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. 

An interlude while I do some 1:1 scale painting

This past week I've been up a ladder with a paint brush redecorating the hall and this has necessitated taking down the display of toy soldiers I have there.  The figures need to be individually removed and dusted so I took these photos to remind me where they go when I put the display back up, as I'd taken the pics I thought I might as well share them with you dear reader.

Discreetly camouflaged by several years of dust, the figures here are not any particular favourites just odds and ends that I've taken a shine to and picked up over time. Occasionally things get moved around but the order of display is largely governed by the size of each compartment.

I've always been very open about collecting toy soldiers and when I mention my interest to anyone they immediately assume that I mean lead guardsmen standing to attention in red tunics (and in fairness there are a few of those), so this little display is my way of showing the diversity of the subject.  Click on a picture to enlarge, there are no prizes for identifying what they are but it might give you a minute or two of fun, now where did I put that duster?