The Latest News!!! 06-28-2020 ~ New Show this September in Indiana. “Tippecanoe & Toy Soldiers 2 Show”. Plus some hobby news.

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The MIDWEST TOY SOLDIER GROUP is hosting a toy soldier show this September in Lafayette, Indiana. There was a demand for this since the Chicago Toy Soldier Show had been cancelled. They are calling the new show “Tippecanoe & Toy Soldiers 2 Show”. Titled after the Battle of Tippecanoe which took place near the location of the show.

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The show takes place on Labor Day weekend Sunday, September 6th from the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plus ROOM TRADING on Friday, September 4th & Saturday, September 5th through out the days. Located at the Courtyard by Marriott’s Conference Center, 150 Fairington Ave in Lafayette, IN 47905. You can read more about the show at http://www.mwtoysoldier.com/. I will have a table at the show and will be doing a report on the room trading and show. You should make a mini vacation around this show because who knows what is going to happen later on in the Fall.

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Latest News

I have a few updates on some products that are now released or will be released in the near future.

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Here are two pictures of painted Mars sets. The first picture is of WWII German Night Hunters. The second picture is of WWII German Paratroopers. These sets should be available in August. Sergey said that the WWII Finns and Russian Assault Troops are available now.

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The Plastic Platoon WWII Russian Assault Troops are in production now. They really look nice. Some of their best work.

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Small Medieval House ~ $45.00

Medieval Tavern

Large Medieval Tavern ~ $75.00

Medieval Stone Cottage – Small

Medieval Stone Cottage (small) ~ $42.00

Medieval Stone Cottage – Large

Medieval Stone Cottage (large) ~ $54.00

LOD is really busy remaking the Barzso Playset products. Besides the new figure sets they have been re-issuing. They’re releasing the old Medieval houses & cottages. They’re also working on other products. You can visit their page by clicking on this link https://lodtoysoldiers.com

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SALE

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

The Latest News!! 04-05-2020 ~ Toy Solder Review ~ Italeri Gladiators ~ Previews from Mars! Plus some Hobby News!!

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I hope everyone is doing well. I bet a lot of you are getting stir crazy in your home or stressed out if you are working. Today I have another short post. The first part is a review of a old plastic set from Italeri.

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I picked this set up a few months ago. I am planning on using these figures with my Playmobil Coliseum set in a display one day. The scale says 1/32 but they are more like 1/35 in scale. There are sixteen figures in this set. Eight different poses of two each. There are six Gladiators and two animals. Made out of tan plastic. Like a model they had to be broken off the spruce.

Gladiators A

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The first group of Gladiators appear to be posing ready to set some type of contest.

Gladiators B

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Here we have a Lion & a Bear.

Gladiators C

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The next group of Gladiators are of action poses.

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The set is sculpted well. Nicely detailed. The poses are good too. I do have a few complaints. It feels like the set is incomplete. Even the box art is different from the figures included. Most of the poses don’t connect with each other. They should have made the poses interact with each other better. There should be two standing poses instead of three. If there was another action pose it would have felt more complete.

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Here is the hobby clipper that I used to remove the figures from the spruce. It makes so much easier to remove the plastic parts.

Latest News

Mars

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Here is a preview the new Mars WWII Russian Infantry set. They look nice. The grey set will be sold in limited numbers. I hope to get a set of each once the virus clears up.

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Here another Mars set. Viet Cong Heavy Weapons team. The gray figures are prototypes. All the sets are 1/32 in scale. 

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I should have some more time off after next week. Hopefully I don’t get sick while I am at work. I will be updating my site when I have more free time.

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Don’t forget to keep checking out my new page I added, Toys for Sale. Each month I will be adding more items. I hope to sell mainly at the toy shows in the future.

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Also you should check out some the Toy Soldier website. Most are still out during the Virus shut down. Armies in Plastic is one of them. Check them out at https://www.armiesinplastic.com/

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Classic Toy Soldiers is another Toy Soldier company having some specials. You can see more at their page over here https://www.classictoysoldiers.com/.

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Check out My Favorite Links page and visit all the other links. Take Care for now. Be Safe. Thank you for reading.

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The Latest News!!! 12-24-2019 * Merry Christmas, LOD-Barzso Lexington Green Foam Buildings & Mars WWII German Elite Winter Infantry review.

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I wish everyone a Merry Christmas & would like thank everyone who visits my page.  

In this post we have two reviews. The first will be of a new toy soldier set from Mars. The second is a of the re-released Barzso Lexington Green foam buildings by LOD.

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Last week I purchased the new Mars German Elite Infantry (Winter Dress) WWII set. I got them from Kent of http://toysoldierhq.com/. The set came with 15 plastic soldiers in 8 different poses. The scale of the soldiers is 1/32. The color is a light gray.

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I like this figure set. The quality is not the best. But it’s not that bad. The quality of Mars is getting better. I like the poses and the captured Russian weapons that some of the soldiers have. Also the sniper and mortar guy are great. Mars reminds me of the vintage Airfix or Matchbox toy soldiers that you would get from the local hobby store. These are the type of toy soldiers that I had as a kid. I will show a few comparisons below with other companies.

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Finally my Airfix German Mountain troops can have some fighting poses in winter gear to help them.. The Mars figures blend well with them. At least the last set of hard plastic Airfix figures that I got.

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They are too small to go with Marx Germans.

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They are a little smaller than the Conte Germans. But you mix some of them together. They don’t look that bad.

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The same can be said when compared to TSSD Winter Germans. The Mars figures are smaller but you can still use them. I bet when they are painted they will blend better.

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You can have them fight against the Biplant Russian Soldiers too.

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Here are some 21st Century items that I used in this display.

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I liked the way this mortar guy looks when I used him with this German Artillery piece.

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Here is a display with a W. Britain German Panzer. They look nice when used as Panzer Grenadiers. The flash problems are not as bad with this set. Some of the molding errors actually help these figures if you are going to paint them. The marks on some of the helmets give you the worn look. Plus on some of the figures you will see the same effect with the uniforms. I am glad that the scale has improved to let us use some other brands that we already own. Most toy soldier collectors that purchased these sets want to add some reinforcements to their existing collection of other brands.

LOD Barzso

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I pre-ordered a couple of the newly re-released Barzso Lexington Green foam buildings now made by LOD.

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I ordered the Clapboard House in green. I have the Barzso Lexington Green playset with two Clapboard houses in red & white. So I wanted a different color that came from the factory. These are great to increase the size of your Lexington Green playset or just by themselves in a display. You can also use these house for different time periods besides the Colonial era.

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I also got the Buckman’s Tavern. It was sold as a add-on to the playset, plus the Concord Bridge. I missed my chance with the tavern. I am glad that it was re-released. Just like most of the Barzso items that had been artificially increased on eBay over the years the building are being offered at ridiculous prices too.  Now is your chance to purchase these buildings at an affordable price. If you had missed them the first time, get it now before the are out of stock again. You can check what Ken is selling at his https://lodtoysoldiers.com/ page. Check out his blog section for the latest news or send him a message to see what is available. Don’t get ripped off on eBay.

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I hope a Chaos Champion hunts down the eBay price gougers, lol.

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Over the past few years I have been looking into ways to create my own figures & items that you can use in displays with toy soldiers like the rigid foam buildings and terrain pieces. Hopefully next year I will have some announcements. Stay tuned…..

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Here is a Viking prototype. He is fighting a Conte Saxon in front of a Barzso cottage.

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I need to make a few changes.

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Here is a sketch for a set of Anglo Saxons that I am planning to make. I will have more information about this next year.

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That is it for now. Thank you for reading.

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The Latest News!!! 12-08-2019 ~ News & Reviews ~ Mars French Old Guard, Conte Romans & LOD Santa’s Workshop.

In this blog post I have a couple of updates and a review. The first update I got today about Mars from Sergey. 

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Here are some photos of the Mars French Old Guard set. These are 1/32 in scale. The should be available soon in the USA. They are on eBay from an Ukraine Seller. I wonder how they will compare to the Airfix Napoleonic Figures?

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“Somewhat better photos of the first test shots. A couple figures standing closer to how they were designed.”

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Conte Romans are getting closer to production. Here are some test shots from the molds. Richard said that they are close to being finished. They need a little more work.

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Santa Workshop

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I purchased the LOD Santa’s Workshop a few weeks ago. It is a Christmas novelty. The year before I had purchased some of the Santa sets that had the sled and elves. 

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The Santa Workshop is a big house. It comes in two parts. It also makes a good place to store the Christmas toys 😉 These Christmas sets are really nice. I use them around the house for displays. The have that vintage look to them. I will be using these for many years to come. You can go over the LOD website to see all North Pole sets, https://lodtoysoldiers.com/product-category/north-pole-sets/.

 

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Hasbro officially revealed two more of the 6″ Black Series figures yesterday at Comic-Con Dortmond: Clone Commander Bly and the Sith Jet Trooper. 

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This concludes another blog post. Thank you for reading.

 

Toy Soldier Review ~ Mars German Don Cossack (WWII)

During World War II, the Don Cossacks mustered the largest single concentration of Cossacks within the German Army, the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps. A great part of the Cossacks were former Russian citizens who elected to fight not so much for Germany as against the Soviet Union. The XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps included the 1st Cossack Division and the 2nd Cossack Division.

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Mars just released a set of Don Cossack soldiers that served in the German Army during World War II. I recently picked up a set from Kent Sprecher. Here is the link for Kent on eBay, 32023 Mars 1/32 WWII Don Cossacks (German Allies) toy soldiers 15 in 8 poses. You get 15 figures in 8 different poses in 1/32 scale.

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Let’s start the review. I was very happy to get this set. Mars hit a home run in my opinion. I was surprised to find out that the scale of this set about the same scale as the Conte Germans. Now my German forces finally have some Axis Allies in the same scale. They also look nice when compared to Marx Germans too. Even the Plastic Platoon figures are about the same scale. The only flaw that stands out to me is the flash that cuts down most of the figures faces. 

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The scale is one of the major drawbacks to most of the other Mars sets. Previous Mars World War II sets really didn’t compare that well with most sets. Unless you were a big collector of MPC figures then you were out of luck. Most collectors will pick a scale that they like to collect. You have 1/35 scale which is what most “Models” are. Then the classic scale of 54mm or the original 1/32 scale which most Marx figures are. Then the “Big” 1/32 scale which came along with Conte & TSSD figures. My favorite is the Conte Scale. 

German Elite Infantry

As I was writing my review a few days ago I was sent some pictures of the new Mars WW II German Elite Infantry in Winter Dress. These figures look really nice. I hope that these new figures are also a little bigger than the previous sets. Kent should have them in stock in a few weeks.

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The East Coast Toy Soldier Show is this Sunday. I will be there and will have a review of the show most likely on Monday. That is it for now. Thank you for reading.

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The Latest News!! 07-27-2019 ~ Mars 1/32 WWII Japanese Paratroopers Update

Mars WWII Japanese Paratroopers

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I just got these new pictures that includes all the poses for the 1/32 scaled set of WWII Japanese Paratroopers by Mars. About a month ago I did a post showing the first 4 poses. You can read that post if you missed it here, The Latest News!! 06/30/2019 ~ Mars 1/32 World War II Japanese Paratroopers, MicShaun’s Closet & John Jenkins Anglo-Saxons Shield Wall.

 

 

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There are 3 new poses in the picture above. The figure Standing firing the rifle, the figure about to throw a grenade and the Officer kneeling shooting a hand gun.

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The newest pose in the above picture is the figure with the anti tank weapon. I was wrong about the figure having an anti tank weapon. He is carrying a flamethrower!!! That’s really cool.

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Here are some close up pictures of the other poses. You can see more in the earlier post. I will add more pictures as I get them here and do a review when this set is released sometime in a few months from now.

Kent Sprecher of Toy Soldier HQ just informed me that he will have this set in a few weeks. So take a look at his website soon. He also has the Mars Zombie Pirates & Mars Pirates of the Caribbean in stock now. So check out his site with the link above and see all the vintage items he has in stock. You can also go to his eBay page to purchase toys he has listed here, Kent Sprecher on eBay

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Just a quick update. I’ll have more in a week or two. Thanks for reading, until next time….

The Latest News!! 07-19-2019 ~ News & Reviews. Plastic Platoon, Chintoys, Prikaz, Conte & Mars.

Here is a quick recap of what has been happening this week. Plus a review of Chintoys sets 017 & 018.  

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Here are some pictures of sculpts that were sent to me by Plastic Platoon. They are Plains Indians from the Tribes of the Sioux & Cheyenne. I guess these will be available sometime before the end of the summer or early fall. The details are excellent. These figures are more like a set of Character figures than a regular set. I wish that some of the poses were crouching or running as they would have been at the Little Big Horn. Maybe we will see some figure sets of hand to hand fighting. Or even some mounted figures would be even better.

 

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Here is another figure that is being made for the Conte Romans sets. The details are also excellent. I can’t until these available.

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Lion King with alternate arms. Here we have freed him from his ‘flag’ and are turning him loose for hand to hand combat. ; (also have a 3rd left arm holding round shield)

 

Mars

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Mars sent me some pictures of the way the box will look for their upcoming set of WWII German Panzergrenadiers.

 

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Here are some pictures of the new sets that have just been released or will be released this month by Prikaz. They are about 56mm or the big 1/32 scale. I will update the catalog page with prices and more pictures soon Prikaz Toy Soldiers

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Here are the 6 figures in the Viking Shieldwall set. Three figures with shields standing and three figures with shields kneeling. This set sells for $37.00.

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Here are some pictures of the figures from the new “Hunters” set. This set goes for $37.00

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Some more pictures of the new Artillery Set. This set has 8 figures and a cannon. This set goes for $100.00.

 

Chintoys

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I ordered the two new sets from Chintoys last week. These sets come in various colors from blue, blue-gray, red and brown. Maybe even more colors? I ordered the the sets in blue. You can find these sets on eBay right now.

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Here are the Chintoys Knights Templar CHT017 & Knights Hospitaller CHT018. Here are some more pictures below of the Knights with figures from other brands of Prikaz, Conte & Engineer Basevich to compare them too.

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These plastic figures are really nice. I like the choice of poses and use of other medieval weapons the we usually never see. The figures say 1/32 but they are closer to 1/30. They are a little bigger than the Conte medieval figures. But still look really nice with them. They fit very well with the Prikaz & Engineer Basevich figures. If I see the blueish gray color figures I will pick them up one day. I think I will paint a set of these one day if I get another set of the brown ones. I think we will see some Arab warriors one day to fight our Crusaders. I would like to see them do a Teutonic set and some Baltic Pagans to fight. That would some great sets to see.

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That is is for now. Thanks again for reading.

The Latest News!! 06/30/2019 ~ Mars 1/32 World War II Japanese Paratroopers, MicShaun’s Closet & John Jenkins Anglo-Saxons Shield Wall.

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Here is another update about the hobby. We have some news from Mars, MicShaun’s Closet and John Jenkins.

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Sergey shared a sneak peak of the World War II Japanese in 1/32 scale. Here are four of the figures that will be included in this set. The Zombie Pirates, German Panzergrenadiers and Japanese Paratroopers should be released by the end of the summer. An eBay dealer from the Ukraine made a mistake by listing some sets this week that are still unavailable.

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The poses are based on the same poses from the 1/72 set. But they look a little different. I am excited to see this set released now after see this first four figures.

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MicShaun’s should have their big shipment of re-stock figure sets by the end of the week. I will have more information on that when it happens.

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Right now they have this NEWRAY BIG COUNTRY WESTERN TOWN in stock. Check it out at https://micshaunscloset.com/products/new-ray-big-country-western-town

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George of Minutemen Toy Soldiers shared some pictures of John Jenkins latest theme today. These are unpainted prototypes. These range should be released sometime next year. Check out George’s site at http://www.mmtoysoldiers.com/

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“John Jenkins Designs previewed a new range yesterday at the June London Toy Soldier Show; figures from the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings………………they will begin to appear in September, hopefully in time for the Chicago Show……..”

http://www.johnjenkinsdesigns.com/

I can’t wait to see these.

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That is it for now. Thank you for reading.

Interview with Sergey Zabashta of Mars Figures & some Hobby News.

Mars

 

I first noticed the Mars Figures company a few years ago, http://www.marsfigures.com/. At the time they were making little plastic toy soldiers in 1/72 scale. I don’t collect figures in that scale so I really didn’t pay any attention to them. After reading an article on the Stad’s Stuff website I was aware that they had now began producing figures in 1/32 scale. 

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They started making some sets based on modern warfare. These subjects I do not collect, so I still didn’t really give them to much notice. They did remind me of the old boxed Airfix, Esci or Matchbox plastic toys soldiers that I used to get as a kid.

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This year I noticed that they had started to make some World War II sets. I liked some of the figures in a couple of these sets. But it wasn’t until the Pirates of the Caribbean set was released that I really wanted to get a set of their figures.

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Earlier in the month I started talking to Sergey Zabashta the owner of Mars Figures about doing an interview. After a few weeks he finally found time to answer a few questions.

Warhorse Miniatures: Hi Sergey. Can you tell us a little about yourself and Mars Figures?

Sergey Zabashta: Yes of course. From my early childhood I was fond of collecting model airplanes. The same was for 1/32 & 1\72 scaled plastic figures. When the USSR collapsed it was a difficult time for many people. Many people stopped taking part with their hobbies because they were faced with many other problems. My interests had also changed. Approximately in 2001, I realized that I wanted to work and make money that brought me satisfaction. I analyzed the 1/72 scale market at that time. I concluded that I can earn money and that I would be interested in doing it.

 

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(Sergey continues) It began with the fact that I created the EVO brand and repackaged LW products (At that time, a company with a large assortment of figures of 72 scales) in bags with my EVO logo. I also resold wholesale products from Zvezda, Miniart and others. It did not last long. Then I leased a number of molds from the Archipelago company. By that time I decided to make a beautiful package(box art) and a new brand that I called Mars (god of war and a close planet in my horoscope :-))

 

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(Sergey continues) Things went well and I also bought some of the molds from the Converter company. The production of these figures from those molds were copies of Esci and Revell figures. At that time it was not prohibited in my country but buyers from Europe had a negative opinion about such products. Therefore it was decided to make new original molds. The first set was Pirates of the Caribbean Sea in 1/72 scale. There were many difficulties with the production of the first set, but I was able to achieve a good work of the mold. Today we have more than 100 sets in 1/72 scale. And about 20 sets in the 1/32 scale. This year 10 new sets are planned.

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Warhorse Miniatures: Most of your figures are cast in the 1/72 scale. When did you decide to cast them in 1/32 scale?

Sergey Zabashta: I had long thought to start producing figures on the 1/32 scale. I played with toy soldiers of this scale in my childhood. I liked to play WWII figures. In the USSR we had WWII themed toy soldiers from Matchbox, Airfix, and Hong Kong copies growing up. I wondered if I could make a mold for figures of the 1/32 scale. The production of these molds takes a lot of time and money. So for a long time I did not dare to experiment. One day, a friend of mine suggested that I remake the Taliban set in 1/32 scale. This set initially consisted of 8 figures. My friend once invested in producing this set from Oritet. Two molds were made. At that time they were issued, but the head of Oritet died and the project was discontinued. I made a mold using these 4 figures. Production of this mold took about 1 year, but the mold turned out to be successful and is still working. After that, I finally decided that I would release some of the sets in the 1/32 scale.

 

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Warhorse Miniatures: Your first sets cast in the 1/32 scale were based on modern warfare of Afganistian & Vietnam. Why did you choose these subjects?

Sergey Zabashta: I thought that the 1/32 scale from the USA were the most favorite of this scale being collected. So I wanted to make some sets on the topics related to the conflicts in which the USA took part. Six sets were released for this period. My favorite is Viet Cong. The period of the war in Afghanistan was also limited by manufacturers of 1/32 scaled figures. I made 2 sets for this period, but the sales were low. Therefore more sets for this period are not planned.

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Warhorse Miniatures: My favorite set you did in 1/32 scale are the Pirates of the Caribbean. The sculpting with this set has really improved over some of the earlier sets. Are you using a new sculptor?

Sergey Zabashta: This is the same sculptor who made the figures in Vietnam and Afghanistan. 

Update. Sergey says that the Pirate, Vietnam and Afghanistan were sculpted by the same sculptor. The World War II sets are made with new technology and sculptor. The Somali Insurgents had a different sculptor too.

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Warhorse Miniatures: I know you are planning some new WWII sets and Napoleonic sets for the future. What else are your planning?

 

Sergey Zabashta: I plan to continue making WWII sets. I am also planning on making sets of Conquistadors. They will be heavy cavalry and light Cavalry. 

Update. Sergey said that there will be 4 Mounted poses. These figures will be new sculpts. He is in the process of making the horses first and looking at different sculptors for the figures. He is real excited about this project.

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Warhorse Miniatures: There are a lot of collectors out there like me that collect Barzso, Conte and Airfix. We are looking for new figures that match those figures in scale. Your last set of Pirates of the Caribbean figures match the Barzso pirates perfectly. Are you going to make future sets in the same scale as these brand of figures?

Sergey Zabashta: Yes, of course. I plan to produce figures of 54-58mm. I do not plan to make larger figures in the same way as they produce some technological difficulties.

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Warhorse Miniatures: Thank you for taking your time in answering the questions Sergey. Is there any thing that you would like to say to the collectors?

Sergey Zabashta: Today, most collectors are people over 40 years old. I would like a younger generation to grow up being interested in history and figures. It would be nice if fathers played with their children using toy soldiers. Then when their children grow up they would also continue this. I still remember my feelings when I first picked up the Airfix soldier from the Ghurkas set. I was only 9 years old then. I hope my thoughts were interesting to you.

For questions about the distribution of Mars figures, write to
marsfigure@gmail.com

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That concludes the interview section of this article. I have a few things that I would like to also share.

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I repainted a Barzso Block House foam piece that I got in Gettysburg last month and took out some figures to take some pictures. One of the Barzso Redcoats in the kneeling pose firing had a base. Up to this point I thought they all came with out a base. I had a few other sets that I had in storage that I took out and noticed that these had bases. 

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My question is when did they discontinue or start using a base?

 

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Ever once in a while I stumble across something on eBay or sometimes I read something on Stad’s Stuff about some foreign plastic figures and then will look for them. A few weeks ago I stumbled across these Cromoplasto Indians. 

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They are 1/32 in scale. The material used is rubbery. The are almost semi flat too. One day I will repaint these too….

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Last month I picked this metal figure up at a local flea market. He was made by The Saturday Evening Post in 1982. They appear to be about 1/32 in scale. Probably around 56mm or so in size. The details are really nice. I paid S5.00 for this figure. I will paint this one too, one day……

 

The Workshop

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Last month while at the Gettysburg Toy Soldier show I purchased this Barzso Block House for S100. It had been repainted a semi gloss brown. I didn’t like the way it looked. So I planned on repainting it. It was another project to add to the pile of never ending projects. I was lucky enough to find some time when the weather was nice. Here are some pictures below of my progress.

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I noticed a few areas that I have to touch up. I was thinking of maybe repainting the stone too. Besides the touch up I was also thinking of dry brushing the wood timbers. What color should I use? A beige or light gray? Plus a ash brown wash?

 

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Next time when you are having a bad day, think of the time Davy had to fight a Grizzly Bear with a tiny knife….

Take Care and Thank you for reading.

Defender

Latest News!!! 06/08/2019 ~ Toy Soldier Previews & Hobby News ~ Mars Panzergrenadiers, Forces of Valor LCM-3. Plus Hat, Conte & Plastic Platoon & more.

D-Day

“On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops.”

I took this statement above from https://www.army.mil/d-day/

D-Day (1)D-Day_2_largeThe 75th Anniversary of D-Day was a couple of days ago. One of the most iconic images we have of that day is that of the brave boys landing on the beaches and the LCM landing craft.

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On the 75th Anniversary of D-Day Forces of Valor announced the are going to release new Landing Craft Mechanized, LCM-3 in 1/32 scale. The released a statement the other day too. I have added that below.

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We would like to take this special opportunity; 75th anniversary of D-Day Normandy landing, one of the most important battles during WW2, to announce our new 1/32 scale project, Landing Craft Mechanized, LCM-3. Forces of Valor / Unimax had produced the 1/72 scale LCM-3 back in 2008 and since we had taken over the FOV brand, we have always wonder why a 1/32 scale version had not been made in the past? So we began conducting some researches about the LCM-3 and eventually found out that a 1/32 scale LCM-3 version has a dimension of 47.6cm (Length) x 13.6cm (Width) and 13.5cm (Height), that would probably cost a fortune to make the molds, however since 8 months ago, we started our new 1/32 scale Sherman tank program, we have planned to release 2 variants of Sherman M4 and 8 variants of Sherman M4A3… (Sherman tanks have way too many variants so for M4A1 and M4A2 we have to reluctantly leave it until 2020)

That said… with nearly 10 models of 1/32 scale Sherman variants that would be rolling out in the next 12 months, a landing craft seems to be more than necessary to join our iconic 1/32 scale family and so 5 months ago, we had chosen the LCM-3 as a kick start of our landing crafts series.

One of the major concerns of FOV enthusiasts is how much metal parts would be used in every new product. We can firmly tell you that at least with 2003 FOV level, which means turret, gun barrel and top hull and for this particular LCM-3, at least the ramp, certain body parts would be made of die-cast metal.

Following post would be about the new FOV 1/32 scale US Sherman tank series.

Respect and praise to all the D-Days heroes!! http://www.forcesofvalor.com/

Mars

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Here are some preview pictures of Mars’ new WW2 German Panzergrenadiers. There are 1/32 in scale and should be released in a few months. I like the color and some of the poses are nice. The last picture above is my favorite pose from this set.

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Here are a few more pictures that Conte released of the Romans that will be released in plastic hopefully by the end of the year.

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Here are some pictures of Seven Years War Austrians by Hat in 1/32 scale. No release date on these. If we are lucky they will be released by the end of the year. It has only been almost 2 years now……

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Mikhail of Plastic Platoon sent me some more pictures of the 7th Cavalry figures that they are making. The details are excellent. There is a debate going on with collectors about the uniforms and poses of this set. 

 

Warring Warbirds

Michael sent me some more pictures his latest projects.

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You can read more about Michael and Warring Warbirds here Interview with Michael Sreckov of Warring Warbirds. Plus some hobby news..

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So far this year has been exciting with all the news and new releases. We didn’t even get to Chicago yet. Almost every week some one or something new pops up. That is it for now. Thank you for reading.