Blue Box is a firm based out of Hong Kong. Apparently they have been around for about 50 years, however not much is known about them in terms of production. Today they manufacture many different types of toys. In terms of toy soldiers it seems that earlier they made several WWII plastic sets, and today they make die cast figures in metal such as Romans, American Civil War, and of course, WWII. I ran into these guys at a local hobby shop. I bought them thinking that they were plastic, only to discover at home that they are metal. They actually have a nice, heavy feel to them so I should have known from holding the package. This series of figures is called Elite Command and they depict a general along with three infantrymen. The figures are hand painted to a decent standard, but the faces of the characters are not exactly a close match. Let's take a look.
Blue Box Elite Command British Infantry
This set represents General Bernard Montgomery and some of his infantrymen. Compared to other metal figures, like King and Country and so on, they are not as nice, but they are still OK. As far as the resemblance with Monty, you can be the judge of that.
Blue Box Elite Command German Infantry
This other set represents Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his men. The outfit that he is wearing is actually fairly well done. What I don't like so much about these figures -all sets- is that the weapons are made of plastic and glued to the figures. The result is that in some cases the weapon is resting on top of the hands, particularly the trigger hand, as opposed to being held by the figure.
Blue Box Elite Command US Infantry
The US set represents General George Patton and a few of his GIs. Again, the resemblance of the main character is a bit questionable and the holding of the weapons is a bit odd. Otherwise, the rest of the sculpting, level of detail and paint job are all fairly decent.
Blue Box Elite Command US Infantry Generals
These two figures were part of a larger set that contained all the other previous poses plus these two other figures. As far as I can tell, one of them seems to be Eisenhower, and the other, I assume might be Marshall?
Blue Box US Infantry
I stumbled upon this guy by accident. He came in a mixed lot of figures. His base is labeled as Blue Box from Hong Kong so I assume he was made by the same firm who made the metal figures above. I don't really know how many there were in the set. I also wonder if the fact that he comes from Hong Kong means that he is a clone, or whether he is an original. But if he is a clone, which he could be because the sculpting detail is not very sharp, I don't know what the original would have been. A bit of a mystery. But in any case, I do like the pose. It has a bit of dynamism to it, which I always welcome. I hope to someday come across more fellows from his squad.
Click here to see a post about German Infantry
Click here to see a post about US Infantry
Click here to see a post about British Infantry
It's a pity that the Blue Box sculpting is a bit static because, as you say, the feel of these troops is very old guard and elegant. Blue Box also makes superb larger scale ancient and medieval figures in the Schliech-Papo scale, whatever scale that might be!
ReplyDeleteBlue Box company is only and first Chinese true toy manufacture that was funded by Chinese in 1952, they produced many copies from UK and German/most Elastolin and Merten Brands soldiers/figures and toys .
ReplyDeletestill the produced over many series of ww2 and post ww2 original designed series sets not copied as well original Tarzan sets and others not copied from any body.
They are the only TOY COMPANY in the world never stop and still active till today with out interruption and owned by same person till his death in 2013 ,now owned by one of his son.
http://www.blueboxtoys.com/bluebox/aboutus/aboutus.htm
So far in order base in base numerical pose marks that distinguish original BB poses from any copies sets are as follow.
Release order of modern set from early to last with poses- numbers
Japanese set was first with poses.1,2,3,4,5,6
German set -7,8,9,10,11,12
Russian?(no data)
Partisan?(no data)
British poses 25,26,27,28,29,30
US soldiers poses numbers are 31,32,33,34,35,36
Aussies 37-42*?(Need some confirmation)
Italian/German late WAT AXIS set poses(6 poses) poses set -43-48
(1983)
In 2013 the appear in tradition of same 45/52 mm scale line above with A NEW 10 poses redesigned 21 century army modern set sold at Target stores.
In 2015 they release a pirates 10 poses set in bucket of same line scale.
Not more now.
They had done plenty armor and cannon, I have plenty plus most above sets x pictures a reference. Original BB has to be market with name brand always. Made in Singapore or HK.
After 1999 (made in china)
Best.
Erwin
I couldn't begin to correct the above without hijacking the post; very inacurate - try here
ReplyDeletehttp://smallscaleworld-b-c.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/tai-sang-toys-blue-box.html
for a more accurate history.
H
Really HUGH !!!.You are so small scale funny
ReplyDeleteNice way to claim self advertise yourself expert, do not worry I will post it better versus all that twisted self off made up comment you post in your small world..
Gents, our hobby is so vast that it's really hard for everyone to know everything. If we all pitch in with what we know, we can help to complete the picture. Let's try to do so in a constructive and civil way, and we will have a site that is valuable and useful for all of us.
ReplyDeleteAdmin..
ReplyDeletesoon in Stads I will post all more accurate data with mint cases and box sets of Blue box. So maybe that could be used as well .
I always tray the most civil way as possible, I do not use blogs to offend or make a pitch fight in to others.
Feel free request pictures of full set x your blog as well if like from me to be used here.
Best .
Erwin Sell
Hey,
ReplyDeleteBlueBox figures are higher than standard 1:32 (54mm) and metal.
Since you write that the blog is about plastic figurines (I understood that), this is a bit of a departure :)
So why do not you have in the collection of figures:
1966 Strombecker Battle of Iwo Jima 54MM Military Miniatures
There are metal (like BlueBox), but in my opinion the nicer and closer scale 1:32 (54mm)
Regards
Wojciech
A friend gave me this link, and I have found a lot of important and valuable information. Thank you very much for this good documentation on figures. Greetings.
ReplyDelete