TSSD GI figures... (1 Viewer)

[binder001]

Just got my batch of the new US infantry figures from Toy Soldiers of San Diego. These are VERY nice compared to many plastic figures on the market. The uniforms would be appropriate for North Africa, Italy, or Europe. Most of the troops carry the M1 "Garand" rifle, one has a BAR, one a Tommygun, and the medic has a .45 pistol. The gear is well defined and looks like infantry webbing that I have owned or seen in photos. Only comment is that the riflemen have only the front three pockets on each side of their belts (should be 5 pockets/side).

One feature that I really appreciate is that the figures are molded in a semi-hard plastic that is easy to sand for removal of parting lines. I enjoy Conte's US airborne troops, but trying to get parting lines off that soft "butter" plastic drives me NUTS!

The line only has 8 poses of GIs available so far, but I recommend them to collectors and dioramists.

Gary

 

[Alexdakar]

Are you going to paint them. I planning on keeping a set in its original format and a second set painted.

 

[binder001]

I'm afraid I will have to paint at least one of each pose. Some of the others will be "donors" for conversions, etc.

 

[Winky]

Gary, one way to remove mold lines on soft butter plastic like Conte's is to use a soldering iron that's temp regulated with a rheostat. That way you can adjust tip temp to suit the plastic you're working with. You can also use the soldering iron to permantly weld plug in arms, shields, etc on your figures, or, if you're adventurous, even try conversions. I've written about this technique before, so you've probably already heard what I have to say about it. If you haven't or want more info, please e-mail me and I'll be happy to fill you in on what to do.

By the way, you might be interested to know I exchanged e-mails with Cory Halligan a week or so ago. What a lovely, generous guy. He's given up 54mil, but is into small scale wargaming, so he's still in the same ballpark.

Dick

 

[Fubar]

Hi Guys, Yes those TSSD GI's do look pretty nice.Vast improvement on the last batch of ACW Yankee's which were { sorry} awful.The Germans in Greatcoats look nice as well.
I'll try and pick up a few sets of these at OTSN.Trying not to buy anything until the show.
WW2 GI's are my weak spot. There are almost zero plastics I would bother with painting until now.
I have a nice British 54mm collection made of Britians deetails,Airfix,Airfix Multipose, a few Matchbox in there too.Went that route for lack of decent Americans.
I wonder what TSSD will tackle next????


Fubar

 

[binder001]

Thanks for the soldering iron suggestion. I tried freezing them, but the Conte plastic is so soft it still wouldn't sand, Funny story - I put them in the freezer while I was home with a cold and my wife found them and thought I'd been hitting the medicine a little too hard. For my two dozen paratroopers I tried the hard way - I used very sharp blades and then restored some folds with putty. Slow but it worked OK.

I also agree that there's never enough US figures. I'm hoping TSSD or someone will look into more fall/winter figures. The Valiant/ONTC metals and TSSD plastics are in the summer/fall uniforms.

By the way, here's some trivia. The TSSD figures look about right next to Conte airborne troops. That works well as the TSSD figures can be either ground troops that came ashore OR they could represent glider troops. Those guys wore the same uniform as the group forces and weren't volunteers. They wore the same division patch as the paras, but rode to battle packed in gliders.

Gary

 

[Winky]

My lord, what our families put up with! I've never tried freezing them, but I understand your inspiration. I stood up on our roof on one accassion with egg shells filled with flour testing blast effects of artillery shells while my wife's family looked on in astonishment, half laughing themselves sick and partly a bit horrified by son/brother in law's strange behavior. Hey, I've tried paint balls (too many casualties), manure laced dirt bombs, dried legumes fired thru pea shooters and/or thru air gun propelled straws (it made sense to me at the time), and rubber band guns. Legumes, by the way, lack the heft to knock figures over (maybe I need to use large beans). So bring on the inspiration stories. I love "em. We're all a little nuts, but very passionate.

Dick

 

[Fubar]

Winky, Have you tried Airsoft pellet guns? They shoot a rubber or some soft foamy missles that should work for knocking over your troops without damaging them.Even semi auto I am told.I saw a full size clear plastic semi firing Thompson at a BIG 5 Sporting goods place.

Horse and musket? Use one of those cast iron souvinier cannons, drill a vent hole, use a little black powder, a wad and lastly a firecracker thats had most of the fuse snipped off, put it in the barrel short fuse 1st.Use the main portian of the fuse in the venthole, it'll shoot out fairly decent range, 15' or so and blow up.Carefull though, not too much powder! Worked really well 25 years ago!


Interesting trivia about the Glider troops.I'll be painting some of those for certain.

 

[gk5717]

Winky, I thought you didn,t drink! Lord knows what you would do if you did.
Gary

 

[sceic2]

My lord, what our families put up with...I stood up on our roof on one accassion with egg shells filled with flour testing blast effects of artillery shells while my wife's family looked on in astonishment, half laughing themselves sick and partly a bit horrified by son/brother in law's strange behavior.

Winky you have validated my sanity. I too have used roofs to throw things off of. I have used lighter fluid, gasoline, diesel fuel, oil based paint, varnish, fire-crackers, cherry bombs, bb guns, a 22 rifle using 22 shorts and hollow-points with some of the powder removed, a friend's dad's 2 inch WWII motar with a practice shell fired by a 12-gauge shotgun shell inserted in the casing , and many many other exposive devices to try to simulate damage from warfare on my poor plastic men and vehicles.

I try to remember that a crazy person is not someone who talks to themself. A crazy person is not someone who answers there own questions. But, a person is crazy if they don't understand their own answer to their own question. Michael

 

[Winky]

Michael, that is just hilarious stuff. The two inch motor kills me. My son-in-law shot a bowling ball out of a large pipe and filmed it. Very funny. Fertile mind, he has. He's very good to my daughter, tho. Never tried to shoot her out of anything.

Fubar, didn't realize you were a dealer. Thanks for the info about air soft. I've wondered about using them, but never tried. Now that I hear they're capable of automatic fire, I could see having a pretty good battle with them. Lots of itty bitty pieces to pick up in lawn wars, however. Gotta check into this. First I've got to determine whether they can be purchased in Canada.

See you at the show.

Dick