What Got You Into This Hobby? (1 Viewer)

[Peter Reuss]

Quite a few of our customers have been telling us that they 'saw today's toy soldiers and were totally blown away by the detail.'

If you are a fairly recent 'convert' to toy soldiers (at least the modern quality of them), where did you see the soldiers that got you 'hooked'? Was it in a shop, on the internet, in a magazine, at a friend's house?

Inquiring minds want to know ...

 

[Peter Reuss]

And I'll start with me ...

In 2001 Shannon was working with Ertl selling their line of Precision tractors. Living in a rural area at the time we had a lot of farm toy people around us. Farm toys seemed to be our future. I could talk John Deere with the best of them - but it wasn't my passion. I was already reading book after book of military history at this point.

Then Ertl started sending us these catalogues for some company called Britains. I'd never heard of them, but I thought the figures looked pretty neat. Living in the Midwest, I'd never known a toy soldier collector. Well, one thing led to another, and we started carrying Britains. Soon that led us to King & Country (in 2002 I believe) just as K&C was starting to take off. Imperial and Beau Geste weren't far behind.

What a joy to combine a love for history with the quality of today's figures!

 

[Louis Badolato]

When I was a kid growing up, there was a hobby shop in my town called Devlin's Hobbies. They had a big showcase full of old Britains glossy toy soldiers. Bands, the Queen's Royal Coach, marching regiments. They looked so incredible. The colorful uniforms, the horses, the canons. Man, I drooled over them every day on my way home from school. But they were too rich for my paper boy's income, so I bought plastic models, built and painted them, and made dioramas. Eventually, I got interested in sports and girls, and forgot about toy soldiers.

One day, shortly after I graduated from lawschool (and I finally had an income) I walked into a place on the corner of 5th Avenue and 16th Street in Manhattan called "B.Shackman's Toys & Novelties" because they had nice Victorian style Valentine's day cards in the window (I was engaged to my first wife at the time). Lo and behold, they had a showcase full of virtually identical Britains figures. I bought a set of 15th Ludhiana Sikhs. The rest is history.

 

[jazzeum]

I visited Normandy in the summer of 2004. While I had always been a history buff, visiting Normandy really turned me on. When I got home I devoured Max Hastings' book on Normandy. I had purchased some FOVs for my son and pretty soon I was putting them together in poses and my son was wondering what the heck was going on. So then I started to look at some Britains and got a couple of great sets, the British Paras, which I still like. I was looking for a toy soldier shop however for some more Britains and after a search I realized there was one in my town . Went there, asked about some Britains and then saw K & C and wow! I was blown away by the detail. My first set was EA 01. I came back the next day with my son and we bought a couple of DD sets. I had made the descent into spending money. That was the beginning and the further slide was hastened by attending the first Symposium in 2005.

That's the story and it's been great fun.

 

[Eazy]

When i was a kid my Mom and Gran bought me loads of Airfix and Britains Deetail figures. These were always my favourite toys and i would set up huge battlefields in the living room.
Although i had other toys including some fantastic Action Man figures and equipment and vehicles it was the toy soldiers I couldn't bear to part with as I grew up.
Everything else went but i kept the toy soldiers in boxes in my Mom's loft.

Fast forward nearly 20 years and Forces of Valor came out with their first wave of tanks and vehicles. I had to have them and reliving the old days my Mom bought me a few for my birthday!

I dug my old Aifrix and Deetails out of my Mom's loft and then started to hear about Britains stiill making metal figures. I bought a few but wasn't overly impressed apart from the British Paras.
From there i heard about k&C and once i saw thier Afrika Korps range that was it. I've been pretty hooked since.

 

[REVWARBUFF]

What a great question for the forum!!! My experience stems from a love of US history, namely the American Revolution. Living in the Philadelphia area all my life, I've been surrounded with many of this country's great historical beginnings.

I live and work on the other side of the Delaware River here in NJ. I am an accountant working for a privately owned company. About 1 year ago I was one day asked to deliver some tax returns to our consulting firm in Philly. Their office is in the Independence Hall district. After making my delivery, I couldn't help but stop in a historical gift shop just to browse for a few minutes before getting back to the office. Well, there it was.........the Britians "Signing of the Decl of Indepence" set. I was totally unprepared to purchase it, so upon returning to the office I did a quick search on the web to discover more about what I saw. My search landed me directly at Treefrog Treasures and from there I was hooked.

Mark

 

[steveo]

Well i must have been born into the hobby,i dont know why but ive allways had toy soldiers in my life ,looking through old photos i allways seem to be grasping some sort of figure etc.Dont get me wrong i loved my Action man (gi joe) but it seem ages to build a collection and as my parents remember very expensive.
Toy soldiers were cheap ,Matchbox been avaliable from the local newsagent in vast numbers,then my uncle bought me an Airfix battlefield set ,Germans ,Tanks ,Buildings, my first playset,and then some of Britains superdeetail Paras in their red berets,still some of my all time favourite figures.I also seem to recall a Timpo wildwest trainset ?
Then my uncle purchased some of the Atlantic 60mm wild west figures ,the Apache war party and the Apache camp,these go for silly money on ebay if any have them lying about?I still have his collection
Then one day something else was displayed on his shelves something different,something amazing Trophy Zulus,24ft foot ,Indian Army mounted elephant gun team ,fuzzy wuzzys ,absolutely jaw dropping!!
Then the collecting sort of paused for seems to be 6-7 year without any additions ,school/college/work commitments the usual excuses.
Then it must have been possibly 1994 some local store carried some of the Britains limited editions in the window,he let me pay weekly ,which was a big help.Then i became aware of a new magazine ,Toy soldier and model figure and then all the new makers i had never heard of an, my first London Show
Ive been addicted ever since,one thing i thought i never would do is start to see the Matt ranges replace my Gloss ranges,i still have a soft spot for Trophy
HAPPY DAYS

 

[sceic2]

I have Shannon and Pete to thank (blame?) (thanks Shannon ; thanks Pete ) for my first coming back to toy soldiers. As most every boy growing up in the 1950’s, I played with plastic army men and vehicles. In the early 60’s, a hobby shop in Crookston, Minnesota had not only HO trains (which was also a passion) but they also had a rotating display case of Rocco 1/87 WWII vehicles near the front door. The shop had lots of German tanks and American trucks that I obsessed over because I could afford one or two every week or so.

Now skip forward about 40 years to the about 2001 or 2002. Put a family, Navy career, and a new profession in between. Not a toy soldier in sight during that period. But the little boy never left.

One of my retirement accounts lost half its value when the economy took it in the tank after the Clinton years. As Pete described, this area loves diecast farm equipment. Many shops have them for sale but many have them on display on shelves behind the counter. Their owner’s are quite proud of their farm toys and most are still in the original boxes and some are quite old. Bingo, a little light goes on in my head. So, I withdrew what was left of my retirement funds and bought 1/50 Caterpillar construction and John Deere farm equipment. Most of my purchases were online.

One day while surfing Diecastdirect.com, a great site for a variety of diecast stuff, I found Britains and their Panzer IV series. Well, one thing leads to another and the next thing you know I found this weird site call Treefrogtreasures.com and a Britians Panzer on sale. So, I bought it. Started surfing for more toy soldiers and I found the King and Country web site in Hong Kong and I was hooked for life. Haven’t looked back, not going to, don’t want to, and this summer I sold about $15,000 worth of construction and farm diecast and used every cent to buy more K&C, Britians, Conte, Honour Bound, New Model Army and FOV. Guys from the forum - like Fishead got me hooked on Napoleonic’s; Carlos got me hooked on John Jenkins, and now Andy is attempting to make me buy the Crusader series. “Resistance if futile.” It’s only a matter of time and I will give in.

Great dealers like Minute Man, Treefrog, Sierra Toy Soldiers, Spirit of 76, Bill Sagers, Troops of Time, ToySoldiersClub.com , Roy Easton, Old Toy Soldier Home, Hobby Bunker, March Through Times, Michigan Toy Soldier, San Diego Toy Soldier, The Hussar, Goodrich Toy Soldiers, and many more who should not be offended because I forgot to mention them as I am getting tired of naming every dealer I have purchased toy soldiers from (please forgive me if you are one of these wonder people).

I think what keep’s making me smile are the great people in the hobby, the toys are super but the people in this hobby (including the folks here on the forum) are far better at smile making.

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

I have always loved history, American Civil War, Rev War, WWII. I also live near Freehold NJ (Monmouth Court House) I guess that's why I like the Revolutionary War. Back in 1998 I was at Gettysburg ( I can never visit there enough) and bought a few plastic Britain's Civil War figures, then one day I was in my local hobby shop to buy some more plastic figures when I spotted the new Britain's matt metal civil war line. I was hooked after that. I also like to paint military miniatures.

 

[fishead19690]

I can,t even remember when I stared collecting toy soldiers??? My dad was really into collecting toy soldiers when he was a kid and started buying them for me at a very young age. He also gave me what he had left of his collection also, mostly all marx figures. I think he started buying them more for him then me.
While other kidds were playing baseball and other sports or whatever I could be found in the back yard in the dirt digging trenches for my troops.
I was always into history from a very early age and loved all the old great war movies.

Then in my early teens I started to get into music and playing guitar and girls and other teenaged stuff and the soldiers had to go to the basement as they were no longer cool.

Then I got bored and found them again in my moms basement(what was left of them!) and I started to paint up some of the marx cival war figures one day out of boredom and started to remember how munch I liked them.

I tried to look around a few stores to see what was new but no one had any or they just had the bag of cheap green G.I.,s that I always hated,so I went on line and found all the new stuff thats out and I,ve been hooked again ever since.
I started with plastic and moved on to metal and the wallets been hurting ever since!!!

 

[Warrior]

When I was a kid, my cousin and I were into the Airfix ho/oo scale figures and used to stage huge battles on the living room floor, Normandy, Pacific Island battles, Gettysburg, Waterloo, etc.

I got older and lost interest until about ten years ago when my cousin told me about a store he stubbled into while on a sales call in Malden, MA, Excalibur Hobbies. I took a ride up there and was amazed at what I saw. I immediately started buying ho/oo scale figures again and rediscovered the toy soldier hobby. I eventually started working at Excalibur and started Minutemen Toy Soldiers a year later...................

 

[PVELZKA]

i never collected toy soldiers before. had plastic toy soldiers as a kid.in 02 was looking for some items to go with all my ww2 books on my selfs .found king and country. the rest is history, my books are still in boxes in my closet.

 

[panda1gen]

grew up in 60's with airfix and dinky. Career, no toy soldiers. In fact I could not see the appeal of gloss bands marching.

Saw KC display in Hanley's in Regent Street whilst shopping with my boys, only relatively little then so must have been 90's. This blew me away with paras from Arnhem. Too pricy for me then but sorely sorely tempted. Went back after about five years and saw an awesome diorama with wittman's tiger, the normandy stuff and then saw the rest of the lines also displayed around various corners. Still too poor to buy.....

Finally bought my first sets from Mike in October 2003 I think it was and decided to just buy as much of the stuff as I could. My wife agreed that enjoyment now, plus they might still be worth something later, equals a reasonable balance. Still haven't got everything in ww2 yet, but can't do ebay and keep up with new stuff.

Would really love to have Napoleanics, romans and everything else, but taxes don't allow alas. see other thread.

 

[VIRIATO]

As a kid I had Airfix, Timpo and Britains Deetail toy soldiers, Solido tanks, Action Men and so on. Also have always liked reading History books, especially on WWII, and viewing the BBC's World at War on TV. Until I got near to my forties I forgot completely about toy soldiers, and indeed lost track of all my old Airfix troops and part of Timpo.Still have the wonderful seventies Britains Deetail and the seventies Solido tanks though
Then, when looking for figures for my son on the Internet, I found FOV, 21st Century and Minichamps tanks and 21st Century aircraft, and also new Deetail troops. Also found Britains and K&C and JG Miniatures but initially thought those too expensive to collect and started with some plastic Deetail and FOV and 21st Century. But slowly started to get into metal, just irresistible, through some early buys on E-Bay and here at Treefrog, and from then on
I now collect, though mostly in separate time spurts :
-K&C WWII figures;
-1/72 tanks and aircraft ( Dragon, Corgi, etc. );
-a new starting passion: Napoleonics ( my first order is coming from Art IG, from Latvia, expect to get figures from K&C too ).

Well, that's about it, for now...

 

[VIRIATO]

P.S.
Just to say that I now am more of a fan of the miniature than of the toy soldier: I always look for realism, especially on faces, even when I get glossy figures ( «modern» Britains for instance ).

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi All,

I saw this the other day and have been looking at what everyone else has said and find it interesting how similar we all are. I got in to the toy soldiers a long time ago. I had a very large number of Britains Swoppets knights then Cavalry and Indians and Civil War and wish I still had them but two brothers several dogs and a mother who was ever vigilant with the vacumn cleaner put most of those beauties to rest. But I also had thousands of the green plastic dollar for 100 soldiers and used those for endless hours of entertainment. I bet I bought a bag of those soldier every month for several year when I was a really young kid. I also got in to models especially the Tamiya tanks and some of the old mongram tanks so I could have tanks that were the right ones in my field of battle. I then took a trip down the molding your own line when my father found some molds from Dutkins of American Infantry and German Afrika Korps. It was a blast making those and painting them, I still have several of them at my parents house in my old room. But I also had some Britains Lead figures that had turned up as gifts and I kept them on my desk in a safe place and never played with them.

Then on a trip with to NYC I went by FAO Schwarz and saw them most incredible display of figures from the WWI Victory Parade in London with a ton of soldiers from all of the units of the Empire and knew I had to have something like that some day.

So began the collecting. It was off and on over the years but I always found a way to pick up a figure or a set while I wandered around the states and Europe. I even picked up several really interesting sets while I was on my honeymoon in the south pacific, the wife was forgiving even then ! Finally, Britains began producing sets that I found interesting in the 90's and I picked up a few here and there until I found the Durbar Display and finally found my niche! As some of you have seen,(in the Durbar threads) I have a pretty extensive display of the Durbar and have to say that I love all the color and the wide variety of units and mounts that harken back to a time gone by.

Of course I do dabble in other eras but the focus now is nearly all on the Durbar. So thank you to the folks over at Britains, Beau Geste and Marlborough and others who are producing this truly wonderful display.

Dave

 

[Shiloh]

I have always been a hunter, deer and mostly ducks. In the Air Force I damaged my shoulder about 15 years ago, nothing to serious an operation seem to take care of it. This spring after helping some of the in laws move some furniture I wake up on Sunday and can't seem to move my neck. By Monday I have extensive pain down my whole left arm and can't even set up a trip to the doctor, the mri, and orthepedics. Your left shoulder has arthritis a bone spur and you have displaced two of the tendons. Hummmmm I better find a new hobby I don't think mister shoulder is going to like setting in the cold and shock from the shotgun or deer rifle. I had a Marx civil war set when I was a kid saw one on E-bay thought I wonder what they make now? The rest is history. I love the new stuff they make now. Started with plastic and seem to be migrating toward metal. Growing old is mandatory Growing up is optional. The wife does not even blink when I buy a new set of civil war figures I once dropped 24,000 dollars on a duck hunting spot so I guess she figures this can't get out of hand. Boy is she in for a shock. If we get divorced she can have the duck hunting spot.

 

[Beaufighter]

It all started in the Ardennes! I watched the Hollywood blockbuster "Battle of the Bulge" with my grandfather who was part of that campaign. A day later I had two Corgi tanks-the ones that fired the plastic bullets all of which I still have. It escalated from there & we all know the rest. Loving every minute of it though!

 

[Wraith]

Like the majority here, I played with toy soldiers as a kid, both HO / 1/72 and 1/32. In my case it was predominantly Airfix with Matchbox and Britains Deetail thrown in.

Gave it up in my early teens, as they weren't as cool as Miami Vice and I had to spend my pocket money on electric blue trousers, pink t-shirts, Ray-bans and white slip on shoes. Did I have my s*** together or what?

Wind the clock on a good few years and I decided that I'd dig out all my old Airfix figures for my 8 month old son to play with. No really, he was surprisingly dexterous at that age.

At about the same time, I unfortunately discvered ebay. It started off quite innocently with just the odd purchase here and there, to boost up the numbers for my now 9 month old son. Then I thought, how about getting a complete boxed set of the Airfix 7th Cavalry (always one of my favourite sets), just for prosperity's sake.

Well, being the weak minded individual that I am (and I know I'm not alone ), one box led to another and now upwards of 300 or so. (If my wife ends up reading this, then this may be a typo for 30 or maybe 3 boxes).

I came across some Conte plastic (Waffen) by accident while trawling ebay, purchased them as the picture looked interesting and was blown away by the detail and poses when they arrived.

Being the self restrained character that I am, I then had to immediately have all WWII Conte plastic that was available.

But, this was not enough. I needed more. I'll try one of the metal sets to see what they're like. Just one mind.

Soooo, 40 or so metal box sets later (that's 4 dear, I can't type properly), I thought, wonder what else is out there. Dabbled with a bit of Britains and other odds and sods and then decided that these King and Coutry figures look quite nice. Not really my scale, but I'll get a couple of singles. Just to have a look. Just a couple mind.......

Now I have resigned myself to the fact that I am a weak willed, pathetic excuse of a man, with no control over his addiction / spending habits. I will live life eternally poor in cash, but rich in figures.

Oh, the long lonely Winter nights spent locked in my garage, the last retreat of manhood, lining up my collection of figures.......

The moral of this story is:
1. Don't bother fighting it. The Dark Side is calling and YOU are weak
2. Have wages paid directly in to your nearest Toy Soldier Dealer. Saves time messing about with transactions.
3. Beg, borrow or steal a good heater for the garage.

Simon

 

[aujj65]

I have always had a fascination with model soldiers from my childhood to today.
I started with Airfix 1/72nd figures and kits which I built and painted myself, these were mainly WW2 and ACW. I joined a wargaming club and for the next 15 years spent every spare penny on buying 25mm castings and painting large armies ranging from Ancient Greeks to Vietnam, in the end I had over 5 thousand soldiers. My favourites were Napoleonic’s’ and Sudan Wars. I sold all these to help pay for my first house and for some years only painted figures to sell. Then there was a period of several years when I didn’t collect anything!
I started collecting the modern toy soldier style figures about 10 years ago by painting my own castings. I have painted loads of different sets over the years, mainly in gloss, I sold some of them and used the profit to buy matt painted figures, the biggest set I have painted is the Tradition of London Boer War 4.7" Naval Brigade Gun & Team.
Then when Britains started their matt painted ACW and Waterloo ranges I sold all my gloss painted collection to pay for these. I added Conte ACW, AWI & then Normans & Vikings. Napoleonic’s have always been my main interest and so when K&C released the first of their Napoleonic’s that was it; I was completely hooked on them.
To make room for more K&C I sold all the Britains and Conte and now my (our) collection consists of only K&C (Napoleonic’s, SOHK, 8th Army and now I have just bought a couple of the new Crusaders). These latest figures are some of the best I have ever seen for the money and I cannot wait for the Saracen’s to arrive.
Jeff