Back in the day, when men were men and a bit of lead poisoning wasn’t something parents worried about, I stumbled across Prince August moulds and the mysterious art of metallurgy.
My father had taken me to London, and the trip ended with a visit to Hamleys—presumably a reward for putting up with a day in his company. He dragged me through the store, past all the exciting toys, to an electronic crane. I’m not sure why he thought I’d want a crane. He made a beeline for it, so I can only assume the entire day had been planned around this “big reveal,” confident I’d be blown away by the marvel of a machine capable of lifting a small weight. But, not for the first time, I disappointed him.
On the way up, however, I had caught a glimpse of something far more interesting—tiny miniatures of orcs and elves. That’s all I wanted.
When we went to find them, we discovered you couldn’t simply buy the miniatures. You had to make them. And not by snapping bits of plastic together with glue. No, this was serious business—smelting metal and pouring molten death into rubber moulds held together with budget clamps. What could possibly go wrong?
The next day, melting lead in a small pan over the gas hob. Just watching it liquify was magical. I carefully poured it into talc-dusted moulds and waited. The results weren’t always perfect, but it didn’t matter—you could just remelt the metal and try again.
Over time, my collection of moulds grew. Ordered by mail order. From elves and orcs to even more orcs, goblins, and dwarves. As the years went by, my armies expanded, were painted, re-moulded, and eventually faded into the same Games Workshop armies kids use today. Despite the burns, the damage to my mum’s cooker, and the splitting headaches, I still hold a warm place in my heart for those little guys.
Amazingly, Prince August is still going and still sells the same old moulds, along with a lot more. Its a small company based in Ireland, seemingly unaffected by the rises in lead prices over the years. I kind of wish I had visited their website when my kids were younger. I think they would have enjoyed the experience too. Here is a link to the shop https://shop.princeaugust.ie/ but it appears you can get them on Amazon too.
As a final note, my father later bought my son a crane—at age eight. He never used it. But it still sits on a shelf in his room, covered in dust and detritus. Much like the Games Workshop dwarf starter set, I brought him