RESTORING OLD LEAD FIGURES

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