Hello Mike S.
Sorry for the late reply but I just saw your posting tonight for the first time.
My name is Toby Barrett and I own and operate Thoroughbred Figures at www.thoroughbredmodels.com
I used to work for Ron Hinote many years ago and knew him when I lived in the Leavenworth, KS area. Ron lived and worked out of his house in Kansas City.
A few years ago I acquired the copyrights to Ron's collection of Little Generals masters, prototype molds and production molds and have them here in Portsmouth, VA. All three areas of Ron's work listed above is in various stages of condition. Some of the masters are OK, most of the prototype molds are semi-serviceable, but many of the production molds are long burned out. It is my longterm goal to bring back as many as I can of Ron's figures. (Please note none of the items Ron did for Franklin mint, Danbury mint or some other special projects he did for other companies are in this grouping that I now have.) But it's going to be a labor of love and will probably take me a long time to have any reissued in any kind of numbers. Currently I'm sampling some of the molds and surveying what has to be done in order to resurrect most of the figures. Some, sadly, may never see the marketplace again as the master is too far gone or damaged. Some of these may be able to be brought back by recasting some from the prototype molds and making new production molds in vulcanized rubber.
Ron died a few years ago and the collection was in the hands of two other individuals before me. Most of the time the collection of items was in storage in several locations.....one being in the wilds of the Ozarks in an unconditioned/unheated trailer. Many of the figures were reissued by an individual in Missourri who really didn't know what he was doing --- to put it as politely as I can. He used a very cheap casting metal and was unable to resurrect the masters properly in order to put quality kits out there again as is my plan.
Contact me thru my web site if you have any knawing questions and I'll try to be as helpful as I can. In the least you can make yourself a note to check my web site starting this fall to see if I've been able to release some of Ron's figures in kit format. All I can promise is that anything I'm able to resurrect and 'put out there' again will be as best quality as my molding and casting skills can achieve.
Best Regards, Toby Barrett