Interesting website, I wasn't aware of the Luxury level in plastic toy soldiers, I wonder how they could afford using Injection Molding for limited runs. As an Aussie child back in the 1960/70's I mainly played with Airfix figures, good to know they're considered Premium, they looked pretty well detailed as a kid, much better than the Generic figures.
As for copying, I've met hundreds of guys thru related Military hobbies over the years, some guys (mainly Poms/Brits) made metal copies of manufactured figures from Britains etc. They had little furnaces etc in their sheds, they seemed to have fun making the molds and painting the figures, but not my thing as I was never into Glossy figures myself. I guess it's got something to do with what you received as gifts as a child, I don't know any of my childhood friends that played with metal Britains Glossy toy soldiers.
It's relatively easy to copy and produce Toy Soldiers in Metal. Plastic Injection molding is a whole new ballgame, it requires expensive equipment which means you need High production numbers and/or Prices to make a decent profit. I don't knock Knock offs myself, there's plenty of copying in the TS industry and cheap TS knock offs will hopefully get some new kids into the hobby, we do need some new blood as most collectors here are getting long in the tooth, poor old buggers ^&grin
