Bob Naismith old fantasy sculpts... part II

Updating an old blog post as I've picked up a bunch of variant sculpts...

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Bob sculpted a number of (now long out of production) fantasy pieces for various companies. I am led to believe he first sculpted for Wargames Publications (Scotland) Ltd. He sculpted a large amount of historical, both in 15mm and 25mm under 'Naismith Design' label which were distributed by Navwar Productions Limited. The 15mm are mostly still available however the 25mm are long gone and Navwar have never been able to supply any information regarding the masters etc. I would assume they are gathering dust in one of Bob's Highland hideaways... the man is a true Scot through and through. He has sculpted for many different companies over the years including being responsible for the first Games Workshop Space Marines (should I insert a 'TM' there?) - the old classic Womble helmeted ones. He left GW around 1990 to become freelance. He sculpted a large Sci Fi range 'Cobalt' that has recently been picked up by Black Hat Miniatures (since sold on). He is currently producing plastic for both Fireforge Games and Mantic Games along with his latest venture where he's turned to 3D computer modelling... https://www.bobnaismith.com/

These are what I have of the fantasy he released under Naismith Design.....If anyone has any more variants please let me know!

F1 Dungeoneer Duck

F2 Adventurer Elf ready to travel

Version 2

Version 1 (bought when they were first advertised)

F3 Superhero in cape & tights

Version 2

Version 1 (bought when they first came out)

F4 Thief Adventurer with loot and pack

F5 Skeleton Warrior with sword and shield

F6 Knight of the Order of the Chaotic Pig

F7 Hunchback half troll prowling

F8 Unarmoured troll advancing

F9 Armoured troll striking

F10 Troll with shoulder plate marching

F11 Mutant four armed adventurer

F12 Green adventurer with "muscles" & sword

F13 Knight of the Order of the Chaotic Ant

(carded one is the 2nd version)

F14 Wizard casting spell

F15 Witch, invoking the spirits

F16 Orc standing guard

with spear as supplied...

F17 Orc marching, half armoured

F18 Orc in chainmail & plumed helmet advancing

F19 Dwarf with Axe

F20 Armoured Dwarf drawing dagger

SD1 Dragon - Something Special

And an unknown hunchback...

Two different base inscriptions. One had the code added which is always useful....

The original post is here;

http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/2014/05/bob-naismith-old-fantasy-sculpts.html

I also recently picked up a Naismith Designs Roman Chariot... this is a seriously nice sculpt although a little fiddly as a kit.

3 unknown parts though... any ideas?

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FANTASY BATTLES by Gary Gygax

Today (March 4th, 2023) marks the sad 15th anniversary since Gary went to DM somewhere in the beyond... pretty sure he's still outfoxing everyone he meets. 

As he appeared in Futurama...

One of my favourite image of him...

Onto the article... taken from Wargamer's Newsletter 127, October 1972.  

FANTASY BATTLES

by

Gary Gygax

I offer the following details of our fantasy battles:

   The rules used are those designed by Jeff  Perren and I - CHAINMAIL, Guidon Games, P.O. Box

1123, Evansville, IN 47713, U.S.A., at $2 plus postage. The revised and expanded version should be

available by the time this is read. The booklet contains brief information about the scales used for the

different figure-types, and the expanded edition has things like how fast goblins, ores and dwarves can

tunnel under the walls of a besieged stronghold. 

   Tolkien purists will not find these rules entirely satisfactory, I believe, for many of the fantastic  

creatures do not follow his "specifications", mainly because I believe that other writers were as 

"authoritative" as he.

   Because I have a large force of 40mm Elastolin figures, we use a base 40mm as man-size, but 30mm

will do as well.. Regular troops have only a few added touches of paint, but hero-types have such things

as gilded or enamelled armour, jewels, and carefully painted devices on their shields.

   Orcs and elves are 30mm - that is what it says in the book. However, because we have not got around

to preparing them, Orcs are 40mm Turks and Elves are bowmen of the same scale. 

   Trolls and ogres are 54mm. I located some inexpensive plastic Indians in this scale, and a bit of

conversion produced sufficient numbers of block, grey, green and purple creatures of this ilk.

   Metal mediaeval figures in 25mm scale can easily be painted up to make goblins and dwarves, while

converted Airfix "Robin Hood" men serve as Hobbits.

   Giants are made from the 70mm Elastolin figures. At the moment we have only a pale blue fellow

with a head of bushy hair (snipped from one of my daughter's dolls when they weren't looking), who is

brandishing a huge club. He was originally a Viking with sword and shield, but this shield was stripped

off, the sword removed and a puttied matchstick became the bludgeon.

   The Balrog has caused considerable problems, and right now we are using a giant sloth from an 

assortment of plastic prehistoric animals, which (converted) makes a fearsome looking beast, albeit not

quite as Tolkien described it.

   Nazgul, like the Balrog, are also difficult. Presently we are employing unconverted 40mm Huns on

black horses, but we would like to put wings on these steeds and cloak the figures riding them.

   There are two dragons in our force of fantasy figures. One I made stegosaurus: First, the head was

enlarged with auto body putty, a wire was inserted into the tail and puttied to make it longer - and

barbed, the spines on its back cut to small points, the spikes on the tail were clipped off and added as

horns at the head end, cardboard bat wings were puttied in place, and finally the entire affair was given

many coats of paint, gilding, and glitter (as sparkling gems on its belly). The other was made by Don

Kaye using a brontosaurus, with two smaller heads added to the long neck, spikes along the back,

wings, and so on.

   A large stock of plastic wolves, bears, vultures, and the like are used for lycanthropes or whatever

other fairly normal looking creatures are called for. Soft plastic "horrors" and insects from the dime

store serve as elementals and giant insects.

   Perhaps the best part of fantasy wargaming is being able to allow your imagination full rein.

Whatever the players desire can be used or done in games. For example, for one match I built a chest of

jewels as the object to be obtained to win. However, I did not mention to either team that I had added a

pair of "basilisk eyes" (large pin heads dotted appropriately) which immediately turned- the first ogre

who opened it to stone. The possibilities are boundless.

   The way the rules are selling here, it seems a good bat for some model figure firm to start producing a

line of properly scaled fantasy figures!

   Mr. Bortham's observations about the possibilities of the Airfix "Astronauts" as Heinlein's "Starship

Troopers" (or other future warriors) has also crossed my mind as a fair possibility. In fact, if Mr.

Bortham eventually puts his ideas into a set of rules I can state, as Rules Editor for Guidon Games, that

I would like to see them with eventual publication in mind.

Some of the Futurama episode...

Gary on the BBC back in 1982... also shows footage of UK Games Day!

RIP Gary.

Miniature Figurines Magazine 'Minimag' Volume 1, Number 3...

 

Well, thanks to Charles for jogging my memory, I realised that I did indeed have a copy of issue 3 and had yet to upload it! So, here you go. Both inside cover pages were blank so I've left them off.

I've uploaded them as .png files so they should be of high enough resolution to read / download or whatever. As far as I'm aware there were only 5 issues of this Minimag and if you want to see the others, they're also on the blog under the label Minimag;

http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/search/label/Minimag

If you like the blog, please follow it and become a Politico (top left) - it makes me feel like I'm appreciated as does leaving a comment below!

Also, if you are feel slightly flush, buying me a coffee is always appreciated...blogging can be thirsty work... https://ko-fi.com/davidwood

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Dave Sparrow, sculptor for Hinchliffe Models and more!

 

An article on Dave Sparrow who sculpted many later Hinchliffe pieces including the FA sci fi range... from Military Hobbies magazine August 1993... I have merely typed it out as written and produced here for educational purposes. All qdos to the original writer who's name I don't have unfortunately.

FOCUS ON - Dave Sparrow

From Cavemen to Colour Party. From Plasticine to Pewter

These five little words plot the course of Dave Sparrow's rise to prominence as a sculptor of both toy soldiers and figurines. At age 56, Dave can look back over a considerable time which has always seemed to have some association with models, model making and toy soldiers.

He first realised that he had in his fingers a talent for producing model figures at the age of eight, when still at primary school, his skill had been noticed and his headmaster asked him to do a series of figures in plasticine to illustrate the history of dress. His first figure to go on display was a caveman!

This artistic ability was to lead Dave at 15 to Harrowgate art College where he spent two years following a general art course, which included sculpting, but Dave never even went through the process of drawing his subjects to reproduce as sculptures. (The same applies today - his figures are in his head and are unlocked by his hands.)

At that time he had a collection of Britains toy soldiers (didn't we all!), but whilst doing his National Service, Mum gave them away, along with his Dinky Toys (didn't they all!). On leaving the army he took up a printing apprenticeship, which was to keep a roof over his head for many years to come - but never far away was his interest in modelling and when time allowed he began to rebuild a Britains collection and build up a collection of 54mm figurines. His printing career took him abroad but soon after his return to this country he changed his career and began the long march along the road of full time sculpting and model making.

It was not all straightforward and there were several changes of job, working for Hinchliffe, Bassett Lowke and Mettoy but all directly connected sculpting and design production of figures and associated items. He also worked as a security officer for a local health authority, doing shift work which gave him time to develop his own business contacts and his big break came when there were health service cut backs!

This decided Dave upon his course to set up his own business of S&S Miniatures, named after his son and daughter. He began by producing 54mm figures for two companies in the USA, a range of wild animals and reproduction Viking jewellery for a business in Cornwall. But it was only eight years ago that the first toy soldiers appeared from S&S and initially he was a one-man band, researching, casting, painting and selling his wares. He had been investigating the new and growing interest in toy soldiers that really took off in the early 1980s and produced his first sets.

Now he has a range of some 90 sets, including civilians, Indian Army and Modern RAF but his main ranges are British Army of the late Victorian period, both Home and Foreign Service troops all performing on the DRILL SQUARE, which of course is the name by which his toy soldiers are known. His figures are finished to be of a higher standard than most toy soldiers, so they look more like figurines and there are five or six figures in most sets, the one exception is his 39-figure set called 'The Blessing of the Colours'.

No longer a one man band (his toy soldiers are all sold through MKL), Dave has time to continue his research and the end results are of course regularly reported in MH. Perhaps one day we might even see one of his dreams come to fruition - he really, really wants to produce a complete Mounted Band from the late Victorian period, a period which first inspired him in the form of his long lost first collection of Britains toy soldiers.

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His work for Hinchliffe Models, in the form of a weird science fiction range is on an older post;

http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/2020/03/hinchliffe-models-sci-fi-range-finally.html

He must have been the designer of some of the Hinchliffe Models fantasy range as well as some are certainly not in Peter Gilder's style. The FA55 Super Hero Wielding Axe for one;

MKL Models are going strong;  https://www.mklmodels.co.uk/

Edit - found some Americab Indian flats he sculpted, sold by Bash Models on Facebook;

https://www.facebook.com/100034895543705/shop/Native-American-Flats-671391243406048/

If anyone has any further info on Dave's career, please let me know! (Edit; check the comments below) 

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk