Of Artillery And Horticulture
A lick of paint.......L'artillerie !
Its been a week now since our return to Apperley Towers, from our holiday on the Holy island of Lindisfarne. A complete break from all hobby related matters is something which can serve to reinvigorate and renew our hobby interests and I am hoping that will be the case. Time will of course tell. What I do find is that I go through periods where my painting output is extremely good, followed by a fallow period where I just don't feel in the mood. Right now I am in the latter period, possibly because of the intensive effort I poured into the English Civil War project.
I find that the way to get back into the swing is to pick at little bits and pieces and gradually build momentum back up. The picture above and those below showing two Naval guns and crew for my faux French force are my most recent dabble with the paint brush. The figures were already painted but I have wanted to put them on bases for a while now and that's what I have done. Not amazing progress, glue to bases, paint bases and varnish, but its a small tick off the to do list and getting me back to the painting table. I have ticked a few more small items off the list but this particular item leads to another topic.
As I gathered my thoughts about writing this blog entry, I realised some readers might be interested in a closer look at these pieces as they are not 'run of the mill' items. The 4.7" Britains Naval Gun is an early 'open trail' 2nd version, fumed metal finish, dating it to the 1920s. For a piece that is about a hundred years old, it is in remarkably good condition with no repaints or repairs evident. I picked up this beautiful example for £20 at a Plastic Warrior show about 3 years ago and it remains amongst my most prized pieces. But Graham, I hear you ask, why is it so special? Well to answer that question, you need to turn the gun over.
There under the barrel is the registered patent number followed by the word 'depose'. This French word can be found on all models manufactured in France during the period that the Paris office was open (1905 to 1923). Unfortunately some models produced in Britain also had this word added as they were exported to France for sale. Whether or not this gun was made in Britain or under license in France, I do not know. What I am sure of, is it tells a story about Britains venture into the French market in the early part of the 20th Century. Oh... and I couldn't really include it in any other army than my Faux French force could I?
I referred to 'interesting pieces' in the third paragraph above and that's because I also based a crew for another gun for my Faux French.
This is a coastal defence gun or battery gun I assume, so a Naval crew seemed appropriate.
Its a rather charming piece, with a 'pull back' spring firing mechanism. I honestly can't remember where I picked it up but again I love it.
It obviously has some age but I have no real idea of the date of manufacture. My best bet would be the middle of the 20th century, but if anyone out there knows better I would love to hear from you.
Fortunately the maker left a mark to identify their product. The lettering reads ..'DEPOSE....C B G ....PARIS'. I am pretty confident that this is the mark of the most famous French toy soldier manufacturer C.B.G. Mignot. So another French gun for my Faux French forces !
Tales From The Potting Shed.........Plastic Horticulture
A garden in progress. Here we see a few of the basic building blocks of the plastic garden range. The basic flower beds into which the plastic flowers and plants are pushed into the holes with the gardening tools. All very flexible when sold back in the 1960's but alas no longer so reliable.
As I tried to build my own collection into displayable pieces which could also be used as 'set dressing' for my wargames, I quickly found that handling these intricate and fragile pieces was not easy. Pieces broke off or fell off, as I handled them. An extreme example of this are the edging brick sections provided to cover the edges of the flower beds. These break at the slightest pressure as shown above. I was determined to find a solution so that I could use this range as I wanted. These were old collectibles however and a voice was warning me not to do anything that might affect their future resale and collectability.
I pondered this for a while, but eventually decided that these were not rare survivors that needed to be protected behind glass! Yes they deserved to be looked after and enjoyed but they are not rare as a quick search of e-bay will attest.. As for resale value? Well when I die I don't suppose that will worry me! As for my wife and heirs, well they have no interest whatsoever in my toys and might, if I'm lucky, consign the lot to the nearest auction house! So...money be damned!
At the same time that I came to this conclusion, I reached the same decision in relation to the Britains trees, hedges and walls etc. Collectable versus playable? The latter wins and I felt like a huge weight was lifted! I was free to do whatever I wanted to make these wonderful toys part of my wargaming world in the most imaginative and practical ways that I could!
I started by deciding to have virtually the whole garden range in small independent vignettes or moveable pieces, so that I could set up an impressive garden display. A great example of this is the Greenhouse with all of the tiny potted plants and seed trays which you see below. These have all been fixed in place and the whole building glued to a card base made up of the patio slabs glued onto a piece of stiff card. It can now be picked up by the base without touching or disturbing the structure at all and nothing moves or falls off. The Greenhouse can then be positioned anywhere in a display or wargame scenario. The greenhouse itself is a very temperamental structure in its raw state and would often fall apart when being picked up. This is no longer the case. I also added a chair and a water butt to the base to make it more of a vignette. (note I have photographed most of these pieces on top of a standard lawn section to give contrast to the item being photographed)
I had a number of the garden sheds and repeated the patio slab base for two of them, again adding some further items to make a vignette effect. I have left the roofs removable for more flexibility.
Here we see the rose covered trellises fixed to a small lawn piece as an arbor for meandering through. The delightful female figure is one of the Britains 'petticoat' range which are highly recommended.
A garden gate and two pillars fixed in place on a patio slab base. Another piece which falls apart easily in its raw state.
Various flower beds, with various flowers from the range. All edged with edging bricks glued into place on a card base.
A few elements combined to show the effect. A fixed vegetable bed by a potting shed with 3 wall sections behind.
Phase one was now complete, leaving me with quite a large surplus of pieces to do with as I pleased. Phase two was to be the village buildings and their gardens of which more another day.
Tara a bit!
Your guns and crews are excellent Graham! They all really look the part and will add a great deal to your future games! I love the "Idiot" watching at a safe distance! You definitely made the right choice with your garden pieces, they are meant to be enjoyed the way you want to use them, and if that means gluing them in place, then so be it! They are truly beautiful, and so very delicate. You have done a marvelous job with them!
ReplyDelete