Redemption Story III: Back in the Saddle Again

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Back again to that heap of forlorn arms, legs, heads, and torsos that I got on eBay.  This sad assortment was a once-upon-a-time horde of toy soldiers for some young boy...a young boy who was particularly hard on the troops.

The mission this time was to see how many of the ten damaged cavalrymen could be made 

whole again.

Like the foot soldiers who appeared in my most recent posts, the men of the mounted arm were in equally , if not worse, stages of damage and destitution.

This cavalry officer has at least his head to hang his hat upon, others were not so lucky (as will be seen).

Triage

The first step was to go through the heap of limbs and fragments to determine

if he could be made whole again.

In this instance I (and he) was fortunate.  Everything was present and...

with the help of a few drops of Krazy Glue...

Captain Dumpty had come together again.  However the rehabilitation process has just begun.

Not so easy is one of the more typical troopers of this truncated tribe.

This was the appearance of the majority of the ten cavalrymen.

As with the captain, the missing pieces needed to be located, fracture lines matched and Krazyglued back together.

 These early Britains plastics are far superior than the current generation.  Note the cool carbine, molded separately hanging at his side.  Now to find that other arm.

Krazy Glue alone only "bastes" the pieces together.  The real bond is made by "heat welding" one piece to another with a modified soldering iron

Once reassembled everyone got primed and ready to paint.

Sarge LaFarge leads the way, fully restored to duty, finished toy soldier brite and sporting the chevrons of a newly-minted NCO.

I like his neatly-trimmed Van dyk.

Choosing to completely alter the painting of these soldiers from their original Britains scheme is a reflection of the licence that comes with resurrecting destroyed (and some would say "noncollectable") toy soldiers.

Our captain has returned to the active list and is anxious to rejoin his unit.

Generally, when I do chevrons, I simply paint a large chevron shape and then use a 000-nib technical pen to create the individual stripes.

Here they come!

Sabers drawn and galloping into action...

Of the ten, only two were total losses.  There little plastic families can take comfort in the knowledge that their men had given their all for Lincoln and Liberty.

This eBay deal is getting better all the time.

Soldier on!

Mannie