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"Lead rot" is the lead content of the casting alloy oxidizing. Lead "rust", in other words. Metal castings are actually quite porous, and will take on moisture which produces the "rot". You can treat it by going over the whole figure with a small amount of mineral oil on a soft cloth or cotton...

1. 12th (Prince of Wales' Own) Lancers 2. 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers 3. 17th (Duke of Cambridges' Own) Lancers 4. 21st (Empress of India's Own) Lancers 5. 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers Britains never made any dismounted lancer sets (although most "New Toy Soldier" companies did), so these are a...

I was kidding about "skinny". The Preiser Eve and Adam figures are by the famous figurative sculptor Ron Cameron. You can see a large selection of his bronzes by doing a Google Image search for Ronald Cameron sculptor. He's a fine equestrian sculptor, too.

Another ambitious project! You'll need lots of putty to get those skinny Preiser girls up to their proper Rubenesque voluptuousness. As to the title - Abduction is often used now as a more accurate and (somewhat) less objectionable replacement for the classical terminology. Looking forward to...

As I pointed out here last October, the radio hut set is a direct copy of Dragon's 1998 1/35 plastic kit: https://indy-amps.weebly.com/dml-dragon-135th-scale-german-communications-center-wsignal-troops.html Maybe War Park has an agreement with Dragon?

Made in China, but for a French company. Blaster is our resident Mokarex expert. Mirof could probably also shed light on these. On the Mokarex site, http://www.mokarex.fr/mhsp_avant_attaque_uk.html, the figure is shown to have been released in 1985, and is part of a set based on an...

The Zoo Flak Tower is rather unhelpfully described as being 'as tall as a 13-story building' in all the quick references I could find. And a story is conventionally measured as 10 feet. So: 130 X 12" = 1560". Divide by either 30 or 32. By 30 is the easiest, and gives a height of 52 inches...

Have to call it a scam. The categories of products on Gmoshi are simply a copy of eBay's. It reproduces many eBay listings, with different prices. Including this one, which is ridiculous all by itself (read her description, Treefrog gets a namecheck)...

The cavalry figure could be 3rd Skinner's Horse. Here's a picture of a trooper with puttees, not the usual boots,and a clearer picture of the turban colours.

Blue uniform with red collar and yellow wrist-knot means artillery. I can't link the turban colours to any particular regiment, but there may well be one. The standing figure is cavalry, possibly the 11th Bengal Lancers, from the tunic and turban colours.. Points of identification: white...

Ron Cameron did a great many figure and equestrian sculpts for Britains (Deetail), Airfix, Preiser, and Gerry Anderson's puppet TV shows, as well as gorgeous life-size bronze nudes. (Google image search Ron Cameron sculptor to see those).

Well, Clive, all I can suggest re old catalogues is that they show up at auctions, like Vectis' (vectis.co.uk). There have been a few reprints of old Britains catalogues - there's one offered on eBay right now...

It's a Britains figure. The full word is Proprietors. They made two very small series of larger than usual marching soldiers which sold individually. H series "Large Size" (7cm) had three - Line Infantry, Foot Guards, and Highlanders; HH series "Extra large Size" (8.3cm) had the same three...

Re leg arrangement: Britains introduced this pose for their figures standing at Present Arms (aka Salute) in 1937. Previously, they'd been the same leg position as At Attention. Change in the drill manual? Examples in sets 204, 205, 2078, and in some ceremonial display sets.

Yes, it's Andy (not Ian - senior's moment there). Long time collector, restorer, and designer of toy soldiers. Per his Wikipedia bio: "Beyond music, Partridge is an avid collector, sculptor, and painter of toy soldiers, an "obsession" he credits to his mother throwing away his toys as a...

Hi Clive. Welcome to the Forum. Since you are going to be repainting, rather than retouching these vintage figures, the colour matches aren't going to be as critical. There's a good guide to basic Britainsesque colour mixes here: https://londonbridgecollectorstoys.com/humbral-paints/ Prewar...

I just received an email from Joe Wallis announcing his latest book, a revised, all-colour, hard cover edition of the paperback edition of Armies of the World, Britains Ltd. Lead Soldiers 1925-1941. More info at his website: http://leadsoldierbooks.com/prewar-aow-book.html

You're in the right place for modern plastics, and maybe for vintage US and British plastic production. For French and other continental vintage plastic, there's a better forum: https://soldatplastique-1-32.forumgratuit.org/forum Brian Carrick's excellent blog Collecting Toy Soldiers put me...

Phoenix is still trading. Their catalogue is mostly 1/12 (dollhouse) scale accessories. They have four carts and barrows in 1/24, nothing in 1/32. https://www.phoenixmodeldevelopments.com/acatalog/Carts_and_Barrows_1_24.html

Powi, my primary focus of interest has been on Britains hollow-cast figures, and most of my reference material reflects that. The Joplin book was a good price on eBay, so I picked it up. It covers all the British makers of metal figures from 1893 to 1966, but with such a wide coverage it is...