Email response from Scott of Expeditionary Force (1 Viewer)

[gk5717]

I have come up with my own plan, I think, funds permitting. I cannot paint figures but I have a friend who does. He does a good job while keeping the price way down. I have been toying with the idea of him painting some of my plastic but up until now I said no. I think I will have him paint the EF figures. They are stand alone now so why not give this a try? My other problem tho is finding proper scale vehicles. Any suggestions?
Gary

 

[cattown]

After reading this email several times my take on this is for lack of a better term EF screwed up and they know it in regards to WW2. Further it looks as if this will be the last series that this company will be doing in WW2.
On the positive side he mentioned Gulf war, vehicles and terrain, so that's a plus.
I also appreciate the fact that he (Scott) responded almost immediately to my email. I never expected a personal reply. Almost makes me want to buy a few bags just to show him some respect. However that won,t happen. The only scenerio I see is if some one is selling these figures individually maybe a few of the kneeling poses might blend in.
Gary

 

[cattown]

I have come up with my own plan, I think, funds permitting. I cannot paint figures but I have a friend who does. He does a good job while keeping the price way down. I have been toying with the idea of him painting some of my plastic but up until now I said no. I think I will have him paint the EF figures. They are stand alone now so why not give this a try? My other problem tho is finding proper scale vehicles. Any suggestions?
Gary

 

[cattown]

View attachment 176337View attachment 176338View attachment 176339View attachment 176340

 

[fritz]

Well you should have post the entire email replay plus other comment that would had made an explanation for you and others .Not one small part/side part only I guess!!.LOL ...!! led other see the true for those to judge the light up!

I think that's a little harsh of a judgment to make on your fellow collectors. If you like the figures and don't mind the discrepancy, that's fine, but I don't think you should judge those to whom it does make a difference. I don't think their disappointment is a sign of arrogance or envy.

Unless, of course, I misunderstand your post and that's not what you intended to say.

Prost!
Brad

 

[combatmen]

Thanks to everyone for posting the comparison pictures. To me, it looks like the EX. force figures are 60mm. They don't look to fit in with the newer figures of Conte, CTS, TSSD, or Austin. (Although, some of the bigger looking figures of TSSD and CTS don't look too bad with them from looking at the pictures.) They for sure do not go with Airfix, MARX 54mm battleground figures, and other 54mm figures. The positive I see, is that they seem to go with Ideal G.I.'s, Auburn, older MARX 60mm, and other 60mm figures made by others. This to me, gives extra G.I.'s to go with the Ideal and Auburn G.I.'s that many of us have. It also gives enemy troops for those same Ideal, and Auburn G.I.'s who make a nice diplay, but are to big to join our other MARX, Conte, Airfix, CTS, TSSD, ect. G,I.'s in battle setups so they are not played with much. Now, they can be used, maybe not in the same battle scene as our 54mm/ 56mm guys, but in their own battles along with the EX force guys.
Would I have liked them to have matched Conte, TSSD, CTS ect. figures? Yes I would have. But, what is done is done, and everyone has to decide for themselves to get these figures or not.
Maybe if they would have done these figures uniformed and equipted as "late war"/ "winter" G.I.'s and Germans they would have been more accepted, as there are few of those that any company has done.(TSSD has done a set of G.I.'s and Germans and some of the CTS figures can be used for late war, but not much else.)
Another thing to me, that would help these figures out, would be for EX force to make and sell some add on sets of arms for these. A set of arms for the G,I,'s carring satchelcharges, bangalores, pole charges med. pacts, 30 cal. mg's (both A4 and A6 versions), tripods, ammo boxes, bazookas, ect. For the germans, demo charges, Mg. 42's, grenade bundles, panzerfaust, panzershecks, ect. That would add a lot to these guys. (Maybe someone in contact with EX. force can sugguest that to them.).
It boils down to this. Everyone has a right to their viewpoint on these. If you like them, buy them and enjoy them. If not, buy what you like and enjoy it and keep encouraging EX force and others to do what you like next time.
I am in this hobby for one thing, and that is to have fun. When it stops being fun, then I will go on to another hobby, like collecting belly button lint.
BOBBYGMOORE

 

[fritz]

I agree and said before similar view as to like for match the still reissues all around Ideal ,older aurburn ,marx 60 mm still reissues too and old tim mee plus to match the elastloin,cherilea ,starlux and others German/else figures. Even the Marx 60 mm WOW ,British(later reissues) will go with them perfect .
But apparently me and other that mention it were attacked for saying it .I thought a collection is a matter of choice and like and as you well said it is a choice to buy or not as like or not.
For me they work and if they follow same size and other armies, well I'll have more to add them.Till now no other than EXF has release so fast in so short time(they got the power to do it) ,being before only AIP and for short time Conte till disappear . Others take very long to get one set/item out for one reason or other and not blame. This hobby is not a good/great profit for those putting money,is a total risk and for many a lost.We have see it very often and quick.So we should be grateful for those few making for us.
Last regarding size and not related to your great answer.The company(forgot name now)making painted PLASTIC soldiers/figures in 65mm or more and sold in bags such as roman,napoleonic Russian,french,british,knights,vikings,egyptian,russian knights,crusades and WW2 Russian plus had been selling it very fast in US and world. Steve international Hobby distribute then in US most retailers of this hobby. I heard many buying it and in large quantity because of price/poses and nice design too.At show you see then often ,same on eBay with numbers sold fast. Not complain, so I think they are plenty(large size)=over 60 mm out there buyers if not these sets won't be on market for so long and sold.
Here is link on many of those sets.
http://stevenshobby.com/productlisting.aspx?supplierid=4899&categoryid=26

Thanks to everyone for posting the comparison pictures. To me, it looks like the EX. force figures are 60mm. They don't look to fit in with the newer figures of Conte, CTS, TSSD, or Austin. (Although, some of the bigger looking figures of TSSD and CTS don't look too bad with them from looking at the pictures.) They for sure do not go with Airfix, MARX 54mm battleground figures, and other 54mm figures. The positive I see, is that they seem to go with Ideal G.I.'s, Auburn, older MARX 60mm, and other 60mm figures made by others. This to me, gives extra G.I.'s to go with the Ideal and Auburn G.I.'s that many of us have. It also gives enemy troops for those same Ideal, and Auburn G.I.'s who make a nice diplay, but are to big to join our other MARX, Conte, Airfix, CTS, TSSD, ect. G,I.'s in battle setups so they are not played with much. Now, they can be used, maybe not in the same battle scene as our 54mm/ 56mm guys, but in their own battles along with the EX force guys.
Would I have liked them to have matched Conte, TSSD, CTS ect. figures? Yes I would have. But, what is done is done, and everyone has to decide for themselves to get these figures or not.
Maybe if they would have done these figures uniformed and equipted as "late war"/ "winter" G.I.'s and Germans they would have been more accepted, as there are few of those that any company has done.(TSSD has done a set of G.I.'s and Germans and some of the CTS figures can be used for late war, but not much else.)
Another thing to me, that would help these figures out, would be for EX force to make and sell some add on sets of arms for these. A set of arms for the G,I,'s carring satchelcharges, bangalores, pole charges med. pacts, 30 cal. mg's (both A4 and A6 versions), tripods, ammo boxes, bazookas, ect. For the germans, demo charges, Mg. 42's, grenade bundles, panzerfaust, panzershecks, ect. That would add a lot to these guys. (Maybe someone in contact with EX. force can sugguest that to them.).
It boils down to this. Everyone has a right to their viewpoint on these. If you like them, buy them and enjoy them. If not, buy what you like and enjoy it and keep encouraging EX force and others to do what you like next time.
I am in this hobby for one thing, and that is to have fun. When it stops being fun, then I will go on to another hobby, like collecting belly button lint.
BOBBYGMOORE

 

[Marxmaniac]

One thing to consider, is cutting material costs by not using so much plastic per figure. A 54mm to 56mm cast figure uses less plastic per given figure than 60 to 65mm.

 

[binder001]

The issue of "scale creep" has been lurking around for a while. In the "old days" (and I mean 1950's-early 60's) each manufacturer had its own "scale". Ideal was 60-65mm (but they had some 40-45mm sailor sculpts on some of their plastic ships), Marx Battleground Playset figures were about 54mm, but Marx Training Camp figures had been about 45mm and earlier Marx sculpts that were later released by other makers were larger than 54mm. MPC went with about 1/22 - 1/25th for their ringhand series. Payton were very small. Tim-Mee were lumpy giants, etc, etc. Metal figures stayed at 54mm, with some variance in scale, but not too much. Airfix joined the gang in the 60's with their soft plastic figures sets. These were better sculpted than most "toy" soldiers. Airfix were back to the 1/32nd scale version of "54mm", although the soft figures ran a bit larger than the Multipose kit figures, which were scaled to go with 1/32nd scale vehicle kits. So a contstant scale has never really been a part of plastic toy soldiers. We had gotten spoiled by the fact that two of the best recent manufacturers, Conte and TSSD, used a very similar definition of 54mm in their plastic figures (actually about 1/30 to 1/31 scale). These plastic figures scaled out well with recent Britains and ONTC metal figures also giving more options when creating a scene. Unfortunately, vehicles have tended to stay close to 1/32nd, so the "Conte Scale" folks look too large to some of us when placed with an FoV tank. Austin are close to "Conte Scale" but seem a bit smaller. Paragon made some great Western US Cavalry, but they are significantly small in build than the TSSD ACW cavalry. So we are back to our traditions - each manufacturer seems to pick the scale they want. IF (big IF) X-Force is able to continue their series, they imply that there will be more troops and even some vehicles, so they can stand alone. How many of us remember when K&C first got popular? They were giants among most men and had to be displayed separately to look right. So, the options are 1) ignore X-Force, 2) add X-Force to your collection and ignore the differences 3) build an X-Force collection that can stand alone.

I think I know someone who is getting more interested in the new figures, which means there may soon be a demand for conversions or changed poses I'm willing to work with any set of figures that gives me a bunch of parts to cut up and rearrange! That's where I get my jollies.

Gary B.
Waverly, NE

 

[wds0855]

That reply from Ex Force owner was very detailed. I was surprised to read this though:

"(Marx, Conte etc. are not available in Singapore and I have never seen one in the flesh!)"

I think every kid here in the states at least, in the 50's and 60' grew up with Marx. And Conte
was really popular in the late 90's and still now even. Every toy solider show I visit in the US, I find hundreds if not more, of Marx and Conte figures available. Too bad more research wasn't done. I still have many Marx figures in my collection. and Conte has always been 1 of my all time favorites.


Walt

 

[binder001]

Walt, you are quite right. I have bought model parts from China and Singapore via eBay and everything arrived in a fair time and in good condition. I would think that somebody going into the business would have done a bit more research, especially on the popular sizes and sculpting styles. I don't know tooling costs, but cutting molds for ten sets of soldiers had to be a major investment.

Gary B.