A new Imagi-nation comes into being.

I'm thinking of disposing of my metal mountain of 18th century figures, as I've not had them out of storage for about four years, and will never have time to paint them anyway. During my recent trawling through the boxes to see what there is (a merry assortment of Rank And File, Fife And Drum, Willie, and others I came across a box containing a batch of Eureka 'Toy Soldiers' which were unpainted. I've done a couple of generals as practice and now have General Dogsbody and General Ignorance (I need a better name than that) and have cobbled a few trees in order to see how they turn out.

 

They were a bit top heavy, so I glued them to a couple of handy tiddlywinks. I can borrow the grandchildren's building blocks for houses and forts (Fort Not and Fort So), can have a couple of small forces as army red and army blue, set against each other in a 'Noddyish' land called Blytonia. 

At the moment I have a couple of infantry regiments, a couple of cavalry regiments, and a cannon with crew. If I duplicate this for opponents I reckon I should have enough to get the grandchildren keen.

I'll be getting on to this project after Christmas, and it is my resolution for 2023.

In the meantime, Seasons greetings to you all, and all the best for next year.

Queen Elizabeth 11's Lying in State.

Hello, I've been away on a six week round tour of Scotland in the caravan, returning home last Saturday. During that time the country has lost its Monarch and slipped into an outpourng of nostalgia culminating in todays State Funeral. I caught up with the Lying in State, watching bits of the various TV coverages and it led me to wonder, What about making a 54mm toy soldier diorama of it? Would that be seen as bad taste? I thought I might proceed with the possibility of producing something for next years BMSS competition, so I've been browsing for appropriate figures.

Looking at photos it would appear that I need 4 guardsmen, 4 beefeaters and 4 Gentlemen at Arms as a minimum, preferably at attention, that I can convert. I can see that there will be a bit of work in bending heads and especially in producing the 'reversed arms' involved. I've discovered a Beefeater and Gentleman as kits on the Tradition site and ordered one of each to start with, and I think I can use my Prince August moulds to produce the guardsmen.

I'll use this as an autumn project, and drop in occasional progress reports as I go.

 

  

Lost Skills?

 This picture )no further information) has just popped up on one of my Facebook suggested sites. Makes me think of my own Humperstein 'Grey Ladies' , a small unit of female hussars formed by Princess Aurora as bodyguard/intelligence gatherers. They have grey uniforms, hence the nickname. Perhaps they are modernising and moving onto cycles from horses. Mind you, from my experience of excersise on cycles momentum +swing could lead to trouble balancing.

Model Mayhem weekend

 Is it really a year since I put something on this page? Well here's something to be going on with.

This weekend MrsJ and I visited in-laws at Titchmarsh in Northamptonshire, just seven miles from Wicksteed Park in Kettering. As it happens (a bit of judicial hinting from myself) the visit coincided with the Model Boat Mayhem weekend held on the boating lake in the park and I managed to slope off for the morning thus avoiding a dose of flower arranging. This weekend is an 'anyone can turn up' with or without model boat and have a sail. People travel vast distances to attend. Here are a few photos I took of the event. I'm just jealous that I can' match the expertise shown.

Let's Celebrate St.David's Day

 March 1st is St.David's Day, celebrated throughout Wales (and possibly Patagonia). As we lived there for a number of years during our childrens primary school years I remember our daughter dressing up in her lille Welsh Lady costume along with the rest of her friends in order to go to school dressed like that. A pity that England doesn't celebrate St.George's Day in that way, but we don't seem to have a national costume, and I seem to find it difficult to imagine one (flat cap vs bowler, anyone). However, in order not to let the day go unremarked I append the little cartoon strip below.

This is from the old newspaper strip 'The Perishers' that appeared in the Daily Mirror way back in the 1960s and was one of my favourites. Not that my father took the Mirror, he was an Express man, but every Saturday I had to ride my bike to the outskirts of town where a family friend (and honorary gramnparent) had a smallholding, there I picked up 3 dozen eggs carefully wrapped in newspaper, no cartons in them days! and cycled home with them in my saddlebag. Rarely did I get home without at least one breakage. The paper they were wrapped in was the Mirror, and I read all the bits once I got back home.

The Perishers were a British equivalent of Peanuts, and to my mind were far superior. The drawings were far more detailed, often,like tis one, travelling over a panoramic background, and sometimes the storyline would last for a couple of weeks. Who can forget Wellington, an orphan living in an old railway station and making a living (?) selling go-karts (buggies, karties, ) to unsuspecting children; along with his dog Boot, an Old English Sheepdog with delusions of grandeur. He believed himself to be an 18th century aristocrat under a gypsy curse. Then of course there were the supporting cast. Marlon, who never had a thought in his head and a pechant for ketchup sandwiches, Maisie who pursued Marlon with vigour, much to his distress, and could win any argument even if it meant resorting to violence; Maisie's little brother Baby Grumplin, who was famous for his worm sandwiches and general misdeeds.

Other characters popped in from time to time. B.H.Calcutta (failed) the Indian Bloodhound who'd lost his sense of smell, Tatty Oldbit the sailor's friend,  a beagle with a disreputable liking for sailors (or any male, come to that), Adolf the Teutonic tortoise with dreams of world domination, and many others. 

Selections of their strips were published in annual collections, and I understand that some are being reprinted in the Mirror nowadays.

Thanks for sharing this little bit of nostalgia. Have a good day and stay safe.

13th (Llandaff) Corps, Glamorganshire Volunteer Rifle Corps, 1860

 

My first painted unit completed in a long time. The figures represent a unit of the Glamorganshire Volunteer Rifle Corps of 1860, when they wore an unusual uniform of dark blue with green embellishments. 

The original donor figure, complete with full trousers and coat braiding, is unrecognised by me, and Giles Brown of Dorset Miniatures couldn't place it either. It doesn't appear to be Britains 'standing Hussar' or 'Argentinian cadet' as I see them in my reference books, but could be another make. I replaced the head with one from the Fort Henry Guard, lopping the pom pom off first, and gave the officer a little cord on his belt. Rifle and sword arms come from Replica Models.

These figures took a long time to finish (I started them back in November) as my fine lines seem to wobble these days and need a lot of retouching. I do have some FHG figures in stock which may get painted next, I just need to find an appropriate uniform from my file.

Christmas Games

 This year Christmas has been particularly confusing, trying to sort out who we can meet, who we can visit, who we have to avoid, etc. Normally it has been a case of getting everybody together at the same time, taking it in turns as to which abode we visit. This year was to have been our daughters turn, but if we went then our son would not be able to take his family, so we compromised by having his two (boy 13 and girl 5) for a few hours before the day while the parents went shopping.

Normally we play a family board game, such as Cluedo, Scrabble, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders; something for the adults but mainly the children. This year computers, Ipads, and other electronic things prevailed, but to get the two grandchildren away from temptation MrsJ found, at the top of the wardrobe, a game we used to play with our own.

"Take The Brain" is a simple (hah!) board game from the early 1970s, and is similar to chess but with only three types of piece. There are Numbskulls that can only move one space, Ninnys that can move unlimited spaces in a straight line, and a Brain (basically the King) who again can only move one space. The object is to 'kill' your opposition brain by occupying his square.

You may think it easy, but - each square has a number of arrows on it, pointing in various different positions. Some straight, others diagonal, and you can only move a piece in the direction one of the arrows is pointing!! Some forward thinking is involved, and you have to keep an eye on the squares occupied by enemy pieces as well as your own; you may end up thinking yourself safe, but in line from an enemy piece on the other side of the board.

We ran through the game once with our two (5 and 13, remember) once and then the older one played me. I beat him the first time but was soundly trounced the second * (the crys of "I beat grandad" echoed round the house}. After that they both played it non-stop, enjoying it as much as each other. So much so that they've borrowed the game to take home. 

Unfortunately the game is no longer produced, and I only found two for sale on that auction website, for over £30 each. If you can find a copy anywhere, I recommend it. 

* I was so busy concentrating on my plan that I missed one of his Ninnys with direct route to my Brain.