The recent arrival of a box of broken lead figures has provided a major campaign of repair and restoration. First job was to remove the old paint. Second job was to clean up the castings. The third move was a light prime (to provide a better view of required repairs, and nicer than handling bare metal). The fourth move was drilling, removing casting lines, fixing metal rods, and milliput work.
Here is the original delivery, I seem to have mislaid the farm lady milking cattle, might crop up later. Luckily, I do have one already in the collection.
Here are some paint stripped, cleaned, and initial priming.
Will have to construct wire feet for the two roosters, tricky.
Lots of legwork for the sheep.
That foal can be saved.
Horns and hooves.
Rifle barrels.
MILLIPUT WORK COMPLETED
PAINTED, AND READY FOR BASING
Rather pleased with these, some Friesian cattle.
A pair of draught horses.
Some legs of mutton.
The W.Britains shire horse was a gift from Graham Apperley.
The Ardennes breed looked appropriate.....they come in a variety of colours.
Typical donkeys.
Rather pleased with this, a miliput and wire leg and tail. Basil now has a friend.
The repaired W.Britains greyhound might win a race. I chose Fawn (light distortion).
Might as well fix some lead pigs to the Johillco pigsties.
A spare Gurkha head, who would have thought that!
My British WW1 army has gained three recruits.
Well, not quite a complete W.Britains farm rake, but close enough to be a fun addition. Wire and milliput was used to make the replacement shafts. Just as well I had kept a broken metal Lone Star vehicle seat.... perfect!
Finally, the eight lead chickens have been repaired and painted to represent Welsummers (brown) and Leghorns (white). Suitable nineteenth century breeds, I'm wearing an anorak while typing this, lol.
A follow-on post should complete this project, when time allows.
MGB
Brilliant restorations Michael, you really are a wizard with the Miliput! and the new repaint really brings them back to life, hope that fox gets away safely.
ReplyDeleteMost kind Brian, thank you. When working on a budget you have to adapt and improvise. I also feel strongly these old toys deserve a fair restoration, and they might just provide some fun to young minds in the future. I confess, the fox is actually my favourite, but the greyhound is a bit special too.
DeleteMichael
Great post Michael. I always love seeing how people restore old figures and give them a new lease of life, brilliantly done and kudos to you! All very handy additions to your collection, the little farm rake is especially a love;y little piece.
ReplyDeleteCheers Donnie. When Chris picked up that box at a very fair price I knew we would get some useful additions, but the farm rake was a real bonus. I had the spares, and a suitable seated figure too.
DeleteMichael
Great work bringing these figures back to full use again.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tony. I just can't pass by a bargain, and these castings will add greatly to my rural 'lead' scenery. Rather pleased with the railway signalman, have been wanting to acquire this figure for some time. It's almost ready. Going to see if I can put together a 'man and plough' model.
DeleteMichael
Wow, Michael! You have really worked quite a few miracles here! I agree with Brian, your Miliput work is truly amazing! The fox and hound are wonderful, and the rake looks perfect! The milkmaid and soldiers will make great additions to your table too! Really excellent work indeed!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brad. Most of my wargaming stuff is packed into boxes. But I wanted to continue to restore projects, and when I spotted this auction, it would have been daft to let it pass without an offer. Would love to 'field' these new items onto the gaming table, but it must wait. There is another twenty items nearing completion, these include the milkman and some more rural folk, all for a later post.
DeleteMichael
Excellent repair work, thanks you for sharing the process pictures.
ReplyDeleteCheers Mark. Even if I'm not planning to raise new armies, or even battalions, I do still get a fair amount of satisfaction restoring an old lead figure. Regards.
DeleteMichael
Wonderful work MGB - great to see these figures repaired and ready for play.
ReplyDeleteThanks MJT. It always gives me a morale boost to see something broken made useful again. But as I mentioned to Brad, I want to see them on the gaming table!
DeleteMichael
I really liked the classic worn look of these vintage miniatures at first. What you've turned them into is nothing else as miracle!
ReplyDeleteI really like your restoration work and especially the cleanliness in the neat paintwork. It really brings out the classic look in them! How do you strip them for paint in the first place?
Thanks for sharing Michael!
Hello Roger, firstly, you raise a very, very interesting point. I do appreciate the view concerning their 'classic' look. In paint stripping these castings they ceased to be relics, or survivors from an earlier age. If I visited a toy museum I would not want to see my repainted figures. (Unless I became famous.) However, mine were never museum quality. Those items do still exist and deserve to be cherished as historic pieces, or display level collectables. As mine were missing much of their paintwork, and many seriously broken, I have a much freer hand. So my objective is twofold. To create an attractive piece for my gaming table, and to bring further life to old items that were broken. As someone who loves museums, and old buildings, this subject is constantly debated. Just how much of HMS Victory was actually at the Battle of Trafalgar, and how much of the timber has been replaced? We also need to be careful with museum artefacts. How often do you see cannon on display with natural or fine-varnished wooden wheels. The truth is they are not only replacements but the original carriage wheels would have been painted in bold coloured oil paints. But museum lore says any new replacements must not seek to imply originality or guess the colour. So they rarely paint replacement wheels....... and some wargamers have assumed cannon carriages might be left in their natural wood. Sorry, dry and wet weather would see the wheels shrink and expand, and then fall apart within a week! They would linseed oil the wood, and adding some colour to the oil was always easy.
DeleteRoger, Many years ago I used paint strippers that were expensive, dangerous, and very smelly. Fortunately, things have moved on. I really like using Bartoline TX10, a superb paint and varnish stripper! Michael
DeleteAgain. I think your restored miniatures holds a 'conserved museum quality vibe' to them. I don't like museum artifacts that can't be handled. I prefer good looking models that can be handled for wargaming.
DeleteThank you for the tip of the paint stripper!
Thanks Roger, I want my toys to look and feel like new. And they must be repaired to a level which will allow me to handle them with some measure of carelessness. Otherwise, they will just break again. Back to museums, something I dislike with modern museums is this tendency to try and entertain the visitors with cartoon cutouts. If their attention span is that low, I doubt it will ever improve. Interaction with artefacts is something I too can appreciate, and I also support living history displays by quality re-enactors. But pure entertainment is another. It is a failure of our education system and mass media that there is such a drop in general knowledge. What was once styled a liberal education has been replaced by a liberal de-education. (I'm ranting here, lol.)
DeleteMichael
I know what you mean, and totally agrees. The drop of general history knowledge are very noticeable among younger people.
DeleteWhat can I say Michael.....you have worked milliput magic! Love the plough and the Ghurkha milkmaid!
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of restoration, my own views are fairly simple. If I can afford a figure then its probably not rare enough to merit museum status! I love the patina that the really old hollowcasts have and its impossible to replicate that paint finish. So occasionally I will merely embellish the original paint, but most times strip and repaint completely. I like the as new look of repainted glossy figures. The reality is that there are untold amounts of Britain's hollowcasts in existence and very few of those are truly rare. I can see the other side of the argument but as less and less people care about our beloved toy soldiers as each year passes, I think we should just enjoy them in whatever way suits us.
As I suspected, Graham, your position is not dissimilar to my own. We are part of a declining generation that played with traditional toy soldiers in our childhood, experienced the magic of local toyshops, made numerous Airfix kits, watched spectacular British and Hollywood movies about heroes and events of old, and knew relatives that had actually participated in some of those historic events. There has also been an enormous drop in the European birthrate which will reduce the numbers in all hobbies, and the level of the creativity that is put into them. I shall continue to play with my toy soldiers, lol.
DeleteMichael
Spot on Michael lol! Sunday afternoon, war film, airfix toy soldiers on the dining room table re-enacting the film. Happy days.
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