Brad and Louis,
Thank you so much for the pictures. Does anyone know when the 3 Alamo defenders were made. I have a supplement from K & C from 2' 96. It has a very small picture of the Texas flagbearer and two of the defenders. The flagbearer has a sword or large knife in his left hand but the one I have has a pistol in his left hand. I guess the pose was re-done? Does anyone know? Thanks again.
Art
Here is the text from the K&C book Kevin and I wrote on the Alamo figures:
The “Remember the Alamo” figures appear in Spring, 1995, as did HK19 and two additional modern Hong Kong Police releases. . . . The “Remember the Alamo” figures included RTA1, a standing Davy Crockett loading his rifle, RTA2, Colonel William B. Travis striding forward firing a pistol in his right hand and holding a bloody sword in his right hand, RTA3, a wounded Jim Bowie fighting with pistol and bowie knife literally from his death bed, RTA4, a mounted Santa Anna, RTA5, the Matamoros Flag Set, RTA6, the Ladder Set, RTA7, the Firing Set, RTA8, the Advancing Set, RTA9, the Alamo Chapel Façade, and RTA10, Jim Bowie’s Bedroom. These figures are very well painted using the matt paint covered by a glossy coat technique, but are rather poorly sculpted. The figures are chunky, and the poses are stiff and unnatural. The only real innovation in this series is the use of multiple figures on single bases in the flag and ladder sets.
In March, 1995, a wood and papier mache the Streets of Hong Kong Chinese Village Gateway is added, along with a wood and papier mache Alamo Chapel Façade (RTA9) and 3-D Jim Bowie’s Bedroom (RTA10). . . . The Alamo Chapel Façade was tan, with detailed stone and brick work and hinged doors that open. These doors, like many of the doors produced by K&C, were poorly hand painted with a cartoonish depiction of nails and planks. Jim Bowie’s bedroom, a two part 3-D structure with two damaged walls, lacking a roof, was also tan, with a similarly poorly painted door fixed in the open position to the inside, and shutters (one of which, on the damaged wall hangs askew as if the top hinge was knocked loose). Short wood dowels stick out of the front and rear walls to simulate roof posts in an adobe building, but do not run through the interior. The Alamo Façade (RTA9) retailed for $63 and and Jim Bowie’s Bedroom (RTA10) retailed for $51. The Alamo structures were reissued in gray cast polystone in 2001.
By February, 1996, the last set of glossy Seaforth Highlanders was released, the five piece “Last Stand of the Seaforths”, along with three additional figures for the “Remember the Alamo” series. . . . The three additional figures for the “Remember the Alamo” series included a Texas standard bearer (RTA11), a Tejano Defender (RTA12) and a Fighting Texan (RTA13). These figures share the far improved glossy painting technique and spotty sculpting which characterized King & Country production at this time. The standard bearer is really very nicely sculpted, both naturally posed and properly proportioned. The kneeling tejano defender in the act of firing his rifle is captured in a wonderfully natural pose, very comparable to even his most recent production, but is chunky and poorly proportioned, ruining the effect of the fine pose. The Texan defender is both poorly proportioned and in an unnatural position.
