Matchbox is actually the name of a brand, rather than the name of a company. The brand was introduced by a British company called Lesney Products in 1953. The origin of the brand name is due to the fact that one of the co-owners designed a series of toy cars that would fit into a small matchbox. He did this for her daughter as her school only allowed children to bring toys that could fit into a match box. The brand has been used primarily for die cast vehicles, but in the late 70s, Matchbox also produced a set of WWII soldiers which competed directly against Airfix. Matchbox offered more poses per set, but fewer figures per box. And even though toy soldiers were not their main focus they did a pretty decent job. I am grateful that they deviated from their standard products as these were some of my favorite figures growing up. In 1982, Lesney Products went bankrupt and the brand has since changed hands several times. It is not clear to me who owns the molds these days. I have seen recasts of the original figures so they must still be around.
Matchbox German Infantry
Another classic. The set contains 9 poses. These guys were the core of my German army growing up. The posing and sculpting detail is pretty good. Maybe slightly thicker than Airfix's. Unlike Airfix, here we get two separate prone guys instead of having one of them act as a loader. I also like that they cover all the bases in terms of useful combat poses and we even get a flamethrower. Note also that on the right side of the picture there is a panzerschreck guy. It came in a bucket of clones from Hing Fat, but it must be an upscaled 1/72 Matchbox figure as the sculpting and all his equipment is just like the other guys'.
Matchbox US Infantry - Part I
Another classic. These are the GIs that I played with growing up. Their bodies are a bit thicker than Airfix and Marx but they still go very well with them. In terms of uniforms, they match Airfix well, with the longer combat jacket, but you get 4 more poses than Airfix for a total of 11. The bazooka guy is a 12th pose, but he seems to be a clone. I've never seen the original figure but it is definitely in the style of these Matchbox guys. What's funny about this set is that you get several poses who could actually be the commanders. For instance, the guy in this picture with the binoculars.
Matchbox US Infantry - Part II
And then you also have a guy talking on the radio who also has a set of binoculars, and then the guy who clearly is in charge and is also wearing the long coat. In terms of heavy weapons, you also get a nice flamethrower. And here you can also see one of my favorite grenade throwers out there with really good body mechanics. The firing rifle man and the man advancing with the bayonet at the ready round up the set nicely.
Matchbox British Infantry - Part I
This is a really nice set. A total of 11 poses and all of them useful action poses and with a good variety of weapons, including some heavier armament like the bazooka and the MG in this picture and the flamethrower in the next. Perhaps my favorite pose in this set is the prone Bren gunner. A nice touch is the officer with the sheepskin coat. These are the British infantry guys that I had growing up, so that maybe that's also why I like them.
Matchbox British Infantry - Part II
The standing Bren gunner is also pretty cool and the flamethrower is a rare heavy weapon among British infantry figures. The crawling guy apparently came in two slight variations, with and without a fixed bayonet, but I never really noticed the difference. Rounding up the set are the charging man and the firing rifleman who are also good solid poses.
Matchbox British Commandos - Part I
I think this is one of those sets in which Matchbox outdid Airfix. They also have a very good variety of poses and weaponry. The only thing missing is some heavy weapons, but then again, these are commandos. I like this set in particular as it was brought back to me by my old man from a trip that he made to England. It was my only set of British Commandos growing up and I still have some of them today.
Matchbox British Commandos - Part II
The guy with the ladder is a nice touch, but I have to admit that I don't have much use for him in most battles. They do offer a good selection of prone guys. The guy in the middle is very similar to the Airfix guy. I wonder which one came out first. The kneeling guy is going to be my overall commander once I have them all painted.
Matchbox British Commandos - Part III
Here is a nice combo. The boat and rower are Matchbox figures. The Bren gunner is an Airfix guy providing support. I guess there is some advantage to him not having a base after all. Like the ladder guy, this raft also requires a very specific scene.
Matchbox Afrika Korps - Part I
Matchbox, gave us a bit more variety in poses, but the sculpting is a notch below that of Airfix or some of its other sets. On the plus side, they included a couple guys with short pants, and they also included an important mounted heavy machine gun. My favorite guy in this set is the one on the very left. I really like that running guy, holding his weapon with one hand.
Matchbox Afrika Korps - Part II
Is that Rommel that we are looking at? He could very well be.
A few of these guys illustrate the point I was making about the sculpting. The charging guys' running seems a bit unnatural and the grenade man does not seem to lean back enough to be able to throw that thing as far as you'd want to.
Matchbox Afrika Korps
Here I borrowed from another 'service branch', so that I could have more poses to paint as regular German infantry and also to have more men with field caps. This set may not be as solid as Matchbox's regular German infantry set, but it is still fairly good. Here I am showing only 9 poses. The full set contains 12, but 3 of them are wearing short trousers, more adequate for the desert, so I left them out of this picture. One thing that I don't like very much about these guys are the two running poses on the two ends of the picture. One of them appears to have his hips turned sideways while the other one is running holding his legs really close to each other. The third running guy holding his sub MG on one hand is actually pretty good. The MG team also has a couple of sticking points. One side of the MG's tripod has been turned into a flat plane instead of two legs. I understand the manufacturing challenges at the time, but I still don't like how it makes the painted figure look. Lastly, the ammo loader seems to have his cap pulled a bit too low over his face. But don't let my criticism steer you away from this set. I still think it is a nice set worth collecting.
Matchbox British 8th Army - Part I
Matchbox gave us 13 poses in this set. Almost twice as generous as most of the other manufacturers. Their figures are mostly in good action poses. Casualty figures are not my favorite ones, but the guy in this set actually looks pretty authentic.
Matchbox British 8th Army - Part II
Even though the bagpipe guy is not an action pose, I have to admit that he will probably look really nice once he's painted.
Matchbox British 8th Army - Part III
It looks like this batch contains Monty. The quality of the sculpting in this set in on par with that of the German Afrika Korps. Not Matchbox's best, but as I said, they made up with the number of poses. Also, note the mix of helmets and berets -or more precisely, Scottish tam o'shanters, as contributed below by one of our readers-. That will mix things up nicely once they are painted.
Click here to see some British Infantry in action
Click here to see some US Infantry in action
Click here to see a post about Airfix Toy Soldiers
Just a note on the British chaps; those aren't berets, but Scottish tam o'shanters, only worn by a Highland regiment. If you trim the bobble off the top they would pass as General Service Caps, a sort of less-rigid beret often worn in WW2.
ReplyDeleteGreat figures and great blog. Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot for sharing that bit of insight. It's that type of input which enriches this forum! And that's also for the good words re the blog.
ReplyDeleteAlso these moulds are now owned by Revell and the GIs, British and Germans are being re-issued. I can buy them in the UK right now, not sure about the US.
ReplyDeleteI had noticed some new production Matchbox figures pop up on eBay and such. I have not bought any yet and had no idea that Revell was behind them.
ReplyDelete