WWII Plastic Toy Soldiers

Dedicated to exploring the world of Plastic Toy Soldiers. The focus is WWII figures & vehicles in 1:32 (54mm), although there's also a bit of Vietnam. If you grew up playing with them or simply love to collect them, this is the place for you. The posts are organized by Manufacturer & by Country/Service branch. Use the menu of labels on the right side of the blog to find what interests you. Comments are welcome. Please note that this site uses Google Analytics & AdSense cookies.

Monday, January 8, 2024

Introducing the British Long Range Desert Group

The British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) aka as Long Range Patrol (LRP) was a unit of the British Army that specialized in reconnaissance and raids deep behind enemy lines. They operated primarily in the North African theater of operations, initially against the Italians, and later on against the Germans. The unit was formed in the summer of 1940. Initially staffed by New Zealanders, it later added men from other Commonwealth countries. The unit was never larger than 350 men, and their main goal was to gather intelligence on enemy troop movements, defenses, strength, etc. as opposed to engaging in direct combat. Their main means of transportation were Chevy or Ford trucks and the Willys Jeep which was issued from summer 1942 onwards to the patrol commander and sergeant. The LRDG men were organized into patrols, which varied in size over time, but could be 15-18 men led by an officer in 5 or 6 vehicles. Each patrol had a medic, a mechanic, a navigator and a radio operator, and a corresponding vehicle was outfitted to serve that role. The LRDG would sometimes escort and guide other units such as the SAS in raiding missions behind enemy lines. One raid that stands out in the record of the LRDG, is the raid on the Italian airfield at Barce, code named Operation Caravan. This mission involved 47 men, 10 trucks, and 4 jeeps traveling 1150 miles deep into enemy territory, where they destroyed 32 Italian bombers. Unfortunately, while the raid was successfully, the team lost most of its vehicles during and after the operation. Only one truck survived the mission which was used by the doctor to evacuate 8 wounded men. 10 men became POWs and the rest ended up having to evade capture on foot until they were able to make contact with other British patrols. When the Axis forces were defeated there in 1943, the LRDG transferred to the Eastern Mediterranean, operating in Greece, Italy and the Balkans, where they performed a series of parachute drops to perform reconnaissance and sabotage missions until the end of the war in Europe when they were disbanded. In terms of toy soldiers, until recently, I had not come across any representing this service branch. Fortunately a new set was just released. Let's take a look.

WW23D British Long Range Desert Group

As you can tell these guys look rugged from spending a lot of time in the desert in long range patrols. They are dressed accordingly with short trousers, turbans and have not had a shave in a while. The range of weapons represented is good, although with strong preference for submachine guns. The sculpting is OK in the sense that there's not a lot of fine detail, and also the poses are standing a bit too straight for my taste. Nonetheless, given that this is the first set of British desert scouts that I incorporate into my army, I am quite happy with them.

WW23D British Long Range Desert Group Jeep

Aside from the foot soldiers, this vendor also offers a couple of vehicles to enable them to go on their missions deep behind enemy lines. One of them is this jeep. It is also 3D printed and comes with a driver and a copilot operating a dual machine gun. You also get a couple of guys that you can throw in the back. Note in this picture also that one of them is wearing a beret. That's because this maker also prints these figures with different head gear. I ordered them with turbans, but the owner was nice enough to throw a few extras in and this is one of the additional guys I got.

WW23D British Long Range Desert Group Truck - Part 1

This truck is a bit larger and can fit 4 or 5 guys in the back in addition to the driver and copilot, who is also operating a dual machine gun. The man standing in the back is also handling a dual MG, so these guys are well armed with a 360 degree field of fire. The vehicle appears to be a Chevy 30CWT 1 1/2 ton truck and it is reasonable well built for a 3D printed vehicle and it does not have the layering that some 3D printers create.

WW23D British Long Range Desert Group Truck - Part 2

This is the same Chevy truck from a different angle. Note that despite this being an American-made truck, the driver is sitting on the right side of the cabin, as is the case in Britain. Not that it would matter much while driving off road in the North African desert, but I suppose when they were back at base, driving among other fellow country men it was better to keep to the familiar norms.

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

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Click here to see pictures of British Infantry figures.

Click here to see pictures of British Infantry in action.

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Introducing the British Commandos

Latest edit: Added WW23D.com British Commandos

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The British Commandos were an elite formation within the British armed forces. Their rigorous training program with a high drop out rate made them highly selective. Their training emphasized the development of immediate, instinctive reactions. To achieve that they conducted drills under very real combat-like conditions repeatedly until the desired behavior became second nature. The book 'Up Close and Personal' by David Lee has a very detailed description of their training, history and some of their main operations. He indicates that about a third of the training focused on weapons (including their famous Sykes knife and even foreign weaponry), another third on fieldcraft (the art of moving stealthily), unarmed combat and ropework, and the other third was spent on boating, map reading, marches, night training, demolition and drill. Each Commando unit consisted of approximately 450 men, all of them volunteers. The Commandos took part in many operations throughout the war. Many were small raids, but they were also deployed in larger scales, as was the case during the Normandy landings. One of their most famous raids was the one on Dieppe. Even though the operation was a disaster for the Canadian infantry involved, No. 4 Commando performed exceptionally well neutralizing a coastal battery in advance of the main landing. As far as plastic troops go, there are a few options out there. Let's take a look.

Airfix British Commandos

Not the most exciting set from Airfix. Except for the man throwing the grenade, the other guys seem rather static. The guy who is kneeling is also missing a base, so he's easy to knock over. My favorite guy in this set is the prone guy. There had to be at least one of them displaying their famous knife. Note that they are also wearing a woolen cap instead of the steel helmet worn by traditional infantry units.

Atlantic British Commandos - Part 1

These guys are wearing their distinctive green beret. I find this set one of the best ones from Atlantic. The sculpting and the poses are well proportioned and dynamic. The weapons are diverse. They have even provided them with a bazooka man.

Atlantic British Commandos - Part 2

A few more good poses. The only thing I find a bit funny is the Mae est on some of these guys. I wonder if they really wore those going into action. BTW, it was recently brought to my attention that these guys were also released as Italian Naval Infantry by Atlantic. The set was called 'Battaglione San Marco'. In an interesting twist of fate, the San Marco unit fought against British Commandos at Tobruk on the night of September 13 1942. That would be an interesting scene to recreate with these figures.

Crescent British Commandos

These are 60 mm figures from the 60's I believe. I actually don't know for sure if they are Commandos or Paratroops -I've seen them labeled either way- but I plan to use them as both. Once they are painted I think they will fit in well, and having a mortar guy on the unit and another bazooka man can't hurt.

Matchbox British Commandos - Part 1

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.

Matchbox British Commandos - Part 2

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.

Airfix & Matchbox British Commandos

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 one also requires a very specific scene.

Crescent 'Movables' British Commandos

These guys are analogous to the Britains Swoppets. You can remove their weapons and body parts to combine them into different poses/figures. In my opinion, the level of detail and realism is not quite there, however due to their uniqueness, they deserve a spot in the collection. I think they came in sets of 7, so there is one missing from this picture.

Timpo Swoppets British Commandos

I am a bit confused here. I have seen British Commandos wearing green berets mostly, and very dark ones which could be black occasionally. Troops from armored units, also wore black berets, like the guys on the Bren gun carrier in the previous picture. But I am inclined to think that these figures were meant to represent commandos. In terms of the figures, they come with the typical webbing used by British Army units as well as a backpack. The poses as obviously influenced by how you combine the torsos with the legs, but I should say that some of the leg stances are not the best.

Multiple Toymakers British Commandos - Part I

These guys were an odd find. I did not even know that this manufacturer existed. The figures are a bit skinny for my taste, but in general, they are well sculpted. A good set of poses, with an acceptable degree of movement and action in them. I do have to say that when I first looked at them, I thought there might be some repeated poses, as some of them are similar, but upon closer inspection, they are all different.

Multiple Toymakers British Commandos - Part II

Here are the rest of the guys. Another funny thing are the faces. They are all the same, so it feels like it is an army of clones. The most interesting guy in this second batch is the flamethrower. The second guy from the right. Not easy to see, but the whole weapon can come off his hands and hang from the tanks attached to the back. It is a bit tricky to put it all back into place and make it stay there.

Unknown British Commando

This is a guy who came in a mixed set of figures. He is some type of swoppet hybrid, with removable head, but fixed body. He seems to be running with a mortar and its shells. In terms of size, it is closer to 60mm than it is to 54mm, but not quite 60mm, I think. Unfortunately, it does not have any markings to help identify the manufacturer, so if you know who made it, please leave a comment.

WW23D British Commandos

Here are a few more guys to complement the Airfix and Matchbox commandos. I have the same commentary about their stance (a bit too straight) as I have about all the figures from this manufacturer, so I am not going to dwell on it, but at least there are three kneeling guys and one of the men -second from left- does seem to have some nice forward momentum. The squad comes with a good mix of light infantry weapons, including a sniper rifle, adequate for their clandestine missions and of course, they are wearing the distinctive commando cap.

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

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Click here to see more British Commonwealth Troops

Click here to see pictures of British Infantry figures.

Click here to see pictures of British Infantry in action.

Introducing the Soviet Scouts

Latest edit: Added WW23D.com Soviet Scouts

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The Soviet Scouts (a.k.a. Razvedchiki) were the reconnaissance troops of the Red Army. They were considered an elite unit, capable of probing and infiltrating enemy lines. Their main objective was to gather intelligence regarding enemy positions, troop strength, movements, or capturing enemy officers to bring back for interrogation. This was of course, very valuable information ahead of a Soviet attack, or simply to avoid being surprised by a local German offensive. As such, the scouts were not an independent service branch. Instead, each rifle division within the Red Army had a reconnaissance battalion attached to it. Scouts were sometimes also used for operations behind enemy lines, much like allied commando units might have operated, destroying enemy facilities and key pieces of infrastructure. A platoon of scouts usually had two nine-men squads. Given the nature of their missions, they would all be equipped with submachine guns such as the PPSh-41 to maximize their firepower at close range, and for stealth purposes, they would also be very handy with a knife, such as the NR-40. Scouts usually wore the amoeba cammo suit when on missions, although underneath the cammo suit, they also wore the regular army uniform. Given their elite status, they usually received preferential treatment when it came to equipment, rations, supplies, and uniforms. In terms of plastic toy soldiers, there are not too many scouts out there, but we do have a few examples from a couple firms such as Engineer Bassevich and Plastic Platoon. And there's even one from Publius. Let's take a look.

Engineer Bassevich Soviet Scouts

These four Red Army scouts came in a set from Engineer Bassevich that included eight other figures representing women in the Red Army. So it wasn't a set dedicated to scouts exclusively. I like the 3 figures on the left better than the man on the right. He reminds me of the old days sculpting which would favor flat figures for ease of casting and release. I wonder why they made him this way. In terms of uniforms, the head cover initially made me think that these guys were operating in the winter. Later I learned that these hoods were also used during other seasons, both for the cammo effect and also because they offered protection against mosquitoes which could be quite annoying around swampy areas. Notice how they are also equipped with sub machine guns and knives, something necessary given the nature of their missions.

Plastic Platoon Soviet Scouts

If you are looking for a tough and daring raiding party look no more. Plastic Platoon's Soviet Scouts are full of grit and intensity. Are they engaged in a fighting retreat or are they springing up an ambush on an unsuspecting enemy? Whatever the case may be, these guys seem ready for it! These guys' outfits are relatively simple by Plastic Platoon's standards. All of them are wearing the typical Soviet cammo smock/suit, which should make them look quite interesting if you chose to paint them. In terms of weaponry, they are packing a good amount of heat. With the exception of the officer, they are all firing automatic weapons. From a German Maschinenpistole to the more ubiquitous PPSh-41 with its different ammo magazines, and then there's the guy firing off the hip what appears to be a 'conscripted' German MG34. Of this set, my favorite pose is the man throwing the hand grenade. Not only is his stance just right -which is not always the case for grenade throwers- but what about that mustache? I think that gives him bonus points. All in all a really nice set, representing a branch of service rarely depicted.

Publius Battle of Berlin Soviet Scout

This set from Publius contained figures from different branches of the Red Army. One of them appears to be a scout, or at least is wearing the amoeba cammo suit and is equipped with weapons fit for his mission. Given the relatively few scout figures available, this is a welcome addition to the unit. In terms of quality of the sculpting, detail, and dynamism of the figure, it is all there. High marks all around for this Publius scout!

WW23D Soviet Scouts

This is a service branch not often represented so I was glad to see them as I do need more poses to complement the Bassevich and Plastic Platoon scouts. As you can see, they are wearing their distinctive cammo smock that should be painted with the amoeba pattern. I also like that they gave us a pose who is sneaking in with a knife on his hand to take out an opponent undetected and preserve the surprise factor of the mission. One thing I didn't like however is a more visible manufacturing flaw on the leg of the man who is kneeling and looking through his binoculars. I may plant a bush in front of it to make it less obvious.

Click here to check out move Soviet Troops

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Introducing the German Africa Corps

Latest edit: Added WW23D.com German Afrika Korps

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The Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) was the German force sent to to North Africa in February of '41 to help the Italian forces who were fighting the British Commonwealth in the deserts of Libya and Egypt and had been recently pushed back into Libya. The DAK force was primarily a combination of Panzer units and motorized infantry, making it a highly mobile formation. The Afrika Korps under the command of Erwin Rommel, -the Desert Fox- enjoyed great initial success, pushing back the British all the way back to Egypt in a dashing campaign that stopped short of Alexandria. Supply shortages however, caused by the fact that the Allies could intercept much of the shipping across the Mediterranean from their air bases in Malta played an important role in limiting the fighting ability of the Afrika Korps. Eventually the British 8th Army, now under Montgomery, counterattacked, pushing the Axis forces back to Tunisia. Around the same time -Nov '42, American landings in Morocco and Algeria -Operation Torch- created a second front for the Afrika Korps, which sealed its fate. Nonetheless, it managed to fight on for another 6 months, eventually surrendering in May of '43, with over a quarter of a million men going into captivity. This was a blow as hard as the loss of the 6th Army at Stalingrad a few weeks later, perhaps even larger if you consider the losses during the preceding two years. In terms of plastic figures, the DAK has received a good level of attention, perhaps because the fast paced desert campaigns have captured the imagination of many over the years. Let's take a look at the available sets.

Airfix Afrika Korps

Yet another classic set from Airfix. Nicely sculpted figures, realistic looking action poses. The only thing I could ask for would be more poses, but unfortunately this was the standard number for most of their WWII sets.

Atlantic Afrika Korps - Part 1

One of the nicer Atlantic sets. Other than the prone machine gun guy who seems to be looking at the ground instead of aiming his weapon, the rest are all very well done. One peculiarity about these figures is that they all come without any headgear and you can glue on them a steel helmet, a field cap, or one of those desert/tropical hats. I had to experiment with several glues until I found one that did the trick as they stubbornly refused to remain attached.

Atlantic Afrika Korps - Part 2

Most of these guys are wearing short pants which is a good variation found only on a few of the figures from the other manufacturers. These guys were originally tan in color, but I already primed them as they are among the next figures on the to-paint list.

Matchbox Afrika Korps - Part 1

Matchbox, gave us a bit more variety in poses, but the sculpting is a notch below that of Airfix. Nonetheless, they also 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.

Matchbox Afrika Korps - Part 2

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.

Revell Afrika Korps - Part 1

These figures are 1/35 in scale, but they are actually not that far in size from the Airfix figures. Most of the guys in this set are pretty well done except for the guy on the left whose running I find a bit awkward. He seems about to trip and fall over.

Revell Afrika Korps - Part 2

The set includes a very nice heavy machine gun mounted on a tripod. The two guys operating it and the gun itself can be removed from the base The guy on the left is probably my favorite figure from this set and a good example of some of the elements that make a good figure: bent knees, slight crouch, body balance shifted off-center, intense look/gaze.

Lone Star Afrika Korps - Part 1

This is a rare set. Out of production and not easy to find. The poses are acceptable considering when they were made (50s or 60s). As far as poses they offer a good mix of fighting/non-fighting figures. The guy on the left is the only one I've ever seen waving a white flag.

Lone Star Afrika Korps - Part 2

This other picture has the guys going on the offensive. It also shows the only flamethrower in among all the poses across all manufacturers in this post, which is another reason why I am glad I finally got my hands on this set.

21st Century Toys Afrika Korps - Part I

At the time that 21st Century Toys released their set I was not a big fan of factory painted figures so I did not buy them. It was only recently -now that they are out of production- that I ran into these two and bought them. Hopefully they still give you an idea about the level of detail, type of uniform and quality of the poses/sculpting.

21C Toys Afrika Korps - Part II

Here are the rest of the set. The one thing I don't like is how the paint color varies so much from one set to the next. Primarily that of the boots. I like the colors on the picture above better. The officer's face could have been done slightly better also. Other than that, the figures display a good deal of action, just the way I like them.

21st Century Toys Afrika Korps - Part III

Here is an earlier set of AK figures. Fairly decent, but still a few odd things, like the bases. The took the same bases that were attached to the other figures which have cobblestones and other things that feel out of place in the desert.

21st Century Toys Afrika Korps - Part IV

My favorite man here is the one on the left. I wonder if the one in the middle is asking for quarter or charging forward in a very unusal way? The man on the right seems to be missing a grenade or something in his right hand.

21C Toys German Afrika Korps Mortar Team

I think these guys are a mix of the artillery crew set and the mortar team. The standing guy is the same as the one for the regular infantry's mortar team, except for the uniform colors, but the two kneeling guys are different.I have seen those also in the PAK 40 crew. Now, I don't know if the mortar team included thee figures, or maybe the collector who sold them to me mixed the sets.

Cherilea Afrika Korps

These guys are 60mm tall, so if you want to include them in your DAK Army you should place them a bit apart from the Revell guys. The most interesting guy here is the one on the far right. If you look closely, he seems to have received a shrapnel wound on his shoulder. The guy surrendering is unique, but would only be useful in very specific diorama scenes. And then there's another guy who could be Rommel or perhaps one of his staff officers.

Charbens Afrika Korps

These are two figures out of a set of about 8 or so. Compared to other Chanbens figures I fnd them quite well sculpted, with a good degree of detail and action/movement. And they used to come factory-painted as you can see. So at the time they must have been among the best AK figures. The only thing to criticize about these guys is the machine gun. It looks more like a Vickers, or perhaps it's meant to be a captured one? :-) Anyhow, I am definitely going to have to keep an eye out for the rest of the guys in the set.

Charbens Afrika Korps - Part II

And here are the rest of the set. They seem to be clones rather than recasts. The plastic feels much lighter and the level of details seems a bit faded compared with the originals. And they also sell for a premium, considering how scarce they are. The poses are OK, and as I mentioned, they are among the nicer Charbens poses. Once they are painted, I am hoping it won't be as obvious that they are clones.

Charbens Afrika Korps - Part III

Actually, it looks like there was one more pose. He is a bit banged up by the years, but you can still get a good idea of what he looked like. If I fix his weapon and paint him, he might look just like new.

Speedwell Afrika Korps - Part I

Here is a less common AK set. Not quite 54mm. They are at the most 50mm in size. They are very rare and therefore a bit pricey. At the same time, the sculpting is nothing extraordinary. The poses are a bit stiff and the level of detail is not quite there. Also in terms of the color scheme that they came painted in, it is also a bit unusual. Some of them come with green caps as you will see in the next picture.

Speedwell Afrika Korps - Part II

Here are a few more poses. I am still missing one additional pose: an officer with a moveable arm holding binoculars. While two of these guys wear the regular army field cap, the man on the right seems to be wearing a paratrooper helmet. Again, the poses are a bit stiff. From what I know, the figures were released on both sand and brown/green, as shown in this picture.

Speedwell Afrika Korps - Part III

Here is the man at the far right of the prior picture, this time in the AK color scheme. I think I like him better like this.

Speedwell Afrika Korps - Part IV

And here is the commander. Unfortunately, missing an arm. You can tell that it was not resting at the waist as there is no hand left behind, but based on the rest of the body, it could not have been doing something very exciting. Or maybe he was doing the nazi salute and that's why someone chopped it off?

Britains Deetail Afrika Korps - Part 1

This is one of the priciest WWII sets from Deetail. Not sure why. Maybe they just made fewer of them. The poses are certainly nice, but they are of about the same quality as the other sets. One good, special touch is that the field glasses of the officer are actually not attached to his face like most other figures of this kind.

Britains Deetail Afrika Korps - Part 2

The rest of the set. To my taste the guy in the left and the one on the right are too similar. I would have preferred to see a different pose entirely. BTW, these figures are also produced nowadays by the firm DSG from Argentina. They somehow got the original molds and sell them in a wide variety of painted schemes.

Britains Deetail Afrika Korps Motorcycle

Britains Deetail also produced a nice set of motorcycles. This one has some similarities with the Zündapp, but I believe it is actually a BMW. Notice how they gave the driver goggles, which would obviously come very handy in the desert. It is a nice complement to the infantry figures.

WW23D German Afrika Korps

The British SAS guys need an opponent, so here we have the German Afrika Korps, although compared to the number of poses that came with the SAS set, these guys are going to face a tough fight. The most distinctive feature of these guys is that they are all wearing googles on their helmets. Their poses are not too exciting, except for the guy on the left, who is displaying a bit more action. Good thing that we have other manufacturers to fill in the ranks and give us more diversity of poses.

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

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Click here to check out other German Troops

Click here to see a description of the British 8th Army.

Click here to see pictures of regular German Infantry.

Here are some pictures of regular German Infantry in action.

Click here to see pictures of German Paratroops.

Click here to see German Paratroops in action.

Click here to see pictures of German Waffen SS troops.

Here you can see pictures of German Waffen SS in action.

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Toy Soldier Makers - Recent and New

The following is a list of WWII Plastic Toy Soldier Makers which have produced sets in the last 25 years or so. Some of them are no longer producing figures, but some of them are quite active today. Several of them are creating a sort of renaissance for the hobby in which countries and service branches previously ignored are finally getting some coverage and attention. Much of the recent new production has been coming out of Russia. The level of detail and realism has continued to improve to an amazing level, and many of these figures are less toys and more collectibles. Hallmarks of this period have been 21C Toys, Forces of Valor, Conte Collectibles, Toy Soldiers of San Diego, Mars, Publius, Engineer Bassevich, and my favorite, Plastic Platoon. Let's take a look: