It was another good show at Gettysburg. Paul Stadinger was my helper, as Carolyn was not feeling well to attend. Sorry, but I did not have much time to take a lot of pictures as I usually do. So, the review will just be a quick one.
Here are some pictures of different vendors. Some are from a collector that is selling off things he had made and soldiers that he has painted. Another with Johnny West dolls. And then some vintage plastic soldiers from Mark.
Like I had said earlier, this is a quick post, and I will let the pictures do the talking for the most part. Some more pictures from Mark Hegeman and I think antique toy soldiers are Christian Keller.
The show was busy until around 12:30pm. I spent much of my time talking to the usual collectors that come to the show and a few new ones. Around 2pm, I had realized that I did not take too many pictures yet. So, I walked to the other end of the show and took a few pictures and then started walking back, while watching to see if anyone wanted anything from the tables. There was a lot of nice things at the show.
I like the show in August; it is nice because there are more vendors that are selling off parts of their collections. You never know what you will find and there are some really good deals to be found out there.
About a week before the show, I had convinced James Violato come down and check out the show. He lives over 3 hours away, so he made it a day trip. He is a really good painter and has a channel on YouTube. He is a really good painter. You can check him out over here, https://www.youtube.com/@Jamesviolaofficial.
Rick Eber and Graig Remington had some nice vintage plastic toy soldiers. As I was taking pictures, I had noticed the Tin Litho Argo aircraft carrier that Rick had.I had never seen one before. It is a nice size; the deck is about 37 inches long and 10 inches wide. I do not have to many antique toys, but for $40 I had to get it. I will use it in one of my displays one day to be in the background. It is large enough for me to put two larger planes on it. After, I get back from Chicago and have more time, I will take some nice pictures of the ship.
Here is 3D Prints with some of the products.
Paul Knapp had stopped by the show too and took a video.
I was sad to hear that Mike Martello had passed away a few days after the show.He was one of the vendors there. He would have a lot of W. Britain Deetail toy soldiers at the Gettysburg shows.
Here are more pictures from the show.
We will end the review with our tables. This time I had some of the new WW2 Japanese figures with me and the new Norman Crossbows set. I also had a Barzso/LOD Fortified Abby with me. I still have it and will be bringing it with me to Chicago. If anyone is interested, I will have a package deal of the Castle, a set of the Warhorse Miniatures Norman Crossbowmen, and 2 Medieval Monks included for $365. Besides the Warhorse Miniature products, we had Barzso/LOD products and Conte Collectible Toy Soldiers. I will have these at Chicago too. The show had a crowd of around 175 this time. It was nice to see everyone, and I was happy with the sales. We will be back next year on April 18th, 2027.
Here are a few pictures on things in the works. I started testing the German Fallschirmjager MG Team set and should have that ready in October. I had started testing the US Marines. The 4 figures of the 8-figure set are ready and the other 4 I am testing now. I will have some sets of the US Marines at Chicago. I hope to see some of you in about 2 weeks. Carolyn will not be able to attend the Chicago Toy Soldier Show this year. But Evan from Combat Collectibles will be helping me. He will be setup at my tables selling his Miniatures too. You can visit his website over here, https://combat-collectibles.square.site/. Thank you for reading.
I hope everyone is doing well. It has been a while since my last post. There has been a lot going on and I have not had the time to sit down and finish this. This post is about the 1st Gettysburg show. You will have a good idea of things that you might find at the next show. Which is on Sunday, August 23rd, 2026. That is about a week away.
The last show had a huge crowd attending. I think it was almost 300 people that attended. Most of the vendors were happy. We were very busy too.
We start with some random pictures from one of the antique dealers that a lot of plastic toy soldiers.
Talking about antiques, Christian Keller brings a huge selection of antique toy soldiers.
Not all the vendors are professional sellers. A lot are collectors like you that for various reasons decided that they need to thin out or sell off their collections. This gentleman had a lot of display pieces and toy soldiers that he had painted & created.
Here is a vendor that had a lot of vintage plastictoy soldiers and some that he had painted too.
And here are some pictures from the man of the hour, Steve Connell. He usually has a nice blend of painted Metal and vintage plastic toy soldiers are good prices.
Here are some random pictures that one vendor was offering.
Here is another vendor with a lot of vintage plastic and some metal toy soldiers.
Jack Eagan usually brings a bunch of painted metal and some plastic toy soldiers too.Here are some pictures of mainly John Jenkins figures.
Rick Eber as usual had a bunch of vintage plastic playsets and toy soldiers. Mainly Marx, but he has other brands too, like Barzso and sometimes Conte. He will have something new at every show, as he is always acquiring something new to resell.
This vendor had some nice Britain Deetail toy soldiers.
Hobby Bunker had a mini store setup up. He brings a little of everything that the hobby has to offer.
Rob Hornung is a wonderful craftsman who produces handcrafted & painted miniatures. He has a lot of unique themed sets.
Here are some random pictures of the show.
Paul Knapp was selling his custom playset at Gettysburg. It was based on the Battle of Fredericksburg. The set is really nice; I purchased one of them. I made some new Civil War miniatures to use with this playset which I will have with me next Sunday. Paul also was selling some 3d printed toys and some custom terrain pieces he had made.
Larry Lovely had a bunch of loose Plastic toys to search through.
And talking about loose toy soldiers, there were a lot of vendors that containers of toys to search though that were loose or in bags.
Here are some more random pictures from the show.
Here are some pictures of what Mark Hegemanhad with him.
Here are some random pictures of painted metal toy soldier products. The Gettysburg show does have a nice mixture of everything that the hobby of toy soldier collecting has to offer. From plastic & metal toy soldiers, die-cast vehicles, foam terrain pieces, vintage toys and reference books to help you paint. Plus, models, hand crafted miniatures & sculptures andmaybe some wargaming things. And a great selection of 3d historical miniatures…
Here are some pictures of some models, toys and metal cannons.
Nate’s Garage also is a wonderful craftsman. He makes some one-of-a-kind metal unique products.
Here are some random photos of some old & vintage toy soldiers. Most look like hand cast metal and a couple are plastic.
Some more random pictures of vintage plastic toys.
Graig Remington had a load of vintage plastic figures and playset for sale too.
We were not the only vendors selling 3d printed products. There was a company that is making animals and figures in different scales.
The show was busy until around 1pm and then things settled down. I did not spend too much time walking around as much. Paul Stadinger had stopped by to visit us again. He will usually use us as a base and then go searching for treasures.It is always great to see him.
On the last row to the left there is a lot of vintage plastic toy soldiers and playsets. This is one of those vendors.
Here is another one of the vendors on the left, in the rear corner. He has always had plenty of vintage soldiers and playsets too.
It was nice to see W. Britain was at the show. The had a nice selection of their painted metal toy soldiers.
Jonathon Watersand his wife Rachelhad a lot of painted metal toy soldiers. They had a lot of Premium painted Russian miniatures, John Jenkins Toy Soldiers and from other companies too.They will be back at the next Gettysburg show too.
Lastly, we end with our tables.We were selling our latest WWII US & German Paratrooper sets. Plus, some other new things, like the Civil War Infantry and Classic Monsters. As usual, we had fun talking to the other vendors & collectors. We are now getting ready for the next two shows.
Here is a list of the Vendors attending the next Gettysburg Toy Soldier Show. Most of the same vendors at the show earlier this year.
Gettysburg Miniature Soldiers Steve Connell Mark Hegeman Joe Saine Mike Handley Allan Ford/Brandydwyne Toy Soldiers Rick Eber Larry Lovely Craig Remington Christian Keller Tom Stine Calvin Plowman William McMahan/Baby Boom Nostalgia Richard Appalt, Jr Fred Sassin Rick Keller/Romney Toy Shop Mike Prendergast/Warhorse Miniatures Mike Martello Wayne Stevens/Antique ctr Gerardo Vazquez Jennifer Hudgins Eric Kohl Dan Mclean Michael Beninati Jim Koshan Jonathon Waters Robert King Jack Eagan William Hartman Martin Berman Ross McIntyre Todd Nace
Here are some of the new products that we will have at the Gettysburg Toy Soldier Show. Plus, some of the old sets are coming back too.And we will have some of the latest Conte & LOD/Barzso toy soldiers too.We are spreading into the Pacific Theater of World War II now.We are focusing on the Japanese SNLF (Special Naval Landing Force) Marines. By the end of the year will have a bunch of figure sets and some terrain sets too. We are hoping to have some Mounted Normans and WWII US Marines for Chicago.
That is, it for now, See you next week or at the Chicago Toy Soldier Show.
Last week was the Chicago Toy Soldier Show or now called Chicagoland Toy Soldier Show. Hundreds of rooms were booked in the Chicago Marriott Schaumburghotel. The room trading officially started on Thursday September 19th and continued on Friday & Saturday. The show was on Sunday, September 22nd.I heard that over 400 people attended the show itself.
We were not at the show itself. But I had some friends take some pictures and gathered others from the internet. Jason Evans took some pictures of the room trading.
Austin Miniatures had new Marines and some older sets like the WWII Japanese Infantry. Plus, their wargaming scaled miniatures.
David & Kim Cook of MicShaun’s closet had a bunch of the TSSD plastic toy soldiers, LOD/Barzso products and foam terrain pieces. Plus, a bunch of other things.
Mike Kutnick had a mixture of vintage Marx plastic toy soldiers, Barzso resin figures and this year some of our Warhorse Miniatures.
Here are some pictures of Nate’s Garage custom toys.
Rich Egan has a nice mixture of vintage playsets, Barzso products, Conte Toy Soldiers and vintage Marx toys.
Jason said “This Marx set was from 1964, titled Beach-Head landing. It’s so cool watching them unbox these sets. The sets are donated every year by Craig Remington. Rick Eber always does the actual unboxing itself.”
Collector Jacob Kendall sent me these pictures that he took of the show.
Here are the pictures that Jason Evans took of the show. Mike Kutnick had some of our Warhorse Miniature products with him. I heard that W. Britain had a nice setup.
Rob Hornung had some unique hand-crafted toys for the show. There was nice selection of vintage plastic figures, antique & modern painted metal soldiers and vintage toys. Plus, a great battle display.
Here are some more pictures that I got that Matt Murphy had posted on Facebook. I heard that there was a lot of foot traffic for the room trading and the show was a success. That’s it for the Chicago Show.You can see more pictures of the show at the Treefrog Treasures forum, chicago-show-2024-pictures, We will start attending the show on a regular basis in 2026.
I have been busy working. The testing continues on new products. The British models have been updated. There were some things that were fixed and changed. There will be a bunch of different sets coming out in a couple of months. I will be adding more products to the webstore soon too. Most of the Plains Indian sets have been added.
In about 20 days we will be setup at the New Jersey Toy Soldier show. It is in Wayne, NJ. Hobby Bunker will be at this show too. This will be our last show of the year. We hope to see you there.
We hope everyone is safe, a lot of people have been affected by Hurricane Helene. Our thoughts & prayers are with you.
Greetings everyone. In this post we will be looking at two different toy shows. Plus, some hobby news. So let us begin…
Bucyrus Toy Soldier Show
We packed the car Friday night and started our trek to Bucyrus, Ohio early Saturday morning. The trip was about a 7-hour drive. We stopped at a few antique stores once we got to Ohio. After we checked in, we drove around the area of Marion and discovered a few places to check out. We made it a little adventure. We like to see different parts of the country. As collectors we are always on the hunt to find something in the wild.
We got up early the next morning and drove about 25 minutes to the Bucyrus Fairgrounds. We started setting up in a building that held about 60 tables. There was a small kitchen that was serving breakfast and lunch. The room was clean and well lit. The first vendor across from us was setup already as we walked in. He had all kinds of vintage toys.
All the vendors at this show were collectors, except for me. Either they were professional dealers that buy collections to resale or collectors downsizing.You can find some good deals from collectors looking to let go of things.
Besides the toy soldiers & related items there was also vintage toys, action figures, comics and some trains.
There was a lot of plastic toy soldiers at this show. A lot of vintage Marx sets to search through too.
There was some Barzso toy soldiers too. Plus, a lot of loose figures to go through from all different brands.
There were some old metal toy soldiers too.
They were different kinds of collectibles like comics and sports cards. Not much though. It was mostly plastic toy soldiers.
There were some nice playsets too.
Larry Lovely was the promoter of this show, and he did a good job. For being the first year the crowd was not that bad. It was small but it was not the worse show that I have done. The show should be better next year. They will change it to be on Saturday. It will be the same day as a fair that takes place there.
We end the review of the show with my tables. I had a mixture of my Warhorse Miniatures, LOD/Barzso toy soldiers and foam terrain pieces. We now will see some of the things that I picked up for myself below.
This time I found some vintage Airfix British 8th Army toy soldiers. These are some of the most iconic toy soldiers in my own opinion. I had a bunch of these guys growing up, both originals and knockoffs. The Officer figure was missing.
Here are some Barzso Daniel Boone figures. Daniel Boone, Mingo and I think Daniel Boone’s dog with a baby. The other items are part of the Blacksmith shop.
Here are some Barzso Davy Crockett character figures. First is Davy fighting a bear. The other figures are George Russell and Polly Crockett. The last picture has one of my latest protypes in blue next to Polly.
Here are the Barzso Gladiators. I have a bunch of Gladiators from different brands. This was the only ones that I needed to finish that mini collection for now. I was lucky enough to get them for $10. One day I will make some new figures for the Coliseum.
Here are some more Barzso fence sections. I actually got these at Gettysburg. All of the Barzso items I had purchased from Steve Connell.
I found this at a garage sale. I think it is part of a G.I. Joe set. It was marked Milton Bradley.
I found this tree in an antique store for $2.50. I think it was made to go with trains.
I found a bunch of plastic Star Wars toy soldiers in an antique store in Ohio for $20. They are 1/32 in scale. The Snowtroopers are some of my favorite Star War figures.
Last week was the Chicago Toy Soldier Show or as it was relabeled the Chicagoland Toy Soldier Show.In February the Garfield family announced that due to problems with the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg they were cancelling the show. It shocked the toy soldier community.Some were hoping that the Garfield family would continue the show somewhere else. But it did not happen. Matt Murphy came to the rescue with setting up a new show in a new place not that far from the original spot. Some people where concerned on how the new location would be.
The Chicago Toy Soldier Show was on Sunday, September 24th. But before the show they had started room trading on Wednesday September 20th. Most of the pictures I have were either taken by Jason Evans, Hobby Bunker or fellow collectors. I was not present at the show. I hope to be there 2025.
Here are some signs in the lobby of the hotel. Now let’s see some pictures of the room trading.
AeroArt and Hobby Bunker had their own “store” set up on the 2nd floor. They were open from Wednesday through Sunday.
The first room we have pictures is of David Cook. MicShaun’s Closet own’s the TSSD line of Plastic Toy Soldiers. They sell most other brands of Plastic figures from around the world. Plus, a bunch of foam products.
Here are some random pictures of different rooms.
Ron Barzso was back to do some room trading. He had some old stock and a few playsets to sell. Plus, as always he made a lot of memories. He signed the Barzso Playset book for Jason Evans. I have to get Ron to sign the copy of the book I have.
Here are some pictures of the rooms belonging to Steve Connell, Kirk Larson and Agan Jack.
Here are some more random pictures of the room trading.
Here are some pictures of Robert Hornung’s room.He creates everything by hand and paints them too.
Rob’s son had created a 1930’s radio show. A radio serial that was called Zip Carson and The Death Ray of Mars. Zip Carson and Margaret Allen were the main characters.
Here are some pictures of Mike Kutnick’s room. He always has some great stuff. A really nice guy.
Here is another guy that creates and paints everything. Nate’s Garage makes some awesome toys.
Here is another good guy, Scott Canady. He brings a bunch of vintage toy soldiers and playsets to the shows.
Here are some pictures of Treefrog Treasures’ room.
Rusty Kern of Playset Magazine had his room set up for everyone to visit and to pick up some magazines.That is it for the pictures of the room trading. This is just a fraction of what was going on. I heard that there was around 100 rooms setup.
In between the days of room trading there were other events going on. One of those events was the raffle of 3 Playset boxes for charity. Two were empty custom boxes. Scotty Canady, Mark Murphy& Rick Egan won a custom playset boxes.The artwork was done by Ron Lizorty. The box that Rich won was signed by Clint Eastwood. It was a custom made playset with toy soldiers inside.
There was a collector that had a Mint Marx Playset from 1957 that was opened and displayed for all to see.
There was a social media campaign to make collectors aware of the change with the show and what companies would be there.
Here are some pictures of the collector’s lining up for the show. I heard that the show was really busy this year. Probably the best attendance in a very long time. Around 800 people or so attended.It was nice to see this show survive after being in limbo. Some thought that the show would be less than what it was. From what I heard it was very successful thanks to Matt Murphy.
Here is the hallway leading up to the main show room.
W. Britain’s tables.
Here are some pictures of different vendors. Scott Canady is in the first picture.
David & Kim Cook of MicShaun’s closet.
Treefrog Treasures.
Here is Warring Warbirds. I think the planes are carved from wood. They are really creative.
Here are a bunch of random pictures of the show. Some show Ron Barzso & Ken Ciak.
Here are a more random pictures of the show.
I heard George RR Martin was at the show?? He is a collector of miniatures. That is it for the Chicago show. It should be even better next year. I can’t wait to attend in 2025.
Here is a video of an American Civil War diorama that fellow collector Vic Badd Guy created. He painted a bunch of Speira Miniatures. He also created the burning house effects and the terrain.
Some of you might have noticed that I have shut down the store page on the website. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we are in the process of moving. Production has been paused until we are settled in the new house. Hopefully by the end of November we can start again.
Today would have been my Father’s 88th birthday. He was a navy veteran, served 28 years in the NYPD as a Lieutenant and a Great Dad. Happy Birthday in Heaven Dad.
