Usually, in this type of posts I like to give a bit of background and history about the manufacturer, but in this case, the manufacturer of these figures is a bit of a mystery to me. Back in the 70's Marx produced these figures in 6" scale. They were big and solid. A few years back though I ran into them in 54mm scale -albeit on the smaller side of 54mm. They were being resold by Minute Men Toy Soldiers as 'SWTS' sets. SWTS -Steve Weston Toy Soldiers is a dealer that also manufactures some figures. However its figures are originals, so I don't really know if SWTS was simply reselling them or if they were the ones that issued them in this smaller scale. BTW, since that time, I have also seen them advertised as DSG figures. DSG is the firm from Argentina that has recently reissued some of the Britains Deetail sets. So as you can see it is a real puzzle who makes them. If you happen to know, please leave a comment!
UPDATE: I recently had the good fortune of getting referred to Steve Weston who clarified that he bought them from DSG, and simply re-packaged them wih a SWTS label and sold them.
Reproductions of Marx 6" figures - Japanse Infantry
As you can see that they have a very close resemblance to the Glencoe/Marx figures, which makes sense given their common origin. They are nice, action poses which fit well with other Japanese troops.
Reproductions of Marx 6" figures - German Infantry
Several of these guys have a strong resemblance with the CTS German Infantry. One thing that I don't like is that the guy who is running carrying the ammo box used to have one foot off the ground in the 6" version, but in this scale they forced it to have the back foot on the base, and to lower the rest of the figure they shaved the bottom of the front foot.
Reproductions of Marx 6" figures - German Infantry - Painted
In this picture you might be able to see what I was talking about the front foot of the guy on the left. I did not paint the rest of the set because I had already painted the equivalent poses from CTS and they are almost identical.
Reproductions of Marx 6" Figures - Soviet Infantry - Part I
Another decent set, but again, they are on the smaller side of 54mm. I like them however as much or more as the other 54mm Marx guys.
Reproductions of Marx 6" Figures - Soviet Infantry - Part II
Here is the last one of the Soviet guys. I did not paint this one as it is, except for the base, almost exactly like one of the 54mm Marx guys.
Reproductions of Marx 6" Figures - US Infantry - Part I
These guys are OK, but there were a couple things I did not quite like. The first one is the size. They are definitely small and skinny. Another one is the weapon of the man on the right. It is short and stubby. One thing that I did like is a nice detail on the middle man. Notice how the straps of his helmet flap in the air as he runs forward!
Reproductions of Marx 6" Figure - US Infantry - Part II
This guy is the sixth in the set. I actually find him acceptable when I look at him. Not quite sure why I left him out when I painted the other guys.
Click here to see a post about Marx figures
Click here to see some Marx figures in action
Click here to see some more Marx figures in action
Click here to see a post about SWTS figures
Marx made both the 6" and 54mm. Glencoe and others LEASED the mold for the 54mm figs. The 6" molds again are MARX but others seem to have run the mold and offered them to Dealers.
ReplyDeleteExactly. It's that part of the story - how the 6" molds got turned into 54mm figures that is a bit obscure...
ReplyDeleteIn what quantities are these figures available, and at what prices? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThey were relatively affordable as I recall, but I have not seen them offered in a while so I don't know their current price. Even the DSG site does not have them listed, but if you email them they might still have them in stock. They came in sets of about a dozen.
ReplyDeleteThe sets are 54 mm approx sets base-copied but not clone in all 6" poses marx set .Americans,germans ,russian and Japanese and were original made in ITALY by RP and sold with other molds to south america in 90s were eventually were recast back again .The mold still there .
ReplyDeleteSW did purchase the bags bough by Argentina dealer who in turn had bough the left over stock from one store in Paraguay .
I have original bags cards as well resold several sets in 2014/2016 .CTS got a large batch in 2017 and sold many as well.
Best
Great to know that! Thanks a lot for adding more detail to this elusive story!
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