline Crescent, the next turning on your left is the entrance to the Winning Post.

Should you wish to take the London Underground to Richmond as in previous years, the easiest thing is to change platform and take a South Western Railways service to Whitton Station as above, (four trains an hour from Richmond, journey time eight minutes).

Alternatively you could get a black cab or a H22 bus from the taxi rank and bus stop outside the station.
Oyster cards are accepted on all London Underground lines, buses and South Western Railways to Whitton Station.

The Winning Post Inn

Opens from 08.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m. serving breakfast or coffee for those who arrive early. The pub serves drinks (alcohol) from 11.00 a.m. and lunches from 12.00 a.m. There is no cashpoint on site but Whitton town centre, with a full range of shops and cash machines, is just three minutes walk from the hall.

Within the Winning Post complex is a Premier Inn travel hotel for those who want to break their journey and stay overnight.