Clay Soldiers - model soldiers and wargaming from the Ukraine

 I saved this link some time ago, so must have thought it was worth sharing, but I can't remember what it's about so I decided to just post it anyway!

Have just watched it again and it's actually quite good, well worth 15 minutes of your time anyway. Enjoy!

The battle of Isandlwana

 As stop motion films go this one is pretty epic!

Enjoy.

Toy Soldier documentary

 Came across this on YouTube (as you do) and thought it was worth sharing, it's some kind of Science Channel documentary and I think it's Russian made, but it's about Toy Soldiers   A word of warning it's over 26 minutes long, so not for the faint hearted, I don't have the attention span any more so had to dip in and out of it, but there is a lot of good stuff in there if you're prepared to persevere.  Now get a coffee and a bun then settle down to enjoy.

Early Toy Soldier Newsreels

Continuing my romp through the YouTube archives, here are a few more finds that I think are worth more than just one look.  It always surprises me that however much you trawl through YouTube every now and again something new surfaces, which has probably been buried away there for years.

Model Soldier Club 1939
Now this is a bit of archive footage I haven't seen before, it's an early meeting of the British Model Soldier Society.  Among the luminaries I spotted Otto Gottstein (in the opening shot, sitting at the far end of the table smoking a cigarette, next to a chap with a pipe) he was President of the Society at the time and a great patron of the hobby.  Also I think I see a young Deryck Guyler (at about 22 seconds in) who was a keen member of the BMSS before going on to be one of the founding members of the Society of Ancients.  The clip includes a rather nice selection of model knights produced by Richard Courtenay.

Model Soldiers 1953
I have Detlef Heerbrand to thank for finding this clip and posting it on facebook (which I finally got around to joining this month - a sure sign that it's days are numbered).  It features Bill Carman who was Vice Chaiman of the BMSS at the time and was one of the first to manufacture model soldiers for the collector.  His figures are a bit basic by modern standards but I've always been a big fan of them so I was particularly pleased when this surfaced.

Toy Soldiers 1949
Archive footage shot inside the Britains factory showing the hand casting of hollowcast figures, through to cleaning the castings, painting and packing them.

Toy Soldiers 1965
This piece of footage has been doing the rounds for a while but given that it's dated 1965 it's interesting that the commentary points out the hollow cast figures shown are made strictly for adults as collectors items. Britains ceased hollow casting in 1966, the story that this was because of lead paint and child safety fears is an urban myth, the truth is they just weren't selling enough.  The second half of the film shows an injection moulding machine being loaded up with plastic pellets and states that production of plastics was in full swing for the juvenile toy market.

Model Soldier sale 1968
This newsreel covered the very first specialist auction of Toy Soldiers (in fact the first specialist auction of any toys), held by Knight, Frank and Rutley who were founded in 1896 as Valuers, Surveyors and Auctioneers, they are a well known Estate Agents (Realtors).  I didn't recognise any of the faces amongst the crowd here but the toy soldiers needed no introduction.

Britains, Airfix and Old School Wargaming - Pure Nostalgia!

Another lazy post here, these old British Pathe newsreels have been on YouTube for years and I'm sure everybody knows them well but I never tire of watching them, so I've put them up mostly for my own benefit.  

Toy Fair 1958

Nice footage of animated Trade Fair displays for Britains Swoppets and other Herald sets, "unbreakable" plastic toy soldiers were in the ascendancy in the British Toy Market in the late 1950's

Toy Fair 1968

Ten years later they are already old news and, in terms of the juvenile toy trade, heading into a long slow decline.  Interesting to see archive footage shot inside the Airfix factory here though.

Men Will Be Boys 1970.

Some great toys on show here, does anyone recognise the two chaps playing the wargame?  Come on, someone must know them, it was only 50 years ago!

For those who haven't heard, I am currently somewhat incapacitated, without access  to my toy soldiers or books, consequently my activity is reduced to writing posts like this and my ebay bill is going through the roof!

How they made Tin Flat toy soldiers

The recent post featuring some Tin Flat toy soldiers drew some interest so continuing the theme I thought I'd throw in this short Italian clip from 1937 showing them being made in Austria.  I quite liked this one because it goes through the whole process from drawing the design to engraving the mould, casting, cleaning up, painting and displaying in dioramas.  For anyone who already casts lead toy soldiers, there won't be anything new here but it's always fun to see a piece of old film, and the music's quite jolly too!

Enjoy.

Britains factory caught on film in 1965

There are lots of videos on Utube of toy soldiers but I hadn't seen this one shot in the Britains factory before so I thought I'd post it up here.  Enjoy.

Yes, I know it's a lazy blog post but I'm trying to ease myself back into the saddle here.

Interesting to see a master figure being sculpted in Plasticine and the hollowcast moulding process in action.  Also the transition from lead to plastic, this was very much at the tail end of hollowcast production and production was geared towards lead for adult collectors (can't have been too many of them) and plastic for the mass juvenile toy market.  Note the rare shots of the plastic injection moulding machines being fed plastic pellets.

And here's another clip from 1949:

War Games at the Museum of Childhood

I was unable to make it to the London Toy Soldier show last week, so in order to make up for that I decided to head off to the Museum of Childhood (part of the V&A) in Bethnal Green, London, and view their new exhibition:  War Games

What with it being the centenary of H G Wells' publication of "Little Wars" I had hoped to see a chronology of Kriegspiel with lots of toy soldiers, and in fairness you get some of this but not nearly enough (okay so I'm biased - what do you expect).  The exhibition tries to be child friendly with interactive bits for the kids while offering quirky and nostalgic exhibits to rope in the parents.  It asks those dusty old questions - "do war toys lead to aggressive behaviour" "are war toys gender specific" "what are society's changing attitudes to war toys" - and other such old bunk, just give us the toys!

So what's on show: boardgames, puzzles, guns (including the awesome Johnny Seven one man army -remember that one), dressing up uniforms, books (including Little Wars), Lego, Action Man, tanks, planes, ships and toy soldiers (paper, flats, hollow-cast and composition).  Many of the items are on loan from the Nuremberg Toy Museum so this may be a rare opportunity to see them. 

My top 5 exhibits are:

"Der kampf gegen Russland" a boardgame from 1916, the board shows Austrians fighting Russians across a river with three bridges.  The artwork is inspiring, on the Austrian side there is an armoured train, a battery of Skoda guns, Medics, Pioneers, Croats, Hussars and Uhlans, on the Russian side of the river hordes of infantry and cossacks appear to be taking quite a pounding.  There is a theme of "toys as propaganda" running through the exhibition and the premise of this game is that the cause of the Great War was all the fault of those pesky Ruskies.

"L' Heroique Peuple Serbe" a sheet of paper soldiers of the WW1 Serbian army in animated action poses from 1915.

A group of early 9cm composition toy soldiers which includes a vignette of a German and French soldier in the uniform of 1914 locked in hand to hand combat (one I hadn't seen before)

A stunning tinplate German torpedo boat made in 1912 by Gbr. Bing

Two beautifully and accurately made cardboard panzer tanks, dated 1930 - 41, scaled to go with 7cm composition figures, probably made by a father who couldn't afford the tinplate manufactures of the time.  They are delightfully home made but then I read that they were owned by a ten year old boy, killed in the Allied bombing of Nuremberg, and that sudden stab of reality left me reeling in horror.

The exhibition is in London until March 2014 and then goes on tour to Carlisle and Coventry, entry is free so go and see it if you can, but don't expect too much, it's not a large collection.  Sadly photography is prohibited and there is no booklet to accompany it so this post is without images.  I have searched the net for pics but without success so if you find any do let me know, I would especially like to get a copy of that boardgame.  However the BBC did make a short news report showing some of the items, and here it is:

The five toys that will never be sold again