Mike Tarantino's Toy Soldier Collection (4 Viewers)

[Al Fisher]

Something like a straightened coat hanger with a hook on one end that could be inserted btwn a figure's legs?

Al

 

[aujj65]

Mike, I've just caught up with this! {eek3} - what a nightmare for you, I'm sorry I can't do anything to help. :redface2:

I hope there isn't too much damage to your TS collection - but what about your house and the rest of your belongings?

Best for the future.

Jeff

 

[ucla1967]

Mike, I've just caught up with this! {eek3} - what a nightmare for you, I'm sorry I can't do anything to help. :redface2:

I hope there isn't too much damage to your TS collection - but what about your house and the rest of your belongings?

Best for the future.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

We are okay and everything else is in pretty good shape. There is some damage to my collection, broken parts, paint chips, bent rifles, etc., but I have barely begun to work on it, so I don't really have a handle on it yet. I did try my flat side of the yard stick idea and was able to push most of my Hiriart figures back onto their display shelves. Only two figures fell about four feet when I cracked open the curio door to squeeze the yard stick in.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

Yesterday, I received a long awaited special commission set from Uruguay. It has been added to the regular Hiriart catalog as set No. 1364 BULGARIAN INFANTRY, BALKAN WAR, 1912. I am really pleased with how well it turned out. This is only the second set of Bulgarians that I have in my collection. The other is Beau Geste's unusual set of Bulgarian Reservists wearing bearskin headgear which I got from Treefrog.

 

[jager7080]

Yesterday, I received a long awaited special commission set from Uruguay. It has been added to the regular Hiriart catalog as set No. 1364 BULGARIAN INFANTRY, BALKAN WAR, 1912. I am really pleased with how well it turned out. This is only the second set of Bulgarians that I have in my collection. The other is Beau Geste's unusual set of Bulgarian Reservists wearing bearskin headgear which I got from Treefrog.

Mike ,

That's a good looking set of WW1 Bulgarian infantry...Hoping the damage to your TS collection is to a minimum ! Best Wishes !

Joe

 

[Al Fisher]

Mike . . . How is the toy soldier salvage project coming along? Certainly all of us hope that breakage has been at a minimum.

Bosun Al

 

[ucla1967]

Mike ,

That's a good looking set of WW1 Bulgarian infantry...Hoping the damage to your TS collection is to a minimum ! Best Wishes !

Joe

Thanks Joe, much appreciated. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

Mike . . . How is the toy soldier salvage project coming along? Certainly all of us hope that breakage has been at a minimum.

Bosun Al

Hi Al,

See my post #1023 above. I am hoping that it was at a minimum and confined to some of my more common, less hard to find, pieces.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

Along with the Bulgarians I received earlier this week were six sets of 1365 GREEK INFANTRY, BALKAN WAR, 1912. Only one of the six sets were for my collection.

 

[ucla1967]

This is Hiriart's stock photo of set 1365.

 

[ucla1967]

Well, I finally got my Hiriart cabinet set up again after the earthquake. Fortunately, the earthquake damage to my Hiriart figures was minor: chipped paint, bent bayonets & rifles, some arms popped off, and one French Chasseurs d'Africa bugler decapitated. As future earthquake mitigation steps, I moved the glass shelves as far forward as possible to reduce the size of the gap between the front edge of the glass shelf and the door. The resulting smaller gap should prevent any figures from falling to lower shelves when the door is still closed and locked. I also decided to tacky wax only the first figure closest to the door in each set rather than every figure since I noticed that they were, as one might expect, the ones that had most often fell to the lower shelves. I still need to make three-inch high steps to place at the rear of four selves so I can display more figures. Currently, there are about 725 Hiriart figures on display in this curio.

The first two photos show the seven shelves in the curio. From the top, they are World War I sets, World War II German sets, Italian Military sets, French Military 1914 Parade sets, British Regiments sets, World War II sets, and Imperial German sets. The third photo shows the top two shelves displaying World War I and World War II German sets.

 

[ucla1967]

This is my Hiriart World War I display. The sets in the first photo are from left to right: 1154 Deutsches Infanterie 1914, 1154 Deutsches Infanterie with stahlhelms, 1154 Deutsches Infanterie 1917, and a non-catalog set of the Deutsches Alpin Korps. The standard 1154 catalog set has them wearing pickelhaubes, field grey uniforms with red piping, and brown boots. The second set has them in the same uniforms, but with stahlhelms. The third 1154 set has them in their late war uniforms.

The second photo shows sets 1337 Deutsches Jaegers, 1144 Infanterie Francaise 1916, and 1184 Seaforth Highlanders 1914.

The third photo shows sets 1255 Austrian Rifles 1914, 1305 U.S. Marines 1917, 1253 Turkish Infantry 1915, 1183 Australian Infantry 1915, and a non-catalog set of British Infantry.

 

[ucla1967]

This is my Hiriart World War II Germans display. The first photo is a head on shot of expanded set 1043 Liebstandarte Adolph Hitler. To their left is a special version of the set with the figures at present arms. The second photo has the 1043 LSAH set again plus a special version of set 1146 Berlin Infantry, all carrying flags. Photo three has an expanded set of 1146 Berlin Infantry following the flag bearers. The fourth and last photo has sets 1048 Kreigsmarine, 1047 Luftwaffe, and 1044 Waffen-SS.

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Very nice sets:salute:: But even nicer cabinet with all the intricate wood decorations on the frames and top:smile2:{sm4}:salute::
Cheers
A_C

Well, I finally got my Hiriart cabinet set up again after the earthquake. Fortunately, the earthquake damage to my Hiriart figures was minor: chipped paint, bent bayonets & rifles, some arms popped off, and one French Chasseurs d'Africa bugler decapitated. As future earthquake mitigation steps, I moved the glass shelves as far forward as possible to reduce the size of the gap between the front edge of the glass shelf and the door. The resulting smaller gap should prevent any figures from falling to lower shelves when the door is still closed and locked. I also decided to tacky wax only the first figure closest to the door in each set rather than every figure since I noticed that they were, as one might expect, the ones that had most often fell to the lower shelves. I still need to make three-inch high steps to place at the rear of four selves so I can display more figures. Currently, there are about 725 Hiriart figures on display in this curio.

The first two photos show the seven shelves in the curio. From the top, they are World War I sets, World War II German sets, Italian Military sets, French Military 1914 Parade sets, British Regiments sets, World War II sets, and Imperial German sets. The third photo shows the top two shelves displaying World War I and World War II German sets.

 

[4th Hussar]

This is my Hiriart World War II Germans display. The first photo is a head on shot of expanded set 1043 Liebstandarte Adolph Hitler. To their left is a special version of the set with the figures at present arms. The second photo has the 1043 LSAH set again plus a special version of set 1146 Berlin Infantry, all carrying flags. Photo three has an expanded set of 1146 Berlin Infantry following the flag bearers. The fourth and last photo has sets 1048 Kreigsmarine, 1047 Luftwaffe, and 1044 Waffen-SS.

Always disappointing when the Nazi's survive.....{sm4}

 

[ucla1967]

Very nice sets:salute:: But even nicer cabinet with all the intricate wood decorations on the frames and top:smile2:{sm4}:salute::
Cheers
A_C

Glad you like them. The cabinet is made by Howard Miller; I also have a larger version which I display my dioramas in (e.g., Boxer Rebellion, Isdandlwana, Charge of the light Brigade, etc.). However, I prefer the $12,000 worth of toy soldiers to the $750 cabinet.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

Always disappointing when the Nazi's survive.....{sm4}

The good news is that they only survive in our little toy soldier pretend world.

 

[ucla1967]

This is my Hiriart Italian Military Display. It has various Italian military forces from 1891 through World War II. Hiriart has at least two dozen Italian themed sets in its' catalog, most of which I have.

First photo: sets 1198 Cacciatore d'Africa 1936, 1179 Alpini Mountain Infantry, and 1291 Ascari Libiche 1929.

Second photo: sets 1197 World War II Bersaglieri, 1206 Italia Fara Da Se (young fascists) with Mussolini, and 1197 World War II Italian Infantry.

Third photo: sets 1197 World War II Bersaglieri desert, 1290 Italia Sotto il Tricolore 1898, 1193 Bersaglieri 1900, and 1229 Italian Colonial Cavalry 1891.

Fourth photo: a close-up of set 1207 Fiat-Ansaldo CV33 tankette. I also have on order a desert version of this set with the figures wearing set 1198 uniforms.

I am going to make a three inch high tier to put in the back of the shelf so that I can display more sets in the area where the CV33, Dragoni Italiani 1891, and Lancieri Italiani 1891 sets are now located.

 

[ucla1967]

This is my Hiriart World War II display.

Photo one: sets 1037 Soviet Honor Guard, 1072 WWII Soviet Infantry, 1254 Finnish Infantry, 1155 U.S. D-Day Infantry with Eisenhower, and 1178 Imperial Japanese Navy with Yamamoto. In the background, where I will ultimate add a raised step, is set 1162 British Bren Carrier and a partial view of set 1220 Deutsches Afrika Korps showing the motorrad with a MG42 machine gun side car and part of the Panzer II.

Photo two: sets 1200 Liberation of Paris Free French Infantry with DeGualle, 1299 Deutsches Fallschirmjaeger, and 1333 U.S. Americal Division with MacArthur. The back row show the rest of set 1220 DAK with Rommel, a PAK 35/36 anti-tank gun, and other figures plus set 1067 Deutschen Kreigsmarine U-Boote with Doernitz.

Photo three: sets 1129 Royal Navy with Churchill, 1077 Soviet Kremlin Guard with Stalin, and 1277 Free French Foreign Legion 13th Demi-Brigade. In the background is a non-catalog set of the Spanish Blue Division in Russia.

Photo four: A close-up of the Panzer II in set 1220. Also, better views of Eisenhower, Yamamoto, and DeGualle.

 

[ucla1967]

On this Forum, I have seen comments to the effect that while some collectors like some glossy painted toy soldiers, they believe that World War II toy soldiers look best in matte. I would probably agree with this if we are talking about 60mm matte figures in individual non-marching poses used in dioramas; however, I hope that my previous post which displayed glossy, classic, 54mm figures marching (for the most part) demonstrates that this can make an interesting and colorful display. In fact, I believe the display looks better in glossy than it would in matte. Given that these 54mm glossy toy soldiers cost about one-third or one-fourth as much as the 60mm matte figures, this is also really a no brainer for the collector who wants to amass a large display.