Toy Soldier Collector Magazine

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Casting around

Paul Stocker looks at the latest castings to arrive on the market

Dorset Soldiers
Timpo medievals and other release

Giles Brown’s latest releases are many and varied but I can’t help giving precedence to his latest reproductions of Timpo’s medieval figures from the 1950s.

Giles has followed up his version of Timpo’s ‘Quentin Durward’ set with a reproduction of the mounted knight from the earlier ‘Ivanhoe’ set. Timpo’s set of six mounted figures was the first time the company teamed up with MGM to produce a set of model figures based on the principal characters of a movie. The figures were actually a re-issue of Timpo’s mounted knight with a lance, previously issued alongside a mounted knight with a sword and a chrome plated finish to represent armour and mounted on a simply painted black or brown horse. Three of the ‘Ivanhoe’ figures were painted in colours directly representing characters in the 1952 movie but the other three were painted in colours devised by Timpo.

Timpo ‘Ivanhoe’ knight casting

‘Ivanhoe’ knight painted

Timpo produced this set between around 1951 and 1956 although they became less widely available after the second collaboration with MGM led to the release of the ‘Knights of the Round Table’ set to coincide with the release of that MGM film in 1953. Perhaps as a result of the success of the second set, whose figures depicted the characters from the film much more closely with moveable visors and coloured plumes, the ‘Ivanhoe’ figures were remodeled and re-released with moveable visors. Examples of these second release figures are very rare but, for some reason, Timpo included a re-painted version in the Round Table set to depict the character of the Green Knight.

Giles will be making the mounted knight available with different coloured plumes and painted in different colours. The mounted knight casting costs £10.55 (£28 painted gloss).

To accompany the mounted knight, Giles has produced two Timpo medieval figures on foot. One is King Arthur from that Round Table set, thought by many, including me, to be a small masterpiece of design and casting. The pose of the figure is based on Arthur as he appears at the Round Table early on in the movie leading his Knights in their sacred oath and it replicates the character wonderfully well. I suppose it represents praise of a sort that the figure was reproduced, albeit in plastic and much less successfully, at least twice: first by Lone Star and much later by a French manufacturer of cheap plastics.

Timpo King Arthur and foot knight

King Arthur and foot knight painted

Giles’ other medieval foot figure is one of three foot knights released by Timpo along with their original two mounted knights in shining armour early in the 1950s. The foot knights were also produced with chrome plated armour initially but other finishes and paint treatments also appeared over the time they were being manufactured. Later versions had coloured feathers for plumes inserted into the casting hole at the top of their helmets. The figure reproduced by Giles can be supplied with a spear, like the original, or any of the separate weapons in Giles extensive list.

The King Arthur figure and foot knight both cost £4.10 as castings (£11 painted gloss).

Leaving the Middle Ages, but not Timpo, behind us, Giles’ other releases include a reproduction of the marching West Point Cadet, which Timpo produced first in metal and then in plastic. Giles’ version is cast with separate arms and so can represent any marching bandsman required, or a cadet marching with slope arms or carrying colours. Rather different is a huntsman in classic hunting kit, which I thought might also be by Timpo but Giles told me he was actually originally made by a company called Fylde, although Giles has substituted a different head.

Huntsman and West Point Cadet

The huntsman figure costs £3.30 as a casting (£11 painted gloss) and the marching cadet casting costs £4.10 (£11 painted gloss). A twelve piece cadet band costs £47 as castings (£135 painted gloss).

I was recently watching a recording of the last Royal Tournament in 1999 and finding the Naval field gun race as exciting as ever. For anyone else who misses the Tournament and that particular event, Giles can offer a figure of a member of a naval team pulling the field gun or limber.

The naval team pulling the field gun

The casting costs £4.10 (£11 painted gloss). The set of eight team members, field gun and limber costs £65 as castings (£126 painted gloss).

Still with the Navy, Giles has produced a figure of a ‘Button Boy’ from the Navy’s training establishment, HMS Ganges. From 1905 to 1976, Ganges was the shore training establishment for boy entrants into the Royal Navy, taking over the role from the wooden ship of the same name. The boys were 15 years of age on entry and most signed on for nine years Naval cadets from Ganges and other establishments are well known for their ‘mast manning’ displays where, accompanied by music, they climb the rigging of a sailing ship’s mast and take up position along its series of spars. The Button Boy is the last to reach his position, standing on the small circular platform at the very top of the mast.

I saw these displays more than once at the Royal Tournament and, having no head for heights myself, my admiration for this piece of individual courage and confidence was always immense. Apparently, the Ganges Button Boy always received one shilling (five new pence) for his trouble.

Button Boy from HMS Ganges

The Button boy casting costs £3.30 (£11 painted gloss).

And now for something completely different, as somebody used to say. Giles has produced charming portrait figures of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, inspired by a painting of them made around 1850. Victoria wears a suitably elaborate dress of the period with a tiara and Albert wears military uniform and carries a plumed hat. Quite essential, I would have thought, for any collection of Giles’ Victorian military and civilian figures.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Victoria and Albert painted

The casting of Queen Victoria costs £4.10 (£11 painted gloss) and that of Prince Albert costs £3.70 (£11 painted gloss).

Victorian military figures also feature in Giles’ latest releases, in the form of two figures representing the Cameron Highlanders. The regiment was first raised as the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameronian Volunteers) in 1793. The two figures wear distinctive headgear and trews and one stands firing a salute and one stands presenting arms.

Cameron Highlanders firing salute and presenting arms

Cameron Highlander castings cost £3.70 each (£12.50 painted gloss).

Giles produced some attractive modern French Foreign Legion figures a little while back and the last new releases to mention here add to his modern Legionnaires and look back to the Legion’s past. First, there is a Legion pioneer with characteristic pioneer’s beard, apron and axe. These guys have a very distinctive slow march, which is somewhere between a march and a swagger

Foreign Legion pioneer, Legionnaire of the 1860s and HMS Ganges Button Boy

The second figure is a very attractive Legionnaire of the 1860s, which looks particularly good when painted as shown here. The Legion pioneer casting costs £4.10 (£11 painted gloss). The Legionnaire of the 1860s costs £3.30 as a castings (£11 painted gloss. Postage in the UK is an additional 10%, 18% for overseas orders. Giles sets a minimum value of £10 for all orders.

Contact:

Dorset Soldiers
Unit 112, Southway
Southwell Business Park
Portland
Dorset
DT5 2JS

Tel: 01305 823003
www.dorsetsoldiers.com

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