Stewy And Royal Marines Of Many Fathers

 I have told in other posts how the Lone Star Royal Marines fascinated me when I was a boy. I didn't have my own but Stewy, a primary school mate did. Stuart was a little crazy, smashing bottles on roads and squashing blow flies on classroom windows and laughing about the emerging little maggots, but the best thing was when I visited him, I got to play cowboys versus 'cops'. We didn't know about marines and marine uniforms. To us, Stuart's toy soldiers looked like British cops. Anyway, we took it in turns to flick elastic band guns at the other side until none were left of either Timpo cowboys or Lone Star marines.

  In later life I finally did get a few. One funny thing about them is they are in ceremonial uniforms but in combat poses. Some of the figures themselves are a bit awkward and the semi-automatic rifles a bit strange. The heads are also quite large.

  The figures I had I restored somewhat with basic paint work to make the figures look more like the original condition. Consequently, I did not paint the extra details I usually do.

  Over the last few years, I went down another path; I got some cheapo Chinese made plastic modern infantry, cut off heads and gave them metal Royal marine heads. Trouser legs were extended and some putty additions made. The equipment was made to look late 19th to early 20th century and the ammo magazines cut off the rifles. 

  Now, to get to my earlier post's mystery figure, it is a resin copy I made of the marching Lone Star figure. Putty equipment and paper tape straps were added. The marching arm did not come out, so I added an arm from a hand-grenade throwing clone of a WW2 Airfix German. I also tried to fix the deformed helmet with some putty along the brim. The casting came out a little bigger than the original. I painted the figure with a bit more detail than the restored figures. I almost forgot to mention that I cut off the head and repositioned it, but I put the head facing the wrong way, so I had to trim the badge off and paint it on. The face is actually painted on the back of the head but there was a bump which made a semblance of a nose.

   When I sat in class with Stewy, shooting, with elastic bands on the ends of rulers, blow flies on the window and playing ink blotter fights between our drawn armies of jets, planes, tanks and aliens, I didn't get a lot of schoolwork done but if not for Stewy this article might not have eventuated. Stewy, on the other hand, who I lost contact with after primary school, died young, I think, possibly killed in a car accident.