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.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Introducing the Italian Navy

The Regia Marina or Italian Royal Navy was a considerable force going into WWII. At least on paper, it was the 4th largest Navy of the participants, however not all of its ships and crews were at the level of operational readiness. In addition to that, throughout the war it suffered from fuel shortages which limited its operational capabilities and its manufacturing capacity did not allow them to produce new or replacement ships as fast as the war demanded. On the technical side, the Italian ships were fast but lightly armored. They lacked radar, but had good range finding and accurate firing control mechanisms. Lastly their aircraft carriers were never completed, so they had to rely on ground based air support. Despite some of these shortcomings, the Italian navy battled the British Royal Navy on equal terms for control of the Mediterranean and the shipping lanes to Malta and North Africa for about 3 years and it was not until the Allies landed in North Africa and established new air bases there that the balance was decidedly shifted in favor of the British Royal Navy. In addition to the Mediterranean theater, the Italian Navy also saw action on the Red Sea, posing a real threat to British shipments crossing the Suez Canal. Their submarines also fought in the Atlantic theater and the Far East. After the armistice in 1943, many ships surrendered to the Allies forming the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy, other were scuttled by their crews and a very small fraction were captured in port by the Axis forces or chose to remain on their side forming the National Republican Navy. However the role of these vessels was not as prominent from this point forward as it had been during the first half of the war. In terms of Toy Soldiers, I am only aware of one set made by Atlantic. Let's take a look.

Atlantic Sailors - Part I

It's not clear to me whether these sailors are from WWII or more recent. The weapons and the fact that some of them are wearing helmets, make them look a bit more modern to me, but I suppose they could pass for WWII if needed.

Atlantic Sailors - Part II

Then again the telescope would seem a bit old tech on a modern ship that operates with radar.

Atlantic Sailors - Part III

These two guys are supposed to be used with a speed boat, but in place of that, I sat them on a matchbox raft. Not as fast, but good enough to show them seating.

Atlantic Sailors - Part IV

This man is supposed to be operating an AA gun. I don't have the one he is supposed to be used with, but I have a similar one from another Atlantic set which is good enough to display him as he was meant to be used.

Click here to take a look at WWII divers

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

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Click here to check out more Italian Troops

Click here to see a post about the British Naval Infantry

Click here to see a post about the Soviet Naval Infantry

Click here to see a post about the French Navy

Click here to see a post about the Danish Navy

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Solido Belge - Toy Soldiers

Solido Belge is a Belgian manufacturer. Their figures are on the larger side of 54mm, perhaps even 60mm. Apparently they come factory painted and overall look farily decent. The paint job is acceptable, but nothing extraordinary. So far I have seen US infantry and Military Police made by them. They are rare enough that when I see them, they are sold individually.

Solido Belge US Infantry

As best as I can tell this guy seems to the a US GI. The sculpting is fairly good for an older figure in terms of the pose, although the figure could have used a bit more detail in terms of accessories. All in all a decent figure and based on its rarity a good addition to the collection.

Click here to check out US Toy Soldiers

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Click here to check out Soviet Toy Soldiers

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Click here to check out US Vehicles

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Click here to check out Soviet Vehicles

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Click here to check out other Recent and New Makers

Click here to check out other Makers from the 70s and 80s

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Click here to see a post about other GIs

Click here to see a post about more GIs

Click here to see a post about even more GIs

Click here to see a post about GIs in action

Click here to see a post about US Armor

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Unknown - Toy Soldiers

This is a small group of soldiers that I purchased on eBay advertised as Speedwell. I've spent several weeks trying to verify their identity, but I have not been able to do so. In fact, based on the sculpting, at this point I have serious doubts that they were actually made by Speedwell. They depict a lot more movement than other Speedwell sets that I have come across. Also, from the searches I've made online, Speedwell seems to have made few original sets, as opposed to recasting figures made by other vendors. BTW, as you can tell from their weapons, they are post WWII figures and based on their uniforms I'd guess that they are British. In any case, if you happen to know who made them please leave a comment and help solve the mystery! It will be very much appreciated!

UPDATE: Brian Carrick from http://toysoldiercollecting.blogspot.com/ has solved the mystery. It looks like they are Modern British Infantry by Cherilea.

Cherilea Modern British Infantry

I really like the level of action and intensity depicted by these guys. And by that, I don't just mean that they have for instance, a guy who is charging, because some other manufacturers also have such a pose, but still, the movements of those other figures are sometimes not as fluid. They really captured well all the subtle angles of the joints and leaning of the body to give them a very genuine look. There is at least one more guy in the set, as I've seen a picture with 4 poses (a grenade thrower is missing).

Click here to see another post about hard to identify soldiers

Click here to see a post about British Infantry

Click here to see a post about more British Infantry

Click here to see a post about a few more British Infantry guys

Click here to see a post about Cherilea figures

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Plasticos Garcia - Toy Soldiers

These guys are neither the right scale nor the right time period, but when I saw them I could not resist buying them, hence they have ended up on this blog. Plasticos Garcia was a Mexican manufacturer of 60-70mm plastic toy soldiers. O'Briens Collecting Foreign-Made Toy Soldiers only has a brief reference to them, so I don't know much about the history behind them, but from what I can gather, they produced the bulk of their figures in the 70's-80's. The figures seem to represent Mexican soldiers, as the standard bearers usually carried a Mexican flag. We know however, that Mexico did not contribute any infantry units during WWII, so maybe they represent the peace time army in between wars. In any case, the army figures are generic enough that you could make them pass for figures of other nationalities. Most of the poses are in parade style, and some of them are cavalry units. In addition to the army figures, they also produced sailors and cadets from the Mexican military academy. The figures came factory painted and as you can see, some of them hold their color relatively well to this day. A knowledgeable reader has pointed out that the marching soldiers seem to be copies of Elastolin figures -with some modifications, such as the helmets, and the cavalry figures seem to be clones of Lineol figures.

Plasticos Garcia Mexican Infantry - Part I

In addition to the parade guys, there seem to be a couple of combat poses. An interesting fact is that the two combat poses come with detachable heads. Their footwear also seems different.

Plasticos Garcia Mexican Infantry - Part II

Here are a few more poses. These other poses apparently came with a trench and bunker command post. Interesting how the guy on the phone has the table fused to his legs. Note also how the manufacturer solve the casting challenge with the machine gunner figure.

Plasticos Garcia Mexican Infantry - Part III

A good set of poses to depict a nice medical team scene. Even though you don't see it well from this angle, the guy pouring water out of his canteen is actualy a medic, and has a red cross band on his left arm.

Plasticos Garcia Mexican Infantry - Part IV

Another fighting pose to go along with the guys from the first picture.

Plasticos Garcia Mexican Cavalry

These cavalry men are wearing helmets that look a bit German. Seems like they could be painted and added to a column of horse drawn artillery. As you can see, the horses come in a couple different colors.

Plasticos Garcia Mexican Cadets

A more elegant looking troop. I believe that these guys also had drummers and buglers in their ranks. The flag is missing the eagle though, so I guess they could be mistaken for Italians.

Plasticos Garcia German Infantry

These guys are not much different from those representing the Mexican Infantry, except that they were cast in a lighter green. I suppose they were made to give the Mexican army a fictitious opponent.

Click here to check out US Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out British Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Soviet Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out German Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out Japanese Toy Soldiers

Click here to check out US Vehicles

Click here to check out British Vehicles

Click here to check out Soviet Vehicles

Click here to check out German Vehicles

Click here to check out Japanese Vehicles

Click here to check out other Recent and New Makers

Click here to check out other Makers from the 70s and 80s

Click here to check out other Old Vintage Makers

Saturday, January 26, 2013

UNA - Toy Soldiers

UNA is another little known toy soldier manufacturer based out of the UK, or more precisely, out of England. I don't know much about them, I just know that their WWII figures seem to be recasts of Timpo figures. The only difference is that the UNA bases contain an extra layer with a small hole where the manufacturer's name is imprinted. This makes the bases twice as thick and the UNA figures slightly taller than the Timpo guys. The figures came factory painted and my best guess is that they were in production around the 60s or 70s.

UNA US Infantry - Part I

Overal, they are a nice set. But as I mentioned, the credit for the sculpting really goes to Timpo. Nonetheless, I really like the guy charging forward with the sub machine gun. One thing that I am surprised about is how well they have retained the factory paint. Either the previous owner was very careful with them or they did a very good job selecting the materials and the manufacturing process.

UNA US Infantry - Part II

Here is another UNA GI which I got in a batch of mixed figures. He is also derived from one of the Timpo guys. Not the most exciting pose as he seem to just be standing around. I definitely prefer the action poses from the previous picture better.

UNA British Infantry

I purchased a lot of mixed soldiers and this one came with it. Af first glance it looks like a Lone Star kind of guy, but thanks to the base I realized that it was made by UNA. His uniform and Vickers MG lead me to believe that he is a British guy, but I have not comfirmed it or found any other UNA Tommies yet. Based on the helmet he might also be a GI.