SMS Miniatures / RP World Models' Band of the Grenadier Guards

This set is especially cool to me.  I picked it up a year ago while visiting London.  On this trip, I had the great fortune of accompanying the Grenadier Guards band as they played at the Royal Ascots Horseraces.  I got to hang with the commander and the musicians and rode back on the coach with them through the royal forest outside Windsor castle.

That day, I picked this set up at the Guards Toy Soldier Shoppe at Wellington Barracks outside the Guards museum.  Every time I look at it it reminds me of that great time and the wonderful musicians from that band.

Below are some pics from the Ascots...

the Queen

Frontline US Marine Band PDB1

The Frontline US Marine Band is a beautiful set which I have enjoyed for years.  I can't quite recall where I purchased it at, but King's X in San Antonio seems to be the likely culprit.  Frontline makes great figures and is part of the new school of Toy Soldier makers.  It was founded in 1983 in Hong Kong.  I hope some day I can visit Hong Kong (on business) and make a stop into their shop.

This set is historically horribly innacurate, but is a nice addition to the band collection anyways.  I was corrected on the inaccuracy of this set by Col. John R. Bourgeois himself as he remarked, that while the Marines certainly do have a drum and bugle corps, they where standard Marine blue uniforms.  The Red tunics are reserved for "The President's Own United States Marine Band" and they would never be seen on parade in this instrumentation.

Without a doubt he is right, but I don't really care.  I still enjoy this set greatly.  The pictures below depict the set as it was displayed at my previous house and where I currently have it displayed on top of a US Military field drum (quite appropriate I think).

Britains Band of the royal Air Force No. 41151

This is one of my newer acquisitions.  I purchased this off of eBay a few years back as it was one of those "too good of a deal not to pass up" situations.  This 21 piece band is one of the Britains limited edition sets.  The set was limited to 1000 sets and produced in 2005. 

This is also one of the first sets I have that were produced after Britains was purchased by Ertl.  Apparantly, Britains Ltd was acquired by Ertl in 2000.  I was not really paying much attention to what was happening in the land of military miniatures at that point, so it came to me as a suprise that there were other logos on the box as well as the Britains logo.  As an aside, I think for the most part-  Ertl has done a great job with the brand.  My only complaint would be the move to use plastic "clamshell" packaging on single soldiers and small sets... I know this is a retail friendly, cost-savings move- but it still takes away some of the allure of the earlier Britains soldiers.  Part of the attraction to the older sets is the great boxes they have come in... I would hate to see that all change...  On limited edition sets, they are still faithfully in a nice boxed package- so perhaps it is only for the lower budget items.

Anyways, i digress.  This set is beautiful and has sat in my work office for a few years in a prime location.  Enjoy!

Ducal Band of the Scots Guards in Grey Overcoats

This is a great looking set that has a good deal of sentimental value to me.  This was purchased on a trip I made to England in 2000.  The trip was actually a musical trip as I was traveling over with my college band.  While in England, we attended "Beating Retreat", a military tattoo and also spent time at Wellington Barracks where we got to watch the changing of the guard from the inside of the fence (due to great connections with the ensemble director as well as the head of military music for the British Army.  The day happened to be quite rainy and the band along with all of the soldiers participating in the changing of the guard were wearing the long gray overcoats which I had previously never seen.  So after the ceremonies, I sauntered into "The Guards" toy soldier shop (one of my favorites) and picked up this set along with a few others.  I have become especially enamored with Ducal through the years as they always have unique settings for bands and tend to have a great deal of band groups in their line.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I do.

The King's Own Royal Border Regiment Set No. 5292

The King's Own Royal Border Regiment is a beautiful set from the limited editions released throughout the 90's and 90's by Britains.  It was released in the 1990's and is a limited edition of 6000 sets produced total.  Mine is number 1570/6000.

This group was created in 1959 when two regiments were combined... the King's Own Royal Regiment and the Border Regiment.  These Regiments predate that collaboration by more than 300 years and saw action in every major conflict throughout that time period.  The varied uniforms in this set reflect that history.  This 10 piece set features the standard Britains Drum and Bugle configuration swapping out bugles for fifes and adding an additional two snare drummers in fancy dress.  By and large, the members of this ensemble are wearing the standard red tunic and white helmet of the line regiments. While two drummers and the drum major where bright yellow tunics and headgear befitting and paying homage to the Napoleonic battles circa 1812.

This set was aquired via eBay from a gent who had no idea the value of the set he was selling... I was happy to oblige and take this off his hands for pennys on the dollar of it's value.


Britains "The King's Own Royal Border Regiment 5292"
Origin: England
Year: 1986

United States Army Band of Washington DC

This is a COOL set.  I am a huge fan of this limited edition set issued by Britains in the late 1980's.  Limited to 5000 sets, I feel rather priveledged to have two of them.  One is at my parents house in my Toy Soldier den (I'll have one of my own once we buy a new house), and the other is in my office.  I have augmented the set in my office with a few pieces from an earlier all plastic set ( I know, I know... but hey, it is my set and it is in my office... so I dont have to follow any convention here).

The really interesting thing about this set is the color-scheme on the uniforms.  This band uniform came about in the early 1950s because of the discovery of a surplus of material called "Cavalry Yellow."  This material was put into the uniforms that would end up being nick-named the "Lion Tamers" uniforms.  Because of the sheer age of the material ( early 1900's ) The uniforms began to quickly dissenegrate and therefore were only in service for a short time.  This set depicts the band during a period that spans about two years from 1952 -1954.  Now I wish Britains would go ahead and issue sets in the current uniforms as I think they are equally striking.  Oh well- a collector can always wish...

Britains "The United States Army Band of Washington DC"
Origin: England
Year: 1986

On Display at my Parent's House

In my office- with addl members...

Black Watch Piper by King and Country

The next piece I am wanting to talk about is a beautiful example of late craftsmanship in the toy soldier world.  King and Country, is a relatively new company based out of Hong Kong (if my company ever sends me to the home office... I am FOR SURE making a pitstop at K&C). 

This piece means quite a bit to me as it was one that I found on a more recent trip to San Antonio.  On this trip, I once again stayed at the historical Menger hotel which happens to be home to King's X Toy Soldiers.  As I perused the product at King's X, this one really jumped out to me.  Now dont get me wrong, there were bands and complete sets that I would have loved to have... but at this particular time money was quite tight as I had just started my job...  This was all I could afford.  Looking back- I feel quite blessed to have picked up this gorgeous piece as it is so bloody detailed and stands to be one of my favorite single soldiers in the collection.

King and Country Black Watch Highlander Puoer NA35
origin: Hong Kong
Year 2004