Marching off to eBay

Now that my retirement is on the near horizon, my wife and I have made the decision to downsize. Our home for the last 15 years goes on the market next weekend.  We've done some packing for storage and getting rid of stuff.  But my undisciplined style of collecting over the years means that I personally have a lot to do towards making the move happen.

I've decided to prune my collection as much as possible to the following:
30mm flats - Ancient, 1680-1720.
40-45mm flats/semi-flats ca. 1830.

Anything else is fair game.  All of the figures in this post are now on auction at eBay.  Much as I dislike selling on eBay, it's a matter of necessity.  Not to turn the blog into a shameless commercial enterprise, but if readers see anything they'd like to have from what I've posted over the years, please fell free to comment on that particular post and we can take the discussion offline.  My eBay nom de guerre is "sc_tin_man".

I also have many 40mm casting molds, unpainted flats and military history/toy soldier books like the Wollner compendium below so feel free to contact me at "cpl_trimATyahooDOTcom" about your wants.

Speaking of 45mm, some very nice Heinrichsen flats ca. 1840 will be up soon in the next post.

Roman Scale Comparisons - "40mm"

First, apologies to my fellow bloggers for lack of reciprocal blog comments of late.  I got laid off from my job last week, my company eliminated Northern California R&D production.  And a rather unexpected short-term effect is in play here.  That is, I find myself spending less time on the Internet, not more.  Now today when I logged into the Reading List to catch up on things, Google thinks I no longer have a Reading List.  Probably a short term glitch, I'll try it again later.

So far as the layoff goes, disappointing. I had hoped to continue with the company until retirement at 66, now dropped off a few years short of the finish line but ultimately not surprised to become another casualty of cost cutting measures.  I don't blame the company, sign of the times and I did get a good package which will buy time to find something else and relocate.  For now, it's a tantalizing foretaste of retirement, with more time to paint and ride the bikes (road and mountain), as well as support my wife through the exhausting travails of chemotherapy.  Of course, I'll need to be a lot tighter with the figure and book purchases, no doubt a good thing. And atone for 25 years of undisciplined hobby clutter with eBay selling, something I dislike but no longer have the excuse of insufficient time to manage it, and of course the extra cash will come in handy.

On to the infantry:

From left to right:
* Helen of Toy, comic book ad flats
* Kinder Surprise
* Spenkuch, 35mm flats
* Heinrichsen, 40mm flats
* Irregular
* Elastolin
* Ideal, home cast semi-flats
* Ideal (other side of the mold from the limbo dance pose guy)

The comic book Romans don't fare well posed next to the traditional flats but at the very least the archers and oddball slingers will come in handy. On the other end of the spectrum we have Ideal.  The figure on the right just looks oversized relative to the rest, but the variance between figures could possibly be mitigated by means of thicker and thinner basing as the case may be.

And cavalry:

From left to right:
* Comic book flat
* Heinrichsen
* Spenkuch
* Elastolin

Clearly the undersized comic book cavalry won't do.  It's interesting that the scales of Spenkuch and Heinrichsen reverse with the cavalry, but they are stylistically compatible so long as kept in their own formations.

So far as maintaining a consistent aesthetic goes, it will be in the flat and semi-flat style. Meaning Irregular and Elastolin (despite their undeniable appeal) are out, although it remains to be seen whether flat ballista/scorpion crews could ever be found in 40mm.  The Spenkuch figures don't show to advantage here as unpainted castings but they are superb, to my eyes the best thing Spenkuch ever did.  I'm painting some now, so should have a post up soon about them.

Prince August Mold - Brave Tin Soldier

 

 

In response to inquiries about the Prince August "Brave Tin Soldier" mold, hopefully today's post will provide some insight about this figure. I've also been curious about how it might work out with a 40mm project.  When I asked Prince August about it, Michael said it was "around 40mm" but cautioned me that it was a representation of a toy soldier, not a real soldier.

 

I think he passes muster pretty well as an adequate miniature. The scale is going to be where people have a problem with him.

 

"Son, you'd better shape up if you hope to graduate from this academy."

 

Here he is posed next to a Zinnbrigade officer. Yes, on the smallish side - 35mm from the bottom of the shoes to the eyes.  Rather on the cusp of being useful for a 40mm project but not quite.  Too bad because he casts nicely, a simple figure with a deep drop so they're all good after the first cold cast.

 

Not so good with the ballerina, the base generally doesn't cast completely, although I think this could easily be solved by cutting a bigger channel for the metal flow.   Unlike the soldier, she's a definite semi-flat, as I wish the soldier had been as well. Likely she's of no value to you warlike guys, not much use to me either although sooner or later I'll paint a few for our granddaughters.

 

 

A couple more shots showing the appealing simplicity of the figure.  As cast, he does list slightly to the left, something a little bending or filing of the base can take care of.

 

 

 

 

HWG-Modelle (Wollner): Part I

Finished painting the first pack HWG-Modelle Austro-Hungarian infantry figures over the weekend.  Although the figures were sold as unpainted castings "HWG-Modelle", judging by the 38mm size and antique toy soldier style, I'm fairly sure they are Wollner figures.  Wollner dates to the late 1800's and they're still sold by Kober Toys of Vienna. But only as painted sets, so far as I know.  

"New models in preparation" ?  I only wish all of this stuff was still in production (Oh yeah, Turkenkrieg !), but I've been able to find nothing on the web about HWG-Modelle. The packaging looks pretty dated to me, perhaps sold new in the 1980's (give or take a decade).  I purchased these sets from the Flohmarkt section at Berliner Zinnfiguren.

Skinny guys and hard to hit with a Little Wars spring gun

The foot are easy to paint quickly on account of the slim, semi-round style.  The cavalry are also toylike but more rounded.  The riders are cast with their saddles and have to be glued onto the horses.

Too bad there's not of enough troops in this first group to field a battalion.  However, I have another identical set on order, as well as infantry musicians on parade (containing the standard bearer). Between the two, there will be 18 foot figures, which will have to suffice.