"An old toy soldier show" Topic

I went to an old toy soldier show in New Jersey today. Lots of old time metal figures – Britains of course, those odd American figures with pod feet and silver helmets, and a surprising number of German figures by Heide (or Heyde, spelled in many and various ways). Plastic figures too – lots of replica Marx, and British figures that took me back to my 1960s childhood. Cherilea, Charbens, and those Britain's zoo keepers with a choice of feeding the big cats or sweeping the floor. Weird flocked animals by Timpo – they creeped me out as a kid, and I see why.

I bought a Marx replica 'Cape Canaveral Playset', which features a lot of period sci fi 'bits' including a sort of warehouse storage device with shelves marked 'launching fuel', 'disintegrator' 'rocket repair' and 'atom bombs' (this last shelf being empty). I think I'll spray the pieces silver and use them in a James Bondish '60s spy game --

I note that the average collector is old enough to wave his stick at me and call me a whippersnapper. I just turned fifty eight.

Heavens, don't tell them what you intend to do with what you bought! They'll have a heart attack!

No, John. He bought a reproduction, so he's good.

Now, if it was an original……

Originals actually came in silver.

They were originally in silver, Bill? Interesting. These are in olive drab, which doesn't have that 1960 sci fi feel I want.

I bought a lot of stuff from a toy soldier dealer last year. He asked about what I collected and I explained to him that I wargamed; he said something like, "I've heard of you people."

German figures by Heide (or Heyde, spelled in many and various ways)

Post- and pre-reform spellings, like Neandertal and Neanderthal. Or Throne and Throne.

link

Mex Go here and explore. Everything you wanted to know about Marx playsets.

nevinsrip -- lot's of cool pieces on that site! I remember my good friend Carl Harris had many of those items in his collection many years back.

I wonder what became of Carl? We lost touch awhile back.

playsetmagazine.com

If this thread has rekindled your interest in the old playsets
give this magazine a try.

If you're over sixty, I dare you to look through this site
and not get overwhelmed with great memories of childhood battles, fought by plastic soldiers.

Grab a few back issues. You won't regret it.

I noticed that Fort Apache set on the last link. I don't remember any cavalrymen with my set--only Davy Crocket types with fringed shirts and coon skin caps.

Old toy soldiers never die. They just get spray-painted and re-purposed for wargaming.

Doc Fort Apache was the longest running Marx playset and was produced from the mid fifties right up until the early eighties. Their are hundreds of variations. If your over sixty four or five, you got 60 mm Pioneers and Indians which came in several different colors and constantly fell over due to not having stands. Later, they released new versions with stands and they were better. But they needed cavalrymen in a fort so the came up with the 60 mm Cavalrymen. These came in metallic blue and were usually found in the early Rin Tin Tin sets. New Indian sculpts were also added to battle the Cavalrymen.

When smaller 54 mm figures were introduced (to save money on plastic), the 60 mm figures were pulled and you got 54 mm Pioneers (mostly in a turquoise blue) and Indians (mostly in orange) although dozens of colors populated various Marx sets. For example, the same pioneers in the Fort Apache fought as Texians in the Marx Alamo playsets, although in grey, tan and silver colors.
When the playset craze was at it's height, Marx wanted to cash in on the Western Cavalrymen rage. Think John Ford westerns and shows like Rin Tin Tin. So, they released a full set of new cavalrymen in 54 mm. Both foot and mounted with loads of new poses. These are generally in
turquoise, but other colors do exist.

In the Giant Fort Apache sets, you got sets of pioneers and cavalrymen complete with riders and Indians in both red and yellow.

This is a great book if you are interested in reading more
link

My tinplate Alamo building is sitting on the top shelf in my workroom.

There were a couple other really cook sci-fi sets also:
Operation Moon-Base (even had aliens)
link

Tom Corbett Space Academy
link

I had the first one when I was a kid,