2008 New York Toy Soldier Symposium (3 Viewers)

Louis Badolato said:
anyone know a lawyer?
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Gee Louis sorry to hear that you have such a heavy case load and need the assitance of another lawyer but was very happy to hear that the weekend went very well and got a feeling your still on cloud nine. Glad it went so well for all.......The Lt.
 
The great thing is the Symposium is not really over yet . . . Kevin Elliott (Panda1gen) is staying until next Saturday to do some more photography for the book. After the Symposium formally ended last night, Kevin, John Jenkins, Evilchuck, Jeff, Morgan Hoffman and myself went to the Wollenski Grill for the farewell meal. Morgan was kind enough to treat.

Then it was back to Morgan's house for Guiness and Cuban Cigars. Morgan, who is remarkably generous gave me a real WWII Lee Enfield Rifle with a "Pig-Sticker" Bayonet and a pre-WWI Prussian Sapper Officer's Sword for the museum to thank me for hosting the Symposium. He also pulled out some of his private collection of antique and modern firearms, which was also an amazing treat.

Kevin and I took John Jenkins to the airport today for his return flight to Hong Kong. At my house, before he left, he incredibly generously presented me with autographed figure sculpts made out to Larry, Mark Hoffman and myself, as well as, for me, a resin master of an upcoming figure of an Indian playing Lacrosse. It was amazing!

Collector Rick Schuster, who collects several makers, and has been collecting K&C for at least as long as I have, if not longer, invited Kevin and I to his home Wednesday to have lunch and view his collection, which includes among his 30,000 (yes I said thirty-thousand) toy soldiers several of the wood, metal and resin K&C vehicles and original K&C warbirds.

We also hope to get together with Chuck and Jeff this week for lunch or dinner. So the Symposium is still going strong for Kevin and the locals!
 
By the way, stay tooned for Steven Chong's report on Rick Wang's and John Jenkins' talks, as well as K&C, UK's films thereof. I know I can't wait!!
 
First, I want to thank the hosts: Louis, Mark, Hans and Lawrence. I met a lot of fellow collectors and had a wonderful time discussing our hobby.

The sequence of Symposium events changed, and John Jenkins spoke at Louis' house Saturday afternoon while Rick spoke at the dinner Saturday night.

Many forum members may not know that John involvement in toy soldiers arose from a connection with K&C. John is a set designer, which involves creating sets and costumes for stage performances. His work requires constant travel to different cities and living in hotels for months while sets are built and costumes are made. Many times, John had a hard time describing his ideas to directors, and would create miniature versions of the sets so they could see what he envisioned. His wife was transferred to HK and during visits with her he found he had little to do. One day he walked by the K&C Store in Pacific Place and asked the salesperson there if they needed any dioramas made. The salesperson suggested John talk with the owner.

I have forgotten whether John said the first visit with Andy did not result in a commission; but during one of the first two visits, Andy asked John to create some buildings for the Streets of Old Hong Kong: HK75 & HK76. In HK76, John mentioned he sculpted a neighbors cat with the door open to suggest a whole world existed behind the door -- a concept from this set design training.

HK075.jpg

HK076.jpg

When he returned to Hong Kong several months later, John met with Andy again, who was very excited and wanted John to design a 22" by 22" diorama base for a new line called Sands of Iwo Jima. However, Miranda, the managing director argued against such a large piece. John took prototypes of the figures and vehicles and came up with the base picture in the below pamphlet, using his training to make sure there was a place for each figure and vehicle to be positioned without it falling over.

SANDSOFIWOJIMA.jpg

Will continue with report on John's Talk tomorrow.:)
 
The next time John returned to Hong Kong, Andy again asked him to make a large 22" by 22" diorama base for a new WWII, but was again advised against it by Miranda. The end result of which John is justly proud is the Normandy Village tiles (NV1 to NV9), a total of 9 tiles that can be used individually or put together to make large dioramas. As a set designer, John liked the "3D" aspect of these tiles and how they could be rotated to create different scenes.

NORMANDYVILLAGE.jpg

The next trip to Hong Kong resulted in the NV10 to NV18 which John though was a set backwards because of the 2D nature of the flatter buildings.

BUILDINGSANDSCENERY.jpg

John was happier with the next project, the French Farm House (SP17 -18)because it combined the flatter building (main farmhouse) with garden walls that could be positioned by the collector to create many different 3D spaces.

FRENCHFARMHOUSE.jpg

John's next (and final?) project was the LAH Headquarters (LAH042) with the balcony -- he thinks Andy might now regret having him make that piece. The design called for the German eagle at the top of the building. Andy offered to have one of K&C sculptors make the eagle but John said he wanted to give it a try. He sculpted the eagle and really liked the result, realizing he had a talent for sculpting toy soldiers. This of course lead to the start of John Jenkins Designs.

Finally, John answered questions which were posted on the Forum by Brad. Much of John's talk was filmed by K&C UK and will be posted by Tony after he figures out how to edit it.

Tomorrow I will post a summary of Rick Wang's talk, which included how Figarti started and another connection or link to K&C.:)
 
Thanks for the report Steven. Never knew about John's previous work.
 
I just want to supplement Steven's excellent report by pointing out that John discussed how he worked together with Andy on the K&C projects, and he gave much of the credit for the final pieces to Andy. In a private conversation with me he said that if Andy asked him to do something special for K&C he would be happy to continue to collaborate with Andy, whom he credited with his start in the hobby.

John is a real gentleman, and a great guy! Getting to know him was one of the highlights of the Symposium for me.

Wouldn't it be great if at next year's symposium Andy, Gordon, Rick and John would all give presentations? Maybe Andy could do a drawing, Gordon could demonstrate some diorama building techniques, John could do another sculpting exhibition, and Rick could discuss the collaborative process he, Figarti's sculptors, master painters, and modelists use to design their products?

I plan on campaigning to get them all back!
 
Did John Jenkins say anything about how he hit upon the idea of the FIW. Before he started there was very little available from this era. He showed insight and courage in taking on a new era which he has now made his own. As much as I like WWII and the Zulu War I think it is great that he took a risk and has been rewarded.
Regards
Damian
 
John indicated that, as a naturalized Canadian citizen, he was obligated to study Canadian history for the citizenship test. He got so fascinated by the French and Indian War that he read up on it extensively, hence his choice of this period.
 
I bought all his initial Frontline Roger's Rangers stuff. I have'nt got his more recent stuff simply because one has to make choices, but I think it is great. He must take credit for opening up a whole new era for collectors. I cannot think of anyone else offhand who has singlehandedly launched a whole new collecting theme in recent years like he and Frontline have.
Regards
Damian
 
damian said:
Did John Jenkins say anything about how he hit upon the idea of the FIW ...
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I first meet John at the Frontline offices where he was reviewing the masters of his first figures. Besides his interest in the era as mentioned by Louis, John told me at the time he wanted to do a theme that had not been done in matt.:)
 
Sounds like an excellant symposium.Can anyone tell me what they thought of the Thin Red Line pics Tony took to the Symposium?.What are the figures like,cool poses?:)

Rob
 
Rob

Take a look in K&C in about an hour!

Guys

Well after a rush around day yesterday eventually calm enough to post on here now.

NYC was great. Great to see all the guys at the Symposium. Louis's collection is a must for anybody in the area to go and see. Great collection and great set up. Easy to get to from NYC from Penn Station.

I have a film and will be working on the editing today to try and get something up!

Tony
 
Since Tony appears to be having technical difficulties editing Rick's talk, I will post a summary.:)

Rick reviewed the history of Figarti. Like John Jenkins' start in toy soldiers because of Andy and K&C, there is also a connection between the start of Figarti and K&C. In 2002, Rick's dad, James, had dropped a lot of hints that he wanted the K&C Wedding Possession as a birthday gift, so Rick and his siblings got it for him. It is proudly displayed in James' home. Soon afterwards, James asked Rick, "Wouldn't it be fun if we started a toy soldier company?" Rick answered, "NO."

James had some heath problems and became depressed, not wanting to leave his residence. The family was worried and Rick decided to start something for his father and give him something to do. Rick hired a modeler, a sculptor, and some workers and got a space. When James returned to Shanghai, Rick introduced him to the staff and told him, "This is your company." While many people think Figarti is an Italian company, it is actually a combination of "Figurine Art."

Since James and Rick had no experience in toy soldiers, James talked to Bill Hocker, who told him about the Chicago Show. They decided to bring something and wanted to do a subject that was related to China and that had not been done. They decided to do the 1937 Sino-Japanese War with the Communist 8th Route Army against the Japanese in 1/30 scale and brought 6 sets of Chinese and 6 sets of Japanese to the 2004 Chicago Show. Rick freely admits the figures varied in scale and were not too good and the series did not do well -- in fact, all the unsold sets were melted down because the metal used in the figures because very valuable with the drastic increase in metal prices. Rick described meeting his "Number One Critic," me, and told his version of how I came in several times and spent hours looking at Figarti's figures but did not buy anything. In his talk, Rick forgot to mention the only reason I was in his room so long was that both James and Rick asked my frank opinion on their figures and my thoughts on the toy soldier industry.

James had a lot of fun at the Chicago Show and greatly enjoyed meeting collectors, so the decision was made to grow Figarti. The next year, Figarti came to the Chicago Show with their 1/32 Japanese and the Chi-Ha tank. In year 3, they introduced their Marines and Iraq War series ...

My son has a game, so I will conclude report later tonight.:)
 
Steven thanks again for the write up.

Guys iam working with my IT team on our new website TOY SOLDIER TV.co.uk and we would like as it is so close to going live to put the 8 NY symposium vids on there so if you can all wait a week or two they will be on there along with London Show videos.

cheers

Tony
 
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