Collecting of Toy Soldiers Turns Costa Mesa Hobbyist Into Historian

Back in the 1960s, Kenneth Lindsley, 53, of Costa Mesa was having problems finding places for his soldiers to camp, so he gave 6,000 of them away. Another 6,000 had to be content staying in his closets.

“I’ve been collecting military figures for most of my life,� said Lindsley, a Korean War veteran, who started with dime store lead cowboy and Indian models “just like any other kid in those days.�

But the childhood collection turned into an adult hobby that created interest by the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, which accepted his offer of the 6,000 soldiers. The museum placed them in settings depicting war action.

“The hobby turned me into a historian, and suddenly I was not only buying, making and painting any military figure I could,� he said, “but I began reading any book I could get . . . that talked about military actions and the men that fought in them.�

Now Lindsley is having shelves built throughout his apartment to display the thousands of metal soldiers he buys from shops and builders throughout the world as well as on occasional trips to swap meets and garage sales to find soldiers not counted in his own collection.

Each toy soldier he buys--the cost is $10 and up depending on age and availability--is photographed and catalogued.

His major attraction is a four-foot-square, 30-inch-high model of a 13th-Century castle with a working drawbridge and catapult and protected by his yesteryear defenders.

As a Huntington Beach postman, Tony Guy, 28, walks seven miles daily but says that really won’t help much when he competes against 1,250 others in the Oct. 26 Bud Light Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii. As a matter of fact, “I don’t think anything will help,� he admitted. “I don’t stand a chance of winning. I just want to finish under 10 hours and 25 minutes so I can qualify for the following year. (Last year’s winner finished in 8 hours and 54 minutes). The event consists of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bicycle race and a 26.2-mile marathon. “It’s hard to explain why I do it,� said Guy, who attended Newport Harbor High School and Orange Coast College and competes in marathon races, the latest in San Francisco. “Sometimes it’s all a person can do just to get out and train after working eight hours.� But Guy has confidence. “I know I can finish,� he said.

Marine Master Sgt. Daniel Smith III, 42, a Santa Ana resident and former drill instructor stationed at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, issued these philosophical statements after winning the Marine Corps Aviation Assn.’s prestigious James E. Nicholson award for enlisted leadership: “It’s easy to be less than average. It’s hard to be outstanding.� “Be professional in whatever you say and do.� “When you’re not proud, every day is Monday.�

Acknowledgments--Los Alamitos High School senior Adam J. Lief, 16, after scoring a third-place tie in U.S. High School Chess Tournament of Champions, won U.S. Junior Open Chess Tournament . . . Newspaper carriers Brian McLaran of La Habra and Leo Cortes and Mike Desroches, both of Anaheim, won trophies in newspaper folding and tossing competition sponsored by the California Newspaper Youth Foundation at Magic Mountain and attended by 850 carriers.