Robert Lloyd was my brother, he sadly passed away a few years ago. He was a superb artist and a museum restorer of medieval buildings, furniture and many other items. He could turn his hand at anything artistic. I have always sculpted, collected, bought and sold model soldiers, so he decided to try his hand at making some, a few military, but most cultural, mostly reflecting the history of his adopted country: Germany. Here are examples of his work. He never sold them commercially. The first examples are his set of Mayan warriors. They show his artistry and desire to sculpt Mayans as they appear in their own art.
Rob was never interested in toy soldiers apart from the historical, cultural, sculpting and casting elements, he never collected them. He also made a couple 0f 0 guage trains, scratchbuilt from brass for a German enthusiast, incredibly detailed, just for the challenge of doing so. He had a large workshop in the cellar of his house, for engineering and woodworking, plus a smaller workroom for casting, sculpting and modelmaking. With the museum resouces as well, he could make anything he wanted, and often did.
Below are more examples of his work. The two on the left are depictions of the intinerant workers who travelled the 19th century German states and cities. The one on the right speaks for itself. Comparing the groups you can see that he uses a specific artistic style. This is typical of individual sculpters of figures from earliest times, the swagger of French figures, the imperial arrogance of Britains, the solid, carved bulk of Marcus Hintons, the delicate superiority in Greenwood and Ball early 54mm gems, I could go on. It’s something that’s in danger of being lost in modern, machine sculpted figures. Click on any image to enlarge. All the figures below were painted by Robert, I painted the Mayans. I’ll add more of his figures when I find where I’ve stored them.
Jim's Vintage Toy Soldiers 