Identification of ACW Fiigure? (1 Viewer)

[johnnybach]

I recently purchased a Mounted Figure - and would love to know Who is the manufacturer - and who it is please?

He came as a broken Toy Soldier - along with several others - and was in this state when I got him. As can be seen - he is a bearded man - brandishing aloft, what is left of a sword(?). The horse and rider are made from a hard metal - and I think have been die-cast (from Zinc?). The metal gives off a "ping" when flicked wth a finger-nail - so very unlike lead-alloy or soft pewter. there are no maker marks anywhere - and they are both solid metal.



To aid ID further - I stripped off the bad paint-job - which obscured a lot of detail. It re=vealed that the horse had a shabraque of Union One-Star General under his saddle - and the Soldier was an Officer. Reminded me of a picture of Gen. William T Sherman - though I hadn't seen him with that kepi-style headwear. [P.S. I'm going to repair him!]







Any ideas? jb

 

[theBaron]

Hi, John!

Your comment about the alloy is the tip-off for me. That looks like the mounted figure from the Strombecker Civil War set. There were four figures all told, if I remember correctly. Strombecker cast in a very light but very hard alloy, almost brittle, and I'm not sure but it may have contained magnesium, too.

I don't recall the official name of the Civil War set, offhand, but I think it had the name of a battle, such as "Battle of Gettysburg". Someone else may remember more clearly. Besides the Civil War set, the series included a Yorktown set, featuring General Washington with a field piece and crew, with the General firing the first shot of the bombardment; a "Battle of Liege 1914" set, featuring German staff officers, a map table, and an infantryman; and a "Battle of Iwo Jima" set of US Marines.

The figure is a good candidate for having a mold made and casting more for yourself. I've seen copies of Strombecker figures from just such a source.

They're not bad figures, considering their age, and the animation of each figure was very good. Good examples of early military miniatures, as opposed to toy soldiers.

I look forward to seeing your painted figure!

Prost!
Brad

 

[theBaron]

An addendum...

A quick Google search revealed the name of the set: "Civil War Charge - Shiloh - April 6, 1862".

Prost!
Brad

 

[johnnybach]

Wow Brad - that's impressive. 12 minutes after I posed my question - I have the answer.

I just put in Strombecker Military Miniatures to Google - and there he is! Problem was - I had never heard of Strombecker - or seen his Military Miniatures before - so didn't know what to put into search for.

I now know that he's from set Number 1515 ( which dates from 1966) - which contained 5 figures - and depicted Union troops fighting at the Battle of Shiloh - under General W T Sherman.

I looked him up - and found that Sherman's favourite horse was called "Duke" who was a bright bay - with a white star on his forehead and a white sock to his rear foot. I also found a pic. to use as a painting guide - but that will have to wait until after I've found a suitable sabre for his hand.

Here he is on Duke - though he appears to have been promoted to a two-star general by this time. Thanks Brad - jb

 

[DMNamiot]

Havent seen any of those for a really long time! Cool pic up Johnny

Look forward to seeing repainted.

Dave

 

[theBaron]

You're very welcome, John!

Strombecker was a manufacturer of model kits, wooden ship kits, for example, and I think the company also produced some injection-molded plastic kits. I just did another search and found an article that noted that the company was bought by Tootsietoy in 1961. It looks like the company name still survives today.

These soldier kits were made in the 60's, but I'm not sure about the date range.

I have a couple of boxes of the Liege set, and several boxes of the Yorktown set. My goal with that one was to make a whole battery.

The Liege set is interesting in that it depicts a range of uniforms. There is a seated officer in field-gray, and the walking infantryman is also in the field uniform, but there are 2 standing figures in what really are parade uniforms, including a Gensdarme with eagle-topped helmet.

You'll have fun finishing this one!

Prosit!
Brad

 

[johnnybach]

Doncha just love the Internet - and the Forum, of course. Without both - I would be still scratching my head and wondering.......................who?????

I will (of course) post them, once I have the bits I need - and painted them. Cheers, Brad. jb

 

[johnnybach]

The following pics should really be in "repairs" section now - but as this started as an ID problem - well, here is the General with a new hand/sabre grafted on to the arm. Note that I cut off the existing hand (leaving the gauntlet part - and drilled, pinned and epoxy resin glued the new hand - which is holding the sabre in place. It would have been far more difficult just to replace the sabre blade - as there would have been little substantive material left to drill into for pinning.

Note also that I have given "Duke", his horse, a broader base than previously. It is my opinion that this will give far greater stability to the figure than the very narrow strip base that has been cast in. I base most of my horses for this very reason. Again, epoxy resin glue will provide a solid joint. In fact - ask yourself the question - how did the piece become damaged in the first place? If from a fall - hardly surprising that the thin blade at an extremity became broken off. I have also curved the blade into the centre of the piece - instead of angling it outwards of the centre of gravity - to protect the thin blade - which is, of course, softer material ( from my own "spares box". It was originally a spare arm/sword for a Household cavalry trooper).



Here's how they will look together again - soon to be made permanent when he will be firmly glued into the saddle - though I'll probably paint them both separately first. As this is also a new material, for me - I think I'll prime them first, before repainting. jb