SoldAdictos
A Passion for Lead Soldiers
SoldAdictos was born from the desire to connect with people who share the same passion: collecting lead soldiers. What began as a group of friends with a shared interest in historical miniatures became a community of collectors from different parts of Spain and Italy, united by passion, friendship and an inexhaustible world of figures, dioramas and military pieces.
A SoldAdicto is, above all, a human specimen addicted to collecting miniature figures. They collect figures made of metal, plastic and paper, along with dioramas, models, books and anything else connected to the military world. The SoldAdicto knows no end: it is an addiction with no vaccine, only moderated — with limited success — by the constraints of display-case space and the monthly budget.
Some members display their collections in their own spaces or in museums — like Alejandro, at the Museo L’Iber in Valencia — while others keep them carefully stored away, waiting for that moment of escape: «Our Soldiers!» Being able to devote some leisure time to this passion is, in the group’s own words, «the anaesthetic for the demanding, stressful, obligatory and necessary daily grind we all go through».
The SoldAdictos aim to instil a Passion for Lead Soldiers and to raise the profile of this niche form of collecting, especially among young people.
Carlos Hernández-Canut
Madrid
Alejandro Noguera
Valencia
Armengol Muxí
Barcelona
Luis Martínez
Madrid
José Antonio Cainzos
Madrid
Pacífico Prado
Bilbao
Enrique Fernández-Xesta
La Coruña
Maurizio Corona
Cagliari
Francisco Burgos
Zaragoza
Juanjo Martínez
Barcelona
Javier Prieto
Gijón
Daniel Español
Barcelona
Daniel Español Andújar is a great collector of toy soldiers. His interest was initially directed towards plastic and rubber figures — Jecsan, Pech, Comansi — although over time he has expanded his collection to include old Spanish lead soldiers, with brands such as Casanellas or Pérez Arias. Passionate about large formations and figure painting, he is also the editor of the group’s second publication.
Juan Manzano-Monís
Madrid
Juan Manzano-Monís is a passionate collector of Labayen toy soldiers, although his interests have gradually extended to many other brands. A great history enthusiast, a Hondarribia man at heart, a lover of good food and books, Juan is a wonderful friend and a lifelong SoldAdicto.
Manuel Baile Burgos
Zaragoza
Manuel Baile belongs to the Miniaturism section of the Agrupación Artística Aragonesa. A measured man with great common sense — except when it comes to toy soldiers — in 1999 he co-founded the historical re-enactment group Voluntarios de Aragón together with Paco Burgos, Luis Sorando and Paco Binaburo. A publisher through his imprint Comuniter, he is without doubt one of the greatest collectors in Spain.
Javier Novella
Zaragoza
Javier Novella treasures a magnificent collection of figures, although his passions go far beyond that: uniforms, helmets, medals and who knows what else. He has organised exhibitions of remarkable quality, such as the medals exhibition at the Jaca Citadel, where both the exquisite taste shown in the display cases and his extraordinary courtesy stood out.
Ignacio Orensanz Cebollero
Zaragoza
Ignacio Orensanz is a distinguished dentist from Zaragoza with one of the finest Labayen collections in Spain — proof that, besides scientific skill and a steady hand, he also has exquisite taste and iron perseverance.
Fernando González de la Peña Ysern
Fernando González de la Peña Ysern is a well-travelled and well-read man, affable and possessed of that particular wit typical of his native Seville. He owns an elegant and carefully chosen collection of toy soldiers, the fruit of a long and constant search, near and far. A truly worthy Andalusian gentleman of SoldAdictos.
Miguel Ángel Sanz Hermida
Toledo
Miguel Ángel Sanz Hermida is a cultured, kind and thoroughly well-mannered man, and probably the greatest expert on the classic Spanish lead soldier. His talks are always entertaining master classes. A great craftsman as well as a collector, his soldiers are heirs to the finest tradition of Spanish miniature-making.
Álvaro González
Álava
Álvaro González de Herrero Castaño is a modeller with a highly personal style: his 1/72 scale dioramas of the Spanish Army’s African campaigns combine imagination, talent and a very high standard of painting. With a drive for self-improvement, an enormous capacity for work and an uncommon generosity, he is one of the most loved and admired miniaturists in the group.
Alejandro Malo
Madrid
Juan Manuel Moreno
Zaragoza
Juan Manuel Moreno Flórez is one of those rare birds still found in the world of Spanish miniaturism. A great painter — without doubt one of the finest masters of Spanish toy-soldier painting, as attested by his many awards — and a leading figure who personally lived through the golden age of toy soldiers, he is a cultured man, a gentleman of the brush, and an enthusiast whose love for the hobby is infectious.
Juan Carlos Santiago Guinea
Vizcaya
Juan Carlos Santiago Guinea, «Karlos» to his admirers, ran Hobbies Guinea in Getxo for many years, an unmissable landmark for modelling enthusiasts throughout Spain. Its closure on his retirement left many hobbyists bereft, but SoldAdictos has had the good fortune to count him among its members.
Jesús Grandy Durán
Madrid
A Founding Member of the Grupo Madrid de Miniaturistas Militares, Jesús began his collection in 1975 with figures from the Napoleonic period. It was from December 1981 onward, following his first exhibition, that his interest in military miniature modelling became deeper and more passionate. His collection covers mainly the 19th and early 20th centuries, with special attention to the British colonial period — the Zulu War and the Sudan Campaigns — and to figures from the Crimean War. One of the group’s most veteran members, he knew legendary shops that have since disappeared, and has built up a magnificent collection of figures and «toys» that have, over time, become genuine treasures, impossible to find today.
Juan Carlos Martín Uriarte
Mungia — Vizcaya
Constantino Rodríguez Argenta
Calvià — Balearic Islands
