DON'T TREAD ON ME!

A very nice 40mm Front Rank American militia man from 1775.

WHEAT'S TIGERS COMMAND GROUP 25mm

Here is the completed stand of the command group for Wheat's 1st Special Battalion Louisiana Vols. The 25mm figures are from left to right: Dixon, Foundry converted from a British Crimean War officer -added a Redoubt head, Sash and Saber Zouave officer, Sash and Saber Zouave painted as a Tiger. I am painting up 11 stands for this regiment based on Fire and Fury Regimental rules one stand equals 40 men. I have two companies to do -four stands- before I finish this battalion then I will do the 4th South Carolina. At 1st Bull Run/Manassas the 4th SC and Wheat's Battalion were brigaded together along with two guns and two companies of cavalry under Nathaniel Evans. The cavalry was detached for duties elsewhere on the battlefield but the infantry and guns -about 900 men- stood their ground at Matthews Hill where they held up the advance of Burnside and Porters brigades -3000 + men- for more than one hour. This was when Wheat's boys launched their famous Bowie knife charge against the Yankees and despite not actually making contact caused enough angst amongst the Union ranks to slow down their advance significantly. Wheat was shot through both lungs during the contest for Matthews Hill. Pronounced a mortal wound by the surgeons he told them he "did not feel like dying yet" and went on to recover. The colors carried as the battalion colors that day were the colors of the Delta Rangers -company D. This was determined by lot prior to the battle. The Delta Rangers colors were the Confederate 1st National colors with eight stars. They were carried in the battle by Lieutenant Austin Eastman.

DAVID & GOLIATH IN 25mm

These great figures are by the very talented Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts. They depict the shepherd boy David in his moment of confrontation with the Philistine giant Goliath. These are really lovely figures and very unique. Well done Gerry!

SOME MORE 54mm ROMANS

Here are some of my 54mm Legionaries and Auxiliaries. The original masters were made by renowned master toy soldier sculptor Alan Caton. I have done a little bit of conversion work on the swords and sword arms for the Legionaries. I plan to field about 100 of these on a table. I am working on their enemies now, a suitably hairy bunch of barbarians.

25mm SWISS ~ HOMECAST ORIGINALS

Here is my pride and joy; a Swiss late C15th collection. I made these figures from scratch back in the early 1980s with my first experiments with making 25mm miniatures with Milliput. I then made moulds, hand cast each figure individually and then painted them. It was a real labour of love, but the results were well worth it. I must admit that these old fellows are very special to me. I still have the moulds and will add to their ranks one day.

ROMAN 54mm MINIS

Here are some of my 54mm Romans. My plan is to paint up a Legion of these fellows at a scale of one figure equals 50 men givin me a total of about 100 figures. I have already completed 50 Legionaries, the fellows below are extra to that. I am making the Legionaries from moulds made from masters commisoned by me from Alan Caton one of the true old masters of the toy soldier industry. The figures below are Russian made minis that I purchased unpainted and then painted. I really enjoyed painting these and as you can see they came up a real treat!

German SS Cavalryman

Here is a picture of a 54mm SS cavalry man.  I have no idea what make it is.  It is a great kit with lots of components and detail.  It did take a bit of finishing with milliput around the neck where the joining lines were really obvious.  The fence and sign are all scratchbuilt from balsa.  It depicts the latter part of the war and like the sign his chances of returning to Berlin are looking down!