The Auburn Rubber Company, named after the town in Indiana where it was founded, began as a tire manufacturer. It was started just before WWI and it was not until 20 years later that it began to manufacture toys, mainly rubber vehicles including some tanks and planes. Over time it also began to make animals and other plastic figures including toy soldiers. Even though at its peak it was one of the biggest manufacturers of plastic toys, the company went out of business in 1969. It is rumored that it attracted the attention of organized crime, possibly because of its success. Its last items were sold through the early 70s. Their figures are quite rare nowadays.
Auburn US Infantry - Part I
I was not familiar with these figures until a recent Toy Soldier Show, but a fellow collector who was also digging through a bin that I was looking through identified them for me. They are about 70 mm tall, so a bit beyond my scale however I liked the sculpting work, particularly that of the two guys on the left who look very confident. I was told they were Korean War figures, but I think they can pass for WWII GIs.
Auburn US Infantry - Part II
Here are a few more guys that I recently found. The grenade man is pulling the pin with his teeth. A nice touch that I have not seen replicated by any other manufacturer. The guy crouching is a bit odd. As far as I can tell he is delivering a note. The other guys are solid guys, in a similar stance as the guys above. All solid guys, nicely sculpted.
Auburn US Infantry - Part III
And yet three more poses. A bazooka, always good to have some heavy weapons in your unit. The guy with the bayonet, might come handy in some pacific scene. And the guy standing around and having a smoke is a nice detail from a grunt's every day life. Definitely a figure manufactured in an earlier time. I doubt such a pose would be released today.
Auburn US Infantry - Part IV
Here are the last four poses as far as I know. The guy firing, the one with the sub machine gun and the crawling guy have become standard poses in most infantry sets of most nationalities, so it makes a lot of sense that they would also be part of this one. These are more on the action side, compared to some of the other guys in the series, who are simply standing around.
Click here to see a post about the US Infantry
Click here to see the US Infantry in action
Click here to see a post about the US Armor
Click here to see more GIs
