Latest News!! 09/15/2019 ~ Chicago Toy Solider Show, Pre-Show Information & New Publius & MAN sets!!!

CTSS

It is less than a week now until the Chicago Toy Show begins. Next Sunday is the official show. But collectors will be arriving on Wednesday. Room trading starts on Thursday and goes on until Saturday. I will not be attending. But I am thinking about going next year. Check out the Chicago Toy Soldier Show Website for more information.

CTSS 2019

Some of the Vendors have sent me some information about new products, what they are bringing and the room they will be at.

 

 

Kirk Larson: I’ll be in Room 4105 selling: Britain’s Deetail, Marx toy guns, Die cast vehicles, Playmobil, Misc plastic Wild West stuff & more!

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Stephen Connell: I will be in Room 5412, with my general mix of Plastic and Metal….larger mix this year than most.

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Here are some of the things that Todd Nace is bringing. Looks like a lot of vintage plastic. He will be in Room # 5428.

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Ed Borris will be in room # 5203. He and Mike Kutnick will have vintage plastic sets & toy soldiers. Plus some Barzso Playsets & figures too. He also has his own line of toy soldiers, Beast Productions. They are limited run figures. I will get one of the John Stengel Sr. figures which is in the last picture above.

Ed sent this while I was writing up the article.

We will good stuff we will also have the large Davy Crockett Alamo with 5 firing cannons and cream Mexicans.

a Fort Apache stockade with unfolded tin
plus the two Barzso sets. Treasure Island and New Orleans.
2 sets of matched tan Marx 60mm Rin  tin tin cavalry

1 matched set of Marx 60mm powder blue Rin tin tin cavalry

plus hundreds of 60mm Marx Indians

Mint in Box Andy Gard cowboys and Indians never been opened
good quality stuff
plus surprises, meaning i don’t know what (Mike) he is packing
not to mention the Beast production figures and John Stengel memorial figure
plus my conversions
I will also be giving a demo on how to convert
Friday or Saturday I don’t know

There will be tons of stuff can you dig thru.

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Hobby Bunker: I’ll be in the Sage room all week, lobby level. They should have a little of everything. Both plastic and metal.

Austin Miniatures

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Austin Miniatures is getting their new WWII figures ready for the show. I hoping to hear about the details about the playset before the show.

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Bloody Lane

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Burnside’s Bridge

Custer's Battlefield

Custer’s Battlefield

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Reno’s Last Chance and the Montana Bluffs

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Gene of Paragon will be in room 5110. Here has a bunch of new foam terrain products. They look really nice. 

Here are some photos of a diorama I will be displaying during the show.

I call it “Reno’s Last Chance.”

The base is a new piece that I am bringing to the show. We call it Montana Bluffs. I have also done a covered wagon with accessories.

It is not a playset. The scenic piece comes in two pieces that form a 36 x 24 x 4.5 diorama piece. It comes completely painted and flocked and sells for $235.00.

The Wagon sells for $42.00 and comes with the cover and a removable insert (crates and sacks)

The barriers sell for $12.00 a piece.

You can inquire with Gene about the Custer’s Battlefield, Bloody Lane and Burnside’s Bridge pieces.

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We are excited to be a part of the 2019 Chicago Toy Solider Show. Room trading will begin on Thursday, September 19th through Saturday, September 21st. We are looking forward to meeting more of our amazing customers.

We are in Room 5201 and our tables are in the Lower Level Main Room South. Tables 301A, 302-305.

We will accept cash, credit cards and checks!

At the show, we will have two (2) new prototype Alamo buildings – the Kitchen and the Lunette! We will have the painted/finished buildings available for purchase. Below are the photos of the prototypes:

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The Kitchen. The right side of the kitchen designed to be placed next to the Main Entry Gate Building #TS222. The kitchen will be painted to match the current Alamo buildings.

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The Lunette. The Lunette goes in front of the Main Entry Gate Building #TS222. It will be painted in earth tones similar to what you find in Mark’s Lemon’s Book – The Illustrated Alamo 1836.

We will also be carrying many more Expeditionary Force figure sets, Chin Toys/Engineer Basevich. We will definitely have the Ex Force sets in Chicago and hope to have the Chin Toys/Engineer Basevich as well.

We have received a large restock of the Atherton Scenics diorama pieces.

New stock of our TSSD Foam pieces and have arrived and we expect more over the next week.

We will be bringing many of these pieces with us to Chicago.

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LOD

Ken of LOD: I will be in Room 5101 this year. Ron and I swapped rooms and he is in 5104.

Short post today but excited for the events over the next couple of weeks.

Amazons are in the Midwest and arriving at LOD headquarters tomorrow. Figure sets will be on the website on Thursday (9/19) and available at the Chicago Toy Soldier Show the same day.

New foam Santa’s Workshop will also be available at the Show and online now.

We look forward to seeing friends and collectors next week in Schaumburg.

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Here are the New Amazons.

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Santa’s Workshop can be the centerpiece of your Christmas display. This finely crafted foam piece is the hub where the elves are hard at work building the toys that Santa delivers every year to good boys and girls.

The Workshop will be available on its own ($125 plus shipping) or as part of an LOD display set ($160 plus shipping).

The display set includes the following – Santa’s Workshop, Santa’s Christmas Delivery figure set, a bag of decorative snow, five assorted sisal trees, and eight LOD gifts in four colors (blue and pink shown).

This set will be on the website this weekend and available for pre-order. I will also have them at the Chicago Toy Soldier Show.

Merry (early) Christmas from LOD 😊

 

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Ron Barzso will be at the show too. He will be in Room # 5104 this year. Even though he is retired he still has some products to sell. He even has a couple things to surprise us sometimes too!!

 

That concludes any information that I have about the show from the vendors. I should have another post up next weekend about the show itself. I will update this article if I have anything new to add. I hope to attend next year. 

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I was just going to do this post about the show. But I was informed about some more new sets coming from Russia. 

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Here is Publius latest set, Ancient Scythians. They are 1/32 in scale. Another 8 figure set. Well sculpted as usual. They are up for sale on eBay now. 

Man Logo

 

MAN is the company that came out with the set of Tlingit Natives earlier this year. 

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Man-made monument to HUMANITY

Workshop on the creation of plastic men.

Project goals: through contemplation of the “little men” through the game, to convey as much as possible the originality and colorfulness of historical cultures and ethnic groups born in the process of forming a single human race.

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They now are releasing two new sets about the natives of Aria or Ancient Aryans. You can read more about Aria here, https://www.ancient.eu/aria/. Also you can read about the Ancient Aryans here, https://www.ancient.eu/Aryan/. Check out the video below to see all the figures.

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These sets are 1/32 in scale. I will try to find out more information on when they will be available and what the cost of these sets will be.

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That is it for now. Thank you for reading.

 

 

 

 

An Interview with Gene Abravaya of Paragon Scenics & Miniatures.

Paragon

One of my favorite themes to collect is from the Great Plains Indians Wars period. When collecting figures for this theme Paragon is one of the first companies that come to mind first. If not, it should be. You can visit their website by clicking on this link here Paragon.

I first learned about Paragon Scenics & Miniatures in 2012. They produce Western themed sets in plastic. Their miniatures fit into three themes; The Alamo, American Civil War and The Great Plains Indian Wars. Besides the miniatures they also sell foam terrain pieces, buildings and Forts. They also have produced a few playsets. Their Native Americans figures are considered some of the best ever made in plastic.

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I have wanted to do an interview with Gene since I started doing them. But we couldn’t set some thing up until now. With the help of Ed Borris I was able to put this together. Thanks Ed : )

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An Ed Borris figure by Jason Pope fighting off two Paragon Native Sioux Warriors.

Today we get a chance to talk to Gene Abravaya the owner of Paragon Scenics & Miniatures. Hi Gene. Thank you in advance for taking your time to answer some of these questions.

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Box Art from one of Paragon’s sets.

Warhorse Miniatures: Can you tell us about yourself and how did Paragon get started?

 

Gene: First of all, thank you Mike for giving me this opportunity to reach out to other collectors. This labor of love started a long, long time ago for me when, back in 1959 or so, I received my first Marx Fort Apache playset. I admit that, during my teenage and college years, when I was more concerned about dating and pleasing girlfriends, I was absent from the hobby. After that, pursuing a career and then raising a family took me further away. But always the love of toy soldiers lingered. It wasn’t until my own children gave me a set of Lord of The Rings figures that the desire to collect was reawakened. And shortly after that, the desire to create my own line of figures took hold of me. I have always been a creative person, a lover of all the arts and an over-achiever – the type of person who has always looked to challenge himself. If I was going to make my own line of figures, I was going to make them myself. Something in me kept saying ,”you can do this.” So I did.

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(Gene continues) After checking out the leading manufacturers of new figure sets – Conte and TSSD in particular, I realized how far the industry had come. The work they did and continue to do in advancing the quality of product has to be recognized for its genius and respected its love for the hobby. They were my inspiration and still are. I contacted Nick VerSteeg, who not only unselfishly gave me the benefit of all his insight but gave me the names of the people I needed to contact if I was serious about getting into “the business.” That’s how it started, and after producing sixteen different sets and close to thirty foam diorama pieces, I am still at it. 

Paragon Wilson’s Creek Banks

 

Warhorse Miniatures: Your Native American figures are some of the best sculpted miniatures ever made. Who is the sculptor and can you tell us any background in the development with these figures?

 

Gene: Whether or not other collectors are a fan of my figures, I can honestly say they are the product of my own creation. I personally sculpt each figure of each set. The process has taught me patience if nothing else.

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Warhorse Miniatures: Your latest set is the Alamo Mexican Set 3. They look very nice. I like the new pattern of mixing some mounted figures with figures on foot. Will you continue this practice?

 

Gene: Most of our sets are six figures. Recently, because of rising costs, I have released new sets with four poses but, in many cases, these sets have swivel and swappable heads, giving collectors options that they don’t have when buying other manufacturers’ sets with six or more poses with fused features.

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Warhorse Miniatures: It seems that you are very fond of the American West or American Civil War History. Have you ever thought about producing another theme?

 

Gene: Taking a serious look at what had already been produced and what needed to be produced, it seemed like there was an opportunity to make my own presence known to the collecting community by beginning with a line of figures that, growing up, I had always wanted for myself. I have always loved John Ford’s Cavalry trilogy – Fort Apache, Rio Grande, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. At that time no one had done the Apache Wars of the Southwest, circa 1870’s, so it seemed like the perfect time to do it. We now do three Apache warrior sets, four US Cavalry sets and one set of Cavalry and Apache Scouts.

Paragon Fort Apache

(Gene Continues) From there we have produced two sets of Civil War figures, Sioux warriors and, another personal favorite, The Alamo. The very next set I received as a boy after my Marx Fort Apache was, you guessed it, Disney’s Davy Crockett Alamo playset. I still remember watching the Davy Crockett series on TV. It was the first time, I believe, a main character of any TV series, died at the end, and if you didn’t exactly see him Fess Parker die (I think the final scene Davy is swinging his rifle at the top of the stairs, the camera pans up as he is surrounded by Mexican soldiers from all sides), it was definitely implied. Nevertheless, to a youngster it was riveting and The Alamo, became not just a monument and a memorial to the nation but something epic in scale in my imagination. I’m very proud of my Alamo sets. What they lack in authenticity, they make up for in drama and versatility. The Mexicans are very reminiscent of Disney’s original designs (minus the backpacks) and the defenders are not just buckskin-clad Tennesseans but from all walks including Tejano.

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Paragon Alamo Defenders 2

Warhorse Miniatures: There was some talk on one of the forums about you retiring at the end of this year? What are your plans?

 

Gene: That brings us to the present and the future of Paragon Scenics and Miniatures. I am currently working on a whole array of foam scenic pieces, twenty or more to be specific, intended for five new playsets that are in development. Two will be 7th Cavalry in concept – Paragon’s version of Custer Hill and the defensive position by Reno and Benteen’s men on the bluffs above.

(Gene Continues) Two will be what I call The Antietam Series – The Bloody Road and the taking of Burnside’s Bridge.

(Gene Continues) The fifth and last of the new playsets will be an expanded version of what we began with – The Final battle in John Ford’s Fort Apache. I believe the design and detail in these new pieces will be unsurpassed by anything plastic collectors have seen in the past, and I hope they delight and spark not only those collectors’ imaginations but their children’s and their grandchildren’s.

Paragon The Apache Wars

Warhorse Miniatures: Thank you again Gene. Is there anything else that you would like to say to the readers?

 

Gene: What does the future hold? My answer to that is “who knows”. I have always been driven by inspiration and by my wife’s love and patience. Currently, I have sacrificed a den, a guest room and 90% of my garage to this business. How much more I can sacrifice depends on my health, my wife’s love and her patience. Happy collecting to all!

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Well that is some exciting news about all the future sets and terrain pieces. I can not wait until the Plains Indian theme sets show up.

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Paragon makes some really nice foam pieces. You should try to get them while they are still available. 

Their figures blend very well with other companies like these Barzso Buffalo. They also look great with the TSSD Native American sets. Speaking of TSSD, the new owners have a new website over here at https://micshaunscloset.com/.

Paragon also has painted sets available for sale. Check them at over at http://www.paragon-scenics.com/miniatures/Painted_Figures.html.

 

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The Gettysburg Toy Soldier Show

Prikaz Toy Soldiers2

Warhorse Miniatures is proud to support Prikaz Toy Soldiers. I have set up a online catalog for Alexey Pisarev. The page is still under construction and will be updated soon. It also will be updated as each new set is produced. You can see and read more about this over here at Prikaz Toy Soldiers

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Well folks that is it for now. Thank you for reading.