Product Code Database
A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes , , American Indians, , samurai, and other subjects that involve combat-related themes. Toy soldiers vary from simple toy to highly realistic and detailed scale model. The latter are of more recent development and are sometimes called to distinguish them from traditional toy soldiers. Larger scale toys such as and may come in military uniforms, but they are not generally considered toy soldiers.
Toy soldiers are made from all types of material, but the most common mass production varieties are metal and plastic. There are many different kinds of toy soldiers, including or flats, hollow-cast metal figures, composition figures, and army men. Metal toy soldiers were traditionally sold in sets; plastic figures were sold in toy shops individually in Britain and Europe and in large boxed sets in the U.S. Modern, collectable figures are often sold individually.
| Popular military modelling scale for vehicles and light aircraft (Tamiya). Also used for the accompanying human display models like crew and passengers. |
| Model railroad "I scale". Also used for display models. Britains toy farm sets (animals, structures, and most vehicles) and "Stablemate size" model horses were in this scale. |
| Traditional "Normal scale" lead or die-cast metal toy soldiers (Britains). |
| Spanish 60 mm size (actually closer to 1/26 or 1/27 scale) (Alymer Toy Soldiers). |
| American "dimestore" 3-inch size (Barclay or Manoil) or German 75 mm size (actually closer to 1/21 scale). 1/2-scale dollhouses are built in this scale. |
| Used for Ertl Company's toy farm sets (animals, structures, and most vehicles) and most plastic toy animal figures. |
In addition to Britains, there have been many other manufacturers of toy soldiers over the years. For example, John Hill & Company produced hollow cast lead figures in the same style and scale. Companies such as Elastolin and Lineol were well known for their composite figures made of glue and sawdust that included both military and civilian subjects. After 1950, rising production costs and the development of plastic meant that many shop keepers liked the lighter, cheaper, and far less prone to break in transit polythene figure. This led to greater demand for plastic toy soldiers.Sheil, T., and Sheil, A., eds. Army Men. Retrieved on August 25, 2008. The first American plastic soldiers were made by Beton as early as 1937. The first plastic toy soldiers produced in Great Britain were made in 1946 by Airfix before they became known for their famous model kits range.
One large historical producer in plastic was Louis Marx and Company, which produced both realistic soldiers of great detail and also historical collections of plastic men and women, including the "Presidents of the United States" collection, "Warriors of the World", "Generals of World War II", "Jesus and the Apostles", and figures from the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Marx also produced boxed that featured many famous battles with armies of two sides, character figures, and terrain features. Britains produced plastic figures under the brand names of Herald and Britains Deetail. Also in England, the scale model company, Airfix produced a variety of high quality plastic sets, which were frequently painted by hobbyists. Many Airfix figures were imitated by other companies and reproduced as inexpensive, bagged plastic army men.
Timpo Toys, Britains main competitor in terms of sales and quality in the 1960s and 70s developed the 'Over - Moulding' system. Different coloured plastics were injected into the mould at various stages, creating a fully coloured figure without the need of paint.
During the 1990s, the production of metal toy-grade painted figures and connoisseur-grade painted toy soldiers increased to serve the demands of the collectors' market. The style of many of these figures shifted from the traditional gloss-coat enamel paint to the matte-finished acrylic paint, which allows for greater detail and historical accuracy. The change was largely inspired by the introduction of very high quality painted figures from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr had a collection of 3000 toy soldiers when he sold it in 1977. Fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin has a substantial collection of toy knights and castles. G. R. R. Martin's Home Page Retrieved on August 25th, 2008. The most extensive collection of toy soldiers was probably that of Malcolm Forbes, who began collecting toy soldiers in the late 1960s and amassed a collection of over 90,000 figures by the time of his death in 1990. Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, US, began collecting miniature toy soldiers on her honeymoon to Europe in 1930, eventually amassing a collection of over 6,000 figures; these are on display at the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University Library in Providence.
Some of the more noteworthy, annual toy soldier and historical figure shows include the Plastic Warrior Show, which is the oldest established show in the UK. Beginning in 1985 and still being held annually in Richmond, South London. Another well known show is the London Toy Soldier Show held in central London (now owned and operated by the magazine Toy Soldier Collector), the Miniature Figure Collectors of America (MFCA) show in Valley Forge, the Chicago Toy Soldier Show (OTSN) in Illinois, the East Coast Toy Soldier Show in New Jersey, the West Coaster Toy Soldier Show in California, the Sammlerbörse (Collector's Market) in Friedberg, Germany and the biennial Zinnfigurenbörse (Tin Figure Market) in Kulmbach, Germany.
In recent years, collectors of vintage toy soldiers made of polythene PE and polypropylene PP thermoplastics as well as Polycarbonate/ABS plastic blends have reported brittling and disintegration of collectible miniatures or components thereof. Plastic Corrosion of Collectible Miniatures Retrieved on August 25th, 2008.
Prominent vintage toy soldier makers include Airfix, Barclay, Britains, Herald, Elastolin, Johillco, Lineol, Marx, Manoil, Reamsa and Timpo.
A similar book titled Shambattle: How to Play with Toy Soldiers was published by Harry Dowdall and Joseph Gleason in 1929.
Although people continue to play wargames with miniature figures, most contemporary wargamers use a smaller scale than that favored by collectors, typically under 25 mm.
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