Introducing the British 8th Army

 Latest edit: Added Kozak Miniatures B8A Set towards the bottom of this post.

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To complement the post on the German Afrika Korps, today I would like to introduce the British Eighth Army, who fought both the Germans and the Italians in the deserts of Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. In addition to its British core, the 8th Army was actually a collection of commonwealth troops from many nations, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Canada, as well as many men from several occupied countries in Europe. They were engaged in a highly mobile war for approximately two years in North Africa. Initially the Italians pushed the British back into Egypt, then the British counterattacked pushing the Italians back into Libya, which made the Germans join the fight under Rommel in February of '41 with the resulting counteroffensive which pushed the British back into Egypt. After a while the British regrouped and mounted their own offensive which pushed the Afrika Korps all the way back into Tunisia and eventually with the help of the US landings in Morocco and Algeria, they managed to defeat the Axis forces and eliminate them from the African continent by May of '43. Among the most pivotal moments of the North African campaign stands the siege of Tobruk in which a surrounded garrison composed primarily of the Australian 9th division held for 8 months preventing the Panzer Army from attacking further into Egypt until it was relieved by the Eighth Army in Nov '41, which is actually when the 8th Army was officially formed. The Eighth Army was led by a few generals, but the most notable one was Bernard Montgomery (as of Aug '42), whose success in Africa propelled him to fame and greater responsibility during the rest of the War. After the North African campaign was won, the British Eighth Army went on to fight in Italy where they again played an important role in tough and bloody battles such as Monte Cassino. In terms of coverage from toy soldier manufacturers, there has been no lack of attention. However as you will see from the pictures below, manufacturers have favored the North African campaign over Italy when depicting the 8th Army.

Airfix British 8th Army - Part 1

Every now and then you come across a pose that you know you have seen somewhere. Such is the case with the guy on the left. There is a black and white photograph of British 8th Army troops approaching a disabled tank in the desert and one of them looks very much like this guy.

Airfix British 8th Army - Part 2

Usually most Airfix poses are fighting, action poses, so the guy on the right who is standing as if on watch, is a bit of a disappointment, specially when there are only 7 poses total. Even with that, these Airfix guys definitely belong at the core of any B8th Army.

BMC British Infantry - Part 1

When BMC produced these guys they were described as British Infantry, however I think they are better suited as British 8th Army guys. If you look at some of the other manufacturers' figures you will also find bagpipes &  berets...

BMC British Infantry - Part 2

 ...and those shovels and picks look like they could come in handy in the rocky, craggy expanses of the North African landscape. 

Charbens British 8th Army - Part 1

These guys are vintage figures, from around the 60's. As far as I know they came factory-painted. I will probably have to paint them over when I paint the rest of these guys. That's when I go through those dilemmas that I described in this other post.

Charbens British 8th Army - Part 2

I have to say that the sculpting is actually fairly decent for figures made around that timeframe. A couple of the guys in the previous pictures can be criticized, but these three guys are pretty good looking.

Cherilea British 8th Army

These guys are 60mm figures. The guy in the middle looks like he could be Monty. The rest of the guys are a decent addition to the unit, a bit upright in some cases, but still acceptable.

Crescent British 8th Army

These guys are fairly well sculpted for the time when they were made and come factory painted. I am not sure exactly how many there were in the original set, but this sample gives an idea of what they looked like.

Crescent British 8th Army clones

These guys are 40mm clones made in Hong Kong. I made the mistake of buying them on eBay without checking that they were the right scale. The only bright spot is that it let me realize that there is at least one more pose that I do not have in 54mm - the guy with the sub MG.

DSG British 8th Army

These are new production figures using the old Britains Deetail molds by a new firm in Argentina. The bases are made out of plastic which I found a bit disappointing as it gives the figures a whole different feeling when you hold them. Other than that, the poses are kind of similar to the Airfix guys, aren't they? 

Britains Deetail Vickers Machine Gun Team

This is a nice set. Hard to find and a bit on the expensive side. The MG actually works. It comes with about 9 little ammo balls which you can fire using its spring mechanism, visible on the side of the gun. It rounds up the collection nicely.

Matchbox British 8th Army - Part 1

Matchbox gave us 13 poses in this set. Almost twice as generous as most of the other manufacturers. Their figures are mostly in good action poses. Casualty figures are not my favorite, but the guy in this set actually looks pretty authentic.

Matchbox British 8th Army - Part 2

Even though the bagpipe guy is not an action pose, I have to admit that he will probably look really nice once he's painted.

Matchbox British 8th Army - Part 3

It looks like this batch contains another Monty. I am going to have to chose who is the boss as there is at least one more candidate to pick from further below.

DGN British 8th Army - Part I

As you can see, this set is heavily influenced by the British 8th Army Matchbox figures. However, when you compare them side by side, you realize that they are originally sculpted, but there is not mistaking that the sculptor tried to replicate the original. 

DGN British 8th Army - Part II

The weapons are definitely different. Some of them are larger, and some of them are missing the bayonet at the tip of the rifle, which several of the Matchbox guys have. 

DGN British 8th Army - Part III

Overall, this is a pretty solid set. Not very original, but fairly decent if you were not aware of the Matchbox figures. Good poses and good level of detail.

Revell British 8th Army - Part 1

These guys are 1/35 scale. I painted several of them along with the Airfix guys a few years back. As you can see, the guys I left out were the ones that are standing a bit funny.

Revell British 8th Army - Part 2

I suppose with the berets and bagpipes these guys could belong to the Black Watch, the famous Scottish regiment which fought in North Africa.

Timpo British 8th Army - Part 1

These guys remind me a bit of the Cherilea guys, particularly the machine gunner. They are also on the taller side of 54mm figures. This set contains what appears to be the third Monty guy in my collection.

Timpo British 8th Army - Part 2

These Timpo guys are not my favorite figures. There are two things that I don't quite like. They are standing too upright and their facial expressions could have used a bit more work. Some of their faces look more like skulls.

Timpo British 8th Army - Part 3

Here are a few vintage figures with some original paint still on them. Notice how they were also cast on a darker plastic color, which I actually like better than that of the newer recasts. 

21st Century Toys British 8th Army Infantry - Part I

This set was sold as British Infantry, but from the short trousers, it seems to me like they are 8th Army troopers. This set was produced after the Germans and the Americans, and you can see the new bases and slightly better sculpting, although not as good with the later sets. 

21st Century Toys British 8th Army Infantry - Part II

The guy running is a good action pose. A bit off balance, but nice enough. The guy on the right does not really grab me. There is something about how he is holding his weapon and how he is standing... The man in the center is a nice middle ground.

21st Century Toys British 8th Army Infantry Series 2 - Part I

This is a set that I had totally missed. I wasn't even aware it existed. Chronologically, it seems to be one of their middle sets, with the sculpting being fairly decent at this stage -take a look at the facial expressions-, the bases not yet so bulky, and already integrated into the figures instead of glued to them. 

 21st Century Toys British 8th Army Infantry Series 2 - Part II

As you can see, the set is comprised of all fighting poses with a good degree of action put into the sculpting. The more a guy is leaning the more I like him. Note also how they have given us figures with both short and long trousers. All in all a nice set from 21C.

Forces of Valor British 7th Armored Division - El-Alamein 1942 - Part I

This is a set that I originally passed on buying. I did not like the bulkiness of the upper bodies. Of course, later on I felt that I should plug the hole in the collection, but by that time, they were no longer being produced and were much harder to find and pricier to get. Anyhow, I am happy I finally got a hold of them. I am still not a big fan of the sculpting and I still don't like the detachable bases, but it felt good to be able to check them off the list.

Forces of Valor British 7th Division - Part II

Here are a few more poses. They came in a different set, Two of them appear to be repeats of guys in the previous set. One of them, the man firing while kneeling, might be slightly different - note the knee is slightly off the ground - or it could also be that the one on top is missing the base and they are actually the same pose. Either way, there's really only two new poses. The wounded man and the man calling his men forward. Sculpted in the same bulky style, so not much new to say about them. 

Airfix British Infantry and Support Troop

These two guys are not officially British Eighth Army, but I've decided to incorporate them into the unit to give them a bit more firepower as none of the sets above contain a mortar or an antitank weapon, which given the nature of the combat in North Africa, would certainly come in handy.

Kozak Miniatures British 8th Army by TS Central - Part I

Here we have an 18-figure set of B8A guys. In terms of poses, this is really generous. I might be wrong, but I don't recall another set as big as this one since the Conte GIs were released about 20 years back. Anyhow, when it comes to 3D printing, given the volume of figures available, I am realizing that I may not be able to pursue completeness anymore. However I do want to have at least one set of 3D printed figures for each service branch and I still had that gap for the B8A. BTW, I really like that they have grouped all these figures as a set because it is pretty hard to track and buy them individually. In terms of these first 6 guys, not much to comment other than getting two poses of what's essentially the same officer figure just with different head gear seems like a missed opportunity to have crafted some better pose, but with an 18-figure set I guess they can afford that luxury.

Kozak Miniatures British 8th Army TS Central - Part II

In terms of the actual figures, I find them just OK. As I've pointed out with other Kozak figures, I find the posing of these guys a bit too stiff. I would prefer to see more bending of the knees, hunching of the back, ducking to avoid projectiles and flying debris, or running faster to find cover. These guys lack a sense of urgency, even the ones who are 'running'. Out of the first two pics, I think the Bickers machine gunner is probably my favorite. Perhaps because he is the one who requires the least intensity to appear to be doing his job well. I do have to say that the variety of weapons is welcome. Having said that, it would have been nice to issue a weapon to the grenade man on the left, perhaps slung across his back? Else he's going to need a lot more grenades! 

Kozak Miniatures British 8th Army TS Central - Part III

This is where the set gets better. The kneeling guys and the prone guys are definitely much better than their standing counter parts. One of the prone guys is firing a Bren gun and the other one seems to be firing a Boys anti tank rifle, aka 'elephant gun', which is a nice choice of weapon. The two kneeling guys in the middle look very similar, but they have different webbing/pouches, and one has a scope on his rifle so that he can snipe better at those DAK guys. One interesting bit is that the bases are not designed by Kozak, but rather provided by the vendor. In this case, they issue circular bases, and if you pay attention you will notice that some of them have a larger diameter than others. You get to glue them yourself, so I allocated the larger ones to the kneeling guys.

Expeditionary Force Scottish Mortar Section - Pacific War - Part I

This set is a bit different because while they are part of the Pacific series, the fact that they are Scottish troops opens up the possibility of using them as B8A guys in North Africa or the ETO. Which is a good option given the few heavy weapons available from other vendors for that service branch. 

Expeditionary Force Scottish Mortar Section - Pacific War - Part II

It is quite nice how just the bonnet makes these guys look significantly different from the other mortar crews in the series. BTW, one small mistake I made was to place the container for the piat's rounds next to the mortar, thinking that it was meant to contain mortar shells. 

Expeditionary Force Scottish Mortar Section - Pacific War - Part III

In this set I decided to give turn the NCO into more of a fighting figure. Not only did he get a Sten gun which he is using to cover his men, but he also got a highlander's cap instead of the bonnet, which by the way, includes some pretty cool ribbons hanging from the back. Just a little extra touch to make him stand out.

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

Click here to take a look at WWII Vehicles by Country

Click here to see more British Commonwealth Troops

Click here to see a description of the German Afrika Korps.

Click here to see regular British Infantry.

Introducing the US Infantry

 Latest edit: Mars US Mortar Team

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This post is a consolidation of several US Infantry posts I had previously made. It probably needs a bit more editing, but at least for now it provides a central location to see all the US Infantry figures made by all manufacturers.

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If you read the post about the 100 unique poses, you know that when it comes to painting figures I like to have as many unique poses as possible. At the time that I painted these guys, I almost had 100 unique GIs, but not quite. In the end, I did not stick 100% to the unique poses criteria and I ended up dropping 6 guys in favor of some duplicates that I liked better. So these pics of painted GIs only show 94 unique poses which are painted, plus the 6 unpainted guys that almost made the cut. 

Airfix US Infantry

Nice solid sculpting. A classic set.

BMC US Infantry - Part 1

Not my favorite figures, but when you need unique poses you can't be very selective. Their most annoying feature are the helmets which sit very high on their heads.

BMC US Infantry - Part 2

The prone guy with the flame thrower is a good addition. The mortar guy without a mortar seems kind of lost. Here you can see the BMC GIs who did not make the 'paint cut'.

Conte Collectibles US Infantry - Part 1

Very nice, dynamic poses. Great facial expressions.

Conte Collectibles US Infantry - Part 2

The guy holding his helmet adds a lot of intensity to any scene where he is featured. The bazooka team is also a nice combo.

Conte Collectibles US Infantry - Part 3

A collection of prone guys with my favorite Sgt.

Conte Collectibles US Infantry - Part 4

More solid guys.

Conte Collectibles US Infantry - Part 5

The last five. You've got to love a manufacturer that comes out with 25 poses in one release!

What was not so cool was that you had to buy 9 or 10 sets to get all the different poses, but it's not hard to understand when you consider that they had plenty of sculpting and mold costs to recover.  

Marx US Infantry - Part 1

Marching guys are not usually 'called up' into my formations, but again, I couldn't be highly selective.

Marx US Infantry - Part 2

The best one in this lot is probably the mine-sweeper.

Marx US Infantry - Part 3

Nice radio guy. Another guy with a missing mortar.

Here you can see other Marx figures that did not get painted.

Matchbox US Infantry - Part 1

The bazooka guy is actually a clone, but I've never seen the original figure that it's been copied from.

Matchbox US Infantry - Part 2

Another good, solid set.

MPC US Infantry

As far as MPC figures go, I think this is one of their better sets.

Click here to see other MPC guys who did not get painted.

Reproductions of Marx 6" Figures

The manufacturer of these guys is unclear to me. I bought them advertised as SWTS figures (Steve Weston Toy Soldiers), but I have not been able to confirm that claim. He does not mention them on his web site.

Here you can see the sixth pose which did not get painted.

Toy Soldiers of San Diego US Infantry

Another nice set of GIs. The sculpting is as good as Conte's. Note how they also came up with their own version of the gutsy Sgt. The medic defending himself is a nice touch, although probably more appropriate for the Pacific Theater of Operations where no quarter was given, even to medics.

Toy Soldiers of San Diego Winter Troops

It was a tricky decision to include the winter guys, but since the Matchbox officer already comes with a long coat, I decided to accept them into the unit.

Toy Soldiers of San Diego Heavy Weapons

The heavy weapons squad. Nice two piece MG and finally, a mortar guy that actually has a mortar.

Here are the 6 that did not make the cut already primed. From L to R:

A reproduction of the Marx 6" figures, 3 BMC men, prone MPC MG guy, and some clone of a matchbox-looking figure.

In the previous pictures I described all the American Infantry poses that I have already painted. Those pictures left out some poses that I decided not to paint. At the time I was aiming to paint 100 different poses with the goal of using them for war-gaming, so I left out the poses that were least appealing and those that were the least useful in a war-game. Then there are also additional figures from those manufacturers mentioned in that post that I have managed to find after I painted those figures. Since I would like this blog to be as complete as possible and serve as a sort of catalog, organized by manufacturer below are the GIs who did not make the 'paint cut'.  

BMC US Infantry

The BMC GIs are not the best sculptures out there. The guy on the right throwing the grenade has arms so short that he reminds me of a T-Rex. The guy next to him dropping the mortar shell into an imaginary mortar looks more like he is ready to take a dive. The third guy from the right, I must admit that I overlooked him. He is actually not so bad and considering that I did not have 100 unique poses when I painted the GIs, he should have been included. I actually like how he is leaning back a bit. The fourth guy got cut simply because I already had enough prone guys (10 per company), so he was not needed and he was not the most 'active' pose. He could be useful however for a scene at Omaha beach when they are using the bangalore torpedoes to open a gap in the wire in order to exit the beach. Maybe later I'll get to him.

MPC US Infantry - Part II

The prone guy got cut also because I already had enough prone guys and he was on the skinny side. The other two are poses that I did not have at the time I painted the rest. Had I had them at the time they would have been included. Although notice how the guy on the right has an uncanny resemblance to one of the Marx figures in the post with the painted figures.

MPC US Infantry - Part III

Here are some additional guys which I found without even realizing that they existed. Based on the sculpting I am guessing that they are MPC but I am not 100% sure as that would mean that they made two guys swinging/clubbing with their rifles. Anyhow, they came in a large batch of mixed figures, which is why I love those batches :-) If you can confirm or deny please leave a comment!

MPC US Infantry - Part IV ?

Here's another mystery. Not really sure if this guy is an MPC figure. However his sculpting reminds me of the ring hand MPC guys. But in this case, he has regular hands. If anybody knows his origins, please let us know.

Reproductions of Marx 6" Figure

Sold as a SWTS figure, this guy is the sixth in the set. I actually find him acceptable when I look at him. Not quite sure why I left him out. I believe at the time I thought he looked short next to the other guys.

Marx US Infantry - Part 1

At the time that I painted the other Marx guys I only had the dark one. I left him out because he is leaning forward too much, with his feet too close to each other. A bit unrealistic in my opinion. The other two guys are old Marx figures from the Battleground set that I found at a large bin in a local Toy Soldier Show. The two battleground guys will definitely get the paint treatment at some point.

Marx US Infantry - Part 2

A nice set of casualty figures. The guy carrying the wounded buddy resembles the figure in the Atlantic British Infantry set. I wonder who produced it first. Definitely a nice pose. The guy on the right is one of the most realistic wounded guys out there. He reminds me a of that famous picture by Robert Capa of the guy being hit during the Spanish Civil War. Lastly, the wounded guy who is crawling impacts me due to its realism. You can almost feel this guy's pain.

Marx US Infantry - Part 3

Another 3 good poses. The stretcher bearer is missing the stretcher, but that should be easy to manufacture. Of course he will need another guy to help him but I have a few of these already. The wounded guy will go on the stretcher. The crawling guy is a nice variation to the prone poses who are entirely on the ground. All these guys will need to be painted and added to the company.

Marx US Infantry - Part 4

Here is another less common Marx pose. I actually found the raft a few years back without knowing what set it belonged to, and it was only recently that I found the rower. I have to say though that the raft feels quite a bit underscale. The man is actually pretty nicely done. 

Marx US Infantry - Part 5

Here is the larger version of the Marx raft. It comes with two rowers. Feels better proportioned relative to the size of the crew, although the raft still feels a bit brittle to have to go into combat on it.

Marx US Infantry - Part 6

These are some marching GIs. The flag bearer was apparently sculpted by a different hand as the marching guys, but they are still close enough in scale and detail that they can be combined into a scene together. Now I just need to find an actual flag for the guy in the middle. 

Marx Gallant Men US Infantry

The Gallant Men, were 5 figures modeled after the characters in a TV series. They were released in 1963 as part of a 'Gallant Men' playset. They are a bit hard to get and there seems to be a strong emotional attachment to them which makes them a bit pricey. From left to right they are Lt. Kimbro, Pvt. D'Angelo, Sgt. McKenna, Conley Wright (the war correspondent) and Capt. Benedict. All very well sculpted, probably better than the rest of the Marx GI figures, although unfortunately, they are not in the most active poses. The Gallant Men were notable for being able to take on large number of enemy forces and defeat them with minimum casualties, the Gallant Men obviously not among them.

Marx Sitting GI

This is basically a single pose of a sitting GI that you can use to fill up a truck or half-track. The figure is actually quite plain and I think slightly on the larger side of 1/32. Also, since it is a single pose, once you put more than a couple on the same vehicle, it does look repetitive. And they come with a backpack which makes them sit off the back seat more than you'd like them to. On the other hand, there are not that many figures that you can use as passengers, so I am glad I got some of them, and I guess they are going to have to be good enough for now. 

Below are a few more GIs that have not been painted, or that already came factory painted. The unpainted ones will eventually join the ranks of the painted company once they have matching uniforms, but since it might be a while before that happens, I won't keep you waiting to meet them.  

Atlantic US Infantry (Marines) - Part I

This is one of my favorite sets from Atlantic. The figures are posed with enough movement in them and they are well proportioned. The kneeling guy's bazooka is a separate piece, so unless you glue it, you have to put it in place every time you handle him. I bought these guys on eBay labeled as GIs, but I recently discovered that they are actually Marines. Even so, they pass just fine as GIs.

Atlantic US Infantry (Marines) - Part II

Here are another 6 figures. If you are counting that makes 11, which is 1 more than the usual in the typical Atlantic set. The highlight of this batch are the flag-raising guys. Again, the flag comes separately and it requires a few tries to assemble the three pieces right, but the effort is well worth it. A mini tribute to the Iwo Jima flag-raising marines. This is the obvious clue that they are in fact marines.

Dulcop US Infantry - Part I

I found these guys by chance at a soldier show a couple of years back. A solid, well done set of figures. The base it a bit unusual. It has a lip all around the upper edge of the base, and if you look at them from a certain angle, their bases seem to be floating above the ground.

Dulcop US Infantry - Part II

The Dulcop poses remind me of the Airfix set. They don't have prone guys, but the rest are kind of similar. The color reminds me of the Army Men from Toy Story.

Britains Deetail US Infantry - Part I

The two men on the sides belong to the first series of GIs released by Britains. Aside from infantrymen, Britains also produced extra sets with heavy weapons. Here we have what they called the recoilless rifle. I've also seen it referred to as a 75mm gun. In any case, it is a nice addition to your army, which can provide some indirect fire support at critical times.

Britains Deetail US Infantry - Part II

These are the rest of the poses in the Series 1 set. Note that the right arm is made separately and attached to the figure. As a result of this, the arms often move up and down and can sometimes come off. The later series 2 figures were cast as one whole piece. Also, these guys have a tan base. The later figures came with green bases. 

Britains Deetail US Motor Boat

Here is a simple two man team with a boat ready to attempt an amphibious crossing. The boat does not look like much, but having an engine it provides a big advantage over having to row while dodging bullets. On the downside, with that engine it would not be of much use for a surprise/stealth crossing. Coming to think of it, I think the figures are quite a bit nicer than the actual boat.

First Gear US Infantry

These are the rest of the Britains Deetail guys, as they are presently made by First Gear. You can see that they make them in a couple of different uniform color schemes. Note also the difference in the bases.

Charbens US Infantry - Part 1

Charben was a British manufacturer that made figures in the 60s and 70s. I am not sure if these guys are from back then or if they are new production figures based on the old molds. The sculpting is not very detailed and some of the poses don't feel very natural. They are also on the smaller side of 54mm.

Charbens US Infantry - Part 2

The bases of these figures are also a bit small which does not make them very stable. Now that we have the negative points out of the way, I am still optimistic that once they are painted the colors will give them a lift in appearance and they will fit in with the rest of the unit.

Charbens US Infantry - Part 3

Here are some original Charbens GIs. Not sure if they have been touched up by the previous owner or if these were the factory colors. Note how there seems to be an extra pose, the marching guy, which is not present among the recasts.

CTS US Infantry Set 1 - Part I

These guys were just released a few months back. The sculpting is nice and some of the poses are quite original, like the kneeling guy with the two pistols.

CTS US Infantry Set 1 - Part II

The standing bazooka man and the flamethrower guy are nice variations for these weapons.

CTS US Infantry Set 2 - Part I

This is the second release of GIs by CTS. The guy I like the most is the one on the radio. I like the intensity that he portrays. The prone BAR man is also a good addition to the unit.

CTS US Infantry Set 2 - Part II

These three poses are what made me get a a couple of these sets. I had the Long Tom artillery pieces from 21st Century Toys, but I did not have crews for them. There is a loader, a guy on the phone, and another one that seems to be ready to fire the gun.

CTS US Infantry Set 2 - Part III

Here is a close up of the crew. The caliber of the ammo looks small for this gun, but I guess it's going to have to be good enough for it.

Bergen Toys US Infantry - Part I

Here are some guys that I found on eBay. They were made by a company called Bergen Toys and Novelty Co. You can tell that they are older figures, the first ones made apparently around 1938, although they went through multiple releases with slight variations. Bergen Toys  is often also referred to as Beton, and its soldiers as Betons.

Bergen Toys US Infantry - Part II

Note how the poses are very straight, favoring ease of manufacturing. I mainly got them for their uniqueness factor.

Bergen Toys US Infantry - Part III

Always a good thing to have a standard bearer, just in case you want to have your troops parade down the Champs Élysées. I find the guy holding the phone so close to his chest a bit amusing though.

Bergen Toys US Infantry - Part IV

The only clue as to who made these guys is at the base. Apparently it stands for Bergen Toys.

Forces of Valor US Infantry

A decent set by Forces of Valor. Most of their other US figures had been paratroops, so it is good that they came out with an Army division. The machine gun needs some hot water to straighten it, and the bazooka is a bit on the small side. Plus you need to glue the men to their base otherwise they keep coming apart.

21st Century Toys US Infantry - Part I

21st Century came out with multiple series of GIs over several years. Unfortunately I did not record what figures came out in each batch. In all, I have 18 of them. Maybe I am missing a couple, but I don't know for sure, as some of them came from someone else's collection. Overall, I like the poses and the nice factory paint job.

21st Century Toys US Infantry - Part II

The guy who is standing firing is a bit stiff for my taste. The guys walking/standing are OK. The bazooka man and the one moving forward are more my kind of figures.

21st Century Toys US Infantry - Part III

The best one here is the guy who is charging. The guy kneeling behind the fence is also good, but I find the fence a bit limiting in terms of the scenes where you can set the guy. And then there's the guy who can barely stand... I won't tell you what I think about him!

21st Century Toys US Infantry - Part IV

These 4 guys are all nice. The guy throwing the grenade seems a bit off balance, but I that's just how he got glued to the base, which reminds me to point that out. The bases are not part of the same mold as the figure, which is also the case with a few of the weapons, like the flamethrower nozzle. 

Blue Box Elite Command US Infantry

This  set represents General George Patton 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 Patton, you can be the judge of that.

 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? 

Ajax US Infantry - Part I

These figures have more value to me as collectibles. The poses are not so well detailed and the proportions are a bit off in some cases -like the size of the heads. The balance of the figures is also a bit off/awkward as is the case with the man throwing the grenade. One interesting detail is the shape of the antenna of the radio man. Anyhow, we must not forget that these were meant to be toys with mold making technology that is now about 60 years old. 

Ajax US Infantry - Part II

These other 4 figures are closer to 60 mm in size. You can tell that they are taller by comparing them against the bunker in the back. The two in the left are a bit better detailed and proportioned. There is supposed to be a 10th guy which was carrying a flamethrower. Apparently this pose was manufactured by a third party, but sold along with the Ajax figures.

The pictures below show some of the less common or older sets. They have been harder to find and that's why they have been the most recent additions. 

TimMee US Infantry Series 1 - Part I

These guys are actually 60mm figures. The same figures were later released in 54mm by Ideal. These 60mm figures say TimMee on the bottom of the base. These guys are not the best sculpted figures out there, but they hold a special place in my collection simply by being among the oldest. I'm sure that once they are painted they will look just fine next to the rest of the men.

TimMee US Infantry Series 1 - Part II

The prone guy is actually a Lido figure but he came with this batch of figures when I bought them so he ended up sneaking into the picture. BTW in this set you can already see some of the poses that would evolve into the Vietnam Tim-Mee figures: the mine sweeper, the kneeling radio man, the bazooka man with a straight back, the machine gunner...

TimMee US Infantry Series 1 - Part III

The rest of the gang. Again, you can recognize a few more of the guys who evolved into the Vietnam set.

TimMee US Infantry Series 2

These guys are also 60mm figures. They are a bit bulkier than the Series 1 figures, with better sculpting. The highlight of this set is the motorcycle man. The man in the middle seems to be wearing a German helmet so I need to do a bit more research to find out if he is really a GI. It came with the rest of them, so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

TimMee US Medical Team

One of the few sets that include a woman, not to mention the dog. Even though the stretcher is missing, I was still quite happy when I ran into this rare set. I am sure I can scratch-build and improvise a stretcher. Once they are painted, they will go great with the ambulance I recently got from FOV.

Starlux US Medical Team

This is another nice medical team. Again, I am missing the stretcher, but hopefully I can come up with a replacement to load up the casualty. The medic in this case seems to be walking along unconcerned about the patient. Might have been better to make him pay a bit more attention to him. The nice thing about the Starlux figures is that they come factory-painted which makes them look nicer. What is a bit odd, though is that they are all wearing ties, which is not something that I think would happen in the field.

Starlux US Officer

This guy looks like he could be an artillery officer waiting for the right time to begin the barrage. I wish I had a few more figures to go with him, even if it were just a mortar team.

Starlux US or French Infantry Part I

These guys look like GIs to me, but knowing that French troops also wore US equipment, I don't know if they might have been made to represent French Infantry. Not sure why the second guy from the right was made of a multi-color plastic. I like the pose though. 

Starlux US or French Infantry Part II

A few more GI looking guys. The uniform color is a bit different and some of them are wearing ties, but the helmet does look American issued. As you can see I only have a subset of the total poses as the man feeding the machine gun belt is missing the machine gunner to partner with. 

Starlux US or French Infantry Part III

Here are a few more poses. The funny thing about Starlux figures is that they meant to make some poses exhibiting action and movement, and yet the execution always seems to have fallen a bit short. The bodies are often straighter than you would expect for a guy running or throwing a grenade. Still it's better than standing or marching poses... An interesting pose in this set is the guy handling the captured panzerschreck. 

Starlux US or French Infantry Part IV

And one more. This guy is firing a bazooka, although I don't get a sense that he is braced well enough for the explosion. I know the reaction is supposed to be rather neutral, but I've got to think that it must shake you up a bit and he is standing rather casually. Anyhow, it's always good to have more heavy weapons in the squad to fend of the German armor.

Starlux US or French Infantry Part V
A decent looking pose. Too bad the detector is broken off.

Starlux US or French Infantry 45or 50 mm

These are slightly smaller figures than the 54mm guys. I don't know why they would have manufactured figures in two scales so close to each other. These guys show slightly more action than the other two sets. Would have been nice if they had been a bit bigger. 

Ideal 60mm US Infantry - Part I

These guys are actually reissued Ideal figures. The originals are harder to come by and pricier, but for me, these guys are just fine. the sculpting on these figures is quite nice for the time when they were released. As you can tell, some of them are very similar to the TimMee series 1 figures, like the prone guy on the left. I am not sure who inspired who, but I suspect, the Ideal figures came later. One distinct feature of the Ideal men is that they come without a base. They simply balance themselves on their two feet.

Ideal 60mm US Infantry - Part II

Here again we see a couple of figures very similar to the TimMee guys: the ones on the far right and left. These guys BTW are closer to 60mm than they are to 54mm. In contrast with the TimMee set, they included a few figures with a bit more action and movement in them, as illustrated by the second man from the right. Even the guy with the flamethrower is leaning forward in a good action pose. 

Ideal 60mm US Infantry - Part III

Here one can recognize the kneeling rifleman and the bazooka, although the rifleman lost his sniper scope in the Ideal set. One guy who fooled me for a bit is the one sitting with his legs apart. At first glance I thought he was a recast of the Marx figure, but later on a noticed that he does have a few significant differences, one of them being that his shirt is open down to his belly button. A rather unique touch. The man on the left, appears to be manning a machine gun. Unfortunately the set did not include it. Luckily I do have one or two spare ones that I can issue to him from other sets.

Ideal 60mm US Infantry - Part IV

This picture shows three more that might have been inspired by the TimMee set. The fourth man, firing from the standing position might have been inspired by the Marx guy. In any case, Ideal set was a nice, well sculpted and detailed set, and with 16 poses, a nice contribution to the hobby. I am glad I was able to finally lay my hands on them.

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. 

MPC Ring Hand US Infantry

I only have one figure from this set, and it came without a weapon. Apparently you could put a variety of accessories on them and produce several different figures. I find it an interesting idea. Maybe at some point I will find the rest of his buddies. BTW, he is also a 60mm guy.

Lido 54mm GIs

I recently found these GIs on eBay. They did not indicate the manufacturer, but I could tell that they were vintage so I got them (not to mention that the guy throwing the rock is a very unique pose!), assuming that I would be able to track down the manufacturer later. Well, I spent almost a whole afternoon trying to identify them and could not figure it out. It was thanks to one of our readers who left a comment that we now know that they are early Lido GIs.

Lido 54mm GIs - Part II

The rest of the 8 figure set. The guy with the knife is a bit interesting. It resembles the pose with the rock quite a bit, but it's not quite the same. The guy in the middle seems to be lacking in terms of the action dimension. The officer is a decent way to wrap up the set. 

Lido 60mm US Infantry - Part I

This is another old set. Originally made in the mid 1950s, although continued to be recast and cloned over the years. Even these guys are from several different batches, even though I bought them all together. Note how they do not have any bases, and yet they are quite stable.

Lido 60mm US Infantry - Part II

Some of the Lido figures were copies of Marx figures. I think the guy on the left is one of those. 

Lido/Marx 60mm US Infantry - Part III

Some more guys. I bought them as Lido, but even if they are Lido, they seem to be recasts/clones of the Marx GIs.

Lido 60mm US Infantry - Part IV

Here are a few more alleged Lido guys. They came with the rest of the set, but I have not been able to determine their origin.

Lido/Marx 60mm US Infantry - Part V

These guys are some of the same poses, as those already show above, but they have a smooth helmet, without netting, and are slightly taller.

Marx 60mm US Infantry

Here are three original Marx 60mm US Infantry figures. Note that the kneeling rifleman, is also present in the 40mm set. The bazooka guy is a very sturdy one, and one that I remember fondly from my younger days.

Marx 60mm US Infantry - Part IV

Another early 60mm Marx guy. He resembles the 40mm version of it quite a bit. He is a bit bulky relative to the other 60mm guys and it makes you wonder if he was sculpted by a different hand, but his condition is still fairly good. We'll have to find him a gun to pair him up with.

Marx 50mm GI?

I don't really know the origin of this guy, but my best guess is that he is a 50 mm Marx, If anybody knows, please let me know.    

Marx 40mm US Infantry - Part I

I recently bought these figures without really knowing the manufacturer and scale, but I knew they were old and worth collecting. They turned out to be smaller than I expected and it took me a while to figure out who made them, but I finally figure out that they are an early Marx set.

Marx 40mm US Infantry - Part II

The figures are made out of hard rubber, heavier and harder than plastic. We can tell from the weapons that they were made after the war. While the poses are not the most exciting or well sculpted, I like having such an old item in the collection.

Archer 60 mm US Infantry - Part I

There were 10 poses originally in the set. A marching figure and an officer standing and holding a pistol are missing. Similar to other figures of the 50's and 60's, they lack a base to stand on, which makes it a bit tricky to balance them. The only figure which was made with a base was the second guy from the left, but unfortunately, it broke off from this figure. I will have to make one for him. The poses and the detail are acceptable for their time, but seem a bit coarse by today's standards.

Archer 60 mm US Infantry - Part II

The poses in this picture are a bit nicer in my opinion. I particularly like the man standing with the bazooka. The man advancing with the sub machine gun is also displaying a nice mix of caution and forward movement. The other two are just standard poses, reasonably well done.

Archer 60 mm US Infantry - Part III

Here is another Archer guy. I got him by chance on a large batch of figures. He seems to be a pretty unique guy in the sense that he is wearing the gas mask. At the same time, that is the thing that I don't quite like about him. But it does make him a good figure to have from the collectible standpoint. 

Monogram 1/35 US Infantry - Part I

I recently came across these figures on eBay. Some of the poses looked really good. They are supposed to be 1/35 in scale, but they turned out to be quite smaller. So much that I thought they were 40mm figures until I confirmed that they were indeed sold as part of a 1/35 kit requiring assembly. There are supposed to be 18 figures in the set. I suspect that I have most of them, but maybe I also got a few extra figures from other sets. Like the guy in the middle holding the artillery shell.

Monogram 1/35 US Infantry - Part II

This picture has some of my favorite figures in the set. The mortar team and the bazooka team are very well done. In fact, they are the poses that made me get these figures.

Monogram 1/35 US Infantry - Part III

Here are the rest of the guys. The previous owner painted them with white helmets, but they seem to be part of the same set, although I do wonder about the mortar team. I doubt one set would have had two mortar teams.

Monogram 1/35 US Infantry - Comparison to a 1/32 figure

Here is a shot with a 1/32 figure next to a monogram guy. The 1/32 guy from Italeri is on the smaller side of the 1/32 scale compared with let's say the Conte or TSSD guys, but the monogram guy still looks quite smaller. I don't think I will be able to use these guys next to my other troops :-(

Maybe they would come handy in a diorama where you need to create the impression of things being farther than they really are.

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. 

Bonnie Bilt US Infantry - Part I

This is an interesting set. Not very realistic as they are flat figures, but unique in the sense that they are made out of plastic, but are flat like many lead soldiers used to be. The prone man on the right was supposed to have a machine gun, but I suppose those were easy to lose, so I wonder if there are many left. 

Bonnie Bilt US Infantry - Part II
The stretcher set is very interesting. The carriers have two small holes on their hands where the handles of the stretcher fit in. I am not sure when these guys were originally manufactured, but it must have been in the 50s or 60s. The material is actually hard plastic. Later in the 70s they were still made -probably cloned- in soft plastic and came in three colors: red, yellow, and blue, so you could have different color armies fight each other. If you ever 'shot' at these guys using marbles, then you know how hard they were to hit given how thin they are..

Timpo US Infantry - Part I

These are the nicest among the Timpo figures that I have seen. There are quite a few poses for this set -probably close to 20- Unfortunately I only have a handful. They are hard to find. I found this guy going through a big toy solider bin at a Toy Soldier Show. 

Timpo US Infantry - Part II

Here are two more guys that I managed to get by chance when I bought a lot of mixed soldiers. They used to be factory-painted but as you can see, most of the original paint is gone.

Timpo US Infantry - Part III

Here is another batch of Timpo GIs with some more color on them. I find the sculpting quite good in terms of the poses. The level of detail could be finer, but they are still quite well done for their time. For instance, take a look at the man running with the sub mg. That is a very nice pose. 

Timpo US Infantry - Part IV

And a few more. Note that the radio man is also featured here. I could have removed the other pic, but since it is a close up I figure it's worth leaving it there. I should also point out that these figures were later reissued but a company called UNA. You can tell them apart because the UNA figures have the company name stamped underneath.

Timpo US Infantry - Part V

The latest Timpo GI. Not a very exciting pose. He seems to be carrying a suitcase with a blanket roll attached to it. The strange thing is that it also has a backpack with a blanket roll on the back, so I am not really sure what the suitcase is or why he would have two packs. The paint quality on this figure is still very good. And BTW, note that this paint color scheme is different.

Timpo US Infantry - Part VI

Here is yet another Timpo guy. He looks like a mortar or artillery crew member. I don't think Timpo made any artillery sets, so most likely he is the former, but then again, I would expect him to he holding a mortar shell in that case. So I am not really sure what he is supposed to be operating. He came in a large batch of mixed figures, so I don't have any other context to guess from. If you know, leave a comment!

Timpo US Infantry - Part VII

This is an interesting pose. It seems to have been made in slightly different variations over quite a few versions of the Timpo GIs, boing back to the day in which they were still made in metal. This one is one of the more recent ones. Unfortunately I do not have the stretcher bearers.

Timpo US Infantry - Part VIII

Here is the rest of the stretcher team, with a good amount of the original paint still on them, which is nice so that we can still see the armbands designating them as medics.

Timpo US Infantry - Part IX

A couple of heavy weapons guys a kneeling rifle man. I was lucky enough to find the mortar to go along with the figure.  

Timpo US Infantry - Part X

Two infantry men and an MP guy (in the middle). Note how some of these poses are repeated in the Reisler figures, like the guy on the right. He's actually one of the Timpo guys displaying the most movement, which I always like. 

UNA US Infantry - Part I

OK, here are the UNA guys. As you can tell they are recasts of the Timpo figures.

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 US Infantry - Part III

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.

Solido Belge US Infantry

Solido Belge was a Belgian Toy Solider maker. 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. The paint job is acceptable, but nothing extraordinary. All in all a decent figure and based on its rarity a good addition to the collection.

Reisler US Infantry - Part I

Reisler is a Danish Toy Soldier manufacturer. These are just 3 poses out of about 25 GIs that they made. Some of the Reisler figures I have seen online have paint on them, but I don't know if they came this way out of the factory. As you can tell, the figures are well proportioned and have a decent amount of detail on them. Several of the poses that I am missing are even better. Hopefully I can get my hands on them soon and show them. 

Reisler US Infantry - Part II

I recently got lucky and found a few more of these guys. Note that among them is a nurse, which I was not aware of until now. The guys in this picture are displaying quite a bit more movement than the previous guys, and I particularly like the two poses at both ends. The machine gunner is also a good pose as you always want some heavy weapons in your units, and the radio man is also important to be able to call in some artillery support!

Reisler US Infantry - Part III

Two more poses which came in this last batch. The man on the left is a typical prone guy firing, but the one on the right, really caught my eye as it shows what is probably a very common situation in the field, however not frequently represented in the toy soldier world. He is much better suited to be placed behind a log or behind a pile of debree, but in order to get a better picture s you can fully appreciate him, I just placed him in the open.

Reisler US Infantry - Part IV

 A few more Reisler guys. Note that initially, I mistook these guys for Timpo GIs. It wasn't until I started to research some of the other poses that I realized that Reisler also produced their versions of several Timpo poses.

Reisler US Infantry - Part V

And a few more, also made by Timpo. Not sure if the color they have was added by a previous owner or if they came painted like this out of the factory.

Reisler US Infantry - Part VI

This is an original Reisler, as far as I know, and not a very common one. I only recall one more wire cutter among WWII plastic toy soldiers. The Revell German Engineer.

Reisler US Infantry - Part VII

Another three GIs straight out of Timpo's lineup. The only reason you can tell that they were made by Reisler is by the label on the bottom of the base of the middle guy. So considering the number of manufacturers which have released Timpo GIs, these guys are not that special. But it is still good to be one step closer to having the complete set of Reisler guys.

Reisler US Infantry - Part VIII

These are two of the less common Reisler poses. They actually came together in the original packing, which shows that they were sold separately. The man on the left is operating a recoilless rifle/gun. The guy on the motorcycle is OK for the most part, except that his right hand can't be placed on the bike's handle. They simply do not line up, but the right hand does, so at least he can drive with one hand :-)

The other thing to note is that the detail is not as crisp as you would expect from original figures, but they do get bonus points for being fairly unique.

Reisler US Infantry - Part IX

And yet a few more poses. Amazing how many of them there are. What's interesting about this small batch is that one of the men, the one on the left, has a movable arm. I suppose this was done this way so that it could come out of the mold, because it does not really add much to the figure in terms of a useful action. The guy speaking on the phone is also a bit different and interesting. The man with the sub mg is a bit too stiff for my taste. But glad to have him and be closer to being done with the set. At this point I don't know if there are any other poses left to find.  

BUM US Infantry - Part I

This is machine gun team is sold as American by BUM. The art on the box shows them wearing GI uniforms, however when you look at the actual figures I don't really recognize the features of the American uniforms. So I actually plan on using them as Italian Infantry, since they could use a bit of help when it comes to heavy weapons. The poses are actually OK, but the level of detail on the figures, is not so great. For instance, the face of the man on the left is pretty plain.

BUM US Infantry - Part II

Another heavy weapons team from BUM. Also allegedly American, but note really. This set also comes with the barbed wire, but I did not include it in the picture to get a better shot. Note also that the figures seem to be clones. You can tell not only because the level of detail is a bit faded, but also because the original oval bases are now encased in larger rectangular bases. 

Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part I

This is a diverse set of GIs. I am not sure how many upper/lower bodies it contained originally, but in this batch I got about 8 upper bodies and 8 lower bodies, with which you could assemble many different poses. Unfortunately all of the helmets were missing.

Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part II

Some more poses. Some already repeat parts used in the previous picture, but some are using new ones. All in all, a decent set as you can assemble quite a few engaging action poses, although not with the same level of realism as what you got with other manufacturers.


Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part III
Another pose/combination with the series 1 GIs.

Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part IV

This is a nice set from Timpo and in very good condition. The fact that the figures still have their helmets does make a big difference in making them look unmistakably as GIs. I wonder if the man on the back was originally holding a shell or something. He is not holding anything at the moment. Or perhaps his upper body got swapped? That might be because it is also a bit odd that he would be holding a rifle at the same time that he is helping to load the bazooka.

Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part V

Here are the other poses from what I understand were the series 2 GIs. Definitely a good improvement from the earlier ones, both in terms of uniforms, poses, weapons. And I also like that these came with helmets. 

Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part VI
Some of the kneeling poses. As you can see, I have a few more officer upper bodies than I really need, but I'll make do with what I got. Just happy I found a set with enough figures and in decent condition.

Timpo Swoppets GIs - Part VII

 This is an interesting combination. The figures are not the original crew. I just grabbed the ones who might fit the best. In fact, the guy who is operating the howitzer, appears to be a driver from some type of vehicle. And the guy in the back looks like a bazooka loader. But since they came with the howitzer I decided to try to make some use of it.

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

These guys are from a 1960's toy series. They were mankind's defenders against giant insect invaders. They 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 there were not so many of them - they were only released along with those insect playsets. Those bugs are even more of a priced rarity.

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?

Schylling Toys US Infantry - Part I

Here is another set inspired by Matchbox. These seem to be direct clones of the Matchbox figures, although you do see slight differences, like the missing bayonet on the second guy from the left, the running pose. Despite being clones, I find that the quality of the plastic is fairly good and the level of detail has not been lost. 

Schylling Toys US Infantry - Part II

Here you see the rest of the poses. It is interesting to see that the officer pose is missing, the one who is aiming or firing a pistol. Instead we have the guy lowering his weapon, which by the way, might also be missing the bayonet if my memory serves me well. 

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. 

Jean Hoefler US Infantry

These are five out of the eight poses made by Jean Hoefler. I have also seen them in dark green plastic. The missing guys are a bazooka man, a heavy machine gunner, and an officer leading on his men. The sculpting is fairly good, both in terms of the level of detail and the movement in the poses - aside from the guy who is just standing around. I don't know if the figures came factory-painted or if a prior owner painted them. Overall a nice set. It would have been nice if they had made some Germans to go against them. Being a German firm, it's likely that they decided to side-step that land mine. 

Imperial US Infantry - Part I

This is an interesting set in 1:32 scale. It is a mix of figures based on the Matchbox GIs, Airfix GIs, and the Airfix Australians. The Australians have given up their distinctive hat in favor of the steel helmet. As far as I know there are 9 poses. The missing guys are the Australian Bren gunner who is kneeling, the Australian who is standing/walking on guard duty, the Airfix GI with the bazooka -he was given a base-, and the Airfix GI who is running with the rifle at his chest. The nice thing is that they have cast them in a way that you can hardly distinguish that they are originally from different sets. The original Matchbox guys used to have baggier outfits, and the Airfix guys were a bit slimmer, but here they look as if they were from the same set. As far as I know, they were made in the mid 70s and they have the Imperial brand stamped beneath their bases. 

Imperial US Infantry - Part II

This picture includes four additional poses. Two of the men shown were already in the prior picture. Again, these are a mix of Airfix GIs and ANZAC troops, with some slight modifications. Like the bazooka man has been given a much needed base. And the man standing with the weapon slung over his shoulder has been given a helmet. Other than that, they are very mush the same as the Airfix figures. The paint on this guys was added by a prior owner. 

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. 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.

Guilbert US Infantry

I also came across this guy by chance, and similarly to the previous guy, I only found out who made it thanks to the markings on the base. I did a bit of googling around and I only found a couple more poses that look similar to him, so it might be that it comes from a very small set. I also did not find other WWII participants made by Guilbert. I did not do extensive research, so maybe there's hope that there are more good figures where this came from. I personally like his stance. He is walking but he definitely seems to be leaning into some action.

Pech Hermanos 60mm US Infantry

This is a group of 7 figures that I was lucky to come across. If there are as many poses as there are for the Japanese, this means that I found about half of them. In general, I like the dynamism of the poses quite a bit. I am sure that at the time that they were released, they must have been very well received. I particularly like the officer, rallying his men to move forward. The only odd figure is the bazooka man who is standing up straight. Forget about offering a smaller target, he is not even bracing himself for the recoil by placing one foot in front of the other! 

Speira Miniatures US Infantry - Part I

These are 3D printed figures from a relatively new firm in Sweden. You can order individual figures, which is great because you can get more or fewer of each pose. I did not order every single pose they offer. I mainly ordered fighting poses. In this first batch you can see mostly men charging/moving forward. The selection of weapons is nice, and I particularly like the two flamethrower guys. The level of detail (frame, tanks, hoses) is impressive for 3D printing. The sculpting is also well done. The figures are well proportioned and the stance/balance of the figures seems just right. BTW, if you notice some dust on the figures, that is something I did not notice before I took the pictures. It came from something else I was sanding on my workbench. So nothing to do with the material or manufacturing process of these guys. 

Speira Miniatures US Infantry - Part II

In this other batch, I am showing crouching men, and casualties. The crouching poses are fine. A few of them are quite similar and you do have to pay attention to notice the differences, in the ammo pouches, weapons, etc. One thing that you can do when you order the figures is to 'mirror' them so that the left side is printed on the right side. I should have probably done that to make some of these poses look a bit more different from each other. The other kneeling pose is a man pulling out a grenade's safety pin, unlike most other grenade men, who are usually throwing it. Then we have the casualties... I must admit that I am a bit underwhelmed by them. The sculpting seems a bit stiff. For someone who just got hit, I think they lack a bit of drama. I think that just the force of the bullet would knock the person more off balance. 

Speira Miniatures US Infantry - Part III

This batch are standing, firing poses. Even though they are fighting poses, I have to say that -with the exception of the flamethrower guy- they have substantially less action in them. The sculpting is still good with regards to the proportions, level of detail, equipment and weapons, but they are just not as exciting as the first batch for instance. But they provide good enough variety to round up the set well.

Speira Miniatures US Infantry - Part IV

A few more GIs to round up the squads. A mortar team is always a welcome addition. There's also a medic rushing forward to help the wounded. He displays well his sense of urgency. And there's also the man on the right which offers an interesting perspective. He does not come across as the most courageous pose, but it somehow feels real that he is just trying to take cover. 

CTS Korean War Winter GIs - Part I

I debated with myself a long time whether I should get these guys or not. On the one hand, there are very few GIs wearing winter long coats. As far as I know, only the ones from TSSD. So I thought these would complement them well. What made me doubtful is that the sculpting feels a bit coarse. Not just in terms of the details, but also because the figures seem quite bulky, particularly the legs and mittens. In the end I relented, and convinced myself that the reason why they are bulky is that they must have a lot of padding inside their boots and gloves. Anyhow, without further ado, these are the CTS Korean War Winter GIs. 

CTS Korean War Winter GIs - Part II

In terms of the poses, I like that all of them could be used in battle scenes and there's enough variety in the weaponry as well. Even the outfits have some interesting details. While most of them are wearing long coats, one of them is wearing a poncho over it, which reminds me very much of the sculptures at the Korean War Memorial in Washington DC. And then there's the guy who seems to be a sniper with what is most likely a white cammo suit on top. The figures are on the larger side of 1/32 (probably more like 1/30), but they will still go well with the TSSD Winter GIs. So all in all, I am not disappointed about having bought them. 

Mars US Infantry Winter Uniform

Another good set from Mars, addressing a topic that is not covered very often. You get a decent set of weapons represented, including a rifle grenade, a sitting sniper, a radio man, plus some of the other more usual infantry poses, including a left-handed man firing from the standing position. There are however two things that I really don't like about this set. The first one is the posing of the grenade thrower. There is something strange about his stance. Maybe he needs to bend the knees a bit more, or maybe the fact that the head is aligned with the standing leg, just makes it look unnatural. The other thing that's not right is the manufacturing of the fourth man from the left. The two halves of his face are horribly misaligned. This is not the first time this happens with Mars figures. I really wish they paid more attention to such details.

Mars US MG Teams

This set consists of two machine gun teams in firing position, and a few other supporting figures. As far as I can tell, the two prone guys are operating a Browning 30 cal. MG. The two other guys are firing a water-cooled version of the same MG. The running and standing men are carrying additional MGs, tripods, and ammo. The set comes with 12 figures in total. The other 4 men are repeats of the running/standing men. In general, an OK set. I would not say it is a must have, as there are already other MG teams around from other manufacturers. And the sculpting has the same style of tucked arms as other previous Mars sets. But if you care about having a complete collection, it is still worth getting one set of these guys.

Mars US Mortar Team

This is another really nice set. A mortar team which could probably be used in both the ETO and the Pacific. Again, it was sculpted with 3D printing in mind and it shows. All poses appear so much more natural. I also love the level of detail. Look at the face of the radio man for instance. It is just as expressive as the faces of Plastic Platoon. I may like it even better as it is not overly intense. The muscles on the shirtless man are also very well done and in general, the detail such as the creases on the uniforms are all very realistic. And then there is the 4.2 inch (107mm) mortar with all its components clearly sculpted, including the thread for the angle adjusting mechanism. All remarkable for a 3D printed figure. These guys do set a new standard for 3D printed figures!  

Brogamats Yoga GIs - Part I

Certainly not fighting poses, but unique and amusing for sure. 

Brogamats Yoga GIs - Part II

Coming to your nearest bootcamp?

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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.

Click here to see the Company of GIs in action.