Tuesday, July 10, 2012

“[No] matter what a waste one has made of one's life, it is ever possible to find some path to redemption, however partial.” ― Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

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What to do with broken toy soldiers who wish to soldier on for the cause of Lincoln and Liberty?

Specialized situations call for specialized soldiers

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A new lease on life came for more of those fractured, limb-less,  and abused Britians and Cresent soldiers from my most recent post.


I've begun the repair and painting of many of the "salvageable" soldiers, the group of six in the center had legs and bases that were too brittle and shattered to even begin to try to glue back together, having, you may recall, the tensile strength of a crayon


I decided to look at each figure not as what it had been but what it could become
including this legless rebel who is about to be repurposed as a galvanized Yankee but first...



Those stumps need to be even'd  up on the belt-sander.

The sander transformed a figure similar to the one on the right to the work-in-progress on the left (you'll see him again soon).






Repainted and sprayed with a "brite" finish, and new transparent bases at the ready,  these little fellows are nearly ready to reenlist.



Scoring the base with a "cross-hatch" pattern makes for better adhesion with the super-glue





Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the newest addition to the miniature Army of the Potomac:

 fully recovered and re-purposed little Yankees, again rushing to the sound of the guns

as they splash across the creek under heavy rebel fire.



 [please do click on the photo for a larger and more dramatic effect!]



Brave toy soldiers taking the fight to the far bank.



Some do fall in the effort...




but will be avenged by their tiny comrades!


This saga will continue.

Soldier on!

Mannie


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5 comments:

Brianne, You may call me Mistressyness said...

wonderful work! That's a great job you are doing with the nearly hopless old plastics. :D

Mosstrooper said...

What a great idea !

Scott B. Lesch said...

HUZZAH!!

Archduke Piccolo said...

Oh, noe that is very, very clever - and they look so convincing, too! Looking at the earlier pics, they seemed to have been a very nice set of figures before they got themselves snashed up. It is great to see them put to such good use.

Hugh Walter said...

A brilliant idea! Soldier On indeed!!
Hugh