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Toy Soldier Collector White Tower Miniatures - Legends of the West

White Tower Miniatures - Legends of the West

Review taken from 'Casting Around'

After having some fun with movie and TV cowboys, Matthew Thair has returned to the authentic Wild West with a set of figures under the title ‘The Rendezvous’. These new figures represent some of the Mountain Men who were pioneers in exploring and charting the West in the first half of the nineteenth century. A fashion for fur hats created a great demand for animal fur, particularly beaver, and fur trading companies employed men to trap animals for their fur. These men lived in the wild, at risk from starvation, dehydration, freezing cold, burning heat, wild animals and Indians although some developed good relations with the latter and took Indian wives. The ‘rendezvous’ gatherings were sometimes their only contact with the outside world. They came for trading, drinking and general ‘rest and recreation’. By 1840, fur hats were no longer fashionable and so, deprived of their livelihood, many mountain men became army scouts or guides for the settlers heading west.

The characters (it’s a very appropriate word) shown here are William Sublette and ‘Liver Eating’ Johnson on horseback and Thomas Fitzpatrick and Seth Kinman on foot. There is an additional mounted figure of Bill Mitchell. Unfortunately, it would take too much space to summarise the careers of these remarkable men but it was Johnson who inspired the 1972 Robert Redford movie ‘Jeremiah Johnson’. Assembly of all the figures is straightforward but a small amount of filler might be needed for the horses.

Matthew enjoys the challenge of producing mini vignettes with two figures on a shared base and his latest example is ‘The Rescue’. This actually comprises two separate castings (plus an arm) to be joined together but the combination is very effective and portrays a classic piece of Wild West folklore (think John Wayne and Natalie Wood towards the end of ‘The Searchers’). In the painted version, the rescuer can be either a plainsman/scout or a US cavalryman.

White Tower castings measure 58mm approx, ‘The Rendezvous’ castings cost £12.00 each mounted (£25.00 painted gloss) and £6.00 on foot (£14.00 painted gloss). ‘The Rescue’ castings cost £10.00 (£14.00 painted gloss). Mathew advises customers of postage costs on receipt of an order.

Date Published Sun, 06/06/2010 - 08:16
Author: Paul Stocker

Contact
White Tower Miniatures

Tel: 07984 116201
www.whitetowerminiatures.co.uk

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