Speedwell Natives And Copies

 The Speedwell native set was one I played with in the 1960s and kept the figures except some I swapped, including a complete two figure stand of native and captive. There was also a snake which I don't recall from my childhood.

For some reason there were brown Hong Kong copies of the white hunter but not of any others from the set. Unlike the originals these are not too scarce and I have painted and converted a few of them.

A couple of years back I got a local 3D shop owner to make some copies of the native with load on his head and the spear thrower. For some reason he could not make the exact size and they came out either bigger or smaller and also lost some detail in the process. However, he did make them in black vinyl plastic just as the original natives and white prisoner were in black plastic.

As mentioned in my earlier post the biggest 3D printer copies I made into monsters. The smaller ones I painted as natives and the spear chucker I converted by removing his spear and repositioning his right arm so he can push prisoners. I should have made him a new spear and also changed the position of the left arm as I think he held a spear with that hand. So now I have two captors for my two prisoners that were repainted in the original simple paint scheme; as they were already pretty much damaged and had lost virtually all paint I didn't hesitate too long in doing that. I do hope to one day find the original two figure piece.

Original 60mm figures

         The witchdoctor sports an old war wound from a rampant lawnmower when his grass jungle received a trim.

                                   Original white hunter in white plastic. My friend Peter had this set and tended to paint red crosses on them to represent medics! He also was responsible for cutting bases to make two figures from the prisoner and captor.

                                                    3D copy at left which is smaller

                                                                 3D captor with prisoner

                    Missionary stew (The cauldron is a more modern production and not part of the set)

                                      Brown plastic copy of the hunter painted in background

The 3D copies were painted in a simple paint scheme to go with the originals but with extras like painted lips and eyes. I also painted them very dark brown rather than pitch black. I am experimenting with Modge Podge at present and coated them with this to protect paint. I'll apply a more mat acrylic when I allow it to 'cure' for a few days. I like the gloss look but want them to match the original plastics which have more of a dull sheen.