Assorted St. Trinian's Staff 02

Following on from my last post where I introduced the first of the staff members of St. Trinian's Girls School here are another four staff members - the school secretary and three teachers, although one of them is not what she appears to be. Curious? Then read on.

 First up is Beverly Whittaker, the school secretary, a ditzy blonde, played by Jodie Whittaker in St. Trinian's and St. Trinian's 2. Beverly is not the sharpest tool in the box. She spends most of her time listening to pop music on her iPod. She seems to have a large stash of dodgy drugs - uppers and downers, or red pills and blue pills, which she'll happily dole out to anyone she thinks deserves one, like for example, Stephen Fry in St. Trinian's. Beverly is a 28mm scale civilian figure from Turnkey Miniatures, where she is known as Teen Girl on Cell Phone (price $1.89). If you were wondering what she's holding in her left hand it is of course, a cell phone.
Next in line is Miss Dickinson, the English teacher as played by Lena Headey. It is Miss Dickinson who persuades the school to enter the TV quiz show School Challenge competition, thus gaining them entry to the National Gallery, providing they reach the final which, of course, they do. She is yet another woman talking on her mobile phone. She carries her briefcase in her other hand. This figure came from Black Cat Bases civilian and townsfolk range and is Female Civilian (price £2.00). I added Milliput to her hair to make it longer.

The third figure in line is not a real teacher but is actually an undercover police woman on assignment to gather evidence of wrongdoing at St. Trinian's. She is, of course, WPC Ruby Gates, as played by Joyce Grenfell to great effect in the first three St. Trinian's films. This is a more up to date version of Ruby and is my vision of her as a 21st century character as opposed to a 1950's woman. Perhaps this is the original Ruby's grand-daughter. This figure is another Turnkey Miniatures civilian and is their Business Woman on Cell Phone (price $1.89). I liked the figure but I had no idea what to do with her until I remembered a comment by Clint, who said I must include a figure of WPC Ruby Gates in my collection. Okay, so she doesn't look too much like Joyce Grenfell (see photo below) but instead she is a re-imagining of a popular old school character. Once again, the figure is posed talking on her mobile phone. She also carries a small handbag. My thanks go to Clint for his most excellent suggestion. Do you have any ideas for which subject Ruby should teach? I'm thinking computer studies.
Finally, we come to the sultry Miss Maupassant, the foreign languages teacher as played by Caterina Murino in St. Trinian's. Finding a suitable figure for her proved surprisingly easy. I remembered that Black Cat Bases made a figure of Miss Scarlet (price £3.00), one of the suspects from the popular board-game Cluedo, or if you live in America, Clue. She was just perfect. The figure comes with a choice of six right hands, all holding one of the six weapons featured in the board-game - dagger, iron pipe, revolver, rope, spanner and torch. I decided a dagger would best suit her and so she hides it behind her back. In her other hand she holds a cigarette in a cigarette holder, which just adds to her elegant poise.
I leave with photos of the four characters as they appeared on screen. There is more to come for this project, but not for a while yet. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten the St. Trinian's scenario I promised you all. It will appear soon.

Beverly Whittaker, the school secretary and archetypal blonde airhead. "Would you like an upper or a downer, love?" She speaks with a broad Yorkshire accent.

Miss Dickinson the English teacher arrives at St. Trinian's on her first day, full of enthusiasm and bright ideas. She's in for a rude awakening once she steps inside!

WPC Ruby Gates, or Gatesy as she is often referred to, in civilian clothing. A rare early photo of her in colour. I do have a suitable figure of her in her police uniform but you'll see her in a future post. (Sorry, Clint, you're just going to have to wait a bit longer.)

Miss Maupassant the sexy foreign languages teacher teaching French to her attentive class. If my French teacher looked like her I'm sure I'd have taken more attention in class. Yes, I flunked my French "O" level.

Assorted St. Trinian's Staff 01

Up until now I have been building up a large collection of St. Trinian's schoolgirls, which currently stands at 23 with more on the way. But as we all know, a school cannot run without any staff. So last month I rectified that problem as I actively sought out suitable figures to use as staff members. Once again, I am mainly concentrating on the two most recent St. Trinian's films, with one notable exception - the character of Flash Harry. In St. Trinian's Flash Harry was played by Russell Brand, a person whose face I could never tire of hitting with a baseball bat! He was easily the worst character in the film. No, for me, there can only ever be one Flash Harry and that is George Cole's version from the first four films. On this occasion, old school is better than new school.

At the far left of my two photos is undoubtedly the most important staff member, Camilla Fritton the headmistress. In the first and second St. Trinian's films (The Belles of St. Trinian's and Blue Murder at St. Trinian's), headmistress, Millicent Fritton (a relative of Camilla) was played by Alistair Sim, a male actor. For the two more recent films, the producers kept this concept alive and chose Rupert Everett to play Camilla, and yes, she does look remarkably like her namesake, Camilla, wife of Prince Charles. After much Internet searching I found the perfect figure to represent Camilla Fritton. She is Black Cat Bases old fashioned sleuth, Agatha Rutherford. What I particularly liked about this figure is that she came with a choice of four items in her right hand. The one that best suited Camilla was the umbrella. The other three items were a knife, a pistol and a torch. What I love about this character is that she is totally loyal to her girls and supports them 100%. For example, in St. Trinian's, when the girls are discussing how best to blow up the sewer gates beneath the National Gallery, it is Camilla who suggests the best type of explosives to use. Every headmistress should be like Camilla!
I mentioned Flash Harry above in my introduction and this is my version of Harry Edwards, a spiv and one of the few adults trusted by the schoolgirls. This figure is one of the Turnkey Miniature's civilians - Teenage Thief. I had to lose his long hair and I added the trilby hat to him, which totally transformed him into the lovable rogue, Flash Harry. I wish he'd been a bit taller but even so, I think he's a good find. You're probably asking what's he got in his inside coat pocket? It could be a set of tools or it could be a silver cutlery set. Who knows?

At the far right of this group is Miss Cleaver the sports teacher, as played by Fenella Woolgar in St. Trinian's. Miss Cleaver is a gung-ho teacher with a very aggressive manner. She is based on one of the Wargames Factory plastic female survivors and this was the first time I had made one of these remarkably versatile figures. The head was the female head wearing a stetson but I cut off the sides and back of the hat and filled in the top with Milliput to make a baseball cap. I also lengthened and bulked out her hair with Milliput. The arms came from the plastic male survivors set as I wanted her armed with a baseball bat and an Uzi Sub-Machine Gun. Yes, she does use an Uzi. In the St. Trinian's film she is seen in one scene teaching a fourth form class anger management skills as she blasts away at full auto from her Uzi at a row of plastic ducks. Miss Cleaver would probably be more at home teaching army recruits. Somehow I don't think that a zombie apocalypse will faze her.
Agatha Rutherford can be found in the Cthulhu Investigators section of BCB's webstore and she costs £3.00. Be aware that BCB are being incredibly slow in dispatching orders. I placed an order with them over a month ago and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. TKM's Teenage Thief costs just $1.89, and even though TKM are an American-based company they were very quick to send out my order.
As part of my new improved service, I leave with photos of the three characters featured in this review. Next time I'll review more staff members.

 Headmistress Camilla Fritton, played to perfection by Rupert Everett.

The original and still the best, Flash Harry. The unforgettable and much missed George Cole.

Miss Cleaver, with baseball bat, shouts instructions to her hockey team from the sidelines.

Assorted St. Trinian's Schoolgirls 02

My work on my St. Trinian's project continues at a brisk pace and I have another four 28mm schoolgirls to show. The first two are named characters from the two most recent St. Trinian's films and the second pair are characters I have invented.

Regarding the figure at the far left, if you are thinking "hang on, I've seen her before," you'd be absolutely right. She is new girl, Annabelle Fritton from St. Trinian's and the head girl in St. Trinian's 2. Annabelle was played by the gorgeous Tallulah Riley. This particular figure was a sculpt from Copplestone Castings Future Wars set FW46 Corporate Babes 2 and I reviewed her not so long ago. She was originally armed with a katana and she wore white socks. The idea of Annabelle with a katana just didn't sit right with me. It looked uber-cool but it was not in keeping with her character. In St. Trinian's, it was revealed that Annabelle was an excellent hockey player. So, I cut off her katana, drilled a hole in her right hand and inserted one of my Hasslefree hockey sticks. I also wasn't happy with her white socks. They had to go. I filed them down, which wasn't very easy and I painted on a lovely pair of stockings held up by a suspender belt. Now she looked perfect. This is a much more accurate representation of Annabelle and I'm delighted at how well she's turned out. If you check out the two photos of Annabelle below you can see I've missed out her waistcoat but that's no big deal in my opinion.
Next to Annabelle is Roxy as played by singer Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud. The group appeared at  the close of St. Trinian's but in St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, Sarah got an acting part as a young rock star who enrolls at St. T's. I'd have liked to have seen more of her character in the film as I felt she was underused. I'm afraid my mind has gone blank when it comes to identifying who made this figure. I bought her ages ago as a Goth Girl. When I was searching through my collection of Goth Girls for suitable Emos to use with my St. T's girls I was struck by just how similar this figure resembled Roxy, With a few additions like her tie and waistcoat and a new paintjob she is a very close match to Roxy. Check out my photo of Roxy below and see for yourself.

I needed someone to represent the Emo tribe of girls. By the way, don't mistake them for Goths. They may look alike but they are Emos. I'm still looking for an Andrea from St. Trinian's and a Zoe from St. Trinian's 2. This figure is Emily De'ath, available from Turnkey Miniatures. She was originally from the Mega Miniatures range of civilians but when they folded, TKM acquired a lot of their moulds. I'm glad these figures are still being produced. Emily is dressed all in black with leather jacket, T-shirt, combat pants and boots. Her hair is in a Mohican cut, coloured red and black.
Finally is a first former called Rosie Langston and she is produced by Black Cat Bases, where you'll find her amongst their civilian and townsfolk figures. She is using her school tie as a belt and is nicely posed running with arms in the air. In her right hand she holds a silver ball. It could be a stink bomb, or a metal ball or heaven forbid, an actual hand grenade!
Emily is called Girl Punk on the TKM webstore and she costs $1.89. Rosie is known as Floating Girl on the BCB webstore and she costs £1.50. 
I leave with four more of my St. Trinian's photos so that you may compare my figure conversions with the actual actresses in their roles.

Annabelle Fritton with her hockey stick - sexy and dangerous! What a combination.

Annabelle in black stockings and suspender belt - drool! Be still my beating heart. My all time favourite St. Trinian's girl. She is stunningly beautiful.

Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud as Roxy. Since when did schoolgirls wear black leather hot pants? Not that I'm complaining! You don't see many women wearing hot pants these days.

Hubba, hubba, hubba, a spanking I will go! Note the packet of cigarettes in her back pocket if you can tear your eyes away from that peachy arse. Oh, and that's Annabelle she's standing next to.