SPECIAL THANKS. I would like to thank Paul Watson for his sponsorship of several lead figure collections on this blog. Having decided to clear his spare/surplus figures, he generously forwarded them on with no other requirement than they deserved to be restored. I would also like to mention George S. Mills, who kindly furnished a quantity of plastic figures which allowed me to complete another five or six military units, serving in several collections.

Monday 29 May 2023

NEW ADDITIONS (Finished MAY 29)

Pleased to have painted a fair number of figures over the last four days. Must admit, near half of these have been nearly complete for some time, but its still a real pleasure to have them finally depart my worktop.

First up are three spares. A Soviet WW2 infantryman, an Airfix Japanese officer to complete the pioneer battalion, and a Deetail Saracen or Turk.


My Indian WW2 battalion of twelve has just gained a Bren gun figure, and a radio operator.

Instead of raising a fourth battalion of British paratroopers, these Lone Star figures will serve as 1950s Royal Marines. Having actually painted six infantry, the others just changed their berets, I will have to seek out one more to complete their establishment of twelve. 

However, the Parachute Regiment has gained their own command base. It includes one of those 'just landed figures', now with a walky-talky and Sten gun.


Finally, have increased a British 8th Army unit from seven figures to fifteen, including their own HMG. 
As for actual wargames, I have used this beautiful weather engaged in a genuine struggle to combat aphids on my raspberry canes....... I think I'm winning. Next battle must involve the lawn. MGB

10 comments:

  1. A well mown lawn is an asset to outdoor gaming with more of these lovely shiny toy soldiers like yours, just ask a reclining H G Wells as pictured in Little Wars. I'm not sure he mowed his own lawn though ...

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    1. With this weather, Mark, I would love to stage a wargame in the garden. Unfortunately, my lawn is now 12" high. By the way, I wanted to post a comment on your blog but my very antiquated Apple computer is causing me issues with some sites, it is about fifteen years old. But I can still view your interesting articles. Regards.
      Michael

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    2. I am having similar problems with commenting your site sometimes unless I use one specific bashed old IPad. I find it frustrating not being able to comment on other people's blogs, sometimes able to leave just a like, sometimes not even that. I am mostly using my familiar but oldest ten year old family iPad. At least we can still read and enjoy each others work / posts ..
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      I noticed how Jedi or Star Wars your Japanese Airfix officer with his samurai light sabre is next to the Hing Fat Russian, but then there was a string Japanese samurai influence in the Star Wars costumes by whichever Mollo designed the uniforms. I may paint in grey or black a few spare Japanese infantry to see if they have that Imperial vibe for a forthcoming sci-fi 54mm game this / next year?

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    3. Mark, A friend of mine that has computer knowledge has suggested the older computers are not being recognised/able to operate with new Google platforms. Recently, the domination of adverts on Youtube has made that platform very slow, no doubt to encourage people to pay for advert free. But some sites don't appear at all, while others prohibit comments. And yet, others are totally fine. I left Facebook last year, fed up with posts about what someone had for breakfast, but the message section ceased working too. Oh well, fortunately, new platforms are appearing and they all work perfectly. To be fair, GMAIL is a very good email service, much better than YAHOO, etc.

      Lets be honest, pretty much all of Sci Fi has been influenced from historical periods. I knew John Mollo, very nice bloke. He told me once how his real interest was in the 18th century and Napoleonic periods, all else was just 'work'.
      Michael

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    4. Interesting. Star Wars was just a paying job amongst many for some film crew, designers and actors. For others it defined or limited their careers.
      I recently saw a behind the scenes (DVD extra? BBC documentary?) where John Mollo was interviewed and he casually picked up and leafed through one of many sketch books on many shelves showing his Star Wars uniform designs. I thought, how much those must be worth (in many senses) to collectors? I hope they are archived and accessible somewhere.
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      As a child seeing the first film when it came out, it was so delightfully mishmash that it gave a certain 'reality' to it, you never thought that someone had designed and made all this, this fantastical world was just alive in its own way.

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    5. I believe him to have been a generous fellow. He kindly voiced his admiration of some uniforms I had made for living history, and had been used in several documentaries. He then mentioned he still had some brassware which had been commissioned for Hornblower, he would post them on. I am always grateful for peoples generosity but never pursue it, I thought it might look mercenary to remind him, he was getting on. But he did seem to be a good person by nature.

      I'm afraid, I was never one for Star Wars, it did not work for me. As much as I respect anything that can muster the likes of Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, I have never watched an entire Star Wars film, though I have tried. (I love Lord of the Rings, but dislike Harry Potter, I consider the original When the Earth Stood Still a classic movie, but the later version is trash, I have strong views on many subjects, lol)
      Michael

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  2. Excellent additions to your units Michael, they all look wonderful! Good luck with your lawn, not as much fun as playing with toy soldiers!

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    1. Cheers Brad, It has been a good run at completing wargaming projects, but I really do need to start on some other projects, lol.
      Michael

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  3. Great stuff as always. Get your lawn seen to!

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    1. Thanks Tim, just been to the dentist. Like all true Brits, my teeth are crooked, broken, and decaying, I have no plans to use them after departing this earth. Jost lost another two and a third needed a filling. I feel dreadful, stuff the lawn.
      Michael

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