Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Monday 15 March 2021

WSS: The Refurb Factory Chugs On, plus a "Missing Link"

 I'm currently working on a British contingent for my WSS collection - I've been lucky enough to get some figures painted by Goya, but at a more humble level I've been working on refurbing some bought-in troops - these are variously sourced from eBay, from the old Rye Soldier Shop and from that all-round Good Egg, Albannach. The ex-Eric Knowles collection I bought in 2019 did not include much in the way of British troops, since the British were one of the nations which Eric had been in the process of replacing with Hinchliffe.


Anyway, today I've varnished a batch of refurbed musketeers, these are for the regiments of Wm Clifton, Dering and the Earl of Bath, and the grenadiers and the rest of the command, to complete the battalions, will be painted from scratch, from fresh figures. Using this procedure, I also plan to add the Royal Irish and the Buffs, plus (probably) two battalions of the Royal Scots, and I will source the Foot Guards from fresh figures. Still a load of cavalry and artillery needed, but this is shaping up.

The musketeers here are the Les Higgins MP15 "at ease" pose, and the officer is one of the castings from the MP19 pack. With an unusually seamless glide, I shall now move onto my second topic, which is all about this very MP19 pose...

 Collectors of old figures invariably become nerdy about the history of the poses, and the changes and variants (is it all right to say that?) which appeared over the years of production. I am getting into this situation with the Les Higgins/Phoenix Model Developments Marlburians, which I had hardly seen 18 months ago, so nerdism obviously sets in quickly. There are a number of figures in the range which were replaced after the changeover to PMD (early 1970s) - a couple of poses which were standing on one leg (and therefore fragile) were modified, and the drummer figure was completely replaced by a new one, sculpted by Tim Richards (who became chief designer after Les Higgins' death), as was the advancing/charging musketeer (MP16?).

One of the figures which was modified is the charging officer from the MP19 pack (as mentioned above). It was never one of Les's best, to be honest, and at some point it was improved. I have specimens of the original and the improved production castings...


Here you see, from left to right, original (front), improved (front), original (rear) and improved (rear) - you can see that the wig and the ornamentation on his coat have been modified, and his coat has been restyled at the back so that it now drapes over his sword scabbard. OK - that's a nice example of an upgrade, and it probably dates from when the Higgins ranges were re-branded as PMD (with changed logos on the bases).

However, in this particular case I happen to have in my possession the actual altered master figure, with added sculpting in beeswax and Plasticine (or something), which came with an assortment of oddments from Tim Richards' old desk drawer in the old PMD factory at Earls Barton - here it is - the Missing Link - the step between the original and the revised production charging officer in MP19. You can see quite clearly what Tim has done. Notice that the face is still Les' original sculpt, but that the shape of the back of the hat has been tweaked.

 



That's probably enough of that - I've put him back in the official Nerd's Drawer - Box B...

19 comments:

  1. Tony, this is a fine bit of detective work to solve a nagging Cold Case. Nice work, inspector. Your WSS project is progressing by leaps and bounds.

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    1. Thank you, sir - the fact that hardly anyone else collects these figures gives my investigation something like the feel of excavating a tomb, but it's good fun!

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  2. Excellent find, and what an improvement on the original figure as well!

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    1. Richards was an excellent sculptor in his own right, of course, possibly helped by the fact that the technology had improved a bit since the mid-60s. In this range, he also sorted out the rather odd, gravity-defying grenade-throwing grenadier and replaced a strangely stout charging musketeer with a new sculpt which, (like the replacement drummer), has a face which is recognisably distinctive - these figures were definitely related to the PMD Napoleonic British command pack which were also Tim's work!

      Phoenix's later repertoire included all sorts of scantily-clad ladies, a lot of 54mm stuff and O-gauge vehicles, not to mention a vast range of fittings and characters for dolls' houses (PMD were probably world leaders in this latter market) - the quality, and the pewter castings, were superb.

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  3. Crikey. Isn’t that a bit like finding the bones of the original homo sapiens after it branched off from whatever came before?

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    1. Yes, I guess it is - or a bit like finding the space ship that brought the new species of humanoid from Out There...

      ["Quatermass and the Pit"?]

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  4. Martin S emailed to say that he is surprised that Tim Richards used the same green Tesco spring-water bottle-tops that I use, all those years ago. I think he's teasing me, don't you, boys and girls?

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  5. Splendid Tony...
    I am sad enough to think that, that is the same wax based material that we used for sculpting plastics way back in the 90’s...
    I remember it had a quite distinctive smell... but you could get a good sharp edge on it...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Hi Aly - that's interesting - I wonder what the stuff was? I'm stupid enough to be unable to use Green Stuff or Miliput - apart from anything else, it is always past its "use by" date by the time I get around to using it. I've even messed around a bit with Fimo clay, but it turns out it's fibrous, which is creepy.

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  6. Hi Tony, you'd be surprised how many LH collectors there are out there, and as to variants that were never listed there are several,apart from the 2 you mentioned eg NCO 19d &20c came across variant with different hair style, Officer 19a with claymore sword hilt, , infantry with musket over left shoulder, similar no weapon, a pikeman, charging figure in fur fronted cap, and a few others
    cheers Old John, stay safe

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    1. Hi John - thanks for this - I was never sure how many of these were actually made by LHM and PMD - I am learning as I go along.

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  7. Tesco Spring Water,eh? I was building up a stock of Badoit tops, which looked very similar but were of course a bit more comme il faut - but they stopped exporting to the UK. Zut Alors! Very nice figures, of course, and interesting wargames archaeology. Quite something to have the actual master!

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    1. Badoit? - quelle dommage, but we'll get them back when we can no longer export financial services to the EU - that'll show the blighters. The Tim Richards souvenir is a bit special, though not an easy thing to work smoothly into your average cheese & wine conversation.

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  8. A most interesting read that Tony, speaking as one who paints quite a lot of these old figures. Wonderful to have that old master and the beeswax sculpt is great. I admire the skills. Graham C sent me a bag of his metal dollies along with hats, muskets, swords, basic heads etc but I just could not get to grips with greenstuff sculpting, I lack the patience.

    The Old Rye Soldier Shop of which you speak, is that the little old shop in Old Town Rye, Sussex?

    Brits coming along a treat.

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    1. Hi Lee - hope things good with you - I'm watching your blog adventures with interest! Soldiers of Rye - yes, Chris Viner's place, in the High Street - whether it will re-open after the pandemic I don't know. Never been there, just bought stuff online! Nice man.

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  9. It *is* pleasing when the second edition is actually an improvement on the first. A rare thing in the hobby, I find. particularly with figures. Updating so often seems to entail adding caricature-esque features, enlarged limbs and other buffoonery. Not to mention making the whole thing larger...
    I trust that you'll keep that master in a safe place, along with your notes. A marvellous bit of posterity.
    Regard, James

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    1. The master is in a safe place - rest assured - I can't remember exactly where it is, but it's safe.

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  10. An interesting Tale of Lead and Beeswax, Tony!

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    1. The wax sculpt has stood up pretty well to almost 50 years of kicking around in spares boxes - maybe beeswax has become underrated as a medium?

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