It looks like the warm weather is finally coming back. And with that comes spring cleaning. This year I plan to go through my collections of “Stuff” and start downsizing. As with a lot of collectors, we don’t just collect one thing. I have Star Wars figures, Playmobil toys, toy soldiers, comic books, old historical books, antique prints, sheet music, old tools, old toys and etc… The list goes on. I will be reducing some of these by up to 25% to 75%. In this post we have the 3rd and last part of the review of the Midwest Toy Soldier show. And with most collectors the show is as good as with what we had found. The picture above was most of the vintage plastic toy soldier products I got.

Day One

The past few years I have not purchased too many things at the shows. Just a few things here and there. I had just about completed my search for Barzso & Conte products that I wanted. And when I started doing the 3d printing, I would just make what I wanted now. So, the collecting “itch” had mostly left me. This show I switched back to collecting mode, like about 5 years ago. I found a few Holy Grail items on my list of things that I have wanted and some other things at really good prices that I had to get them. I use the term “The Find” for the items I got while on the “Hunt” for things I have been looking for or something I found that I did not know I wanted.

Day one started a couple of days before the room trading at places around town and Thursday night, the unofficial room trading day. The Airfix Combat Pack was a set that I have been passively looking for at the shows the past several years. I purchased this on Thursday night, when some of the vendors start arriving at the hotel. Rick Eber had it for $125. The box was in rough shape, but the rest of the items were nice.

Most of the items were in new condition. It looked like it was lightly used and some parts not used at all. The Pillboxes still had the discs and they fired too. I have a nice collection of Airfix, especially the World War II box sets. I think I have most of the boxed sets, some from different eras or sizes of the 29 figures to the 14 figures. This set is one of the hardest to find these days.

After talking to Mike Kutnick on Thursday, after he arrived. I took a quick look at what he and found this Barzso Medieval cart for $25.

Here are a few things that I got around town & early room trading. The red Woman holding a baby was made by Replicants, it is 1/32 in scale or 54mm. I got that from Mike Kutnick too for $5. The Airfix German Paratrooper I got from Mike Handly for 50 cents. And the Metal Civil War Confederate flag bearer & Britain Cannon I found at an inside flea market in town. The flag bearer was around 54mm, I paid $7 for him. I am always looking for nice cannons and especially at the price of $4.

I got both of these comics for around $15 at a antique store. The Marvel Presents #72 is part of Wolverine’s origin story. The Spectacular Spider-Man 176 suddenly became a hot collector’s item because Corona’s powers involve spreading a dangerous energy‑based “infection,” which resonated eerily with the COVID‑19 pandemic. This caused a spike in interest and prices.

I traded some of my products for this foam ruined building. I had another foam piece that I was going to use as a display piece and sell it too. But when I saw this in Brian Gerber’s room, I thought this would look better. It measures about 15 inches long, 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall. Now it is part of my collection, so when you see it at Gettysburg on my table it is just a display and not for sale!

It was around 8pm that Dave Pittman came into our room and was telling us about a collection that he had purchased. He was telling us that they had a bunch of things at good prices. So, around an hour later I went upstairs to see what he had. It was at this point I wish I had a truck instead of the car that we have. I saw a lot of things that I would have purchased if I had the room to take it back with us. I purchased these two big terrain pieces for $25 each. Each piece is about 2 feet long, 16 inches deep and around 4 to 5 inches tall. I plan on repainting these pieces and use them for a pacific island setup. After purchasing this, I was hoping that we had a good show. Because we needed the room to take everything back.

Day Two

Friday morning, I walked around the first floor of the hotel to see who setup for the room trading. Rick Keller had two bags of Marx recast Robin Hood figures that I got for $10. I traded with Mike Kutnick for the Prince Valiant and Robin Hood figures in the plastic case. I think they came from the John Stengel collection. Paul Stadinger said they were made by Res Plastic from Italy.

All of these boxes are empty. I love all the box art on them and will go through my collection to swap out a few boxes. The best part of getting these was they were free. Dave Pittman had at some point emptied the soldiers into a big plastic storage container that he & Mike Handly were selling for 50 cents apiece.

Friday evening, I went back to Dave Pittman’s room and most of the terrain pieces were gone. I picked up this foam bunker for $15. It measures about 16 inches long, 10 & 1/2 inches wide and 5 inches tall. By Saturday evening it looked like all the new stuff he had was gone too.

I thought Thursday was great, but it was just getting started. All of these boxes are full; most are sealed or partially sealed. I had picked up most of these from Rick Keller and most of the Matchbox from Dave Pittman. I paid about $150 for all of them. A lot of rare sets for a great deal. I felt like a kid again when I got all of these sets. Rick Keller would leave and keep bringing new stuff back to the room every few hours. He has a toy store not too far away. The boxed sets had just arrived in a cardboard office box when I got there. He had a lot of other great stuff in the room that Rick shared with Rick Lipp.

Day Three

Day three on Saturday started like on Friday. But there were more vendors setup doing the room trading. Rick Keller had more things in the room. I picked up this Airfix Outpost building for $10.

I also picked this W. Britain Fallschirmjager toy soldiers from Rick Keller for $10.

Mike Kutnick also had some Larry Patterson figures with him. They were wrapped in bubble wrap. I was able to purchase this trapper with a pack horse for $30. These figures show up once in a while, the poses are unique. I think they are conversions of different models and some sculpting then painted. They fit in well with my models and horses too as shown in the last few pictures. They are around 1/32 in scale or 54mm.

The Show

I didn’t purchase anything at the show, but I had traded some of my sets to fellow collector & painter Scott Campbell. I had arranged this a couple of months ago and picked them up at the show. I sent him different sets to be painted. These are the Conte plastic WWII US Paratroopers painted up by Scott. They look awesome. The Conte soldiers are around 58mm.

Here are some of the Esci plastic WWII US Paratroopers that Scott had painted too. These Esci toy soldiers are supposed to be around 1/35, but they are about 54mm.

Here is set #1 of the Warhorse Miniatures WWII US Paratroopers that Scott had painted too. An awesome job.

Here is a professionally painted metal W. Britain German Fallschirmjager next to a Warhorse model painted by Scott. If you are interested in his service, you can email him at Scott13va@sbcglobal.net.

That will conclude the review for the Midwest Show, we are now looking forward to the next show. Maybe you will find your Holy Grail there this year. Sunday April 19th, we will be at Gettysburg Toy Soldier Show. The classic Monsters will be in different colors, and we will have same new products. There will be 100 tables for the show, they are all sold out. Here is a list of the vendors listed below.

Michael Jones
Gettysburg Miniature Soldier
Dan McLean
Mark Hegeman
Kerry Dunable
Mike Handley/Dave Pittman
Rick Eber
Tom Stine
Jeffrey Schilling
John Balestria
Wayne Stevens
Matt Murphy ~ Hobby Bunker
Allan Ford
Calvin Plowman
Robert King
Robert Hornung
Fred Sassin
Christian Keller
Ted Deddens ~ W. Britains
Joe Saine
Todd Nace
William McMahan
Richard Appalt, Jr.
Dennis Beidler
Steve Connell
Larry Lovely
Rick Keller/Rick Lipp
Mike Prendergast & Carolyn Young ~ Warhorse Miniatures
Jefferson Davis Hobbs II
Gerardo Vazquez
Nathan Fogt Nate’s Garage
Eric Kohl
Larry Ciccarelli ~ Land Air Command LLC
Bob Skiff
Rich Zunica
Michael Beninati
Jack Eagan
Daniel Shaheen ~ Prestige Toys
Randall Koller
Paul Knapp
Martin Berman
William Hartman
Jonathon Waters