Hey guys,
My family and I just got in from Charleston, SC this afternoon and I thought I would give you guys an update on the Southeastern Toy Soldier Show that I attended on Saturday. Friday morning we had driven down to Columbia, SC to take my 2-1/2 year old daughter to the Riverbanks Zoo. Needless to say, it was hotter than hell down there and I live in SC! It was still a good time. We spent the night in Columbia and at 10 AM the next morning, I was at the SC Museum for the Show. After that we headed to Charleston for my daughter’s first trip to the beach. Needless to say, she loved it.
Well, now to my thoughts on the show. This was either my fourth or fifth year attending. I thought last year was pretty lackluster with the vendors and with the lack of visitors. This year I was pleasantly surprised!
I first stopped to see my friend Tim Tyler of Troops of Time. He was there with Gordon and Brian Greenwood was in attendance as well. Brian sold his business to Tim a couple years ago. If any of you haven’t had the opportunity to talk with Tim, he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and has a passion for this hobby. He had a huge amount of K&C and JJD’s for sale on a long series of tables. It was my first chance to see many of the items in person. Tim & Gordon were non-stop busy. We didn’t have much time for small talk as Gordon was filling orders and Tim was filling out all of the paperwork and taking payments. I believe their sales this month will be huge with all of the activity I watched. Here are some of my thoughts on some of the individual manufacturers.
John Jenkins Designs – I saw many of the latest additions. The Jacobites looked great! I can definitely see why people collect this series. I was really impressed with figure BJ-008 too. Great animation and a fine paint job. The Sudan War sets had some great detail as well. My favorite, of course, were the Battle of Monongahela sets. I love that John has revisited the series with the 44th Regular Sets. I added another BM-23 and BM-24 to my collection. It is the only JJD range I collect and I just passed the 250 figure mark in my collection for this series without counting horses, carts, powder wagons, cannons, etc….. The POA sets looked great too. Especially that gate! That was nice. Also, the Indian long houses were fantastic. To come home today from vacation and see that JJD is now entering WWII, I had to pick myself up off the floor. Nice looking tank by the way. I wasn’t expecting John to enter that era, but I hope he is very successful.
King & Country – I don’t even know where to begin I saw so many of their figures. A large representation of World War II were on display and selling fast. The latest D-Day Rangers were fantastic. I have the four retired sets of Rangers and these new ones look even better. The two Higgins boats were just superb! I can definitely see me getting one of those in the future. They are great models. Also, the USAAF, RAF and Luftwaffe ranges were really nice too. The one notable that I saw was the new German fighter. It is a great looking plane. I have the old Afrika Corp Tiger and the new Normandy Tiger was an impressive model. The church diorama piece reminded me of the old French farmhouse that I have in that it will be so versatile. I will eventually grab one myself. Also, the Union Cavalry, mounted and dismounted, looked good. My favorite from the Civil War range was the Lincoln and His Generals set.
Conte Collectibles – I saw this huge arrangement of Conte figures at this year’s show for the first time. Usually in this area at the top of the stairs in the past has been a bunch of glossy figures. I was looking at the Conte figures when a guy struck up a conversation. After a couple minutes, I realized I was talking to Richard Conte himself. He was there with his beautiful wife and crew. We talked for quite a while and focused mostly on the Zulu and American Civil War Zouaves. I told him that the only Conte set I own was Zulu-012. I really know nothing of the conflict, but when I saw this sculpt, I had to have it. It sits on top of one of my curio cabinets at work. The detail and animated sculpting on the Zulus and Zouaves were just outstanding. I am leaning towards buying the command set of the Zouaves sometime in the future myself. The flying Zulu set was on display at the Show and I thought that was about the wildest toy soldier set I have seen. Very well done. For you Zulu fans, I was also told about a very nice surprise for this range coming around Christmas. I will probably have to get one myself just based on the description. In a glass cabinet, Richard also had his paint masters of the Afghanistan series on display. Those were really nice! The kilt painting was unreal. For those of you who haven’t seen the new Rome set, it looks incredible up close. Richard was a really nice guy and I enjoyed our conversation.
There were other manufacturer items there of course. I was impressed with W. Britain’s Museum collection figures. The Show had a lot of people this year. Looking forward to next year already. My wife wants to make it an annual trip for our family. My wife took my daughter across the parking lot to the EdVenture Children’s Museum while I shopped. My daughter didn’t want to leave when it was time to go. It was a great weekend all around.
