North Albion troops on parade

Finally finished my 54mm North Albion troops yesterday with a coating of pva to add shininess. They have been worked with on and off for ages. All have been given new paint jobs ( apart from three pipers etc) and quite a few required new rifles, legs and bases etc. They have come up well. Any suggestions for their deployment most welcome...

You are a robbing hood...

From Genesis “Selling England ...”  and the track “Battle of Epping Forest”
These arrived today-

 The above are Little John ( the last version of him was minus a face so it is good to see his) an unidentified chap and Robin Hood. These fit in well with those I have already.
The figures below are much smaller. However it is good to have some bowmen as well as quarter staff men. The quarter staff chap is Kellogg’s and I am intrigued by the lute equipped minstrel. I am looking forward to working on these figures...

Recasts and Originals.

Busy day here but eventually managed to work on these new arrivals later this afternoon-

Some swashbuckling coming soon...

Now That’s what I call Vikings

I recall seeing Vikings as a boy in Niels M Saxtorph’s “Warriors and Weapons of Early Times” -

I was fascinated when I saw that my Elastolin figures looked just like Vikings in the above picture. The same poses too! Yes , I know we all know what Vikings didn’t wear on their heads but sometimes you can’t resist an Old Vikings figure with horned or winged helmets! I couldn’t and snapped up these Cherilea figures which arrived today. I am posting pictures of them along with some inspiration for the forthcoming renovation and painting-

The Flashing Blades or Finished Roundheads fight their foes.

Despite the brittle plastic and arms coming off during drilling today I managed to finish the 60mm Cherilea Roundheads today. One has his original sword blade (fixed after breaking in three bits) two have stout wire as blades and the final figure has a blade of thin plastic. Here they are fencing with the cavaliers. Next make a set of rules...

A few new arrivals

These arrived today. They were really well packaged and they are just waiting for restoration.

 The shed seen of the restoration process and County cricket on the radio. The work bench earlier today. They have moved on well this afternoon but need more work. Sadly running out of superglue stopped play.

I was keen to bid for this lot on eBay for a number of reasons. Firstly the Roundheads are opposition for the Cavaliers I restored last week. They need far less intensive work, mainly swords and some limbs reattached. Secondly I am fascinated by the Cherliea depiction of ancient warriors and this lot contained two great examples. Finally I was taken by the WW2 figures useful in my skirmish gaming. One will be that famous Albion general Monty Don ( so called for his pre war career in academia) and another fellow whose arm needs replacing.

Saturday a studying daughter

Imagine the scene, daughter number one finishing her dissertation in the sitting room ( still days to go) and she finds the room door has stuck completely and will not open. Panic initially but eventually through a baroque sequence of events I managed to open it with hammer and paint scraper. Relief all round but not what a studying daughter needed, not to mention her father.
And onto hobby matters-

I found these in a box today completely forgotten about. Can anyone identify them? 

Main hobby task of the day was fixing 54mm figures onto their new acrylic bases-

Looking forward to seeing how they look outside. Already I am pleased that they look the part on any surface as noticeable in the above photo. This will work well with the winter white cloth and the green one.

Skirmishing in Sherwood.

Been skirmish gaming today with these rules-

Great to see some of the recent restorations play their first game for many years.

Duelling Cavaliers and Merry Men

Finished these repair jobs this afternoon-

 

Here is the end result except for a coat or two of pva to seal them-

Medieval unboxing

Some Medieval figures recently acquired. Usual mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. I am very taken with the Robin Hood figures.

As ever I.Ds , comments and anything else most welcome.

On the painting table today

Who are you or the vintage job lot unveiled.

I got these rather cheaply with a view towards some restoration work over the coming months and because some of the figures were interesting looking-

Now for a closer look at the figures. Any comments, identifications or ideas most welcome.

A tale of two soldiers

I had two Britains toy soldiers on my painting desk for ages. They weren’t particularly animated and retained much of their original paint. I never bothered to try and find out who they were. This week I got a couple of articles in the post ( thanks Mark) about Old Lead Soldiers and restoring them. They were both entertaining and also inspiring being filled with anecdotes and practical guidance. Part two talked about set No. 28 the Mountain Battery from Britains. As I read on I realised who these figures were -

Here they are on the aforementioned article . With a little more research I found confirmation in this picture

At some point I will get some more of the battery from Dorset Model Soldiers and have myself some mountain artillery. A mystery solved thanks to Military Modelling.

Duchy doings

I am intending to post daily at the moment. I think it is important we bloggers, support, inspire  and divert each other at this time. Yesterday saw sunshine on Tradgardland and I gardened for much of the day. I did find some time to do some repair work-

 These broken,battered and twisted hollowcasts came as part of a mixed lot of broken toy soldiers ages ago. They have lain in the wee potting plastic green house waiting for something to be done. I find that hollowcasts can have torn edges where parts  of the figure came off and also , as in the case of the foot lifeguard be bashed in too. One horse was attached to nails on a base around which I will form legs. The other horse had tissue paper scrunched in a glue drenched ball placed in the cavity to help attach the leg and the head. Before the glue hardened I popped in a matchstick leg former.

Here’s what I have been up to between overthinking things and practical matters-

 Replacing arms on these figures and mending the gaping hole in the grenade thrower with a mix of glue and paper scrunched together prior to fitting a replacement head.

Making a replacement leg from a matchstick before adding a replacement head.

Chitting my potatoes,weeding and tidying the garden a little when it is warm enough. I feel it is important to have a number of projects on the go both indoors and outdoors. I therefore can flit from one to another in my hobby butterfly manner. Trying to finish /take forward things rather than buying more other than glue, paint etc.