Do you allow kids to play with your prize toy soldier collection? (1 Viewer)

[Christopher Walkerloo]

So you've got a great looking metal or painted plastic toy soldier collection, some real gems. Your nephew son grandson brother wants to touch, heck play all out... He's careful but he's just little. What do you do? You Walkerloo!

Hi all,

After launching my figures at the 2008 Waterloo re-enactment and then at the London Toy Soldier show in June I made a little foray here on Treefrogs but since then I got buried in web site construction... with my website about done I can once again spend 'other' time at my PC. I met quite a few forum members at the Chicago show last week and figured it was about time I Introduced my self proper, especially since Treefrogs have decided to stock my soldiers!

So, I'm an artist type who's always had an obsession with military style... since my teens it's remained fairly hidden but with the arrival of a nephew who discovered some of my old toy soldiers the passion was reignited. I made him some card soldiers for a birthday three years ago; three years later I've created a whole collection and am starting to convince the world of their value!

I spent a couple of years developing the artwork and trying to find a manufacturer who could glue accurately onto both sides of a strong thick card and cut out with precision... for such a novel product I knew I'd have to get the quality tip top... I think I got it. The card/paper laminate is almost 2mm thick and very rigid. The high pressure press seemingly sears the edge of the soldiers giving a sharp smooth finish...there are no tags or sprues holding the soldiers into their surrounds you simply tap them out and slot them on to the plastic stands. Whole regiments with precise detail and full colour arranged across the floor in minutes - or perhaps hours, setting up being one of the best bits! I'm already drawing new regiments, I want to make more! as fellow toy soldier enthusiasts I invite your criticism and your patronage...

The future

Chris.

ps you see can see more of my figures in Treefrog’s shop, photos in my profile galleries, my website www.walkerloo.com and I believe in both Toy and Model Figure and Toy Soldier Collector magazines this month... on my website there’s a free download soldier... an eagle bearer of the 12th cuirassier, I'll be adding lots of extra figures like this... figures that didn't fit onto the print plates or are perhaps to specialist to get space... it means you have to make them up gluing and cutting etc. but they're free and can look very cool along side their factory made comrades.

 

[4th Hussar]

Nice web site. I have now learned how to load and fire a cannon, now lto find a cannon...............................

 

[Cardigan600]

Yo Chris, great site, I must show the neighbours, their kids have always got their eyes glued to my cabinet, saying Mam can I get some of them lol. The Cannon demo was excellent, you wouldn't want to be the loader with your back to the Cavalry bearing down on you DOH. All the best luck in the World I think it will really catch on.
Bernard.

 

[OzDigger]

The first two links didn't work for me but I was impressed with your website.

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

hmmm. the other two are both internal Treefrog links... I'll see about them.

 

[Mardasson]

Chris, Great site and soldiers. Order is on its way but I'm not quite sure I'll let my children play

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

I've been on my knees all afternoon with a friend and his two sons.... at 5 and 3 they were a little young for any rules more complex than marbles,,, but that worked and we all loved it! their 10th Hussars and French line were holding up admirably... te tufff, te tuffff, te tufff tuffff tuffff.... drum sounds were very contagious.

glad you liked the site... just got an order in from Belgium, all Brit soldiers, that you Mardasson..? they shall be in the post tomorrow... thanks.

 

[Mardasson]

Chris,
Yes, that's me.
And a very-impatient-to-receive-your-soldiers me !

 

[Mardasson]

Hi Chris,
The soldiers marched in today in perfect condition.
They are really great!! Poses and uniforms are perfect!!
I haven't had the time yet to play with my children but they sure will love them.
There is only one problem : I now have a small British army...that is waiting for a French column
Cheers,
Michel

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

Excellent Michel,

Glad they arrived safley .... are they as you imagined from press etc, bigger - smaller, thicker- thinner? best news is of course you like them... hmmmm the problem (?) with collecting soldiers, especially napoleonics, is they're best in armies... and at least two opposing armies at that! One of my motivating factors behind making Walkerloo was so collectors/customers - my nephew and I, could set up dramatic mass diplays in colour without spending a fortune! have you tried making up the curassier eagle bearer thats free to download? guess it would be a start on that french coloumn!...

 

[Mardasson]

Hello Chris,
Finally found the time to play with the kids (daughter 7 and son 6) and even with my wife (I won't mention any age here that may bring me real problems....).
They all love it. Well to be honest the kids liked it more than my wife, but that was expected
Rules were simple ones: a dice to activate soldiers, cavalry moving faster than infantry and kill being made by marbles (larger one for artillery). But that already teached some tactics lessons ! Like importance of flanking the enemy (much more easier to topple a soldier from the side).
The only problem was having only British troops... but I just went to your website and have requested French reinforcement.
Cheers, Michel

 

[Uthred]

So you've got a great looking metal or painted plastic toy soldier collection, some real gems. Your nephew son grandson brother wants to touch, heck play all out... He's careful but he's just little. What do you do? You Walkerloo!

Hi all,

After launching my figures at the 2008 Waterloo re-enactment and then at the London Toy Soldier show in June I made a little foray here on Treefrogs but since then I got buried in web site construction... with my website about done I can once again spend 'other' time at my PC. I met quite a few forum members at the Chicago show last week and figured it was about time I Introduced my self proper, especially since Treefrogs have decided to stock my soldiers!

So, I'm an artist type who's always had an obsession with military style... since my teens it's remained fairly hidden but with the arrival of a nephew who discovered some of my old toy soldiers the passion was reignited. I made him some card soldiers for a birthday three years ago; three years later I've created a whole collection and am starting to convince the world of their value!

I spent a couple of years developing the artwork and trying to find a manufacturer who could glue accurately onto both sides of a strong thick card and cut out with precision... for such a novel product I knew I'd have to get the quality tip top... I think I got it. The card/paper laminate is almost 2mm thick and very rigid. The high pressure press seemingly sears the edge of the soldiers giving a sharp smooth finish...there are no tags or sprues holding the soldiers into their surrounds you simply tap them out and slot them on to the plastic stands. Whole regiments with precise detail and full colour arranged across the floor in minutes - or perhaps hours, setting up being one of the best bits! I'm already drawing new regiments, I want to make more! as fellow toy soldier enthusiasts I invite your criticism and your patronage...

The future

Chris.

ps you see can see more of my figures in Treefrog’s shop, photos in my profile galleries, my website www.walkerloo.com and I believe in both Toy and Model Figure and Toy Soldier Collector magazines this month... on my website there’s a free download soldier... an eagle bearer of the 12th cuirassier, I'll be adding lots of extra figures like this... figures that didn't fit onto the print plates or are perhaps to specialist to get space... it means you have to make them up gluing and cutting etc. but they're free and can look very cool along side their factory made comrades.

Well, Chris, I obviously do not let children play with my toy soldiers. I don't let them as much as TOUCH the little guys, if you know what I mean. I loved your paper toy soldiers! Congratulations on your idea.

When I was a boy, in the 60's, I had this HUGE paper castle with paper Normans definding it from a paper Viking host. It lasted a full year of fun, untill the day I took it to the yard and a sudden rain turned my armies into a wet pile of trash.


Anytime you make a Viking range, please, let me know! I promise I won't let them out of the house this time...


Uthred

 

[Davout71]

I have an 11 year old nephew who is facinated by my little collection. However the couple of times I have let him touch them he is quite rough.
I had gifted him a Del Prado figure on his birthday and told him to look after it but on the same day the figure's sword had just "fallen off".
Based on that I would not let children near them. On the otherhand I have some painted Waterloo and AWI soldiers which I let my nephew play with.

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

Hi Uthred,

I drew some vikings for a flash animation a few years ago... it was fun, they were more cartoon than toy soldier, all beard, axe and Grrrrrrrrr. They were for a folk tale of a beautiful castle I live near... the local popualtion were under siege from viking raiders, after much despair the vikings about to breach the defences asked their elder/wizard for a solution who could just about remember a spell to turn the population into geese... and so it was... unfortunatley the wizard was killed and the population remain as geese to this day... hmmmm fois gras anyone?

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

Hi Davout71,

The first soldiers I made were for my nephew... I'm not sure toy soldiers are 'toy' soldiers if 'kids' can't play with them... ooooooch! hmmmmmmm. Of course we re-define words in the way we use them regardless of dictionary definitions.

Have your nephew check out my site... see what he thinks... In the next batch of updates I'll be putting up a few free download French and British Guard Infantry sheets.

the Future,

Chris.

 

[A-10WarthogCrewChief]

Chris, Will you be attending this years Chicago Toy soldier Show? Also, Do you have any plans on releasing any new Napoleonic sets? Thanks Again, Mike

 

[Njja]

My 2 year old Grandaughter will be visiting in 5 days, and she will have her

first trip into her Granfather's Den. She will be allowed to touch anything

and play with everything. It she looks at something it will be placed in her

hands. I had exactly the same situation with her mother 32 years eariler....

and it worked out exactly as I had hoped!

If you tell them don't touch they want it more......all they really want to do

is look and share the experience with you. Once they realize they can see and

touch anything they want.......it becomes no big deal!

I never had the daughter damage one item. Since it all really belongs to them

anyway......well whats the difference?

Here is a shot of my two wonderful girls! I wonder if she is going to bring that

neat hat!

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

Hi Mike,

you Good? I was wondering how your basement set up went... what were the responses from the neighbourhood kids? I'd love to see picks... I've begun a BattleOfWalkerloo page gallery thing at flickr...

Don't think I'll be at Chicago this year... I've events planned in Europe right through til October.

At the mo most of my painting time is going toward large scale photo booth paintings, they've been very effective at summer events introducing the Battle Of Walkerloo to different audiences. You can see a couple of them on the Flickr link.

As for more soldiers... I'd love to make them... have some artwork ready, but I'd need to borrow more money and thats not going to happen for a while. I've been looking into extending the range in co-ordination with re-enactment groups or offering the original art work for a new ACW range of soldiers to sponsors?investors?collectors thus raising the capital needed for a production run.

If I want to grow this object I've get to create a bigger audience and thats getting all my energies currently...

If its a consolation, I painted a couple of landscape panaramas the other week at Waterloo. One looking toward La Haye Sainte from wellingtons line another from behind Hougoumont across the slope on which the Old Guard Advanced. I'll put pics in my gallery here but If you'd like higher res copies to print out and use as backdrops in a diarama I'd be happy to e-mail them...

 

[Christopher Walkerloo]

I like your attitude Njja,,, toys are for the playing! ... besides... if a childs interested in a thing they're generally fairly respectful... especially if the things is cool! they can see its so... and if they do have the occaisonal accident surley they're valid casualties....?

When ever kids come toward my display at shows and expos I encourage them to touch!

 

[Njja]

I agree, after all they are just "little people". Most of the time they just want

to be included in what is happening. If you see a child making a scene in a

resturant most of the time he is being ignored. When my grandaughter was

1 1/2 my son-in-law and I took her into a fancy resturant in Princeton for

lunch. At first the other diners seemed cool expecting her to disrupt their

experience, but we discussed the menu options with her, sat her in a real

chair (first time) and she sampled everything served and learned to "dunk"

her sandwhich in soup. A fun time was had by all, including a nice comment

from another diner.