Childhood toy soldier memories (1 Viewer)

[Warrior]

Thanks for starting this one Chris, this is great.

I remember my first Marx playset, Battleground, my parents bought it for me as a Christmas present after I saw it on the wall at the local Sparks Department store, all the figures were stapled to a battle board and the terrain items were glued on, Marx used to send those to the stores for display back in Ancient times.

My Aunt and Uncle bought me the Marx ACW and AWI playsets one year, loved both of those, my Aunt got me the best presents (no socks and underwear from her thankfully), she worked at Filenes Department Store downtown, one year for Christmas she got me the Britains Swoppet Union and Confederate limbers and artillery gun with crews, plus two sets each of Union and Confederate Infantry.

I remember one Christmas my Dad bought me the Deetail Japanese set, the big one with 18 figures and the Napoleonic set with the British and French figures, I loved both of those sets.

As I got older I moved away from 1/32nd scale and into 1/72nd, my two most favorite buys as a kid were the Airfix Waterloo Playset at Child World and Anzio Beach from Aurora at Hobbytown, my cousin and I had numerous carpet battles with those Airfix ho/oo guys.

Great, great memories...........................

 

[eborris]

I had both of those 1/72 sets myself, infact I still have the tanks and figures from Anzio, I also had the Rat Patrol set and have retained most of those figures and tanks too. Great stuff, fond memories.

Thanks for starting this one Chris, this is great.

I remember my first Marx playset, Battleground, my parents bought it for me as a Christmas present after I saw it on the wall at the local Sparks Department store, all the figures were stapled to a battle board and the terrain items were glued on, Marx used to send those to the stores for display back in Ancient times.

My Aunt and Uncle bought me the Marx ACW and AWI playsets one year, loved both of those, my Aunt got me the best presents (no socks and underwear from her thankfully), she worked at Filenes Department Store downtown, one year for Christmas she got me the Britains Swoppet Union and Confederate limbers and artillery gun with crews, plus two sets each of Union and Confederate Infantry.

I remember one Christmas my Dad bought me the Deetail Japanese set, the big one with 18 figures and the Napoleonic set with the British and French figures, I loved both of those sets.

As I got older I moved away from 1/32nd scale and into 1/72nd, my two most favorite buys as a kid were the Airfix Waterloo Playset at Child World and Anzio Beach from Aurora at Hobbytown, my cousin and I had numerous carpet battles with those Airfix ho/oo guys.

Great, great memories...........................

 

[Currahee Chris]

Really interesting to read all the various accounts of department stores and the like that sold toy soldiers- good luck finding toy soldiers anywhere these days. Sad, to say the least. You can still get them at toys r us and target. Toy soldiers seem to have morhped into action figures. The big battle/play sets seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur but toy soldiers, in some form, are still out there.

 

[eborris]

I still see bags of "green army men" at the local Walgreens, complete with two different colored armies and tanks. They seem to be the modern era Timmee variety.

I also understand that the local Hobby Lobby and Hobby Lands carry the 1/72 figures as well as some of the BMC battle sets.

Really interesting to read all the various accounts of department stores and the like that sold toy soldiers- good luck finding toy soldiers anywhere these days. Sad, to say the least. You can still get them at toys r us and target. Toy soldiers seem to have morhped into action figures. The big battle/play sets seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur but toy soldiers, in some form, are still out there.

 

[Warrior]

Really interesting to read all the various accounts of department stores and the like that sold toy soldiers- good luck finding toy soldiers anywhere these days. Sad, to say the least. You can still get them at toys r us and target. Toy soldiers seem to have morhped into action figures. The big battle/play sets seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur but toy soldiers, in some form, are still out there.

Couldn't agree more; when I was a kid, you could buy toy soldiers at Woolworths, Grants, the five and dime, Sparks, Child World, Sears, Kings, Filenes, you name any department store, they had toy soldiers.

Airfix, Britains, Marx, Timpo, MPC, Matchbox, etc, etc, they were all out there, not to mention all the hobby shops.

When I was a kid, for my birthday my Father used to take me into downtown Boston and we'd hit three hobby shops and several department stores to buy toy soldiers, not a one of them is left.

Try to find a hobby shop or toy soldiers in a department store nowadays..................

 

[Currahee Chris]

anyone notice any drastic changes in collecting or periods of interest since your childhood? I am still into Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome- that never wavered. The funny thing- I used to be really into the Pacific theater WW2 and the DAK as a kid. Certainly enjoy reading about them now, but never got the urge to collect.

Also- anyone ever order those little toy soldier sets they would advertise in the back pages of comics?? I worked a couple weeks to get the $3.25 I needed to buy a set of AWI figures but my dad wouldn't write a check for me- said they were too small!! ^&grin

 

[lancer]

anyone notice any drastic changes in collecting or periods of interest since your childhood? I am still into Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome- that never wavered. The funny thing- I used to be really into the Pacific theater WW2 and the DAK as a kid. Certainly enjoy reading about them now, but never got the urge to collect.

Also- anyone ever order those little toy soldier sets they would advertise in the back pages of comics?? I worked a couple weeks to get the $3.25 I needed to buy a set of AWI figures but my dad wouldn't write a check for me- said they were too small!! ^&grin

The interest has been a constant for me, too. Always WW1, WW2, ACW, NWF. I guess just about everything, then as now. I never had any of the sets from the comics but I had friends who did. My dad wouldn't write the check either. They were a BIG disappointment. Looked really neat, with great stuff and numbers, from the ads. In reality they were very small,flat two dimensional, cheap plastic. Again, a BIG let down. But they were inexpensive.^&grin -- Al

 

[Currahee Chris]

....Looked really neat, with great stuff and numbers, from the ads. In reality they were very small,flat two dimensional, cheap plastic. Again, a BIG let down. But they were inexpensive.^&grin -- Al

Back then, even at that age, I knew that would prove to be the case but man alive- did those comic book ads rock!! Forgave my dad for not helping me out- couldn't forgive him when he didn't give me a dollar to get a Jim Brown rookie card at a cardshow back in 84. Guy wanted $6 for it, I had $5- Dad said no!! GGRRRRRRRR :tongue:

 

[Partner]

Those comic book ads were awesome , but if memory serves correctly they did not ship to Canada , so my only source for soldiers was the local five and dime and a very limited budget

 

[bromhead]

I sent for the backpage army and received a group of plastic flats,,I taste the letdown still,,equal to sending for the scope that made clothing disappear.

 

[Ghostrider]

Currahee Chris....I love this thread. Being back in toy soldiers for only 3 years after a 50 year hiatus, this thread has really opened up the memory box and I'm taken by the fact that so many shared the same experiences as I did back then. My mind's awash with memories of going to Hefro's Hobby Shop with my older brother starting at 5 or 6 years of age to begin the assault on toy soldiers. He is a lifelong HO train enthusiast. The shop was a long, narrow, railroad car of a store, with a center line of shelving that separated trains to the left and toy soldiers and other toys to the right. We'd walk in and separate almost immediately. I would go right to the piles of boxes of Britains and other mfgs of metals. Loved to just open the boxes and look at everything. In those early 5- 7 year old days, I was a knight lover mostly but had a little of other things too . My fav was a box of kinghts made by Lindsay. There were 4 pikemen with movable pike arm, and one mounted knight; all in 15th century plate armour. I had boxes of these, and in the early 50's they were 50 cents a box........exactly my allowance. However, being very young and they being hollowcast, they were a little too fragile for my playing style:rolleyes2: I don't know if it was me or from the gentle hand of my Mom, but found myself moving into plastics after too many disasters. But that didn't mater, I was playing with toy soldiers, and that's all that counted for me.

At the same time, I was also getting my fill of other ranges through presents of sets of Fort Apache, Alamo, castles, you name it , I probably had it. A change to WWII for me was probably caused by the fact that in those early days, the Korean War was on, and TV was pushing war movies, either to help the propaganda, or just trying to fill air time. That grabbed me, and I switched complete gears to WWII. At first with metal Dinky Toys and at about 9-10 I started making Revell and Monagram tank and soldier models. Those babies I took outside where a neighbor and I had made a massive fortress complex in the his mother's prize rose garden. As you all know..........hours of fun, non stop, until I heard the scream for dinner. That went on till about 121/2, and suddenly I put the soldiers away in a couple of suit cases in the back of my closet and switched to AMC car models, but only the vintage 32, 39, and 40 fords. Loved them. Learned to chop, channel, and just restructure them using liquid metal and plastic wood putty. That was a lot of fun.

Then suddenly, I found GIRLS.:tongue:^&grin. And completely forgot about my beloved toy soldiers.

EPILOGUE...... When I came home from the service in 1967, among the things my mother told me, was that she had found those model soldier suitcases in the closet, and didn't think I'd mind giving them to my very young nephews. The model soldiers and AFV's lasted exactly 2 weeks in their wonderfully destructive hands. I gotta tell you, a twinge:redface2: of minor proportion crossed my heart. But I was 21, and what the hey, that was kid stuff. At that point I didn't think I'd be amassing toy soldiers anymore...............Little did I know:tongue:^&grin

OOPS - sorry for my life story on this, but this is such a great topic, and it's great to remember it since it took up the greater share of my young life.%^V

Have fun with this......Joe

 

[Rob]

Oh wow this thread takes me back. Long hot summer holidays playing with 1/72 and 1/32 Airfix soldiers, Timpo 7th Cavalry and indians etc. I just loved Airfix figures and would set them up in the back garden or over in the bunkers of a disused Golf club that backed onto our house, I imagine theres dozens of the little fellas still in those sand pits that never made it home.We all had hundreds of them with 8th Army,US Inf and German inf the most popular. It was those little plastic guys along with Action Man and those Commando comics that ignited my interest in Military History, and the great thing was all the kids in my street were just the same, happy happy days from a bygone age. We had a real sense of togetherness in our love of these things, I'm not sure if todays kids with their pc's,Ipods and xbox's have that anymore.

Rob

 

[Currahee Chris]

I sent for the backpage army and received a group of plastic flats,,I taste the letdown still,,equal to sending for the scope that made clothing disappear.

5 star quote on a 5 star thread- leave it to the B-R-O ^&grin

 

[Currahee Chris]

Currahee Chris....I love this thread.

Then suddenly, I found GIRLS.:tongue:^&grin. And completely forgot about my beloved toy soldiers.

At that point I didn't think I'd be amassing toy soldiers anymore...............Little did I know:tongue:^&grin

Glad to hear this Joe- sounds like a lot of us are getting into the spirit of things- lot's of quotes of yours that can be addressed.

GIRLS- No doubt the single most distracting variable in Toy soldier collecting history.

Oh yes, funny how life comes full circle sometimes. I still look at my Britain's Deetails and just remember much much happier days. I was into knights as well- Knights, Ancients and WW2- don't collect middle ages or knights anymore.


You guys remember the artwork on those airfix boxes?? It really was first rate- always some desperate scene being fought out in some isolated battlefield. That stuff was worth it just for the artwork.

How many of you guys lost paratroopers in trees or some other natural obstacle?? Mine always used to seem to get caught in the wind and end up on someone's roof. Anyone make "Joepop's"- essentially stick some guys in the water and leave them outside to get stuck in ice. Yeah, that was me and my chuckleheads.

 

[Rob]

Glad to hear this Joe- sounds like a lot of us are getting into the spirit of things- lot's of quotes of yours that can be addressed.

GIRLS- No doubt the single most distracting variable in Toy soldier collecting history.

Oh yes, funny how life comes full circle sometimes. I still look at my Britain's Deetails and just remember much much happier days. I was into knights as well- Knights, Ancients and WW2- don't collect middle ages or knights anymore.


You guys remember the artwork on those airfix boxes?? It really was first rate- always some desperate scene being fought out in some isolated battlefield. That stuff was worth it just for the artwork.

How many of you guys lost paratroopers in trees or some other natural obstacle?? Mine always used to seem to get caught in the wind and end up on someone's roof. Anyone make "Joepop's"- essentially stick some guys in the water and leave them outside to get stuck in ice. Yeah, that was me and my chuckleheads.

Loved the artwork Chris, it really is very good and seemed to very much fire your imagination. Lost dozens of them in the 70's in long grass , mud or sand. Also used to make so many Airfix kits, many a ME109 was set fire to, emmiting thick black acrid smoke, I bet there's a health and safety warning these days 'KIDS, DO NOT SET FIRE TO THIS AIRCRAFT' !:rolleyes2::wink2:
a
Rob

 

[lancer]

I know that many of us built plastic models as kids. My favorites were the WW1 aircraft kits that Aurora made and the Monogram WW2 aircraft. Must have built literally hundreds of them. I still have a couple of them from back then, must be 45+ years ago now. In my neighborhood, there was a core of 6 of us that grew up together and we played with TS and model airplanes or war with toy guns almost everyday it seems. It went in cycles, but we were always doing one of those activities. We had a picnic type table in the backyard that we converted to an aircraft carrier with the help of some nails and thread to use as arresting cables. We then brought out our Monogram Naval aircraft which were wonderful models with their operational landing gear, folding wings, and actual landing hooks. We had then all, the F6F's, Dauntless', TBF's, F4U's, and even F4F's, although these didn't have folding landing gear. We launched many an attack against the evil Japanese empire from this backyard flattop. It was great fun to return to the carrier and set down to catch the arresting wires with the hooks. Felt like we real pilots. Even at this stage we were picky about scale. Had to all be the same 1/48 or sometimes 1/72, but never a mix of the two at the same time. Foreshadowed the future.:rolleyes2:^&grin -- Al

 

[Currahee Chris]

We had a picnic type table in the backyard that we converted to an aircraft carrier with the help of some nails and thread to use as arresting cables. We then brought out our Monogram Naval aircraft which were wonderful models with their operational landing gear, folding wings, and actual landing hooks. We had then all, the F6F's, Dauntless', TBF's, F4U's, and even F4F's, although these didn't have folding landing gear. We launched many an attack against the evil Japanese empire from this backyard flattop. It was great fun to return to the carrier and set down to catch the arresting wires with the hooks. Felt like we real pilots. Even at this stage we were picky about scale. Had to all be the same 1/48 or sometimes 1/72, but never a mix of the two at the same time. Foreshadowed the future.:rolleyes2:^&grin -- Al

that's funny and awesome at the same time!! We used to try and shoot airplane's off of our forearms by using rubber bands. Arms would get badly bruised and sore from all the misfire launches. You would think one of us would've come up with the idea to use a picnic table at some point.

 

[lancer]

The more I think about these "Old Days" the more I wonder how any of us survived. When we played war, we had up to 16 kids (on more than one occasion) and usually 7 or 8, roaming all over the neighborhood, for blocks in any direction, in, out, over, and through all the yards, front, back, whatever, of all the neighbors and NO ONE ever minded. We played day or night (can you imagine a half-dozen kids with guns running through yards at night nowadays?) and in good or bad weather. Had all sorts of weaponry, some of which looked very realistic. Also had a mix of authentic equipment, such as web belts (pistol or ammo), canteens, pouches, backpacks, (I had an authentic gas mask) and many real helmets. Heck, we even had hand grenades that were either play plastic or metal practice from the local surplus store. Generally our clothes were some form of green, like kid size uniforms that could be bought, but some real shirts or jackets and some real insignia. Seemed like everyone had access to these type of items from trunks in the attic or the like. I even had a early WW2 flat helmet (like the WW1 style) that I got from dad's old homestead. Local construction sites were godsends as these were battlefield ready made. These sites had it all, trenches, mounds of dirt, debris, unfinished houses, everything. No way any of this could be done today, what with all the guns and trespassing, we'd have all been in the slammer for life! Those were great days. -- Al

 

[bromhead]

5 star quote on a 5 star thread- leave it to the B-R-O ^&grin

My mother kept asking me why I looked at an aunt all the time with the scope,pre starlite..
Airborne , Armored Cavalry,Recon,lend tone to what would otherwise be a disorganized brawl.Ride to the sound of the guns.
I was part time armorer for the local kid company,,at the height of a spirited close combat I buttstroked a little peer with my almost full size replica Thompson w drum mag,no puke red tip,Robert Taylor Bataan issue. when the screaming and telling parents died down my great regret was a broken butt,,

 

[Rob]

The more I think about these "Old Days" the more I wonder how any of us survived. When we played war, we had up to 16 kids (on more than one occasion) and usually 7 or 8, roaming all over the neighborhood, for blocks in any direction, in, out, over, and through all the yards, front, back, whatever, of all the neighbors and NO ONE ever minded. We played day or night (can you imagine a half-dozen kids with guns running through yards at night nowadays?) and in good or bad weather. Had all sorts of weaponry, some of which looked very realistic. Also had a mix of authentic equipment, such as web belts (pistol or ammo), canteens, pouches, backpacks, (I had an authentic gas mask) and many real helmets. Heck, we even had hand grenades that were either play plastic or metal practice from the local surplus store. Generally our clothes were some form of green, like kid size uniforms that could be bought, but some real shirts or jackets and some real insignia. Seemed like everyone had access to these type of items from trunks in the attic or the like. I even had a early WW2 flat helmet (like the WW1 style) that I got from dad's old homestead. Local construction sites were godsends as these were battlefield ready made. These sites had it all, trenches, mounds of dirt, debris, unfinished houses, everything. No way any of this could be done today, what with all the guns and trespassing, we'd have all been in the slammer for life! Those were great days. -- Al

Absolutely.We'd be gone all day, finally come home for dinner in the early evening then off out again. We'd play in the woods, ride our bikes for hours and never worried about a thing. We suffered cuts and bruises etc but we were never approached by weirdos that parents worry about today. Life was good and I never thought what it would be like to be middle age. The years go so quick, sometimes I wonder where all those kds are now. Uh oh, I'm getting all nostalgic now!:wink2:

Rob