Reader’s Contributions, Reader’s Questions Odds Ends we have a mix of items. First we have a question from Andreas Dittmann on some figures. In contributions Ed Borris and T D Barnecutt share photos of objects that may have been bases for pieces to playsets. Erwin sell has another interesting card of figures. Peter Evans has information on a robbery of Model shop and who was the culpirt. Greg Liska has a question on Awesome Kids AWI figures. Lots to cover.
Reader’s Contributions, Reader’s Questions Odds Ends Question
Andreas has been collecting a series of figures that he is trying to get more information on. Here is what he said.
The attached photos show nine different toy soldiers for me ofunknown origin. They are of 60mm scale and unpainted soft plastic. They look to me like army figures of the 1970s. Their helmets are a bit unusua.l They do not look like the so-called Timmee Vietnam GIs. It drove me crazy to find the 8th pose. And then it happened: I found a 9th pose.
Now, we can assume that there might have been a 10th pose in the complete set?
I have figures of that set in a light green soft plastic (like Airfix plastic) and in a harder soft-plastic dark green (like Marksmen recast plastic). Details are poor. Some of my figures have no base marking, some have “Made in Hong Kong” or just “Hong Kong” and others “Lee Venezuela”.
Neither Erwin or I have seen the figures have you?
Reader’s Contributions, Reader’s Questions Odds Ends References
Ed Borris noted that the Travis in the painting looks similar to the BMC figure. What do you think?
T D Barnecutt found this photo. It is a picture of a 19th century Civil War carved limestone wheel which is located in an Ohio cemetery. Looks a lot like the Marx wheel, he thinks do you?
Reader’s Contributions, Reader’s Questions Odds Ends Robbery
Peter Evans sent me this from UK. It was a robbery at Merv’s Model Shop
Reader’s Contributions, Reader’s Questions Odds Ends Another Question
Greg Liska has a question on the Awesome Kids AWI. I’ve been looking for a full set of the Awesome Kids AWI and I have not even been able to locate a picture of what was in a full set. I’ve run into portions of the set on Ebay, but I’m still uncertain what a full set consisted of in number of figures and number of poses. I also have no idea what else came in the set. Can either of you locate such information? There has to be a catalog picture out there somewhere that would tell all.
I got those soldiers in Ottawa, Ontario, when I was about 10 in the mid 1970s. I recall my father buying them for me at a little neighborhood convenience store run by a Lebanese family where my dad would buy his cigarettes.
The soldiers were on a circular rack and came sealed under clear plastic on a hanger card that was quite large. Each soldier had it’s own compartment on the card. The card had a yellowish background and showed a battlefield, if my memory is correct.
I do not recall getting the 3 poses in the last photo or the central grenade thrower in the middle photo. The first grenade thrower in the middle photo was my favorite figure. I had multiple copies of the marching man and the man crouching with the rifle and one each of the two officers and the first grenade thrower. I think I had a total of about ten figures in five of the shown poses. I liked them, but they were too big for my Marx and MPC soldiers so I didn’t use them much.
This was the very same convenience store where I had gotten the Hong Kong Elastolin cloned Gauls and Romans that were discussed here earlier, and the packaging was similar, so maybe the soldiers originated in the same place as the Elastolin clones. My soldiers said “Made in Hong Kong” on the bottom of their bases. I might have a few left in a junk box someplace in the garage.
The BMC guy had a top hat and the arm without the psitol was on his waist.
I must admit I have never seen those GI’s before, they are a bit odd looking, but interesting.
My family and I were at the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin this summer and I took pictures of the original of Ed’s painting and another one they have there showing the victory at San Jacinto. I do think that the BMC Travis looks a lot like the one in the painting.
https://i.imgur.com/Yp0HzLn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mH9trIj.jpg
An interesting tid bit, one year I spoke to the guy who did the TSSD Barbarians, That was his first venture into the toy soldier world. Prior to that the had done sports statues, primarily baseball. If you look closley at the poses you can see the similarities between some of the poses and poses you might see on the baseball diamond. He also modeled the female archer of off Ursala Andress.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the GIs. I would probably have passed them by due to scale and the sculpting.
The BMC figure looks somewhat like the painting, but it’s a little tough to tell because those Alamo defenders were some of BMC’s flops. The Mexicans are OK to me, in fact I really like the Santa Ana figure, flag bearer and kneeling firing upwards. The others are still decent. No serious anatomical anomalies with any of them and the poses are credible.
Ursula Andress is a fine model for any female figure! She still looked amazing in Clash of the Titans! The Marx 6 inch cavemen were almost a full baseball team! I noticed it even as a child. Must have been ancient ancestors of Abner Doubleday.
While I’m here: Anybody have Charbens British Grenadiers re-cast in red to move on? I’d like about 20 in all poses.
Ed or his partner had some i think before .They are more early XVIII century but i know you may had use x them.Will keep eye on around .
best
I’m your huckleberry.
You know how to reach me.
Greg, I am looking for Linde Cowboys and Indians. Also any Spanish or European western stuff.
I’m at the point where it’s time to let some of my collection go and to concentrate on what really interests me. Any of you overseas gentleman, who wish to trade European for American plastic, can reach me at:
nevinsrip@aol.com
I have a ridiculous amount of toys.
I sculpted my first ever toy soldier this week. I needed WW1 machinegunners for some TSSD Brownings I had picked up, so I bought a piece of Sculpey Bakeshop clay in Olive Drab, bent up a couple of paperclips for an armature and tried my hand.
I wanted him to be an American in a campaign hat, but it came out more like a sombrero, so I added a bandolier and conscripted him into Pancho Villa’s forces. He is pretty rough looking and he also has a weight problem. Hopefully my skills will improve with practice! For cheap clay, the figure feels quite sturdy and durable, but it was so soft before baking that detailing was very difficult.
https://i.imgur.com/lDlz9bV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sG2xOlq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PifZbbO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XkgIzsm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/p2WsmFW.jpg
Not bad for a first attempt. Better than I could do.
NICE! Good work. Practice makes perfect. Can’t wait to see your progress a year from now.
You are braver than I am, nice job!!!!
Sculpy makes some finer grade clay called super sculpy or sculpy II. It is supposed to take finer detailing. it is typically grey in color but I’ve also seen it in a reddish brown color. I have bought some to test out my sculpting skills but have not had the time to work on it. I really want to sculpt some 1/32 scale bison in 5 or 6 running poses.
Nice start. I’ve seen worse for sale and you’ll only get better with time.
He still serve as American against pancho villa forces too ,great start Mark!Some WW1 eary forces used the hat at campaign till the pot helmet fully distributed after september 1917
Thanks very much, guys! You are too kind!
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of even the cheap Bakeshop clay. It feels more like actual plastic than clay. I do want to try Super Sculpey once I get a little better.
After I made this figure, I found a very helpful Youtube channel called “The Wars of Plasticine” with all kinds of sculpting tutorials and examples. This person uses Plasticine rather than polymer clay, but he does wonders with it. I don’t know if I would want to sculpt such nice figures in such a fragile medium, though. Here’s the channel in case you want to have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/user/OLLLGAR
I’m thinking of doing some more soldier sculpting on my Christmas break next month. I’ll post the results if they are not too hideous!
To make a helmet you could use silicone caulking to form a rubber mold off another figure. Then push some sculpy into the mold and bake it. The silicone rubber can stand the heat up to 400 F.
Thank you! That’s a very good idea. Helmets and weapons are going to be hard to shape properly. You only have to bake the Sculpey at 275 F so the molding method should work perfectly.
Something I read about Sculpey on line is that you can wrap some up in paper towels, the paper will absorb some of the oils or softeners in the clay and it will be less squishy. Then it will be easier to add finer detailing. Haven’t tried it but sounds logical.
I should caution that silicone sealer will bond to many materials but usually not to soft plastic like polyethylene. Still it’s a good idea to apply some oil or petroleum jelly to the figure that you are forming the mold from before you apply the sealant.
The Ferriot Bros. website has a time line / history posted about their company. It mentions that their molds at one time were cast in a special patented copper alloy. This is completely different than the pantograph method of mold making. Interesting.
Ferriot Brothers, the mold maker for Marx, was beginning to get involved in the sculpting about the time Marx was switching to 54MM. They were located in Akron, about 55 miles from that monument with the wheel. Coincidence?
Here is a list of contents for the Awesome Kids set. The soldiers were reduced size copies of King and Country metal figures. I have included the original K&C codes and titles where I have them.
French
AR18 French Regt. Charging, Two
AR19 French Regt. Flagbearer
Continentals
George Washington mounted on separate white horse
AR01 American Officer
AR04 1st NY Regt. Standing Firing, Two
AR08 3rd PA Regt. Drummer
AR09 3rd PA Regt. Standing Ready, Six
AR10 3rd PA Regt. Kneeling Firing, Two
AR12 1st NY Regt. Flagbearer
British
BR01 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers Standing Firing, Two
BR03 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers Officer
BR04 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers Flagbearer
BR11 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers Drummer
BE12 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers Kneeling Firing, Four
BR?? 10th Royal Lincolnshire Regt. Standing At Ready (not BR07), Two
Two ten-inch fences copied from K&C terrain piece
Paper Scroll with American Revoluion quiz, wrapped in red ribbon
Playmat showing the eastern seaboard
Wow! Thank you for that very detailed information! I had doubted that a set on Ebay was complete when it showed only 3 French figures, but I guess it really was complete. The problem was the set was thrown in with a huge pile of other stuff and the seller had it listed for something like $115.00 . I don’t want them that bad. I’m guessing they are cast in that vinyl plastic and are difficult to paint, like their ACW set. I endured the process of getting paint to adhere to them without getting tacky only because I liked the mounted figures so much.
I have an additional question: When you say scaled down, what size are these figures? I had envisioned them leaning on the 60mm scale side or at least larger than 54mm.
Greg I have the entire playset will dig it out and post photos x u maybe tomorrow.
They came in rectangular clear plastic case with red lid and nice painting on top.
The plastic is very stiff and hard to cut I think.
Best…
Thanks, Erwin. The plastic the figures are cast in is stiff and hard? They are not in the same rubbery type of plastic the AK ACW figures are cast in? If that is the case, there is hope they would paint up easier!
Greg I will comfirm once I got then.I may be wrong in material.
Too much in head .you could be right in been same as ACW
I will dig then out soon today later.
Best
I have seen those G.I.’s on E-bay in some carded and bagged sets. They look like copies of the Ideal G.I.’s with seperate weapons and equiptment.
BOBBYGMOORE
There is also a tenth pose, it is a G.I. with a flamethrower.
BOBBYGMOORE
There is also two more poses, a G.I. kneeling with Handi-talkie radio and a G.I. standing throwing grenade holding sub-machinegun in left hand.
BOBBYGMOORE
Now that Bobby mentions them, I believe I also had a couple of the grenade throwers with sub-machinegun and the walkie talkie man in my set. The grenade guy with the Thompson was very similar to the Marx 6 inch pose.
They are just under 60MM and are big compared to Accurate and similar figures.
The plastic is a PVC type, but there are no bent weapons.
If you buy a played-with set make sure the drums are still attached to the drummers.
Do the drums snap on or do you mean they are prone to being broken off?
The drums were glued on at the factory and are normally quite solidly attached. I have seen drummers on eBay without the drums. How the owners managed to remove them I do not know but it happens.
I know this is not the right post but in case some of you guys don’t have these .
Scene-A-Rama that provide craft stores with figures and accessories release ARW,ACW,indians camp and indian hunters ,pioneers,pirates ,caveman ,hunters sets plus accessories in plastic ,they are 52-54mm max approx and i had getting them at discount at michaels x past two years ,they match with last Safari LTD tubes same wars era figures but have more detail and better painting.
Here are the ARW link to see them.
you can find at amazon ,walmart web site and other places as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Woodland-Scenics-SP4454-1-5-Inch-Revolutionary/dp/B00843TRX6/ref=pd_sim_21_10?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=V5P960TRFXQXYM486YRV
on this link you may see some more of other sets done ,i can not find pirates now to show …
http://www.hobbylinc.com/woodland-revolutionary-war-soldiers-plastic-model-military-figure-4454?source=froogle&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6enQBRDUARIsAGs1YQh66aJh9NESd8BGAiM6dJknQ7VFcPMSXtjx58VzQtolczsPK6BuBvoaAjW4EALw_wcB