Month: March 2025

Latest News! ~ Midwest Toy Soldier Show 2025 Review Part 2 ~ The Show

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I hope everyone is doing well. We continue the review of the Midwest Toy Soldier Show. In my last post I did a review of the room trading, The Latest News!! 03/19/2025 ~ Midwest Toy Show Review Part 1 ~ Room Trading.

Here are some pictures of the showroom the day before. I like to study the room if possible before the show to see where my tables are located.

We started setting up in the showroom at 7am. The setup was faster than usual because we had the shelves put together and the display miniatures were unboxed already.

We start the review with John Atherton’s tables. He had some medieval buildings, bridges, colonial, and native Indian houses. Plus, modern structures that could be used for World War II. His foam buildings bring displays alive. Plus, they are great for wargaming.

Joe Baker’s tables had a bunch of the Speira 3d printed models and a lot of Conte toy soldiers. Plus, some foam buildings.

Steve Connell had more on his tables than this, but I forgot to get back to him.

David & Kim Cook of MicShaun’s Closet had a bunch of plastic toy soldiers from different brands. Plus, a lot of foam buildings.

Curtis Cousinea had a bunch of items from his collection for sale.

Karl Deiner had some nice Vintage plastic toy soldiers for sale. I will start collecting some old Marx toy soldiers when I retire.

Rick Eber always has some pristine vintage Marx playsets and a lot of loose & bagged toy soldiers for sale. If you are searching for some rare items, ask Rick.

Rich Egan also had some nice Marx toys and usually has a nice selection of Conte & Barzso products.

Handley & Pitman had some storage bins of vintage plastic to sort through.

Rob Hornung was setup for the show with his hand-crafted miniatures. He had skipped the room trading and it was not sure that he would setup because he had hurt his thumb. But he is a trooper.

Rick Keller & Rick Lipp had a lot of vintage Marx playsets & toy soldiers.

Mike Knutick had all kinds of toy products. He usually has a nice selection of Barzso soldiers and accessories to pick through, but most of them were sold during the room trading.

Larry Lovely has taken over the top spot in promoting the Midwest show. Steve & Rick are still helping out. Larry’s tables had storage containers full of vintage plastic toys to search through. He had some good prices.

Todd Nace had some storage bins of Marx toys to search through too.

Nate’s Garage had their hand crafted creations for sale. He is always working on something new.

Ed Nelson had some vintage toys with him.

It was the first time that we met Papa Joe. His foam creations are really nice. His western buildings would look really nice for a western town display. Both plastic & painted metal toy soldiers fit in really nice.

Here are some random pictures of the show.

Rod Roberts had some nice items from his collection for sale.

Joe Saine had a bunch of new & old painted metal soldiers. Plus, some Barzso Playsets.

Here are some pictures of a few tables from some unknown venders to me. I think some are from Rick Keller.

Here are a couple of pictures of Gary Wendeln’s table.

We end the review here with our tables. We have been switching most of our sets into boxes instead of the bags with the header cards. Besides the Warhorse products we had some Barzso resin soldiers, other brands of plastic figures and some things from my collection for sale. I had some of the new Saxon Huscarls with me too. I am working on a few new Saxon sets that I should have at the Gettysburg show. Just like the room trading the show attendance was down again. We still did good and had a great time. Hopefully next year things are better. We will take a look at some of the items that I picked up at the show.

I picked up this lot of Native American toy soldiers from John Anderson for $10. There were a group of Airfix recast horses, 7 recast Marx Teepees and 4 bagged groups of Timpo solid Native American Indians. They are all 1/32 scaled.

I picked this group of Conte WWII GIs from Rich Egan for $30. Conte made some of the best World War II toy soldiers. The sculpting and details are really nice.

I also got these Plastic Platoon German Paratroops from Rich Egan for $50. I already had this set in a different color. They are also really nice, but I dislike the rubbery resin they use. The weapons are hard to straighten out once they get bent.

I picked up this lot of Barzso toy soldiers from Mike Knutick for $40. I always can use more Redcoats. There were some character figures. The Scottish flag bearer was a weird color and seem to be a little bigger. They also felt a little like vinyl.

Here are some of the Warhorse British compared to the Barzso British. I should have a better color as soon as I have the chance to start testing again.

I picked up this boxed set of 7th Cavalry from Mike Knutick for $20. It is not complete, but I was mainly interested in the box. I have more 7th Cavalry to complete it. Most of the models were in really good shape. I have most of the Airfix boxed sets in my collection.

Also from Mike Knutick was this boxed set of Native Americans. It was also missing some models, but again I was interested mainly in the box. It was a little damaged in the back. But for $15, you can’t go wrong.

I got this boxed set of Normans from Joe Saine for $5.

I picked up this Atlantic Buffalo Bill set from a collector named Mike for $40. It was missing a few pieces. I have a rider somewhere and some more Buffalo that I had picked up years ago.

I found this group of toy soldiers at a thrift store of $5. The miniatures are about 54mm, a little smaller. I have not seen anything decent like this for a while. It is like a mini playset. I do not know who makes this. There is a sticker on the truck that says, “SDE Dongguan“

We usually will stop at some thrift stores after the show as we are traveling home. I found this drum for $4 at a Salvation Army.

I found these items for a $1. The tree was a gift. The Saxon miniatures are made by Replicants. Everything is 1/32 in scale.

I picked up these CTS Sioux Indians from Cal Luckett for $5. I like this orange/brown color that they had used. They look a little bigger than the dark brown ones that I have.

And lastly, I traded some of my native sets with John Atherton for these two Barzso Longhouses. They look good with my Warhorse miniatures. John had just started making these again. The longer longhouse is from the Rogers’ Rangers Attack on Saint Francis playset. The other one is from the Last of the Mohicans playset. They are nicely painted.

If you are in the Evansville, Indiana area check out Evansville Military Collectors club show. It is over 3 days starting on April 24th, 25th & 26th. Around 160 tables of Military relics & collectibles.

Speaking of shows, we will be setup for the Gettysburg Toy Soldier show on May 4th. It is the best show on the East Coast. You can find anything at this show, vintage & new plastic or painted metal toy soldiers, vintage models & toys, custom painted sculptures, military books and other hobby related items. There is a nice mixture of dealers like Hobby Bunker and collector/vendors selling off parts of their collectors. We hope to see you there.

As usual I am busy designing and testing out new products. I will have a few new sets at the Gettysburg show. Thank you for reading, that is it for now.

The Latest News!! 03/19/2025 ~ Midwest Toy Show Review Part 1 ~ Room Trading

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Last Thursday, March 13th we arrived in Lafayette, Indiana to take part in the Midwest Toy Soldier show. After driving about 11 hours we checked in to the hotel and then went to an antique mall before eating dinner. I then walked around the hotel as a few vendors were room trading a day earlier.

I looked around and talked to a few collectors/vendors. I took some pictures of John Anderson’s & Papa Joe’s rooms.

On Friday we got up early and went out to check some local antique stores. We got back around noon and started some room trading. We were open until around 9pm, closing for about an hour & a half to get something to eat. I took some pictures of David & Kim Cook’s, Rick Eber’s, Rich Egan’s and our(Warhorse) rooms. I would walk around to check out the other rooms and return if a collector had a question. Carolyn would call me when that happened. I did find some nice things each day. I spent more this year than I have done the past few years.

I hung out talking to some of the other guys to around 10pm or so before I headed to bed on Friday. We got up early and opened the room around 9am for day 2 of the room trading. More vendors and collectors arrived Friday night. The Room Trading chart was updated for Saturday. When you start the room trading you should write down the room numbers and names. Then check them off as you visit them. It is easier to keep track of the rooms you visit this way. Sometimes the vendors might close for a little bit. We had the room open to around 9pm again.

Here are pictures of John Anderson’s room. He usually has a bunch of vintage playsets and bags of figures. I think the prices on the playsets are fair. I am not a Marx collector, but I see him sell a lot of them each year. He has some good deals with the bags of toy soldiers, which I do get from him. He does a lot of buying and selling every year. He usually leaves the shows with no inventory left.

John Atherton was at the show too. He was touching up some of the foam products late into Saturday night. I did some trading with him, and we had hung out a little. He is a fun guy to talk to about the foam products.

Next, I visited Joe Baker, a legend in the toy soldier community. He had some of his collection for sale and the Speira 3d models too.

Every year there are a few collectors that come to the show to sell items from their collections. Sometimes they come to sell everything at once. One collector was Brain. I had talked to him and hooked him up with John Anderson. They then made a deal to sell him everything he had after the second day of room trading.

Cal & Sue Luckett did some room trading and set up at the show too. They had a bunch of bagged vintage toy soldiers and some playsets too. I think this was their last year of doing this at the Midwest Show. I picked up a few figures from him.

Another collector named Mike also was selling off some of his collection. He had a bunch of different types of toy soldiers. I purchased some Atlantic Bison from him. The custom King Kong set was cool. Plus, the painted figures were nice too.

Rod Roberts and his son Tera Roberts had some of Rod’s collection for sale. They had some vintage plastic soldiers and some nice painted ones too.

Gary Wendeln was selling off some of his collection too. He had some old painted metal soldiers and vintage plastic too. Plus, some Barzso foam Castles and forts.

Steve Connell had some vintage plastic soldiers, playsets and some painted metal boxed sets not pictured.

David & Kim Cook had a bunch of the TSSD bagged plastic soldiers with them. Plus, lots of other plastic brands from around the world. Also, some foam products too. He had a few prototype foam Alamo buildings with him. I think these last two will complete the TSSD version of the Alamo.

Rick Eber always has some quality vintage playsets and plastic toy soldiers. They are mainly Marx, but he does sell other brands too. He had and sold a rare Batman Playset.

Rich Egan was selling some vintage Conte, Barzso and Marx toy soldiers. He always has some nice Conte & Barzso playset with him. Plus, a lot of loose or bagged figure sets.

Mike Handley & Dave Pitman had a bunch of vintage plastic figures to pick through.

Rick Keller & Rick Lipp had a bunch of vintage toys and playset with them as usual.

Mike Knutick had a bunch of Barzso toy soldiers. Plus, some comics and other brands of toy soldiers.

Larry Lovely had some vintage playsets and a bunch of vintage plastic to pick through too. He prices were really good.

Todd Nace also had a bunch of vintage plastic toy soldiers to pick through.

Most of the vendors were selling vintage products. But there were a few like me and Papa Joe selling new products. Joe makes mainly western themed houses. But he has some modern buildings too. The look great with the vintage plastic toy soldiers. He also makes some 3d props too. Plus paints some toy soldiers.

Joe Saine had some playsets, bagged toy soldiers and boxes to pick through. I think he had some painted metal sets, but I seem to not have any pictures of those.

We will end the review with my room. Here are a few of the products I had. I had most of my Native American sets and French & Indian War sets too. I had a few of the older Medieval sets and the new Saxon Huscarls.

Lastly, on Saturday evening. Larry Lovely had pizza for everyone. Then Larry & Tera Roberts played the guitar & sang. Kim Cook sang a few songs too. We had some fun before going back to the room trading and then getting ready for the show the next day.

There were some major thunderstorms & twisters in southern Indiana and Missouri. The same thing happened as last year. I think this effect the size of the crowd that attended. The size was less than the previous years. Plus, the March Madness might be a reason. Years ago, when I first started attending the show it was in early April. The weather was nicer, and it seemed to be better attended. We still did well, besides the smaller crowds. I do think that these shows will cease to exist in about 10 years. The market is shrinking with both the vendors and collectors. I heard the NJ show was not well attended too. Unless there are new vendors and collectors start attending these shows, they will start to disappear like the Northwest Toy Soldier Show.

That is the end of the first part of the review. I will try to finish the second part that is about the Show itself. Thank you for reading.

The Latest News!! 03/09/2025 ~ Midwest Toy Show & Warhorse Miniatures Saxon Huscarls & Normans.

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Later this week we will be setting up our tables at the Midwest Toy Soldier Show. The room trading is on Friday March 14th & Saturday March 15th. The show is on Sunday March 16th. We always have a wonderful time. I have found some really good things at this show. Above is the latest list of vendors for the show itself. There will be other collectors that take place with the room trading not listed. Each day is different with new vendors showing up.

Here are some new models of Norman Crossbowmen. I am still working on the color, but it will be a grey-blue color. They will be around 58mm in size. I am working on some archers & footmen right now. After that I will start on some Normans in chainmail and lastly the Horsemen.

I have selected the models for the new Saxon Huscarls set. They also will be around 58mm in size. I am also still working on the color; I am trying to get a burnt orange color. I will have some sets at the Midwest show and then listed on the website later this month. The Saxon Archers & Spearwall set will be updated with some new models. And I am working on a new Saxon Warriors set, a Saxon Noble set and finally a Command set. I should have all Saxon sets ready for the Gettysburg Show in May.

That will wrap it up for this post. I will have a post about the Midwest show next week and then on Interview with Anton Gorichenko soon too. We will be at the Gettysburg show in May.