| Endless Grubs | 18 Dec 2017 6:48 p.m. PST |
One staple of Mr Grant's books was his horse/musket miniatures that seemed very 7 Years War-ish in style. They had pretty static poses by today's standards. Does anyone recall what company made those and if they were 40mm or 54mm? Thanks in advance! |
Extrabio1947  | 18 Dec 2017 6:56 p.m. PST |
Early books? Spencer Smith Miniatures, the original plastic ones. They are 25mm. Over the past few years he has replaced them with the excellent Minden and Crann Tara Miniatures. These are 28mm. Grant's early plastic Spencer Smiths became brittle and fragile with age. Spencer Smith now makes these miniatures in metal, FYI. spencersmithminiatures.co.uk |
| robert piepenbrink | 18 Dec 2017 8:05 p.m. PST |
One quibble. The Spenser Smiths were called 30mm at the time. Still are, actually. You can see them in Charge! too--but only from a distance. They never rate a close-up. |
| Wherethestreetshavnoname | 19 Dec 2017 12:54 a.m. PST |
I doubt Mr Grant has replaced any of his miniatures 'recently', sadly he died in 1979. Unless you mean his son, Charles S Grant? |
| Old Peculiar | 19 Dec 2017 5:08 a.m. PST |
Totally disagree with RP. I had a huge collection of Spencer Smith plastics that eventually were marched off to Sweden when I received an offer that simply could not be refused. The original figures lacked moulded detail but held immense charm of their own and i loved them dearly. The 2nd Generation figures had masses of detail and at a price that was unbeatable. |
| Ed Mohrmann | 19 Dec 2017 6:05 a.m. PST |
My Spencer-Smiths were retired many years ago due to the
brittle nature of the material. However, I agree with
BOTH Robert and Old Peculiar. Mine seem to be from
different 'eras' of Spencer-Smith's history, but I don't
know for sure. My Spencer-Smith British infantry have good detail,
especially headgear/facials, buttons, etc. Other figures
from the Napoleonic range are not very detailed and I
believe the reason to be that there are two different
plastics involved.
My British infantry are in a hard plastic, the other
figures are in a very soft plastic. The hard plastic
seems to have developed the detail better in the casting
process, whereas the softer plastic – sort of like early
Airfix – didn't pick up the detail very well. |
| rustymusket | 19 Dec 2017 6:22 a.m. PST |
I just looked at the Minden figs at Fife and Drum. They are fantastic! So are the others they sell. I wish I had not looked. |
| Vintage Wargaming | 19 Dec 2017 7:09 a.m. PST |
EM – there were two types of plastic Spencer Smith 18th Century figures, the Holger Erikkson designed "standard" range which came in bags of 100 foot or 30 Cavalry (and maybe six guns and crews) and the Barry Minot designed Connoisseur figures in hard plastic. It sounds like your British figures were the Minot ones. There are photos of the range (in metal) on the Spencer Smith Miniatures web site.m |
| Extrabio1947 | 19 Dec 2017 9:11 a.m. PST |
I doubt Mr Grant has replaced any of his miniatures 'recently', sadly he died in 1979. Unless you mean his son, Charles S Grant? Charles S. inherited his father's collection and replaced the aging SSM's with the Minden and Crann Tara Miniatures. A bit of trivia for you: Charles S. painted the famous Erbprinz Regiment for Brigadier Young that graced the cover of "Charge." |
| Ed Mohrmann | 19 Dec 2017 9:11 a.m. PST |
Vintage Wargaming – thanks ! I was not aware that
Barry Minot had designed for Spencer-Smith ! From
other Minot figures I have, I can easily see the
similarity in sculpting technique. |
| robert piepenbrink | 21 Dec 2017 8:21 p.m. PST |
I did NOT mean my comment as a criticism. I have owned and enjoyed SSM myself. But Young seems to have disagreed. In Charge! they are never front and center in a picture--which is what I said. |
