When I was in my early teens I picked up some Airfix World War II sets. I got a few of the WWII Japanese Infantry and it is still one of my favorite sets that I have. I put two videos above mainly just for the sounds of the Banzai shouts.
Ever since I picked up those Airfix WWII Japanese I have been looking for more plastic Japanese figures to go with them. The first set few sets that I got were the dark green figures. Later on I started finding the beige colored Airfix figures.
This is a project that I started many years ago. I am putting together different groups of figures to be used for a Japanese Army. I have found other brands over the years that are nice too. The Japanese figures by TSSD blend very well with the Airfix figures. I like the TSSD WWII Japanese figures too. They capture the “Banzai” attack with their set. There are action poses of running, shooting and charging with bayonets fixed on the rifles. The bayonets look really nice too. Plus the different pieces of head gear. Right now TSSD & Airfix are my favorite combinations to use.
This year BMC released recast figures using original Marx molds. These figures are really nice and seem to have not lost much accept some extra flash. I like the Marx figures too. They are a little taller and thinner than the Airfix Japanese for the most part.
Mars released a set of WWII Japanese figures this year. They match well with the Marx in scale. They are crudely made. I only like 4 of their poses. They are the running and shooting figures. I am going to try to customize a few of the figures to make them look better.
Next year Austin Miniatures is going to release a set of Japanese Infantry. From the prototypes they look really good. The Austin US Marines are really nice too. I will get a few sets when they are released. These figures should mix well with the TSSD & Airfix figures.
I will get some foam bunkers in the future to set up a nice display one day. Right now I have the BMC Iwo Jima playset and an old Playmobil piece to use. The BMC terran piece is really nice and so is the whole set. This is probably the best priced playset being produced today. You get a quality set at a great price.
The BMC Iwo Jima Japanese figures are nice too. They are a little bigger than the TSSD and Marx figures.
Most of the poses that I look for are the ones that will join my “Banzai” attack. This was the Japanese tactic they used to try to overrun their opponents. They would rush against an enemy as a suicide attack. It was used mainly as a last resort.
I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas this year and got something the wanted. I got a Barzso Playset “The Battle of Bushy Run” for Christmas this year. I almost have all the Barzso playsets that I am looking for. I am planning on reviewing some of the playsets that I have next year. I am working on another blog post and it will be up in a couple of hours. I would like to thank everyone who comes to read my blog. Plus those who take their time to leave a comment. Take Care for now.
This is a limited edition set. It was labeled Viking Warriors. It is a set of 8 Vikings. The size is 60mm, about the size of Conte Vikings. The figures are very detailed. I had to order a set. The cost was about $100. It seems like most of the sets are almost sold. I will have a review once I receive them. There was another seller selling the same set for about $120.
I ordered the “Trail Drive” set last month from the Weston Toy Co. website which is here Steve Westons Toy Soldiers. I had purchased the Weston Gunfighter set a few months ago on eBay. Both sets are really nice.
The Trail Drive set came in a white box and the figures were protected in plastic padded envelopes. The are 6 Longhorn Cattle in 3 different poses and 4 mounted Cowboys in 4 different poses. The cattle have detached horns and 2 have detached tails. The figures are made out of Poly-resin. They are in 1/32 scale. We will first take a look at the Cowboys.
Ever since I started collecting some of the vintage western figures this year I wanted to pick up this Trail Drive set. It fits very well with the vintage 54mm figures. I like the fact that the saddles are attached to the Cowboy and they fit perfect on the horses.
These figures will look great displayed or in a diorama. The poses tell a good story when setup right. Each Cowboy has a role to play in this cattle drive. The first figure is the Trail Boss shouting out orders. The second figure has the point or acts as a Scout. The third Cowboy is pushing the cattle along with his leather strap. As the last figure with the neckerchief comes in at the rear.
Now we will take a look at the Longhorn cattle. Their poses show that they are on the move. One has his head looking towards the right. The other has his head looking towards left and the last pose has his head up looking forward.
Here are the Weston Toy Co. set of Gunfighters. They are also 1/32 or 54mm. These figures are made out of plastic. There are 14 figures in the set with 7 different poses.
I think these cowboys are supposed to be the “Magnificent Seven” or maybe the just appear that way.
They are the same scale as the Trail Drive Cowboys.
The poses are nice. Some are classic poses and some are unique. I like the one that appears to have a knife in his hand ready to throw. Plus the one with his hand out forward like he is telling someone to stay calm or to wait.
Now we move to some hobby news. As I was putting this post together Ken Ciak of LOD Enterprises was posting a video on Facebook.
Here is a preview of the Amazons that are supposed to come out next year. They look nice from what I can see. I think there will also be two mounted figures too.
Other news about LOD comes from Steve Weston. He says that his Weston Mexicans will now be distributed by LOD in the USA after the TSSD was sold off.
Plastic Platoon German Paratroopers will be ready sometime in January. These figures should be the same scale as Conte figures I hear. Here are some pictures of production cast figures. I like the details they have and the color too.
I think Hobby Bunker should have these sometime in January.
Plastic Platoon also posted this picture of an old pistol. I think it is a colt. I guess we might see a western themed set or two in the future.
Austin Miniatures announced last week that they will have 2 new sets to preview at the next Chicago show in 2019. The last Chicago show they had the prototypes of the WWII Japanese Infantry. As I was putting this together Allen Beidelschies of Austin Miniatures shared these pictures of some of them painted.
I am planning on putting an online reference guide for a few brands that I collect starting sometime next year. It will include mainly Airfix, Barzso and Conte. Plus some others. About 6 months ago I picked up a few British Infantry sets and noticed that they were bigger than the vintage cast figures. It must be because of the plastic used. The latest figures cast years ago are of a hard model type plastic and probably didn’t shrink like the softer plastic used on the old sets. After a few months searching for a German Paratroops set I finally found one at a fair price. They are a little bigger. The newer sets do lose some of the detail of the vintage sets too. I will keep up the research and post more on this in the future.
I found this Playmobil set for $10.00 while I went to a vintage toy show in Allentown earlier this month. It is set number 1804 the Doctor & Nurse Super Deluxe Playset. It is almost complete. The box is roached and I replaced the windshield. But besides that it is in pretty good shape. This a Schaper edition playset. This was probably sold at Sears or Sterns in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s.
I got these figures for a steal at $1.00. They are Greek Infantry by Atlantic. I got about 25 of these figures from Europe. Half had missing weapons. They are 60mm. I stumbled across them while searching for something else. I had not been collecting ancient figures but I had to get these at that price.
I should have some other posts up soon. Thanks for reading. Take Care.
After a couple of months of speculation about the status of Toy Soldiers of San Diego there was an announced today. The new owner is David Cook. He is the eBay seller MicShaun’s Closet.
I have purchased toy soldier sets from them in the past on eBay. I’ve had great service from them. The last time was in July when I ordered 3 sets of the Paragon Plains Indians. I can’t wait to see what their plans are.
I would like to thank Nick and DeAnna for their time put into creating some nice figure sets and expanding the hobby of Toy Soldiers for us plastic guys.
We have some sad news to mention too. The Texas Toy Soldier Show will not continue in 2019. But it should be back in 2020.
Thank you for reading. I hope to have some future posts in a couple of weeks.
