The Vignette - Making a start.

The photo shows the figures I am using to make the vignette for my son, his leaving present to the Sgt`s Mess. These are just some of the 54mm toy soldier figures I used to produce years ago as Pentland Miniatures, and I had to get my melting pot and casting machine out of mothballs again as I was short of the officer bodies.
I originally sculpted the masters without heads and arms, in various poses and uniforms. Three different heads and different arms made for many and varied permutations. The figures shown will be, (left to right) the commanding officer, subaltern Queen`s Colour, subaltern Regimental Colour, RSM, (the only one cast from a gravity mould as a one piece, minus head), WO2 (sonny boy) and two Colour Sergeants with SA80 at the slope. The arms for each are in front of the respective figure.
There is still some cleaning up to do before sticking the heads in place and attaching the arms, then I will give them a polish before priming them for painting. The Queen`s & Regimental colours will be the subject of another post, and the projected day for completion is Thursday night, March 1st, so I will have to knuckle down after coming home from work.

Recently the men of 45 Commando Royal Marines held a service to the memory of all ranks of the unit who have given their lives in the service of Queen and country since 1971. Some of these men were known to me, and, more recently, to my son John, a WO2 in the corps at present, and in the colour party on the day of the dedication of a large granite stone, on which the names of the fallen have been chiseled.

John will be moving from 45 Commando to CTCRM in March. It is the custom to present the Sergeant's mess with a little something for the mess display cabinet, and he has asked me to make a vignette of the scene on the day of the dedication, using my own range of 54mm toy soldiers which I used to sell some years ago. Obviously, being an ex Royal, I tended to concentrate on RM figures, and still have some which I can use.


The making of the vignette will be the subject of future posts