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Friday 21 January 2011

Peter Laing Figures

I recently had a request for some close-up photographs of the Peter Laing 15mm figures that I recently featured on a blog entry.

Peter Laing was the first manufacturer to produce a range of 15mm-scale figures, and I had loads of them. They were very simple figures, and most of the detail had to be painted on. This had both advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage was that the lack of detail modelled onto the figures made the bulk of them quite 'generic', which in turn mean that 'paint conversions' were very easy. The downside of this was that the figures never appealed to wargamers who wanted super-detailed wargames figures, and over time Peter Laing's figures were overtaken and supplanted by figures produced by other manufacturers. Wargamers were usually lovers or haters of Peter Laing's figures.

The following images are of some of my collection of Peter Laing's Austro-Prussian figures. The first three are Prussian Artillery, ...

... Line Infantry, ...

... Jägers, and a General.

The second set of images are Austrian Artillery, ...

... Line Infantry, ...

... Jägers, and a General.

I bought these figures via eBay. They were already painted, and were part of a much larger collection that was sold off in batches. I regret not being able to buy more of them at the time, and hope that one day another batch or two will become available.

10 comments:

  1. Some of the figures were better than others but the best were little gems, capturing the essence if not the detail.

    -Ross

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  2. Ross Mac,

    I totally agree. I only wish that they were still available.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. Thank you for the close-ups. Now if I could only get some for myself!

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  4. Definately of the impressionist school - but that is no bad thing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jhnptrqn,

    I did my best with the photos ... but a digital SLR would have given me much better resolution ... but I don't own one as yet!

    As to getting hold of Peter Laing figures ... well, I know quite a few people who would love to buy more IF they were available.

    We can but hope.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  6. Conrad Kinch,

    Peter Laing's figures were always very impressionistic to look at, but when seen en masse they could look very good indeed. They were also very cheap ... which was another reason to buy them!

    Interestingly, they were reasonably in proportion anatomically speaking, and when one compares them with some newer figures, actually 15mm tall and not 18mm, as many now are.

    They would probably not sell well in today's 'super detail' figure market, but there are still quite a few of us who would buy them if they were available.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. I remember Peter Laing figures being statlingly cheap compared with other 15s. Ok - you had to paint on a lot of the detail but he did do a very extensive range. My old friend JR had some Peter Laing elephants - never the best castings, they were popularly referred to as 'angry mice'.

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  8. Tim Gow,

    The figures were very cheap, and delivery of orders was very fast from what I can remember.

    Peter Laing's animals were never what you could call 'pretty' ... but they served a purpose, and had a unique - if not quite loveable - style of their own.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  9. I have a collection of over 500 painted (to a very high Standard) AWI Peter Laing figures here in Munich. We Play on grids to our own rules. I might have a number of unpainted Laing figures knocking around ... Best Alister Sharman

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown (Alister Sharman),

      Peter Laing figures were ideal for wargaming ... and I wish that I had bought more when they were still available.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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