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Arts: Casting Tin Soldiers

I was reading an article about the history of the Forbes magazine. I discovered that the ex-president of the magazine, Malcolm Forbes, had the most extensive collection of toy soldiers. He started his collection in the late 60s and amassed a collection of over 90,000 figures by the time of his death in 1990.

A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. It have appeared in many cultures and eras. Tin soldiers were produced in Germany as early as the 1730s, by molding the metal between two pieces of slate. Those miniature figures of soldiers are extremely popular in the world of collecting.

I have selected some pictures below, to show you how you can cast your own Tin Soldier. It’s definitely something I will like to have in my home wall! Maybe not the Nazi soldiers board, but something similar.

“The two mold halves are clamped together, and the metal (an alloy of tin and lead, heated to approx. 300°C / 570°F) is poured into the mold. When the metal has solidified, the mold is cracked open. Sprues (pouring channels) and extraneous flash (metal that has penetrated cracks and air channels in the mold) are seen in the third image, and have been removed from the castings in the last image. “

Source: WikiPedia [1]