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, August 2, 2014

Werner - Toy Soldiers

Werner was an American toy soldier manufacturer based out of Illinois. It does not seem like they produced any original sculpting. Instead they cloned (or licensed?) the figures from other manufacturers. For instance, their GIs are based on the Ideal GIs and their Cowboys and Indians are based on the TimMee figures. Also according to the Toy Soldier HQ site, an ex TimMee employee might have been involved at Werner, which also explains why the plastic used for their GIs is so similar to that of TimMee's. It is unclear to me whether they released any additional sets and the exact period when they were active.

Werner 60mm US Infantry

These are some figures that I recently discovered. As you can see, they have a strong resemblance to the Ideal GIs, however these guys come with bases, which makes it easier to stand them. The base also comes stamped with the brand name Werner, so that establishes that they were released by a different manufacturer. Only the man standing with the bazooka is not present in the 16 Ideal poses. I have seen pictures with a 7th pose, a man charging/leaning forward with his weapon at the waist, also present in the Ideal set.

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US Infantry - Part V

Because Blogger does not allow more than 20 labels in one post I am forced to split the posts with many sets into several posts... This is the last one of the GI series. For now...

Safari 60mm GIs - Part I

This is a pretty nice set all in all. The sculpting detail is good and the poses are well done. The only thing that I think could be done better is the painting. Other than the faces, which are fairly decent, the rest of the figure is barely painted. I think I will need to give them a paint over. Note also the other less common feature of these figures, they come without bases.

Safari 60mm GIs - Part II

This is a comparison picture next to a 54mm TSSD figure. As you can see, the Safari figures are not too much larger. Keep in mind however that TSSD makes their figures on the larger side of 54mm, with a thick base that makes them even taller.

DGN US Infantry - Part I

The US Infantry seems to be among the best -if not the best- proportioned of all these sets. Again, some of the figures seem to be inspired by Matchbox figures, although they are still originals.

DGN US Infantry - Part II

These guys do not have the over-sized weapon problem that the other sets do. I particularly like the machine gunner here.

DGN US Infantry - Part III

See the strong resemblance with the Matchbox GIs?

Burger King GIs

Here's a bit of an unusual set. It is modeled after the Toy Story GIs, released in 1995. They are about 65mm tall. If there were a few more poses, it would make a good unit. Given their limited number of poses, they will have to be combined with some 70 mm GIs to give them some support.

Clairet US Infantry

These GIs are a bit unusual. The poses are decent, although the level of detail is a bit on the low-end of the spectrum, mainly because they only come with weapons and uniforms, but nothing else in terms of extra gear.

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If you would like to see some painted GIs, click here.

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Here's a post of the GI's breaking out of Normandy.

And here is another post with GIs defending an Italian farmhouse.

Safari - Toy Soldiers

Safari Ltd is an American producer of plastic figures. They got started out of Miami, Florida, although they also have an office in Hong Kong as hinted by the Limited designation. They have been around in business since the early 80s, and their initial focus was on wild life (hence the name), dinosaur and sea life figures. Over time, they have developed a much larger range, although they are still more heavily weighted towards non-military figures such as farm animals, pets, etc. But they do have a few soldier sets such as civil war, knights, pirates, and one set of WWII GIs. They are 60mm+ in size though. While the brand might not be that well known, their packaging method is. This is the company that sells their figures in what they call 'Toobs', which is a cylinder of clear/hard plastic holding about 6-10 figures. The quality and sculpting of their figures is good, so I really hope that we see additional sets being released representing other nationalities and service branches. For now, lets take a look at the GI set that they offer.

Safari 60mm GIs - Part I

Safari 60mm GIs - Part II

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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Introducing the Italian Black Shirts

The Italian Black Shirts or Camicie Nere were the paramilitary branch of of Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party. Their official name was the Voluntary Militia for National Security. They were analogous to the Brown Shirts in Germany -which were actually modeled after the Black Shirts themselves-, providing the necessary muscle to keep Mussolini's political adversaries at bay as well as labor unions representing the interests of factory workers and peasants. They were established shortly after WWI with many former soldiers joining their ranks and Mussolini as their Commander in Chief. Their uniforms were inspired by those of the Arditi, the daring Italian shock troops of WWI. By the time Mussolini came to power in 1922 there were over 200,000 of them. When war broke out, many of them were formed into actual fighting units. Some saw action as early as the Spanish Civil War. Some also fought in the Ethiopian campaign. During WWII they saw heavy fighting in North Africa, where 3 entire divisions were destroyed. They remained an organized group until the armistice of 1943, when the pro-German government in Northern Italy reestablished the remaining members as the Republican National Guard.

Atlantic Italian Black Shirts - Part I

This is also a hard set to find and unfortunately I only found some of the figures. However I think I got the most representative ones. At center we have Mussolini himself. To the right a standard bearer and to the left a man carrying a bundle of wooden sticks and an ax. This is called a Fasces and it comes from ancient times. The first to use it were apparently the Etruscans and later on the Romans. The ax symbolized the life and death power of the magistrates and the bundle, the strength which can be achieved through unity.

Atlantic Italian Black Shirts - Part II

A couple more poses. The two bicycle riders are the same pose. On the back of one of the bikes I sat the figure who is supposed to be driving a motorcycle with a side car. He happens to be saluting while driving. The motorcycle as well as one more guy who is riding in the side car are missing from my set. BTW, I find this to be one of the better sculpted Atlantic sets. No awkward poses like those you see in some of the other sets like the British Infantry...

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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Remco - Toy Soldiers

Remco was an American Toy firm active in the 40's to 60's. They were apparently based out of New Jersey. They specialized in electronic and remote controlled toys and vehicles, hence the name Remco. They also liked to release toys associated with popular TV shows and music groups. Today that seems common, but I suspect that back then that was quite unique. In 1971 they went bankrupt and were taken over by a firm called Azrak Hamway. In terms of toy soldiers, they are known for one set, which was incidental to their line of electric toys. They are from a 1960's toy series called the Hamilton Invaders, which was inspired by TV shows of the time in which giant bugs invade earth. These soldiers were mankind's defenders against the giant insect invaders, not unlike the guys from 'Starship Troopers' in the 90's.

Remco 'Hamilton Invaders' GIs aka Blue Defenders - Part I

These guys are on the larger side of 60mm. The sculpting is fairly good in terms of the level of detail. The poses are also good for most of them. For instance, of the three in this picture, the two on the right are just fine, but there is something about the officer that feels just a bit off. Maybe it is the position of the left elbow...or maybe I am just too picky.

Remco 'Hamilton Invaders' GIs aka Blue Defenders - Part II

Here are the other 3 poses. Again, some of the poses are better than the others. The grenade man in the middle seems a bit awkward. I do like the detail on the weapons though. At any rate, these guys seem to be something of a collectible because not so many of them were made - they were only released along with those insect playsets. And those bugs are even more of a priced rarity. I recently saw one listed for about 3,000 usd... That's a bit outrageous if you ask me!

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