1888 - The Vicky Horror Figure Show (update 8/10: Willy Wonka)

[white knight]

And a group shot of "Her Majesty's Finest" so far. More to come.

[white knight]

Splendid. I’m particularly enjoying the backstories.

Thank you. I figured as these will be small groups of 1:1 figures in gaming terms, they diserve to have names and backgrounds, however limited they might be. And where possible, I try to match up the figures with characters from litterature or history of course.

[Metternich]

Wei Long Wu is an excellent conversion.

[white knight]

The London market is full of big and small stands selling anything from fresh produce to dusty  books and antiques. This old woman is selling some (overly?) ripe tomatoes. I originally painted her for my Three Musketeers collection, as she seemed fairly period neutral, but I decided in the end she fit in better in the Victorian age after all, so I rebased her (again).


Riiiipe tomatoes. Buy 'em before they spoil!


Seriously, buy'em now!

The base figure is Lemax' apple vendor and her basket of apples, but painting them as tomatoes just seemed to fit. I've also aged her quite a bit with the repainting and I think it suits her.


I remember when I used to be young and was selling apples.

The size fits in perfectly too.


Watson, I believe I may have discovered an entirely new type of tomato disease on this woman's offerings!

[white knight]

Privates Alfred Henry Hook and Frederick Hitch were awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in 1879, after the battle of Rorke's Drift against overwhelming Zulu forces. They continued to serve and were with the 24th regiment when they were called upon to join Her Majesty's Finest.


From hordes of Zulus to hordes of Zombies

Both figures are prepainted toy soldiers made by Thomas Gunn. I have only adapted the bases to fit in with my other figures. The characters are based on actual heroes of the battle of Rorke's Drift.


Private Frederick Hitch


Private Alfred Henry Hook

[white knight]

The Chinese community in London has expanded tremendously over the last few years and more and more oriental stalls are popping up on the Lodon market. A popular stall caters to exotic plants and fruits, especially the aptly named mandarins.



Why buy rotten tomatoes when you can grow your own plants bearing more exotic fruits?

King and Country flower stall set (now retired) comes with a vendor and a small, but nicely detailed stand. I only changed the base on the vendor to match my other figures:


Watering your plants regularly keeps them healthy!





The mandarin seller is an older King and Country model and the skintone is more yellow. I may or may not decide to try and change the skintone, but for now, he will be fine. The base was changed to match the rest of the collection.

[white knight]

Private Liam Hamstead has been with the 1st battalion of the York & Lancaster Regiment since the mid seventies, and was posted in India until 1882. After that, they were moved to Aden to be held in reserve for the Egyptian Campaign, and subsequently shipped to Sudan at the start of 1884. One day after their arrival, they came under gun fire and made a bayonet charge, capturing two Krupp guns. Prviate Hamstead was instrumental in that feat. He continued to serve with the regiment until he was drafted into Her Majesty's Finest.


Private Hamstead reenacting the bayonet charge

The model is a prepainted W. Britain figure. Not a favourite, but it fits in well enough and adds some more diversity to the unit. The base was changed to match the other figures. The character was made up, though the events mentioned did take place.

Private Hamstead shown here among the other members of Her Majesty's Finest:


For the Queen and the British Empire!

[white knight]

Captain Frederick Gustavus Burnaby joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1859. His service would take him allover the world. In 1875, he travelled with General Gordon in the Sudan and then journeyed across the Russian Steppes on horseback. In 1876-78 he travelled through Asia Minor and Armenia, which he would write about in 'On Horseback through Asia Minor'. In 1882 he crossed the Channel to Normandy alone in a balloon, which was a first. He was fluent in several foreign languages, stood for parliament (twice), published several books and was generally admired by the London ladies.    Barely surviving a spear at the battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan on 17th January 1885 (he was in fact officially reported killed in action), he was offered a place among "Her Majesty's Finest" after his recovery.


Captain Burnaby, in the thick of the fight

The figure is a prepainted one from John Jenkins Designs, with the base raised and repainted  to match the other figures. Despite the epic details of his life, captain Burnaby is an actual historical character and the figure was made to represent him. The real captain however did not survive the spear at Aby Klea.

Her Majesty's Finest:

[FierceKitty]

You appear to have found your life's work!

[Mason]

Lovely additions.
That is a wonderful collection of heroes.
 

Although I do have to say that I am having trouble keeping up with this project, you are setting such a pace.
 

[white knight]

It's a combination of having had some time off work to paint and using models that come prepainted to a good standard as the base for half the project. Now that I'm back at work and almost through my stash of the prepaints, the pace will slow down.

Though I did work some more on several conversions today, which will be ready for paint before long.

[white knight]

You'd be forgiven for mistaking the bespectacled Li Peng for a somewhat dull, but overall harmless old man. He is, after all, a bookkeeper and spends most of his time surrounded by papers and ink. However, this bookkeeper is none other than Fu Man Chu's personal accountant and secretary. His pen is just as often used to write a death sentence as to scribble down numbers. Most of Fu Man Chu's underlings have learned not to offend him as it has been said occasionally a name ends up on that death list that hasn't been ordered by the master.


Li Peng fulfllling his duties





The figure is made by King & Country in their Streets of Hong Kong series and initially represented a scribe offering his services on the street. The base was changed to match my other figures, other than that, the paintjob is the original one.

[twrchtrwyth]

Very well put together, great project.

[white knight]

Thank you for the praise.

I love creating something that is unique and will differ from other collections. I have a very large (unpainted) collection for this setting in 28mm, but as it's mostly stock models anyone can buy and paint, I switched to the larger scale when the lightbulb came on. Part of the fun is finding figures in very different ranges (and scales) that will work with the project, with some tweaking, and making something coherent out of the whole. I have many more things planned for this collection, so I'm just getting started.

As is more apparent on the blog I made for this project, the figures I've shown so far have been assigned to different "factions". Not all the factions have been shown yet, as I still need to convert/paint the models for them. The idea is to have 7-12 figures per faction and then a whole bunch of civilians and carriages/cabs to populate the streets. Of course I'll need to build some houses and scenery to use as a backdrop. Then the storytelling can begin (or I'll have butterfly'd on to something else).

[Mason]

As is more apparent on the blog I made for this project, the figures I've shown so far have been assigned to different "factions". Not all the factions have been shown yet, as I still need to convert/paint the models for them. The idea is to have 7-12 figures per faction and then a whole bunch of civilians and carriages/cabs to populate the streets. Of course I'll need to build some houses and scenery to use as a backdrop. Then the storytelling can begin (or I'll have butterfly'd on to something else).

I started collecting along the same lines for a 'BPRD/Hellboy 40mm' project building several different factions for if/when my eyes cannot tolerate 28's any more.
It is fun trying to source suitable material in the scale, I agree.