Mike Tarantino's Toy Soldier Collection (3 Viewers)

[ucla1967]

The Hiriart Latin American curio display continuing...

First photo - last set on top shelf: 1071 Regimiento Lanceros Chile.

Second photo - Second shelf, left to right: Sets 1102 Academia Militar Columbia and 1275 Escuela Militar Eloy Alfaro Ecuador.

Third photo - Second shelf: Set 1329 Escuela Politecnica Guatemala.

Fourth photo - Second shelf: Sets 1335 Heroico Colegio Militar Mexico and 1008 Aca Caraya Lanceros Regimiento Paraguay.

 

[ucla1967]

The Hiriart Latin American curio display continuing...

First photo - Second shelf, second tier: Sets 1157 Blandengues de Artigas Uruguay and 1007 Guardia Presidencial Peru; and above them on the third tier is set 1218 Batallon Infanteria Florida Uruguay.

Second photo - Second shelf, third tier: Non-catalog set Uruguayan Navy in Historic Dress.

Third photo - Second shelf, second tier: 1307 Husares de Junin Peru and on the third tier above them is set 1295 Academia Militar Venezuela.

 

[ucla1967]

The third curio shelf, which here-to-for displayed Blenheim sets, now has these 20 Hiriart sets on display for the first time. There is no general theme involved, but rather it gives one a hint as to the wide variety of sets produced by this small, family run business in Montevideo, Uruguay. To my mind's eye, the colorful array of marching, glossy 54mm Hiriart sets in all sorts of uniforms is what toy soldier collecting is all about.

The first photo is an overview of the entire shelf.

The second photo is a closer view of the left side of the display.

The third photo is a closer view of the right side of the display.

 

[lancer]

Fantastic displays, Mike. It's great to see all the Hiriart sets freed from their boxes and marching in the open air.^&cool -- Al

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

I can't add anything to what you have written. Great display, wonderful figures and what a fantastic collection.
Thank you for sharing
Wolfgang:salute::

 

[ucla1967]

Fantastic displays, Mike. It's great to see all the Hiriart sets freed from their boxes and marching in the open air.^&cool -- Al

Thank you, Al. You are right, it is great to see them out of their boxes and marching past in their colorful pageantry.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

I can't add anything to what you have written. Great display, wonderful figures and what a fantastic collection.
Thank you for sharing
Wolfgang:salute::

Thanks Wolfgang, much appreciated. I am more than happy to share with the other collectors on the forum.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

The curio I am reorganizing is in a corner sitting at an angle, so I have no room to move very much to the left or right of center to take these photos. Unfortunately, it usually results in the flash being visible somewhere in the photo and my reflection lurking in the background. I have tried to take the photos without the flash, but the photos are too dark to use. So the photos are the best I can do under the circumstances.

 

[ucla1967]

Continuing with my toy soldier room reorganization, I have decided to also convert the fourth, fifth, and six shelfs to displaying Hiriart sets. So I moved my King & Country Liebstandarte 1938 display from the curio's fourth self to the third shelf in the bookcase and also broke out the stored K & C Nuremburg Review Stand for the first time. The K & C sets are from the first series LAH1 through LAH9 and are stamped 1991 on their bases. The only exception is that I don't have set LAH5 with two figures of Hitler since having three different figures would be over the top.

 

[Go for Broke]

I haven't commented on your collection in a long time. I can only imagine setting up your soldiers as quite a task. One false move and those rows of soldiers go down like dominoes or bowling pins. Great job. On a side note. Whenever I don't see you posting for awhile, I always think, "Mike and his wife must be on vacation somewhere".

 

[ucla1967]

I haven't commented on your collection in a long time. I can only imagine setting up your soldiers as quite a task. One false move and those rows of soldiers go down like dominoes or bowling pins. Great job. On a side note. Whenever I don't see you posting for awhile, I always think, "Mike and his wife must be on vacation somewhere".

It is quite a task in that I am kind of playing musical chairs with the new sets versus the old sets. You're right, they are easy to knock over while setting them up or when the next earthquake shakes the house. To minimize the damage, I am applying tacky wax to each foot figure's base. Initially, I dry fit the whole display on the shelf first without the tacky wax and then went back and applied the wax. I had one mishap doing it that way where I knocked the British Grenadier Guards officer out of the cabinet and he fell head first onto a hardwood floor which smashed his helmet spike and badly screwed up his sword. I now apply the tacky wax as I go along and hope that I got the spacing right between the sets and within each set.

Actually, we have been on two European vacations this year: In April, we took a Viking Danube River Cruise called Passage to Eastern Europe which started in Bucharest and ended in Budapest; and last month, we took an Insight Vacations coach tour called Best of Finland, Russia, and the Baltic States. A week or so ago, I cancelled our September scheduled tour of Turkey with Insight Vacations since the radical Islamic terrorists have twice specifically targeted foreign tourists at Istanbul's Taksim Square in February and the international airport in June. Insight gave us our deposit back although they didn't have to do so.

 

[ucla1967]

Here are close up photos of the third curio shelf with the displayed Hiriart sets identified by catalog number.

Photo one, left to right: Sets 1188 Infanterie de Ligne Francaise 1889, 1216 SPECIAL Bahamas Police, 1319 Irish Free State Infantry with General Michael Collins, 1161 Punjab Infantry, and non-catalog Grenadier Guards on Parade Egypt.

Photo two: Sets 1215 Mehal-La Halifiana Berbers Morocco, 1156 SPECIAL Chasseurs Alpins Francaise with skis, 1366 King Nicholas I Guard Montenegro 1910, 1367 Balkan War Romanian Infantry 1912, a space reserved for 1364 Balkan War Bulgarian Infantry 1912 which is on order, and 1050 The Royal Canadian Regiment.

Photo three: Sets 1354 King's African Rifles 1914, 1358 Portuguese Colonial Infantry Mozambique 1914, 1357 Force Publique Belgian Congo 1914, 1360 World War II Hungarian Infantry 1942, and World War II Polish Infantry 1939.

Note: You might be wondering why some sets are marked as "SPECIAL." They simply refer to a variation on the catalog set they are derived from. For example, catalog set 1216 is an 19-figure Bahamas Police Band; I ordered a SPECIAL variation consisting of an officer, flag bearer, drummer, and six men. In the case of the Chasseurs Alpins catalog set 1156, the figures originally had white trousers and no skis.

 

[ucla1967]

The third curio shelf continuing with the rear tier.

Photo one: Non-catalog set Japanese Imperial Guards 1904 and set 1017 Royal Navy White Jackets Landing Party.

Photo two: Set 1207 SPECIAL World War II Hungarian Ansaldo L3/35 Tankette.

Photo three: Set 1268 SPECIAL US Marine Corps Color Party 1900.

Photo four: Set 1173 Black Watch Campaign Egypt 1887 (a little out of focus).

Well, that completes the look at new shelf three. However, since I took these pictures, I have made a few changes to include moving set 1215 Mehal-La Halifiana Berbers to the newly created Spanish Civil War display on shelf four. I replaced them with a non-catalog set of the 10th Sudanese Infantry Battalion 1897. I also plan to move the non-catalog set Grenadier Guards Egypt and set 1173 Black Watch Egypt to another shelf, to be determined.

 

[ucla1967]

As I continue to reorganize my toy soldier room, I am also buying more Philippine mahogany World War II warbirds. I kind of lost track, so I went back and checked and found out that I have bought eleven in the last two months. Oh my gawd, my wife will be none to happy with me if she finds out.

Anyway, I have picked up six on eBay: Junkers JU-88 schnell bomber in 1/36 scale, Supermarine Spitfire VB fighter in 1/32, Messerschmitt Bf-109E fighter in 1/32, Savio-Marchettii SM-84 torpedo bomber in 1/44 (I think), Heinkel HE-111 H2 schnell bomber in 1/48, and North American B-25J Mitchell ground attack bomber in 1/48. From Hayneedle I have bought three: Boeing B-17G bomber in 1/62, Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter in 1/28, and Consolidated B-24J bomber in 1/60. From Amazon I have bought two: Focke-Wulf FW-190A fighter and Ilyushin IL-2M3 ground attack fighter.

Attached are photos of the Consolidated B-24J four engine bomber "Witchcraft" in 1/60 scale. Its wingspan is 22 inches and its length is 13 1/4 inches. It is from Toys & Models Corporation. I have chosen the olive drab versions of both the B-17 and B-24 bombers rather than the silver versions since I like them better. Some how the yellow and red look better with OD than silver does.

 

[ucla1967]

Four more photos of my B-24J acquisition. Generally speaking, I notice that the B-24 did not have as many defensive .50 caliber machine guns as the B-17 did. However, I do like the forward firing manned nose turret it had better than the B-17G's unmanned forward firing turret. For some reason, the B-24 is not as well know as the B-17, but the U.S. built more of them during the war than they did B-17s.

 

[ucla1967]

My toy soldier room displays reorganizing continues with another curio where I have removed four shelves of Trophy of Wales, Imperial Productions, and Bastion Models sets. That's them on the glass table in the bonus room waiting to be cleaned and their fate as to whether they are going to survive the cut or not. I have pretty much decided to sell some of the Trophy "Raj" series including all the camel sets, cavalry and artillery gun teams. I have had them for more than 20 years and its time for some fresh blood, so to speak.

I found a King & Country Roman Gate that I forgot I even owned. So I have incorporated it into my small Conte Romans display with 26 figures. I also broke out a King & Country Chinese Gate that I used as a backdrop for my new Bastion Models Boxer Rebellion display; more on that later.

 

[ucla1967]

I am not very good at multi tasking, but I seem to be doing just that as I jump from one project in my toy soldier room to another. In my new, second Hiriart curio, I have set up the fourth shelf devoted to displaying Hiriart's Spanish Civil War series. Hiriart has a separate Spanish Civil War catalog with a different numbering system. The regular catalog has 366 sets numbered from 1001 to 1366 while the SCW catalog has 40 sets numbered ES01 to ES40. Interestingly, Hiriart's inspiration for this series was five folders entitled ""El Ejercito Espanol en Parada" with text and drawings by Jose Maria Bueno which was published in Madrid in 1980. The drawings are numbered ES01, ES02, etc. I'll attach two examples so you can see how Hiriart has made their toy soldier sets match Bueno's work.

 

[ucla1967]

Attached is an overview photo of the Spanish Civil War curio shelf with 24 sets in set numeric order on display for the first time. I have an addition four SCW sets not on display due to space limitations. Also, six of the SCW catalog sets have dupes in the regular catalog. For example, SCW set ES3 Mehal-La Halifiana Berbers is also set 1215 in the regular catalog. I'll provide more detailed photos identifying these sets in my next post.

 

[ucla1967]

Close-ups of 16 Hiriart Spanish Civil War sets on display.

First photo, left to right: Sets ES01 Infanteria 1939, ES02 Tiradores se Ifni Sahara, ES03 Mehal-La Halifiana, ES04 Bandera de Milicias de F.E.T. y de J.O.N.S., ES09 La Legion 1039, and ES11 Falange de Marruecos.

Second photo: Sets ES12 Requetes, ES13 Legion Condor, ES14 Bandera de Flechas Verdes, ES19 Requete Navarro, and ES20 Regulares de Melilla.

Third photo: Sets ES24 Camisas Negras XXIII de Marzo, ES25 Guardia Civil, ES27 Infanteria 1939, ES29 Mehal-La Halifiana, and ES30 Falange Espanol.

 

[ucla1967]

The four Hiriart Spanish Civil War sets on the raised tier in the back of the shelf are as follows:

First photo: Set ES36 Batallon Expedicionario Infanteria Mariana.

Second photo: Set ES20 Seccion de Sanidad.

Third photo: Sets ES38 Regulares de Larache and ES39 Falange de Navarra.

This brings me up to 20 SCW sets on display on this shelf. I'll post photos of the four additional Hiriart SCW sets that I have, but didn't have room to display in a separate post.