How We Used to Play ? (1 Viewer)

maddadicus

maddadicus

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Charlie from Wooden Warriors fame and the Diorama thread ought be given thanks for awakening in us, why most of us started collecting ,in the first place.......WE PLAYED WITH OUR SOLDIERS AND MADE THINGS FOR THEM....How many of us now, have our soldier toys from the past, tucked away or buried somewhere, because we as " adults "might be too embarassed to show them . Charlie could care less and he has shown me the way back to my play routes. I am thinking that this post could be the start of its own MEMORIES THREAD that the administrators might consider. We all have them...and I believe these memories might even make some of us put away our calculators as we try to figure the current market conditions for our collections........I have attached LEGO ACW Gunboats that I made for me and my son some time ago....The USS Cairo.......The USS Tyler......The USS Osage.......Michael
 

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These are paper US Cavalry figures that I made as a kid.......They were of colored construction paper and have since faded, but the old Elmers glue has held them together. They were made to hold separate pistols, swords and carbines, and could be played with mounted or dismounted........The only difference between me and Charlie is that he is a wizard with wood and I was a wonder with cardboard and paper....His stuff lasted while mine disintegrated...Michael
 

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those lego boats are great,one of my favorite toys growing up,you could make almost anything out of them.star wars figures were another favorite and i still have hundreds some still in packs.britains deetails got me into toy soldiers and here i am.but those paper and cardboard cavalry figures you made are amazing!!!!!!!!!great detail. i'd love to post some pics also but i'd be digging in my basement for days
 
Those are pretty cool, that is really talented for whatever age you were. With imagination, those would have been a blast. Never underestimate your talent, never seen anything like them before. Mike
 
Awesome paper cavalrymen! Beyond clever. When I was a kid, I painted my own toy soldiers, because the painted ones were beyond my means, and I built models (to later blow up with firecrackers and M-80's). What I really loved, however, were Corgi and Dinky toys. I still have a whole box of them up in the attic. I also re-purchased all of the old Bandai 1:48 scale model kits I loved as a kid, and saved them for when I have a 7-8 year old to build them with. If we do a thread on our memories, I will post a bunch of photos of these Bandai, Corgi and Dinky items, which should really bring back memories to those 35-45 year olds out there.
 
Hi Michael,

Your Lego boats are very impressive! Your paper figures are incredible! You certainly must have had a good time when you were a younster! ;)

Thanks for showing us such unique items!

Warmest personal regards,

Pat :)
 
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Thanks Michael
Believe me guys if I could afford them I would have some King and country tanks They are Really really neat. I would still be tempted to set them in a dirt pile though. My Favorite Toys when I was a kid was my Marx soldiers.We had a dirt bank up behind our house and I cant count the endless hours I spent Building roads and playing with my soldiers. My next favorites were my Dinosaurs My Dad built us a new toy box and threw the old one outside. I filled it about a third full of dirt. Planted weeds and other plants in it. I went down to the creek and gathered sticks and rocks covered with moss. I built a really neat place to set up my dinosaurs in. Memories are great and I would love to hear some of yours. I was about to drop out of this group because I felt so out of place but thanks to Michael and this Thread Maybe there is a place for me here afterall. Have Fun Guys You only live once and I am told you cant take your toys with you.
Thanks Again Michael
Charlie:)
PS The paper toys are so neat I have never seen anything like that before Thanks for the memories.
 
I use to spend endless hours with my figures in the dirt when I was a kid. Other kids would be playing baseball or some other sports but I would be digging trenches and dirt forts and bunkers for my troops.
I remeber watching the movie the green berets and then going in the back yard and digging small covered traps with fuji sticks for my G.I.s to fall into! and get impailed.:eek: :p
Ah!!! The good old days!
I was never into the sports thing like most kids, it was either toy soldiers or exploring the woods ,medows and ponds near my house looking for snakes,fish,frogs and turtles or tring to shot jack rabits with a home made bow and arrow.
 
Yes, hours and hours playing outside with my army men. Blowing them up with firecrackers and the unlucky ones to get hit with the flamethrowers (I melted at least a battalion of soldiers).:D

My son is now doing the same thing I used to do (minus the firecrackers and matches), playing army for hours.

Ahhhhhhh.......The good old days.
 
I played for hours in the sand, under trees, loved after the yard was mowed. We have a sloping back yard, it made for great hills. I stacked little rocks up to make forts, with sticks and twigs. Lost many a jap and GI though, the mind as a kid went from playing in the dirt, to wiffleball. Then back to the troops with certain ones MIA. The younger neighbors who did not play wiffleball. Or maybe they were little Jap helpers. I also ventured to the local ponds and played Daniel Boone in the woods. Frogs and snakes were a must to catch, but my brother and I shooting elastics back and forth across the living room floor at our troops, PRICELESS. Mike:D
 
We Had a wood stove for heat. One summer dad brought home a pickup load of planer blocks from the local mill to use for kindling. I started constructing a Bridge for my trucks. Hours I spent piling these up as I was building it I noticed my dad peeking out the window every once in a while. Very proud of myself I kept building untill the bridge stretched most of the way across the back yard. When completed I looked in utter amazment at the great engineering marvel.:) When my Dad finally came outside I looked at him with bright eyes bursting with pride and satisfaction I said Dad see what I built.
He said YEP ! now clean this mess up.:(
Charlie
 
I grew up with other kids that also played soldiers, and so we would choose sides ,and have at it. Line of sight ,with the help of a yardstick for hits. Men on their backs were dead, stomachs wounded.......We used dirt bombs for arty fire, lobbing them at each others lines........I had a friend who cheated..He would grab a handful of soldiers and walk over to my side ,making believe that he was checking something out. He would then pull out his troops and announce SNEAK ATTACK and destroy my positions. I could not take my soldiers and go home, because most of them was his...:mad: Michael
 
I had a bunch of 'jumbo' green plastic army men. Wish I knew what company made them - I'd love to get some again. They were somewhere between 6 and 9 inches tall (as I recall) in the standard army men poses. Wonder what happened to them...

I used to set them up in two 'teams' around my room. Standing next to one, I'd shoot rubber bands at the 'enemy.' When they fell over, they were dead.

Loads of fun (no dirt involved, but hey...)

Pete
 
OK - now you have me wondering....

I think I found an example of what I had as a kid. Look at the green guys in the image below (swiped from an eBay auction). The poses look correct. I don't think they are marked. Anyone recognize them?

f2f8_1.JPG
 
Peter Reuss said:
OK - now you have me wondering....

I think I found an example of what I had as a kid. Look at the green guys in the image below (swiped from an eBay auction). The poses look correct. I don't think they are marked. Anyone recognize them?

f2f8_1.JPG
Click to expand...

Marx!!
 
Did they have a name to distinguish them from all the Marx 54mm figures (i.e. jumbo, etc). That would help in tracking some down.

Or if someone has some of these larger figures, I'd love to get some and play out in the empty lot with my son...

Pete
 
Dont Think so I think just 6 inch Marx. Figures in soft plastic. Actually there were Germans and Russians and Japanese as well.
Charlie
 
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