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
