Another display case filled.

 Finally got around to rehoming the collectable English plastic figures in a display case where they will be relatively safe from damage.  There is no real order to this, more a case of getting stuff out of the boxes they've been shunted around in for the last several years and standing them up so I can see what I've got, it's part of the separation between collectables for research and wargame armies for play.  There will be changes, some added to the shelves and others relegated back to the boxes but for now it's a step in the right direction.

The cabinet was one of those rather naff 1920's deco display units that my aunts used to keep their best china in, the stuff that was for show and never got used from one end of the year to the next, I think every house had one in the 1950's and I never liked them.  But this one was abandoned in the back of a junk shop in need of a complete overhaul and cost me nothing (someone said they'd pay me to take it away).  After stripping the crazed varnish, re-glazing the doors, fixing mirror tiles to the back and adding all new glass shelves (so not such a bargain after all!) it now occupies a suitable niche in the Toy Soldierarium (my wife's term not mine). 

I will get around to putting up clearer pics of individual figures at some pint but in the meantime here are a few random closeups:

 

Viva la Revolution!

 For a while now I've had a yen to do some figures for the Mexican Revolution......but which one?  There were so many, and with so many different factions, so I decided to make a generic army that could be used for any uprising over the roughly 1880-1920 period.  I made a start earlier this year:

The plan is to have a largely irregular force encompassing Mexican patriots, impoverished farmers, vengeful Apaches, emancipated slaves, Yankee adventurers and perhaps a few mercenaries.  So there's a lot of scope for fun conversions and a large range of suitable western figures to draw on for them. The examples shown here were were made from toys by several manufacturers including Crescent, Jean Hoefler, Dulcop and BMC.

I see the project unfolding as a sort of "Back of Beyond" scenario, only set in Americas back yard rather than the wilds of Central Asia.  My friend Matt Thair who runs White Tower Miniatures has also just brought out a range of new metal figures for this period so I'm hoping there will be a resurgence of interest.

Other plunder from the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 I've been going a bit overboard with the medievals this past year or so, to the detriment of collecting other historical periods, but I haven't neglected them entirely:

My last sweep of the show turned up these four odds and ends for just £1 each, two late version French Revolutionaries made in France by JIM, a Crescent Russian for my Winter War project and a large resin touristy tat knight, not really my thing but I just loved the pose.

The PW Show has always been as much (if not more) of a social occasion than anything else, for many who attend it's the one day of the year they get to meet face to face with friends they've known for many years and there is often a gifting of figures.

Graham Apperley gave me the first two, a cowgirl on bucking bronco made in USA by Beton (Bergen Toy and Novelty Co) and a Gaucho made in Argentina by EGToys (Ezio Guggiari) who were producing these distinctive figures between 1943 and1965, 

Michael Mordaunt-Smith gave me the red plastic figure of Jim Hardie from the 1950's American tv series "Tales of Wells Fargo" which he is currently producing from an old mould, the original figure was made in America by Louis Marx but the consensus of opinion is that this is a copy as it is noticeably smaller. 

The 70mm green figure of Sir Gawain was made in Spain and is very similar to, but not a copy, of the figure made by Elastolin for their Prinz Eisenhrz set, based on the Prince Valiant comic strip created in America by Hal Foster. It was given to me by Paul Stadinger (aka Stad) who at one time was the U.S. agent and distributor for Plastic Warrior magazine, and has been attending the show regularly since the 1990's. 

This group above came from Andreas Dittmann another regular long term visitor to the show from Germany, an Elastolin trumpeter, Lineol grenade thrower, a pair of plaster sheep with a lamb and an early post war East German infantryman made in a papiermache/plaster composition mix by P G H Effelder.

My thanks go to Graham, Michael, Paul and Andreas for their kind gifts and the many years of friendship we have shared. 

And finally......this was actually my first purchase of day, an Art Deco Renault tank, carved in wood, roughly in scale for 54mm figures, the consensus of opinion was that it had been manufactured commercially rather than being "shedware".  I'm tempted to paint it, but I won't!

Rare Sacul knights at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 It has been three months now since the Plastic Warrior Show and we are still unearthing the goodies that emerged, here are some more:

These three Sacul mounted knights in plastic were on the table of Joe Bellis at the Plastic Warrior Show last June, notice the one on the right has a shield which is copied from the Britains Wars of the Roses Swoppet range. The Sacul knights were originally made in hollowcast lead and are fairly common in the UK but not so much overseas, later they were made in plastic from the original moulds for a very short time and the plastic versions (above) are very rare. There is just one horse and one rider model but the rider was issued with four different articulated right arms holding an axe, a sword, a standard or a lance.

Curiously the horses turn up more often than the riders and the moveable parts; visor, right arm, shield and scabbard are always moulded in these garish bright colours. The shields are invariably missing, I have one with the original heater shaped shield but I've never seen one with this copy of the Britains WOTR shield in lead or plastic. The Sacul foot knights are extremely rare in plastic, I have only ever seen one example.

My friend Norman Joplin told me "I believe one of the Barrett brothers (Bert) may have been responsible for these along with plastic items marketed as Luntoy and Paramount when I visited his home in Croydon some years ago."  Norman is referring here to the family who originally founded Taylor & Barrett in the 1920's, then later split to form F G Taylor & Sons and A Barrett & Sons after WW2.  The Barrett Brothers bought up moulds from various defunct manufacturers such as Benbros, Paramount and Sacul, which were in due course sold on again to Giles Brown of Dorset Model Soldiers, but that's another story for another day.

The two plastic Sacul knights in my collection, the hollowcast lead versions had a feather plume in their helmet made from the darts used in air guns, the metal point of the dart being pressed into the lead pouring hole of the helmet to leave the brightly coloured tail sticking out.  The same method as used by Timpo in their "Ivanhoe" and "Knights of the Round Table" series, Sacul had been set up by an ex Timpo employee called Lucas (who reversed his name for the firm).  The lead pouring holes were capped off and new plumes engraved into the moulds when they were adapted for use on a plastic injection moulding machine.

The knight on the right has the correct Sacul shield (in plastic) which came with the original hollowcast figure, there is a spigot on the reverse which plugs into the bend in the left arm.  It's curious to note that the horses are made in various colours of plastic and always appear to be factory painted in the Sacul style while the riders are made in a base body colour plastic with multi colour accoutrements in the early swoppet style, this has led us to speculate that the horses might have been produced first in the Sacul factory then sold as a job lot along with the moulds and the riders moulded at a later date.

Also on Joe's table was a good selection of the 60mm Crescent Hurons/Mohicans (I'm never sure which they are supposed to be but I'm sure someone will enlighten us), these are also very hard to find so I thought I'd squeeze in this pic just because they are so nice!

Lots of toy soldiers at the Plastic Warrior Show 2025

 Two weeks after the event and I am just recovering from the toy soldier overload that is the annual Plastic Warrior Show, I still haven't unpacked the bags and boxes of plunder I acquired but no doubt they'll surface here sooner or later.  In the meantime here are a few gratuitous pictures of plastic toy soldiers to remind those those who were there on the day and to drool over for those who were not. 

Typical of the rummage boxes to be found at the show.

A nice little box with Timpo West Point Cadets, Cavendish C18th Grenadiers, a Kentoys Dan Dare figure, Cherilea Maid Marian, and Nardi Bersaglieri, all in good unbroken condition with original paint.

An assortment of Starlux Sailors and Napoleonics.

Mostly Lone Star figures in this pic with a few Timpo GI's and Bundeswehr in the background. 

Too many early English makers to mention here but includes Speedwell WW2, Sacul bandsmen, and Johilco knights.

More to rummage through!

Mostly modern makers, nicely painted and displayed in a more orderly fashion!

It wasn't all plastic though, this is a Sherman tank hand carved in wood circa 1943/44 by Italian Prisoners of War.  The body is carved from at least two varieties of wood with gun barrels and wheel hubs made from brass rod and rivets, the surprise feature is that the turret and top plate lift off to reveal it's true purpose which is a cigarette box!

The very first Plastic Warrior show was held on 1st June 1986 but it was a very different event from the swapmeet it has become today, it was announced as an Open Day to promote a wider interest in collecting, modelling and wargaming with 54mm plastic toy soldiers.  At that time PW was just a newsletter and had been in existence for less than a year, we called ourselves members because we had become a close knit group of friends but it wasn't actually a club and never has been, it just felt like one.  At the Open Day we only had four people through the door because everyone else involved with the group was already inside displaying their collections and other such activities.

Forty years on and the newsletter has become a magazine while the Open Day has become a Swapmeet to promote and support it.  We are often asked why we don't hold the show more often or let it grow larger?  We have considered both options but the answer is that PW is a hobby for us not a business, holding the show annually keeps it special, like Christmas, while keeping it small maintains our original vision of it being a social event rather than a commercial one.

It wouldn't be the Plastic Warrior show without an element of chaos each year, as befits an unashamedly amateur operation, compounded by the fact that we are now 40 years older with all the infirmities that accompany great age.  With that in mind we would like to thank all the dealers who pitched in to help set up the tables on the morning and especially those stout hearted chaps who helped us to pack them away at the end, without such support the show would not be viable.

Fleamarket finds from the weekend.

 It always seems to be feast or famine at the local car boot sale but last weekend I managed a reasonable haul:

This lot set me back £20, which I thought was very fair, there's nothing rare or special but it's quite a nice mix and they will add to several of my existing projects.

A few more Conte Normans are always welcome, my existing ones have been painted up as they came so I can afford to use some of these ones for conversions.  They are made from a firm rubber which leaves the weapons prone to bending, after straightening by hot water treatment I give the bendy parts a coat of wood glue (which is an industrial strength PVA used by carpenters) to keep them from reverting to their previous shape.

The four Timpo Vikings all need repair so I will have no qualms about basing them for wargaming, the two AWI have been added to a display shelf and I have suitable mounts for all the others.  The Marx reissue of Paul Revere in white is very versatile for conversion to many periods.

REAMSA remoulds from the Willian Tell set, I think the figure of Landburgher Gessler is particularly well sculpted, he looks just like the character played by Willoughby Goddard in the 1950's "Adventures of William Tell" TV series.

The more collectable items: a Franciscan monk and Mousquetaire du Roi made by Starlux, the grenadier drummer made by Cavendish is rarely found in white plastic so is probably an early example. The Cherilea Numidian, Lone Star African Native and Crescent Sheriff of Nottingham on the bottom row are all destined to be converted.

Feast and Famine.

 We're already heading towards the end of the car boot season, and this year the pickings have been very thin, but last weekend there was a bumper crop:

The complete haul above cost less than £20 in total, particularly pleased to get the Tudor houses in the background which are ceramic ornaments and in scale for 28mm figures (but will work fine with 54mm).  The vast bulk of WW2 Airfix are conversion fodder destined to become medieval footmen.

I needed some French para's to go with my Viet Minh for the Indochina project but don't like to mess about with vintage Starlux if I can help it so these Hugennot copies will do the job just fine.

Some of the better odds and ends will be gifted or end up in the junk boxes at the Plastic Warrior Show next year.

At first I though the crude hollowcast copies of Britains Zulus were homecast and planned to repaint them but when I checked the markings under the base I saw they were made by Hanks, so I'll probably keep them as they are.