More Cowboys and Native Americans (3 Viewers)

[johnnybach]

I've been winning a few more Auctions recently - so couldn't resist a few more - for my collection.

I've saved a few pics as I've gone along - so I'll start off with a few "earlier" in the repair process pics.

Here's a Johillco mounted Chief which is a pre-war piece that I found with the two front legs damaged. Both front hooves and part of the legs to the knee were missing. My pic below shows him stripped of the remaining old paint - and mounted on a new stand (base) which I made up from scrap metal sheet. I then drilled and pinned both broken legs and inserted cut steel pins (cut from paper-clips). These were longer than normal - and shaped as the original leg would have been - and inserted into the new stand. You can see how the leg was then built up using milliput.




After both legs had been re-made - he was painted in the same way a new casting would have been - and he now looks brand new once again - and ready for another 80 plus years service. ( though maybe I'll repaint that base - at this magnification - two coats weren't really enough!).





Next - I had a few odd pieces - pic below: From the left you see what was originally a repaired Charbens Circus horse Front leg/rear leg and tail repaired or replaced) - with a repaired Timpo mounted cowboy with rifle aboard him; At centre is a Native American Chief on foot - note the new arm with tomahawk attached where the original was missing. On his back - in front - is another Timpo cowboy who also can fit the Charbens horse - and lastly - another Mounted Native American on a rearing horse. My second cowboy has a new pistol and raised arm - which replaced his missing outstreched arm when found. The rearing horse had two broken off rear legs and base which were missing. I remade him in a similar way to the Johillco horse - but re-pinned him to a newly fabricated base in a similar way - leaving the pins long enough to re-make lower ankle joint and hooves



Here's another viw which shows how both cowboys fit the horse well.



and this one shows a clearer view of re-painted horse ( not completed yet).

.

I'll stop here - just for now - but will show these and - some others progressing later. jb

 

[Ivanhoe]

jb;

The Indian Chief has all the characteristics of a Johnny Bach 'Classic', would recognize one anywhere !
Great job.

Love the 'rearing' horses in the second set...Great poses.

Thank you.

 

[theBaron]

jb;

The Indian Chief has all the characteristics of a Johnny Bach 'Classic', would recognize one anywhere !
Great job...

I second that! From the excellent repair, to the paintwork, especially the Chief's war bonnet and the beadwork on his legging, it's Johns unique style, outstanding!

Prost!
Brad

 

[johnnybach]

Glad you're enjoying them chaps. Here's a few more pics of my latest batch.

This Chief was originally a Charbens figure - who once held a rifle in his outstretched arm. I cut off the stump - and cut a hand holding a tomahawk from a Dorset spare arm. You can maybe see the drilled hole in the arm - and the ready-pinned hand waiting to go in.



Next pic shows him mounted on a horse I had ready - just waiting for a figure who would "sit right" on him. I haven't been able to positively ID this horse - though he has a lot of features in common with either Crescent - or Johillco ( has word "England" on his side - and is hollowcast). Here's another pic - with hand in place - which shows how well he sits the nag.



Next pic shows two more figures - now completed .

On the left is the Charbens Chief on the horse as above - and on the right is a modified Timpo cowboy sitting on what used to be a broken Charbens Circus horse. The obvious question is why not put both Charbens pieces together - and the answer is - they don't fit!!! The nice thing about these two mis-matched figures is - they do fit beautifully now!





Next two for a refurb - were two Johillco mounted cowboys. Both are about 45mm scale - so smaller than normal figures - but nicely cast. Both had a lot of damage and missing parts. Here's some pics below: On the right in the first pic - is how both originally looked. Lack of legs on horse - no heads etc. The left one has had new legs and cowboy head attached. The second pic shows them being attached to their new bespoke stands.





I've now completed these too - which now look like this.




This ones a bit fuzzy - but shows the other side. jb

 

[kilted vampire]

Nice work . Enjoying watching someone else doing the repairs for a change.

 

[johnnybach]

Nice work . Enjoying watching someone else doing the repairs for a change.

Ha-ha! - I do it for enjoyment too KV. For me - the fun is saving something from landfill. jb

 

[theBaron]

Excellent rebuilds! I like how each of your pieces is unique, too, John.

Prost!
Brad

 

[johnnybach]

Excellent rebuilds! I like how each of your pieces is unique, too, John.

Prost!
Brad

Not everyone notices that Brad.:salute:: so well done. I do try to make just little tweaks to the originals here and there - just to make them a little different. This is frequently forced upon me however - as original spare parts for some of the items aren't available any longer ( if ever they were) with some of the now defunct manufacturers pieces I like to play around with. It is sometimes possible to get spare parts from "donor figures" (i.e., by buying two broken identical figures and swapping over parts) - but more often I will have to press into service parts that ARE available as re-casts - and graft them onto pieces with missing parts.

My two Johillco cowboys below are a good example of the latter type of repair. The new cowboy heads are both re-cast Britains type (Dorset spares) - whilst the rifles are paper clip barrels and milliput stocks. The horse legs are again Dorset spare parts - shaped and sanded to fit - and then pinned to my own bases.

I rarely will destroy anything which might come in handy for another repair either Brad - but will save broken pieces for possible use in the future - so that arms/legs horse-parts etc, go into my spares box.

Repairs and conversions are thus, all good fun. jb

 

[johnnybach]

Just completed another Native American Brave - on a rearing horse. This is an old hollowcast one-piece casting - by Crescent - made pre-WW2 and probably over 80 years old. He came to me with no base and both rear hooves missing - which is a frequent find with these rearing horse figures stood on two legs only. They are pretty spectacular, but easily broken. He was repaired by inserting two steel pins about 5mm into the rear legs which were then pinned to a fairly thick new stand. The hooves were made later, when glue was set. He's probably stronger now than when his legs were made entirely of softer metal.

Note that I have once again made him a little bit more "unique", by adding some feathers to the horse head (made from milliput) - and given him a hunting knife at his belt, (a Dorset spare part). His paint-job is just yet another of my favourite Indian-Pony designs. Here he is - out front of my other two warriors from this latest batch of broken 'finds', which were described earlier. jb

 

[Ivanhoe]

jb;

You have cleared up a 'confusion' that I have had for most of my life.
When we were younger, one of my Mother's favourite 'exasperation' expressions was; "Horse Feathers"...now I know what she meant !

Great job again, as usual.

Not being very observant...I just noticed that one of your Indians is using a saddle...

Thank you.

 

[johnnybach]

jb;

You have cleared up a 'confusion' that I have had for most of my life.
When we were younger, one of my Mother's favourite 'exasperation' expressions was; "Horse Feathers"...now I know what she meant !

Great job again, as usual.

Not being very observant...I just noticed that one of your Indians is using a saddle...

Thank you.

Ha-ha! Mum's are rarely wrong.

Yes - lots of the early maker's Native American mounted figures had saddles. If you take a look at many of the early pieces - Timpo, Crescent, Charbens, Cherilea etc - you will find lots of examples with saddles. I'm okay with that - as there must have been many cases where riderless cowboy and US Cavalry mounts were taken in by Native Americans - so maybe they just kept hold of the tack too???

Wherever possible - as long as it only involves a small bit of work - and doesn't do too much damage to the piece - I sometimes remove the small bits of saddle still showing - and maybe milliput repair to just a blanket ( if I'm going to keep the piece for a Native American only). That's precisely what I did with the Crescent rearing Brave. There was a tiny bit of moulded saddle showing under the bottom of the brave - and above the blanket - so I cut and filed it off. BUT when a demountable figure is involved - I'll sometimes just retain the saddle anyway - as I sometimes swap the rider figure around - just for the fun of it. In this case - a cowboy horse then becomes a victorious brave's new mount.

Also - as I'm still collecting anything that I don't already have in the Western arena - maybe another better fitting figure might turn up someday - in which case I can swap it over. IF I like a figure VERY MUCH - I sometimes fix them aboard permanently - so making horse and rider permanent - but not ALWAYS.

Here's a good example of an interchangeable figure that I'm currently repainting after repair ( new paper-clip barrel to rifle). This is another Timpo cowboy that I'm fixing up - that will also fit into the saddle of the rearing Charbens (former Circus) horse - without any need of a pin to hold him in place. Timpo Native American figures will also fit into the saddle - and in that case - they have "inherited" the horse from his previous (probably deceased and hairless) owner.

I still play with mine - you see - so don't get too hung up about such fine detail as saddles and non-saddles for riders jb

 

[Ivanhoe]

Here's a good example of an interchangeable figure that I'm currently repainting after repair ( new paper-clip barrel to rifle). This is another Timpo cowboy that I'm fixing up - that will also fit into the saddle of the rearing Charbens horse - without any need of a pin to hold him in place. Timpo Native American figures will also fit into the saddle - and in that case - they have "inherited" the horse from his previous (probably deceased and hairless) owner.

Just love those 'rearing' horses and the job you have done on them.
With the molds and your painting, they are beautiful animals !

Over the years, some manufacturers have done excellent work on the horses they produce.
A joy to be able to see them.

Thank you.

 

[johnnybach]

Just love those 'rearing' horses and the job you have done on them.
With the molds and your painting, they are beautiful animals !

Over the years, some manufacturers have done excellent work on the horses they produce.
A joy to be able to see them.

Thank you.

I must admit that I like them too - despite the drawback that they are susceptible to damage, by standing on just two small points. Notice that the Charbens example (originally a Circus horse - but repaired and adapted for a Cowboy) - uses the tail of the horse to make a third mounting point. [ You may also have noticed that my example has a non-standard tail added - as the original was broken off when found]. Both horses originally had no stand (base), which I usually like to make up for my versions. This adds to the stability and strength of each piece - and I hope will make them more resistant to accidental knocks and bumps in future.

Glad you like 'em too. jb

 

[johnnybach]

Only just realised that I had a pic of that Crescent rearing horse - as found.

Here he is - along with a rather battered Britains figure - minus lots of bits. I'm working on the Britains figure now - will photo both later to show developments. Below - as found;

 

[thebritfarmer]

All looking very nice JB !!!


Have you seen the Britains bucking Bronco? Quite rare, would love to own one


You could have a stab at making this with your finds

 

[Ivanhoe]

I must admit that I like them too - despite the drawback that they are susceptible to damage, by standing on just two small points. Notice that the Charbens example (originally a Circus horse - but repaired and adapted for a Cowboy) - uses the tail of the horse to make a third mounting point. [ You may also have noticed that my example has a non-standard tail added - as the original was broken off when found]. Both horses originally had no stand (base), which I usually like to make up for my versions. This adds to the stability and strength of each piece - and I hope will make them more resistant to accidental knocks and bumps in future.

Glad you like 'em too. jb

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Only just realised that I had a pic of that Crescent rearing horse - as found.

Here he is - along with a rather battered Britains figure - minus lots of bits. I'm working on the Britains figure now - will photo both later to show developments. Below - as found;

Did notice the "3-point" stance...did not know it was "non-standard" - Nice work.

Your "battered" figures would be passed over by most people...the kind of "recycling" you do provides pleasure to you and everyone you share it with.

Thank you.

 

[johnnybach]

Did notice the "3-point" stance...did not know it was "non-standard" - Nice work.

Your "battered" figures would be passed over by most people...the kind of "recycling" you do provides pleasure to you and everyone you share it with.

Thank you.

Thanks pal.

Here's an update on that "Battered Britains". You may see that I've fixed the hole in his side leading to a fissure forming in the head of the horse. This is stabalised with tissue paper inside - soaked with liquid super glue. Once hardened - the hole can then be filled with milliput (epoxy two-part putty), which shows up in white).

Horse Legs are either suitable spares - the outstretched front leg is a "Dorset spare", whilst the others are the usual cut paper-clip pin into my new base - which is then covered with thin pieces of shaped milliput. Once cured dry, they can be sanded and filed to shape. The horse tail is another spare.

The Chief's hand originally held a tomahawk - but I already have an example like that in my collection - so decided to replace it with a rifle. I cut off his existing hand with small stump of hatchet - and replaced it by pinning a new hand with rifle, from another Dorset spare arm with rifle in my spares box. You can see the new parts which show up a brighter colour silver. It will shortly be ready enough to prime the whole piece - and then begin re-painting.



I don't know if you can see - but my new nags tail - is the same as the rearing Charbens horse in the background - which was given the same type - just inverted to provide the third fixing point to the base. jb

 

[johnnybach]

All looking very nice JB !!!


Have you seen the Britains bucking Bronco? Quite rare, would love to own one


You could have a stab at making this with your finds

Hi Scott - I've been looking out for one for a few years now - and so has Giles at Dorset Soldiers. They are rare-ish - and we haven't got one to fix up yet - but still looking. If you ever find a broken one - I'll fix him for you.

I did this one a while ago though. He's either a Charbens - or a Crescent - slightly smaller scale at 40mm - and are very similar.

First pic is what I got on e-bay - minus tail and front lower legs and stand. Second pic is how he looks now - safely repaired and in my collection.

Close enough??? - Enjoy - jb



Top - Original - as found ; Below; repaired repainted and restored.

 

[johnnybach]

Apologies for getting the order of pics wrong - but thought you might like to see a pic of the Galloping Chief before the milliput was applied to horse legs. This pic shows the pins inserted into stumps of the remaining legs - and pinned to the new base. I think of these as "the bones" of the horse. Note that the existing hand still remains on the Chief - and tail not added yet either, at this stage of development. jb

 

[johnnybach]

This is another one for Scott (thebritfarmer) - and shows some of my smaller scale restorations in the cowboy/ Native American area. The Indian Chief is smaller still than both cowboys at around 35mm. It's fair to say that all three are getting difficult to find nowadays.

Note that all three required some repair or restoration before being put on stands and repainted. Because they are smaller than normal 54mm - they have quite delicate parts that could be easily broken - so hopefully, the stands will make them less susceptible to future damage risks.

Giles Brown and I chatted about that Britains Bronco Buster awhile ago. He told me that despite being in the business for around 40 years - he has never actually seen a real one - only pictures. So.........they are pretty scarce. jb