Mike Tarantino's Toy Soldier Collection (2 Viewers)

[ucla1967]

Some great acquisitions there, Mike! I like the Jäger particularly.

Who made the Russian Kexholmski Life Guards? They remind me of some of the figures Sergei Ilyashenko used to sell as Lead Army.

And I think I saw that group of Stadden Seven Years War figures you mention. There have been two auctions up for a long time on eBay, rolling over every time they expire without bids, for collections of SYW Prussians, billed as a "regiment" though really more of a company. I had been watching them for almost two years, just to see when they might get sold. The price was more than I would pay, but I was curious to see what they might go for. It's very seldom to see such a large group up as a single lot.

Prost!
Brad

Hi Brad,

I don't know who made them, but that would be a good guess. When I get a chance I'll take better photos of them.

The Stadden Seven Years War Prussians are even better in person than they are in the photos. Your right, 41 figures do not constitute a regiment. Most of them are grenadiers with silver mitre headgear. A couple of others have gold mitres with a black cross. Musketeers?

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

This is a Frontline Figures early glossy set that I recently picked up on eBay: P.S.1. WWI AIR ACES. The six air aces include Rickenbacker, American; Brumowski, Austro-Hungarian; Ball, British; Fonch, French; Richthofen, German; and Skuikov, Russian. The sculpts and painting style are very similar to King & County's glossies at that time.

 

[jazzeum]

Nice one Mike.

 

[ucla1967]

Nice one Mike.

Thanks Brad. FYI: On June 7th, crazziemaggie put this boxed set up on eBay for $69.

 

[ucla1967]

As promised, here are some better photos of the Russian Kexholmski Life Guards Regiment, 1914. Not only do I not know who the manufacturer is, I am not familiar with this particular regiment either, but I still like them.

 

[ucla1967]

Hi Brad,

I don't know who made them, but that would be a good guess. When I get a chance I'll take better photos of them.

The Stadden Seven Years War Prussians are even better in person than they are in the photos. Your right, 41 figures do not constitute a regiment. Most of them are grenadiers with silver mitre headgear. A couple of others have gold mitres with a black cross. Musketeers?

Mike

Here are a couple of photos from the eBay site of the figures with the gold mitres with black crosses or black eagles Any idea what they represent? The figure in the tricorne hat with a rifle is a musketeer. I'll post more photos of the 41 figures on the Stadden sub-form.

 

[ucla1967]

I recently picked up this Bastion Models set on eBay: A.23 QUEEN'S CAMERON HIGHLANDERS, EGYPT, 1882.

 

[theBaron]

Here are a couple of photos from the eBay site of the figures with the gold mitres with black crosses or black eagles Any idea what they represent? The figure in the tricorne hat with a rifle is a musketeer. I'll post more photos of the 41 figures on the Stadden sub-form.

Hi, Mike! I just replied to your other thread with this collection. Yep, that is the one I was thinking of, the collection I was watching.

The grenadiers with the eagle on their cap plates are from the Regiment "Erbprinz-Hessen-Darmstadt" (Nr 12). On the real caps, the eagle was enameled onto the brass. Those castings are very good. I painted one a couple of years ago, and when I stripped the old paint, I got to see the finely engraved details on the caps. It's one of the better Stadden castings, in my opinion.

The soldier with the tricorn is actually accounted a grenadier, in that particular regiment, the King's Regiment-Garde. The ordinary soldiers ranked as grenadiers, despite wearing the hat, and the grenadiers were ranked as "grand grenadiers", or Gross-Grenadiere. Soldiers in the regiment got higher pay than soldiers in the other units, though they passed some time under a particularly harsh commander (not the King), whose rule was so odious that many of the soldiers took their own lives, or committed capital crimes for the death sentences.

There is also at least one fusilier NCO in that collection, and at least one officer from the Garde-Grenadier-Batallion, which was the successor unit to Friedrich Wilhelm's Giant Grenadiers. When the old king pass, and Frederick the Great took the throne, he found that he could outfit several ordinary regiments for what his father had spent on his giants. So they were reduced to a battalion, but their uniforms preserved details from the old king's time, in his memory.

This collection is maintained very well, showing little or no signs of the wear and tear that we sometimes see with Stadden factory-painted figures.

Prost!
Brad

 

[ucla1967]

Hi, Mike! I just replied to your other thread with this collection. Yep, that is the one I was thinking of, the collection I was watching.

The grenadiers with the eagle on their cap plates are from the Regiment "Erbprinz-Hessen-Darmstadt" (Nr 12). On the real caps, the eagle was enameled onto the brass. Those castings are very good. I painted one a couple of years ago, and when I stripped the old paint, I got to see the finely engraved details on the caps. It's one of the better Stadden castings, in my opinion.

The soldier with the tricorn is actually accounted a grenadier, in that particular regiment, the King's Regiment-Garde. The ordinary soldiers ranked as grenadiers, despite wearing the hat, and the grenadiers were ranked as "grand grenadiers", or Gross-Grenadiere. Soldiers in the regiment got higher pay than soldiers in the other units, though they passed some time under a particularly harsh commander (not the King), whose rule was so odious that many of the soldiers took their own lives, or committed capital crimes for the death sentences.

There is also at least one fusilier NCO in that collection, and at least one officer from the Garde-Grenadier-Batallion, which was the successor unit to Friedrich Wilhelm's Giant Grenadiers. When the old king pass, and Frederick the Great took the throne, he found that he could outfit several ordinary regiments for what his father had spent on his giants. So they were reduced to a battalion, but their uniforms preserved details from the old king's time, in his memory.

This collection is maintained very well, showing little or no signs of the wear and tear that we sometimes see with Stadden factory-painted figures.

Prost!
Brad

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated. I spent part of the day at Bob's house and took some photos of them as he has them displayed. They are on the Stadden sub-forum.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

At the last Vectis Auction, I picked up a set I have been looking for years. It is Kingcast set P10 ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY, 1890. The only problem is that I don't have a clue as to how the horse are suppose to stand up. The white metal support rod under each horse is as long as the bottom of the horses rear feet. The horses are galloping and their front feet don't touch the "ground." Something must be missing from this set. Does anyone have this set and know how it is suppose to work?

 

[Obee]

At the last Vectis Auction, I picked up a set I have been looking for years. It is Kingcast set P10 ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY, 1890. The only problem is that I don't have a clue as to how the horse are suppose to stand up. The white metal support rod under each horse is as long as the bottom of the horses rear feet. The horses are galloping and their front feet don't touch the "ground." Something must be missing from this set. Does anyone have this set and know how it is suppose to work?

Mike,

not really sure about this one, but I have a set for a sledge gun but the horses are on all four hoofs, so not a problem.

This was made by a British collector, Alex Sim and he sent me a set of casting, but no horses. For that I used Dorset Soldiers animals to pull it.

Maybe this print will help??



John

 

[johnnybach]

Hi Mike.

I have never seen this set before, so can't help with that - but maybe my solution to your problem might help.

I would make up a stand for each of the four horses - as in the sketch below. I nearly always make stands for my restored unbased figures - as I believe it makes them far stronger and resistant to accidental damage. When you look at modern manufacturers - you can usually see that they believe this too, as most modern (and expensive) equestrian figures are made this way too.

I make my new stands from offcuts of light alloy material which I buy from a nearby Engineering Company - who make up replacement parts for expensive sports cars (amongst other things). I think that I would use 2mm thick metal for these. The stands are cut to fit using hacksaw and files to get the shape I want. Then it's just a matter of drilling and pinning the horse to the stand. In this case, the rear hooves would be drilled and pinned using steel pins ( cut from a paper-clip) and glued in with epoxy resin.

Once set - the stand can be drilled to match the two rear pins - and in this case, the third pin would be the "pole" on your horses. Again, drill and epoxy resin glue in the pole. Once set - you can then carefully paint the stand to match up with the greenery present on the two rear hooves.

The resultant figures on small stands will be far more resistant to knocks and bumps whilst fitting the connecting wires - for the future

Hope that helps jb

 

[johnnybach]

Just realised that the sledge would be on snow!! (duh!) - so the new stands would be painted white.

If you wanted to - you could put the whole group - with sledge - on a white painted metal base - but that would mean it would become a static display piece, which would remove some of the "playability" of the ensemble! jb

 

[theBaron]

One could possibly use a piece of clear acrylic rod for the support pin, too, instead of a metal rod, to make it less visible.

Prost!
Brad

 

[johnnybach]

Mike - here's the pic of my sketch that's gone missing that was posted via photobucket.

 

[ucla1967]

Mike - here's the pic of my sketch that's gone missing that was posted via photobucket.


View attachment 214907

Thanks JB,

I was kind of thinking of doing something like your suggestion/drawing or more likely having it done for me by someone who knows what he is doing, unlike me. I am still at a loss to figure out what the original set used to hold the horses upright.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

I recently picked up a couple of new Bastion Models sets at auction. This is Set No. A.7 PRUSSIAN INFANTRY 1900 which is described as "Wearing the distinctive 'picklehaube' or spiked helmet, these Prussian troops wear the dress uniform which would be replaced by field grey in the First World War."

 

[Al Fisher]

Very nice, Mike! Hope you continue to get more Bastion sets and share the photos with us.

Bosun Al

 

[ucla1967]

Very nice, Mike! Hope you continue to get more Bastion sets and share the photos with us.

Bosun Al

Thanks Al, I keep working on it. I still have some sets to go before I more or less have them all (or at least the ones I am aware of).

 

[ucla1967]

This auction acquisition represents the 79th Bastion Models set in my collection. It is Set No. A.26 BAVARIAN INFANTRY 1900 which is described thusly: "The uniforms of the Kingdom of Bavaria followed those of Prussia closely in style, but were traditionally Sky Blue in color." I have been looking for this set for about 20 years now and feel lucky to have found one in almost pristine condition including its box.