Anybody know anything about these little beauties? (1 Viewer)

[UKReb]

I'm not a glossy collector per se but couldn't resist these fellahs which recently came up on eBay at a ridiculously bargain basement price. The seller described them as Alamo Mexican Lancers-can't argue with that- but when I asked her the manufacturer she said "I believe they are Tradition of London"-I checked and they aint!
I asked Joe (The Lt) if they were Little Legion but he doesn't recognise them.

They are 54mm metals with no markings standing on a lozenge base and superbly painted, the weight also tells me they are not hollow-cast.
Any info on them from you ardent glossy collectors would be most appreciated.

Reb

 

[thebritfarmer]

I wonder if they are Ducal? They share a similar base shape.

 

[Louis Badolato]

What ever they are, they are beautifully sculpted and painted! Excellent acquisition!!

 

[fishead19690]

The pose of the figure looks to be copied from the marx plastic set but the base of the figure dosn,t look like a marx base or I would have thought that they were marx figures bootlegged and home cast in metal???

 

[theBaron]

They might be of Mexican manufacture. I have a set of Mexican cadets (ie, Mexican military cadets, and made in Mexico) around here somewhere, and the bases are very similar, as is the style of painting. I will dig them out and see how they compare.

Prost, beianand!
Brad

 

[UKReb]

Thanks for your input guys

BritF I checked on the Ducal list but couldn't find them although you're right they do have a similar base.

Tim,
They could be home cast-hadn't thought of that-if so- then they must have had them professionally painted as all six are almost identical with a superb finish and very very tactile.

Brad,
Mexican? Wow! have never seen any of those and if they are? a definite hats off to the Mexicans. Thanks for looking for me and all of your helpful comments.

The whole set actually cost me a total of £20.00($38US) and although you sometimes take a gamble on unknown ebay items as soon as I unpacked them I knew(well with my almost novice glossy knowledge)that I had a pretty good deal. I think!!
Reb

 

[kilted vampire]

Welcome to the world of glossy! Pat , Dave and John are some of the most knowledgeable of our glossy guys. And I can certainly paint like that. Coul very well be homecast or castings someone painted. Really nice find.

 

[1879fanatic]

UKREB,
They are not LL, for sure. They don't look like any British maker I'm aware of. They do look a little familiar, like s. American Hiriart, or homecast in the SW.
This kind of stuff is fun. Doing detective work on unidentified Soldier should be it's own forum! I love it. I'll keep these in mind while looking around. Mike

 

[UKReb]

UKREB,
They are not LL, for sure. They don't look like any British maker I'm aware of. They do look a little familiar, like s. American Hiriart, or homecast in the SW.
This kind of stuff is fun. Doing detective work on unidentified Soldier should be it's own forum! I love it. I'll keep these in mind while looking around. Mike

Thanks Mike

Drawn a blank so far on both forums

Reb

 

[theBaron]

UKREB,
They are not LL, for sure. They don't look like any British maker I'm aware of. They do look a little familiar, like s. American Hiriart, or homecast in the SW.
This kind of stuff is fun. Doing detective work on unidentified Soldier should be it's own forum! I love it. I'll keep these in mind while looking around. Mike

Very true, very true! It is fun to track down a figure and its maker. It's interesting to see how many things out there can't be easily identified. Then you have to ask yourself, was it commercially produced, or was it homecast?

This is where it helps to have some of the hardcopy resources, like old copies of "Military Modeling" and other mags, and the books, like everything Garratt wrote. And catalogs, lots of catalogs.

You have to be a packrat, if you want to collect....

Prost, beianand!
Brad

 

[Gideon]

$38 bucks??? Great deal - they are really nice figures. I have no clue who made them - can't even guess at this oddball set but they are professionally made. The paint finish is about as good as it gets.

The lances look very Nostalgia/Star/Shamus Wade but the sculpt is very different and he didn't do Mexicans.

Great find, wish I could help you id those.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Guys,

I've been pondering this set since it was posted and I have to say that I agree that these are very well done uniform paint and faces look great! I also agree with Tim that they are most likely castings made from the Marx figure that was done for the Alamo Set. There was one figure of a lancer standing at attention in that set. Still for the price you got your self a really cool little set.

All the best

Dave

 

[Forward March]

Could they be by ANI? They tend to do a lot of recasts/light conversions etc. with nice clean paint out of California.

 

[UKReb]

Could they be by ANI? They tend to do a lot of recasts/light conversions etc. with nice clean paint out of California.

Thanks FM I'll try and check that out. Surprisingly I have drawn a complete blank on these little guys on this forum and a couple of others I frequent, as I said I am no expert on glossies but I would have thought with all the "real experts" on here we could have accurately pinned these fellahs down by now. The Baron came up with an idea they maybe Mexican manufactured and was going to check it out-but it appears he has come up zilch as he has not replied.

Hybrids they maybe but they are definitely professional hybrids-I can paint a bit but the exact and identical finish of these are way above an amateur job-I think.
Curiouser and curiouser said Alice!

Reb

 

[theBaron]

Thanks for reminding me, Reb, I've been remiss about checking back in with this thread.

Unfortunately, you're right, so far, I haven't found the figures I was thinking of, but I still have some boxes to go through. On the positive side, these are boxes I haven't opened since I moved 6 years ago, and I'm finding things I'd forgotten I had.

I'm off this week, so I will have some time to finish the hunt.

Prost!
Brad

 

[bromhead]

Nicely done,agreed as to solid figure recasts from? appears to be britains lancer arms on a plug shoulder,,Most of the figures I did in a past business were recasts I then converted to everything possible.having a set of britains body part molds was a great help. Not to mention doing restorations.

 

[theBaron]

And I still can't find the figures I referred to in my earlier post. I've been through every box I can find, and I know I have them somewhere, but they've been packed away for 5 years now. Not admitting defeat yet, though.

However, I don't think now that they're by the same manufacturer. Mine were definitely made in Mexico, and the underside of the bases were cast with the manufacturer's stamp.

Prost!
Brad