28MM Pirate Camp

[War In 15MM]

The pirate camp consists of a tree house/lookout post, hammocks hung between palms, some campfires for cooking and a group of pirates and their companions taking their rest.
The tree house is a modification of a toy I picked up at the swap meet for $2.  I’ve added Milliput to form tree leaves, small bushes and vines in order to hide large openings in the tree cover, big flowers on the ground and a hinge along one side and then I repainted it.  The tree house toy included one of the hammocks hung inside.  I cut that out of its original location to hang it between two palms.  Over the years I’ve picked up two of these tree houses.  From the second I took another hammock and gave the tree house to a friend.  The palm trees are from what must be a very popular dinosaur play set.  I believe it must be or have been very popular because I find the loose palms trees all the time at the swap meet selling for 25 to 50 cents each.  I’ve bought about a 100 of them over the last five years.  The other two hammocks came from another toy that I picked up at the swap meet for about $1 each (maybe less).  I modified the palm tree bases to suit the length of each hammock.  I then glued the hammocks between the trees trunks and wrapped floral wire to give the appearance of rope ties.  Most of the figures are Perry; two are by Foundry, and the two musicians are by Jackdaw.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  Richard

[HerbyF]

This is another great set up. You make such wonderful stuff out of old junk. 

[Poiter50]

Nice, now I have an idea for my Eureka musicians. I have that Perry Camp set as well, a recent acquisition. 

[lou passejaire]

pretty nice as usual, mr  War In 15MM   

[War In 15MM]

Thanks to you all for writing.  Old toys have been good to me.  The Perry AWI camp set is a great group of figures and while probably less that perfectly dressed in terms of my other pirates, they are so nice I couldn't resist using them.  The Jackdaw and Eureka musicians are very much alike.  I'm hooked on civilian figures and love groups of musicians so  I have both sets… great stuff.  The Eureka musicians are beautiful.   Jackdaw Court Ball figures' molds, which include the musicians pictured, are old and the figures reflect that but they are well worth the work it takes to clean them up.  Thanks again.  Richard

[Poiter50]

Do you have a link to Jackdaw? Apart from your recent mentions, I'm not aware of them.

Thanks to you all for writing.  Old toys have been good to me.  The Perry AWI camp set is a great group of figures and while probably less that perfectly dressed in terms of my other pirates, they are so nice I couldn't resist using them.  The Jackdaw and Eureka musicians are very much alike.  I'm hooked on civilian figures and love groups of musicians so  I have both sets… great stuff.  The Eureka musicians are beautiful.   Jackdaw Court Ball figures' molds, which include the musicians pictured, are old and the figures reflect that but they are well worth the work it takes to clean them up.  Thanks again.  Richard

[War In 15MM]

Poiter50, the only place I know that carries Jackdaw Miniatures and their Court Ball 1 and Court Ball 2 (those numbers might be Roman numerals) is Old Glory UK.  One of the Court Ball packs has more of the 18th Century dancing figures than the other.  The one with fewer dancing figures has the three musicians.  The molds are old and it takes a bit of cleaning up to make them look good but they are the only 18th century dancing figures I am aware of in 28mm.  They go great with Eureka and Foundry.  The truth is I've bought three packs (two with more dancing and one with musicians) twice/six packs total.  I did that because after I bought them the first time, I liked them so much that I decided I wanted not only an indoor ball, but a garden party as well.  I'm nuts I know but it was fun and once you clean them up, they look great painted.  The two packs include musicians, dancers, servants and a couple of children (a boy and a girl).  I live in the US and I have had no problems getting them from the UK, and I don't remember feeling that the shipping cost was outrageous.  Hope this helps.  Richard

[Poiter50]

Great, thanks. I have several sets of the Eureka minis so I will stick with them I think.

[kidterminal]

I love this setup Richard the swap meet serves you well here as is has in your other setups. Can we get more pictures of the upper floor of the house?

Robert

[abdul666lw]

Stunning diorama!

Btw are the Jackdaw from old molds or are they modern 'nostalgia' figurines deliberately sculpted and produced in the 'Old School' style of the Willie of the "60? I was under the impression that at least some of the minuetting couples were quite recent.

[War In 15MM]

abdul666lw, thank you for the very kind comment about the diorama.  I had a lot of fun putting that stuff together.  As to the Jackdaws, let me begin by making it clear that I love those figures.  The fact is that I've bought six packs of them and I bought first three packs and then went back and bought three more so I knew what they looked like when I bought the second round of three.  Having said that, the work I had to do on them before they could be painted had nothing to do with "nostalgia."  There was a lot of heavy flashing and the dresses of the women were often pitted and the holes had to be filled.  Even so, once the flashing was cut away and the the holes filled they were great.  I know that a lot of people are seriously put off by flashing and such on figures, but if the figures are unique and they can be put right by a little work, that sort of things doesn't bother me a lot.  The Jackdaws 18th century dancers offer something I wanted that no one else seems to offer.  Eureka's 18th century musicians are wonderful (I have a couple sets) but they make no 18th century dancers that I am aware of.  Eureka does make wonderful Victorian ball figures which I also have, but not the 18th century dancers.  If anyone one knows of a company that makes 28mm 18th century dancers other than Jackdaw, I would appreciate hearing about them.  Thanks again for taking the time to write and for the kind words.  I hope my Jackdaw ramblings were of some help.  Richard

[War In 15MM]

Robert, I’m sorry it took so long to post better pics of the tree house, but better late than never… I hope.  It is really a very nicely constructed toy, and I had a lot of fun making it usable for my pirate camp.  The original toy opened up and offered an interior for a child to play in.  Unfortunately, with the exception of a hammock that I took out and hung between two palm trees, the interior really didn’t work well for my project.  I used Milliput  shaped as vines, small bushes and tree leaves to hide the hinge and some other problem areas, and then I gave it a new paint job.  In an earlier picture above I showed the tree house with a Foundry pirate as a means of indicating scale.  I think it really works very well with the 28s.  Again, sorry for the delay.  Richard

[kidterminal]

Yes Richard this is the picture I wanted to see thank you for posting it.