28mm Marx Arab Recasts

I recently purchased a couple bags of Made in China toy soldiers. I ordered them off the net.
I wasn't sure what I'd be getting scale wise, but I thought "why not?"

Turns out the figures I expected to be 45 mm - 54 mm tall are recasts of Marx's Arab figures. Here's a link to an article about them:


http://smallscaleworld.blogspot.ca/2010/05/l-is-for-la-legion-etranger-by-marx.html


These figures are cast in a harder plastic than current 1/72 scale releases. They are all between 23 to 28mm tall, most being the latter. There are 11 poses and the original mounted poses are included, albeit with their feet fixed to bases.

It takes little to clip them free. However finding recast horses might be a problem. I settled on the Thai Giant recasts. The riders require a little trimming between their legs, and the horses' saddles must be carved flat, but they do fit. I also mounted a dozen on some toy camels. These took a bit more trimming of the legs, and I found the plastic can break away under pressure, so careful carving is required.

Anyway the bag of toys has over 200 figures. Some casualties from shipping are present, broken guns, snapped off bases, but the vast majority are in acceptable condition. Also included are 4 towers in two styles, 10 trees, deciduous and palm, some of the usual dollar store accessories like fences and sandbags, a large tent, a modern building front and some simple fighter jets and inflatable rafts. Missing was the tank that was to be in the set, and two fictional plastic maps were included. The Muslim soldiers were cast in two colours, tan and olive green.


The potential for these toys is great.


Beyond mounting the riders, of whom there were over 60 in a bag, the weapons were all muskets and swords. With a little paint and imagination they would do as Pathans, Mahdists, Indian, Mamelukes or even Sikh soldiers. 

Removing the muskets and replacing them with spears could transport them back in time for armies of the middle east, the crusades, the turks or others.
As an aside, the ad that caught my eye sold me with a photo of all the soldiers set up. But the caption referred to them as "middle eastern aborigines"! I guess the company used one of those computer translators.
I mounted the three rider poses on horses, camels and made some standard bearers. I have no cognisance of what's on the flags, it's a rough copy of those in the first volume of Funcken's Le Costume et les Armes: Des Soldat de Tous les Temps. Vol. I. Des Pharaons a Louis XV. by Liliane and Fred Funcken. (1966)
Now I've seen Marx 28mm recasts of Mexican Alamo soldiers, Civil War soldiers, Captain Gallant Foreign Legion, Noah's Ark, so does that mean other sets might be in the offing? I certainly hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.  Or maybe we'll see the Revolutionary war sets of redcoats and rebels or the Charge of The Light Brigade? Or the World War 2 sets? One can only hope.

on the light side of things, I've been growing raspberries every year. what started as a single bush now produces 6 to 8 liters of berries every summer. I went for a rummage through the basement and I've got enough preserves and jams canned to make a nice batch of wine. So my lousy painting isn't likely to improve with age, but the wine will.

It's Been A While

Just a quick post of some plasticene conversions. They're on artist canvases that I painted as terrain, just an idea I've been playing with.

Mostly cavalry, some Napoleonic Airfix/Esci/Italeri but the cowboy hat types in evidence as Nine Years War types.
Also I did a couple regiments from Airfix 8th Army copies as English and French regiments.
The first photos have Wurzburg troops.
The house is a foam carving painted to resemble the Chew House.
The trees are florist items on black toothpicks.
Oddly enough, I painted the pink hussars then found their similar historical counterpart on a Knotel print of Danish Hussars.

http://www.grosser-generalstab.de/tafeln/knoe04/knoe04_56.html

The cannon is a Mars Swedish Seige cannon.

Plasticine Dreams

Here are some more of those cheap made in China toys I've been messing with. These guys are French style troops with plasticine hats, coats and packs, and toothpick guns and bayonettes.

The command grouping. An officer, a flag bearer, a pioneer and a drummer.

On their way to 48 ranks each some day.

These are an odd pose that I'd thought I'd use. They are the "Follow Me!" WW2 US G.I. officer waving his hand and a pistol. Plasticine tricornes and a toothpick gun and now they are marching enthusiastically. At least I hope so....

Some Pom-pom trees, just a nail, a poker chip and one of these fluffy pom-poms you see at the craft stores.

The start of something new. French style hussars from plastic cowboys and indians I bought from a guy in Thailand. I removed the head and an arm and replaced with 20 gauge florist wire from Michaels. Then I built up the arms with a thick contact cement, and added plasticine for detail. The horses are Giant knock offs, but these are thicker with sturdy legs.

A French General

A shame this picture didn't turn out. I'll replace it eventually. Again, this is a chopped up cowboy figure.

A French Hussar General from the Funcken Lace Wars book, and an ADC.

I rather like these guys.

Arquebusiers de Grassin from the Funcken book. Riding two to a horse. On a sad note, I read online that Mr. Funcken recently passed away. He was a real talent and very influential to many wargamers. In point of fact, I recently purchased 2 seasons of "Callan, and one of Mr. Funcken's book was used by a character as a reference.

A full regiment of Imagi-nation Dragoons. These are all the Thai cowboy figures with plasticine additions, including the trumpet and flag.

The full regiment. Silly pose perhaps, but these guys are loaded for bear! Pistols and carbines and no reins!

Here's a look at those Thailand imports. Very affordable and with new poses I've never seen before. The plastic is nice and soft, carves easily, is easily drilled, takes glue and acrylic paint. I've more on the go. I'll post again soon.

Wargames Factory War of the Spanish Succession

Wargames Factory is a real inovator in that they create figure sets that are plastic, a large 28mm in size, with customizable heads and body parts and accessories. I picked up a couple boxes, infantry and cavalry for about $20 each. The infantry make 36 figures and the cavalry 12.  They also offer spare bodies in groups of 12 for sale as well as any other parts, on ebay and at their website. I ordered more and ended up with 144 marching figures, some of which are here:

They paint up well, and they really are nice and sturdy. The hard plastic bayonettes have taken some abuse and they remain OK. Wargames Factory is now releasing their artillery and mounted commanders sets. I highly recommend these for anyone wanting to try a new period without a lot of upfront cost.
They also do ancients, samurai and World War 2, and fantasy as well.

El Cid

I picked up a copy of Games Workshop's El Cid source book.
It was the usual well produced and colourful item that got me to make some Spanish figures from what I had to hand. To whit, HaT Spanish and Gaullic cavalry, some home cast Normans and some Revell ones, and Airfix and Italeri foot soldiers. The flags are really what sold me to do these: