Model citizen

A legendary marching band director has been inspired by a passion for model soldiers

Making groups of people march around on a field, in a disciplined, organized manner, is something Michael Payton is good at. Actually, very good at. As Kahuku High School's legendary marching band director, Payton's Red Raiders have impressed audiences from Disneyland to the Rose Bowl to Japan. Although the former Windward District Teacher of the Year officially retired in 1995, he's kept his hand in as a marching band instructor, for example this summer at Kamehameha Schools.

BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM

It all began, it seems, when Payton, as a young lad, began directing armies of toy soldiers around on the living-room floor.

"I grew up in San Bernadino (Calif.), and when my dad would drive down into Hollywood, there was this toy store that had model figures called SAEs," he said. "They didn't last very long because we'd play so hard with them the legs would break off. And I loved the dioramas in museums, where you'd see history in three dimensions instead of reading about it.

"And then we moved to Hilo -- my dad was a crop duster -- and I set aside the soldiers. I got my degree in music at the University of Hawaii and had a dream of being a professional musician and was starving, and I moved to Kahuku for the band director position, and I just settled here. I started collecting soldiers again. When I retired in 1995, I really began to concentrate on my collection."

He isn't kidding. With a little free time, a working knowledge of the history of collectible toy soldiers, goosed by the arrival of eBay, Payton's collection grew. And grew. It occupies a room in his home and a couple of display cases elsewhere -- thousands of toy soldiers arranged in intricate re-creations of famous battles.

"I like to visualize and create the scene," Payton said, laughing. "I'm not a good speller, so all my class projects growing up were shadow boxes and dioramas. When you get down to eye level, it's like you're really there. It's history come to life."

He's even created his own line of toy soldiers. Drummer Boy Miniatures re-creates Hawaii's Royal Guard, the arrival of Capt. Cook and even local high school marching bands and football teams.

The Royal Guard figures are only available at Iolani Palace -- "Bishop Museum and the Polynesian Cultural Center weren't interested; it's a different market" -- and through Payton's Web site, home.hawaii.rr.com/drummerboymin.

"Somehow, Iolani Palace found out that I made soldiers, and I made a line of figures for them and then I invested in a finer line, with figures made in China, and I paint them here."

Payton can paint individual football teams -- a lineup of Kahuku's team has pride of place in his home -- based on figures from a chess game set. But his heart is in soldiers and marching bands. One display is nothing but soldier-drummers.

He hasn't broken even yet on the Royal Guard. "You have to order 500 or more of each figure. The packaging is a problem because the figures have to be protected so much. Each box comes with a history card, too," he said.

"I know that when you have something made in China, you have to be on top of everything because while they're good at making these things, they really don't understand the product. They'll make muskets with flintlocks on both sides! You almost have to go there and keep an eye on the production line."

Who collects these little guys?

"Europe is where it's really big because that's where it all started; they have the tradition of collecting," Payton said. "There are real big toy soldier shows in Chicago and New York and on the West Coast, but nothing like Europe.

"The price of a figure is a factor, too. They're not toys anymore. The average price is $18 to $22. Some of the fancy ones, from Russia, can cost a hundred dollars. Collectible toy soldiers from the past can cost $30,000! But that's not my collection! I just collect what I like.

"I really like British history because my parents were from Canada. And there are so many British and Civil War figures available."

It's a veritable Red Sea of British redcoats in Payton's display cases. "Well, when I designed Kahuku's band uniform, that's probably why they look so British!"

Payton's "gray army," primed but unpainted model soldiers, fill boxes in his attic. "I'd pick them up cheap when places that didn't want them would get rid of them, and I'd plan all these scenes ..." -- his voice drifts off, gets a little dreamy here -- "... battles that I hadn't gotten around to. I actually have some blank shelves waiting."

Toy soldiers have an ancient history

Toy soldiers seem to have been around for as long as there have been toys. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian rulers had collections that have been unearthed by archaeologists; the Greeks and Romans had tiny bronze soldiers; kings of medieval Europe had tiny armies of wood and pottery; and monarchs of the 19th century had glittering collections sculpted of gold and silver.

Most were made in what were called "flats," in which the figure had height and width but little depth, as the figures were generally arrayed in a kind of shadow box setting with one viewing angle.

The modern "toy" soldier, cast out of a soft metal alloy containing lead and depicting formal poses that could be arranged in ranks, parades and combat formations, was sculpted in a fully rounded form, the better for kids to spread out on carpets and floors in mock battles. These made their appearance in the late 1800s and were standardized by the William Britain company of North London, which not only invented a method of casting them hollow, but provided them already painted in bright glossy enamels.

Collectors of these figures included H.G. Wells, Winston Churchill, Douglas Fairbanks, James Mason and Peter Cushing, and the Malcolm Forbes collection grew so large that it took over a castle in Morocco.

The British set the standard in toy soldiers, establishing even an accepted scale of 1/32, generally called the 54-mm scale, as the figures were 54 millimeters tall. Competitors included the German firm Hausser, whose "Elastolin" toys were made of compressed papier-mâché, and the French company Mignot, which still produces toy soldiers from molds more than 100 years old.

After World War II, collectors of toy soldiers had grown up, and, led by artist Charles Stadden, enthusiasts (primarily in England) began sculpting higher-quality, more realistic figures. The development of injection-molded plastic kits led to the development of "model" soldiers in which the collector assembled the soldier out of various pieces and painted it himself, often to a very high standard. The leaders in this field were Airfix of England and Historex of France for plastic figures; and Tradition, Greenwood and Ball, Imrie-Risley, Andrea, and Series 77 for metal kits.

By the 1970s, collectors of tiny armies had firmly diverged into three camps:

» Toy soldiers: pre-made figures that could be arranged into vignettes, usually collected for nostalgic value.

» Model soldiers: from kits made of plastic, metal or resin, mass-produced items that were nonetheless made individual by the building and painting skills of the modeler.

» Miniatures: one-of-a-kind sculptures, created and painted by master craftsmen.

Collectors and builders such as former Kahuku marching band director Michael Payton have their feet in all three arenas.