Comansi of Spain did many licensed playsets that we never had. One of the nicest is the Ponderosa from Bonanza. The set as you will see in the link has character figures for the Cartwrights also you may see some other character figures such as Maverick from other sets.
http://soldadosdeplastico.blogspot.com/
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Here is the English translation of what the author is saying about the playset
Complete toy: Toy Comansi”. The children of my generation grew up with that slogan. The maker of Barcelona have always been at the forefront of the domestic toy production and deservedly. In our small hobby never, however, was in head places and only in his early period was comparable to their Reamsa cousins, Jecs or Pech Hnos quality parts, the three leaders.
Despite this, there was a front in which Comansi highlighted deservedly and was the buildings and forts in the West.
One of the best or at least one that liked most always is this of “La Ponderosa”. It is manufactured in three sizes and this we show here is the largest.
Contained the figures that you see and some other and sought to recreate the Cartwright family mansion; Ben, Adam, Hoss and the young Joe, who was Southpaw like her pose shows us.
It gave many the afternoon game and wonderful hours of fun. He welcomed federal, Confederate, Cowboys, police officers mounted the Canada and sites of the most varied condition. He could fortify with a couple of carts and accepted position of artillery easily.
A jewel that is very difficult to find in this State and which has allowed us to remember happy moments.
With a little inspiration any of the three La Ponderosa versions could be easily replicated.
Comansi,Oliver,Reamsa and Jecsan did many beautiful sets and hundred of figures poses related to west, civil war , ww2 , ancient ,medieval time ,space and others all super rare and very interesting. Poses were great, detail in some very bad but worth have them. Incredible they cover many American film. Sample the film (El Cid) and (Ben Hur),inspired Reamsa and Jecsan to do playsets and soldiers sets that most still are recast in unpainted version (not the boxes and accessories). The reason is that these two awesome super Epic film production were in great part filmed in Spain during (Franco) regime period and he was too a fan of toy soldiers and western US film. So during his gob many toy soldiers company had the go ahead and promotion favored from him.In the bad side most were done in the larger than 54 mm scale sizes.
I should update and correct that (ben hur was not filmed but partial shot).In the other hand the following were filmed in Spain and some reamsa/jecsan sets base on the films bellow.
On the other hand, several American epic-scale superproductions or blockbusters were shot also in Spain, produced either by Samuel Bronston, King of Kings (1961), El Cid (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Circus World (1964)), or by others (Alexander the Great (1956), The Pride and the Passion (1957), Solomon and Sheba (1959), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Trojan Women (1971)). These movies employed many Spanish technical professionals, and as a byproduct caused that some filmstars, like Ava Gardner and Orson Welles lived in Spain for years.
Other film done only by Spaniard company and extremely accurate depicted in pose and character by any plastic toy soldier were such as jecsan/oliver was(The Bridge on the River Kwai ).
I do have many of the poses and in fact the bridge done by same company in plastic and realistic scale-size(it was sold in 6 different- set= section each measuring 35-42 cm long) with one part that split in 4 as exploded and different figures inside the large box);it took me years to get all but is beautiful and unique.
Patton and The Battle of the Bulge were both filmed in Spain. All of the US tanks and equipment were sold to Franco. They also had versions of old German bombers that were used in the North Africa battle scenes. The Spanish army actually used the films to conduct training exercises on the dime of the film companies!
Thank you Jack;yes interesting about those two films .I forgot to mentioned..too sad only oliver/comansi companies were involved making some sets with rare tanks and American,Germans-AK,jap,British,Russian related figures to WW2.In fact one set is call(battle of bulge) that include two different tank 20 figures and one cannon,all plastic. The American & German soldiers are nice poses but in oliver the quality was very poor unfortunately. I have never seen any ww2 reamsa soldiers and doubt they ever did any.
Didn’t Reamsa do a set of Turks, I would assume WWI, but I don’t know for sure.
Yes WW ONE turks for the (Lawrence of Arabia ) 1962 movie .They did all Arabs(12) and Turk(8) poses with Laurence and Sherif Ali character on camels. All figures were recast and sold later unpainted.(The Arabs Bedouins were mainly done in purpose base on this film);never intend for any FFL set as wrongly thought .Reamsa never did FFL soldier.Only oliver company did them for the film based playset(March or Die 1977) also filmed in Spaniard morocco.
Erwin
I manage to get all the Turks except the crawling pose in original plastic.
Admin;that is a good one. Those reamsa original are hard to get, Turks more than Arabs, So you are lucky on all you got .Don’t know the reason why Turks are harder than Arabs in original painted version, I had complete all my reamsa with recast/reissues later. Are you original base colors/bellow tan or pink!?
sorry; arabs in 14 poses with 4 camels,oliver FFL are the one in 12 poses..Oliver did foot arabs figures too ,only few poses original painted I had ever found,never recast .Mold was lost/damage when sold over.
Got my Arabs and FFL as mentioned from Stad when he used have a table at Valley Forge show
Number one European plastic soldiers carrier was Stads.Most rare figures never seen before were to be know by many of us because of Stads.Most of those figures are not seen now in here or Europe too…Now only ATS in PA carry the reamsa,oliver and jecsan recast only sets…I think the toy soldiers co too but with their huge out space prices!!!
Erwin
My interest in foreign plastic developed when my parents and I would go to New York City. I would get some figures usually foreign. When I started actively collecting I look for unusual figures for my stories. I learned more about them and then got over to PW where I found a lot more I never knew about.
When I started Stad’s I wanted to share these figures with other collectors and work hard on that end.
And you did ,because as far I know no one in states showed as many rare figures as you/stads.I remember reading the description and rare name of figures in your sale list ,then waiting for in the mail. I was then become more addict to ;as start wondering what else the factory of the rare figure did, Then on your next month list another pup up. And there we were back in time trying to buy sending m/o by mail some times a note come back saying,(sold out) and I have to wait or cry, most I got ,few I did after you were gone off list and start the ebay..
The TS c in NYC carry many European most recast but their prices were too high,you carry the ones no one did. Later I found many ways most by eBay to get all those recast at much better price. I still see your eBay and get as they come, because you still have the treasure box full and take few by few as you find them. All I do is been in the hunt.
Spaniards rare I do have my contacts that sale to me direct and not eBay. I have got most from the 5 main companies that made figures in Spain. I do mix recast with original to complete European collection as far I can get all in good condition. Old European figures as they are harder to get because produced in less quantities and barely sold in US market are my priority, American I still can get then more easy from shows, eBay or locals so they can wait if I don’t have…