A Published Article

I have had an article published in Toy Soldier Collector Magazine Feb/March Number 74.

Entitled "Going Native", this is a holistic summary of the ethnic and tribal figures in my collection.

http://toysoldiercollector.com/

King Leopold I and Louisa Maria of Belgium

Another Cafe Storme/Mokarex pairing. These very old plastic figures give excellent representations of many minor European personalities, many of whom fall through the cracks of the main historical narratives.

The figures were painted without further modifications. Louisa Maria's dress was overpainted with iridiscent white to represent silk.

Kaluli Tribe Papua New Guinea

I saw a photo of this figure represented in an old Japanese travel publication over 30 years ago. This piece was made to represent the unusual headdress and long grass foliage added to his back. All foliage and feathers were made in plastic. Over the years, the piece has been slightly damaged and recently, I decided to refurbish this piece completely.

The drum position was shifted upwards to be held in the hand more convincingly. the dancing apron was resculpted. The pennate feathers on the headdress were made from aquarium plastic leaves. The long grass was made from aquarium plastic long leaves, tied with wire and soaked in very hot water and then cooled to retain their new shape. each strand was carefully added to the figure to represent a natural droop of these long leaves. The red feathers were made from real feathers trimmed down. The figure was transferred to a new base.

French Chasseurs Alpins WWI

Photos of WWI show a lot of ordinary French soldiers dressed in various fantassin costumes due to unplanned uniform shortages and poor distribution. The Chasseurs Alpins are particularly attractive in their dare blue tunics, greatcoats and black berets.

These troopers look generally mature (probably older soldiers with valuable mountaineering skills were retained in the army) and also shorter in stature on average. The Heller sets produced French WWII troops in 1/35 scale. I used two legs with puttees to represent one of these Blue Devils in 1/32 scale in an Alpine setting.The figure pose was finalised before the greatcoat was rolled out in putty and draped onto the figure. It is important to get the coat fronts and tails looking correct. As can be seen, these were made in stages. The imperfections can be sculpted in with putty.

The chasseur hunting horn appears to have a larger diameter and can be slipped onto the body. I decided to use a musical horn from Historex instead. A Historex trumpet was also added.

The dramatic landscape was made with part of a resin casting representing a rocky landscape and a cut down root. A hole was drilled into the root to create a hollow tree stump.

 

 

Duchess de Castiglione Virginia Oldoini

This was a Cafe Storme/Mokarex figure. A representation of Virginia Oldoini (1837-1899), an eccentric aristocrat who loved to pose for the camera in flamboyant costumes and unusual settings.She was also the mistress of Napoleon III.

http://godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.sg/2013/12/la-divine-comtesse-contessa-di.html

https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/25-stunning-photographs-of-countess-de-castiglione?utm_term=.jko6rwl5l#.ffPNLvrnr


I made a mistake and thought that her name was Adele d'Affry, similar title and time period. A new label will have to be made.

http://www.penthes.ch/portfolio/adele-daffry-1836-1879-marcello-femme-artiste-entre-cour-et-boheme/?lang=en



Although as excellent as it is, I decided that the figure had to be improved, to conform to the vampish nature of her personality. I made changes to her dress, her hair and the feather fan. The dress was overpainted with irisdiscent white, to suggest silk.

One of my favourite converted pieces.

Winston Churchill

This figure was based on a Roco 1/35 scale figure. The legs were lengthened and the rest of the figure followed suit.