Lonely Paintbrushes...

Not a drop of paint has been applied to a single figure over the past couple of weeks. On the collecting front the last fortnight has been dominated by the arrival of 50+ Kgs of Del Prado figures. They are just so cool! On the library front, I have added  Kolin 1757 and Blucher's Army to my collection. I have 120 little Osprey booklets now to add to the 100 odd I got with the Napoleon at War collection last year. They are basically little versions of the Men at Arms books with a little bit of the Campaign series thrown in for good measure. They are pretty cute as well and seem to be perfectly designed for light reading. I am still waiting for the Spanish to get released onto the market. Winter is coming and my paintbrush is getting dusty....

This looks like some good bedtime reading! and another avenue to collect for the little library!

Front of a typical little magazine which came with the 1/32 scale die-cast figures. This is straight  out of Russian Infantry (Men at Arms)

Just to prove it here is another page from the same Men at Arms book.

So does Cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars follow the same modus operandi? Yip - It seems that the text cames from Men at Arms plus additional material from Campaign series books.

Not sure whether this was especially written for the Del Prado books. Seems quite general - perhaps designed for a collector who likes collecting rather than a specialist Napoleonic freak. Still some fun reading though.

Just to show not all the illustrations are from the Men at Arms series. I think I saw this illustration a Campaign title

Here is a typical figure. Actually this is an older one I had. My new ones are still in their blister packs. The question is should I take them out of the packs to display or should they stay in their pristine state? I am torn between keeping their value and having a kick-arse display. I think there is about a $1500 drop in value by just taking them out of their little plastic coverings. On the other hand, I am not going to sell them, so by the time anyone sells my collection I will be passed caring.

I must stop buying toy soldiers

I must stop buying toy soldiers. I must stop buying toy soldiers. I must stop buying toy soldiers.

I have recently blown my toy soldier budget quite substantially. Del Prado have a collection called Cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars. I have coveted this set since I bought the Armies of the Napoleonic Wars last year. Now that I have both sets I promise I won't purchase any more tin figures this year. I'll stick to books and the occasional hat box. Speaking of Hat... I have recently finished some grenadiers... These dudes had languished in their boxes since I bought them a few years ago. I thought they looked too chunky to go with my other figures. Silly me for being a poor judge. They were a pleasure to paint and the end result more than stands up next to my other figures.