Bill Nevins got test shots years ago from a party of the Andygard Civil War. They were done in a pewter color in a virgin plastic.
I may have somewhere a test shot in yellow. The mold was purchased by Glencoe Models which ran them in blue and gray. They used a brittle plastic, which had breakage. The mold was stolen along with molds that Excalibur Hobbies owned.
stolen!?
and then??
Those were some beautiful figures. I hate the molds were stolen. We were talking on another forum about how despicable thieves are. Even though they were larger than I normally liked I still used them – they were just too neat NOT to use. I know there was some discussion when CTS issued their ACW figures a couple years back, but considering the molds are stolen and presumably lost, I felt they did us a favor by bringing back modified versions of the best of the poses in a scale more compatible with 54mm or 1/32 scale.
Hmmm, I smell a fishy story.
I’d say 50% of the reason I separated out my 60mm Marx ACW from my 54mm was so I could use my Andygard guys. They are more like 65mm, but fit in fine with the WoW figures.
Fishy story? How so, Ed?
I believe I have seen Civil War paintings where some of these figures were based on such as the Gettysburg cyclorama by Paul Dominique Philippoteaux and the Andy Guard Civil War soldier being shot in a William Trego painting !
Well, I don’t have all the facts , but I’ve heard rumors of some of the goings on between different parties. I won’t speculate further.
Don’t some of the CTS Civil War guys resemble the Andy Gards?
I heard loads of stories about the dealings when Excalibur went out of business. As for the CTS guys, they were clearly inspired by the Andygard figures, the owners even said so, but you don’t need the molds for that.
I don’t think the resemblance of CTS figures make any relation-connection with those Andy stolen molds. If any body still has the, it will be to try or thought in running it more later as reissues or fake original maybe!?.Or just to make some no reparable damage to any in particular for some personal problems.
Oh no
Now u owe us .
I was joking
Is ok .we are speculating ed.
Not saying any.
What is incredible is that even in our hobby we have non honest people capable if these things.robbing others!!
ED
CTS was going to buy the molds from Delson who won the Excalibur’s inventory in the bankruptcy auction. The molds disappeared before there could be a transfer. CTS then went and made new molds in China. I like their caisson better than the Marx.
Ok, this is what I’d heard. I’d heard other molds went missing, too. I won’t go into the rumors I’d heard. It was so long ago, I’m sure the details will be jumbled in my coconut anyway.
Greg
Some of the other molds that were stolen Frame for the 88, German tanks, Marx 54mm Mounted figures, covered wagon and Caisson
Like I said, I hate a thief. ‘Screwed the entire hobby by stealing those molds – robbed one generation of memories and newer generations of experiencing the joys of those figures and accessories.
I knew about the German stuff. Which mounted figures?
I’m hearing all these stories and rumors about “stolen molds” and dishonest suppliers for the first time, and find it quite interesting. I wish everybody who knows something or has heard things would go ahead and divulge.
The one “CRIME” I’m personally familiar with is when someone took the beautiful Ideal Rev.War/Alamo poses and reissued them in that cheap, stiff, brittle, breakable, crappy plastic — the net effect of which was to create pure junk. And then proceeded to do the same with the Ideal/Andy Guard Civil War figures.
Here’s a question that someone like Ken Sprecher or someone else on this site would know the answer to: Were the Civil War figures in question Ideal, or were they Andy Gard? Do Ideal and Andy Gard have some relationship? When the figures were sold, did the packages say “Ideal” or were they labeled “Andy Gard”?
Are the two entities the same, or are they different? Why were they called Ideal for so many years, but now referred to as Andy Gard?
Thanks, Kent —- I finally found your answer to my question.
Like you and Paul, I found the Geppert Guide useful for many years, and consulted it regularly. Similarly, I haven’t had occasion to look at it in years recently.
I knew from a CTS posting that Geppert left the CTS partnership some years back “to pursue other interests”. But such a cryptic explanation didn’t really let us know that Timothy Geppert “had lost interest in the toy soldier hobby”.
A shame, if true. But I suspect its more an “in the hobby/out of the hobby for a few years/then back in the hobby after awhile/never losing complete interest in the subject.” Many of us have experienced something similar.
I hardly know what to say! First of all the Andy Guard civil war molds were or are owned by Ram Hobbies not Excalibur. For personal reasons Ram is not presently producing. Anyone interested in running them should contact Ram.
They were available for purchase when we (CTS) made our new civil war figures. But we did not want to use them in our sets because they were much to big and we did not care for the stiff plastic they were made in .So we included a few similar poses inspired by the memorable Andy Guard figures because as collectors ourselves we always loved those poses but found there 65mm scale too large to incorporate with our many 54mm figures. Even as a child I felt this way.
They are NOT copies, our sculptor made the models from scratch using the Andy Guard as his model just like when he uses a photo.
The fact that they are Andy Guard inspired is quite obvious to any collector, there was never any denial of this.
Jim Mc Gough
CTS, INC.
Jim
Sorry for the confusion, what I should have mentioned the Andygard Civil War mold was owned by Glencoe Models was taken at the time. We will have to find out if Ram Hobbies has the mold or not.
I did not realized that you had done Andygard inspired figures, nicely done.
Ahh RAM, that’s it. I could not remember the name.
I was almost sure that RAM, were the guys initials.
What did RAM stand for?
I’ve kind of said it before but will repeat here, I think Jim and CTS have done the hobby a big favor with their ACW figures for the reasons stated above, not only have they given us semblances of the excellent Andy Gard figures more in line with other favorite sets of figures but also their “recasts” and revisions of the old Marx wagons and caissons are much welcomed at least by this collector/hobbyist. I know most of my stuff was lost, broken, or stolen growing up moving around. As I said in another place about twenty-five years ago I discovered CTS’ recasts and was not only able to replace what I’d lost but also acquire some stuff I wanted but never had as a kid. Now, with the newer improved wagons coming out I’m returning for round 2. Thanks again, even if my wife doesn’t appreciate it. 😉
Here-here! I second that. CTS has been one of THE BEST things to happen to the hobby. Improving on old standards, making quality recasts readily available and affordable, adding stuff that filled gaps in a given figure lines. I could hardly picture the hobby without them.
I’ve got a couple of hundred of the old stiff plastic regrind RAM re issues that I got direct from the owner. Same place I got the test shots from.
A large cache of the Ideal REV WAR/ALAMO figures was discovered in a storage room on Long Island. Sadly, they too are in crappy plastic. It’s a shame because they ran them in 4 colors. The traditional red and blue, along with gray and a much lighter blue.
They’re nice figures, but don’t really fit in with much.
I’m guessing that these were left by RAM, as several other re issues were included.
6 inch MPC Astronauts with seperate weapons, A LifeLike StageCoach kit that’s really quite good. Some other WW2 vehicles and those Marx Battleground interlocking terrain squares and some other stuff that I can’t recall.
I’ll have to check out the CTS figures. I have not seen them, yet.
So there, Bill….buddy….. you got those broken up ol’ ACW guys, huh? Bet they’re takin’ up valuable real estate. Hmmmm……. Seriously, as long as it was just broken gun barrels, I’d be interested in getting about 15 standing firing guys. Possible? And just to be clear, you don’t have any of the brittle Rev War figures in your possession?
Greg, I have no idea about the standing firing guys. I think that they may have been one of better molded figures. The stabbing guys always have broken guns, as do the guys swinging the rifle.
As for the AWI guys. I’m down to my last three or four thousand or so………..LOL
Some of the poses are very, very solid. Others no so much. They come in bags of 25 of which probably 15-17 or so are unbroken….Bill
Broken rifle barrels are no problem for me. I replace the parts with lengths of metal and make the stock underneath. Bayonets on those weapons are easy, too. They actually come out looking better than the originals. I suppose I ‘need’ the 65mm Rev War more than the ACW guys. Can’t be guys with Shakos though, for obvious reasons. Are you selling them?
Anybody have any idea or guess who might have sculpted the Andy Gard figures ?
ok so when this rob happen?? I will like to know more about; if any news went out about it at the moment ,if any investigation was done or not??
Which mounted figures?
The ACW riders I believe, along with the wagon and caisson drivers.
mark, A number of Ferriott Brothers mold makers master sculpts came on the market a few years ago including some cowboys whose bases and attention to detail match those seen on the Andy Gard civil war figures. So it is a good bet that the Andy Gard ACW figures were made bu Ferriott Brothers. Based upon the Andy Gard catalogs I have on hand it seems that their ACW, Cowboys and Indians and dogs may have all been made in 1964. All have good detail and may well have all been made by Ferriott Brothers. Andy Gard suffered a major fire in 1966 and then according to information I have recently received from Dan Mclean the owner died in an accident in 1968 and the company was sold to Irwin.
Ferriott Brothers cowboys mentioned were made for Auburn.
Kent
My report was that Andrew Giardena the owner of Andy Gard was killed in a riding mower accident.
The company was based in Western PA so it would have made sense to use Ferriott Brothers as other companies did as Ferriott Brothers was in Ohio.
Thanks Kent !
Thanks Paul, I do some some research online and see if I can find out anymore infobut not holding my breath,on the other hand who knows ?
Found a little info on Andy Guard
https://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1961/dig121561.pdf
Mark t
Thanks for the information I have updated my comment.
ATS Toy Soldiers has the ‘Ideal / Andy Gard’ ACW currently in re-issue in Blue & Grey soft plastic. So the mold is still in use….
TD
I look at ATS site and they noted that the Andygard figures were reissued in 1990’s. So these figures could be old stock.
I contacted ATS and the owner confirmed that the figures are soft plastic, not the first run of ‘stiff ‘plastic. But he did not say that the figures are currently produced, so I think you are correct about them being old stock.
When Tim Geppert made his seminal plastic figure guide many small companies were unknown to collectors and he used his best guess. It seems that both Ideal and Andy Gard used the Ferriott Brothers molding company of Ohio to make figure molds so some of their figures look very similar. Not knowing of Andy Gard’s existence Tim called many of their figures Ideal in his guide. Later when Andy Gard packaging surfaced the error was revealed but the damage had been done. He also called T.Cohn figures by T.Cohn’s marketing brand “SUPERIOR”. Not to mention calling the Bergen Toy and Novelty running horse pose which was copied by many companies (Archer, Ajax, Lido, T.Cohn etc…) as SUPERIOR. His guide got many things correct but unfortunately has numerous errors. I was hoping he would put out a final guide, merging his two guides and correcting everything, but he lost interest in the hobby and dropped out.
Kent
Geppert’s guide is loaded with mistakes. When I found out the Ideal Civil War were Andygard, I told him nicely about it. His response was everyone calls them Ideal so I am not going to change it. He lost my support that day. Geppert was offered better quality software to improve his guide quality he turned it down. I have not looked at my copy in at least 5 years and I do not know where it is or care.
Yes, I approached him as well and was rebuffed. It served is use in the early days. It’s errors helped fuel the development of my web site. It’s much easier to change an error at my website than to fix something in print. I have not used my guide in years except when customers order by his numbering system.
Kent
I have never had anyone use his system to order.
I had found magazines. Stad list
Few other web site and else 10 times better that guide.I bought it back then when no idea how bad and horrible images it had .TO the point I had to use a magnifier to discover what the figure look like.after being corrected by experts in the fields about some errors I give up.
It was only a numerical order list
With few data.I sold back mine few month after I bought it.
I bet he did it with good intention.
But result was disappointed
X me and bet many.
The Andy Gard reissues date back to the late 1990s. The ones ATS pictures are the same unique blue that I had. ATS stocked very large quantities of these reissues and the actual Ideal reissues + Reamsa of Spain. He was kind of out of business (or keeping a very low profile) for a number of years. He came back by starting to sell a large variety of his reissues on Ebay about 10 years ago. The Andy Gard figures are a semi soft plastic and not as stiff & breakable as the Ideal reissue pioneer/Rev War/1812/Alamo figures, but some of the poses were more prone to damage than others. You might note that ATS has the Andy Gard figures in 10 pose and 9 pose lots. This is due to damage that some of these semi soft figures were prone to.