Who is your favorite plastics sculptor? (1 Viewer)

[Bid_kahuna]

Bill Farmer of Matchbox, Accurate and ACTA?

Rod Cameron of 1/32 Airfix and Britain's Deetail?

Ally Gee (was he also the sculptor or simply the owner?) of Timpo?

Robert Ortiz of Conte?

Ron Barszo?

Steve Weston? One of the Marx sculptors? Jean Hoefler's? TSSD's sculptor? Paragon's? Or any one of many more.

Sculptors are the unsung heroes of our hobby. I remember when I first realized that my Deetail cowboys and Indians looked like they could be in the same set with my Deetail western figures. Plains Indians and cowboys, anyway... Deetail Apaches, cavalry and Mexicans obviously had a different sculptor. It made me want to know more about these wonderful artists.

Personally, I think Rod Cameron's work is best, but the sculptor of Jean Hoefler's figures is a sentimental favorite, as a Hoefler Fort Apache was my introduction to the hobby at age 4.

I wish there was a toy soldier sculptor wiki website with names and short bios and examples of the work of the sculptors of the figures we all love.

Who are your favorites? Can you name any more sculptors?

 

[Bid_kahuna]

I just remembered the name of Timpo's sculptor: Norman Tooth.

 

[Brother Jonathan]

Airfix and Bill Farmer's Matchbox, Accurate, and ACTA rank very highly in my book. Something about their crispness and handsomeness fits what I want a toy soldier to look like (regardless of scale). I also like the flat, gently sloped bases on Farmer's sculpts. Sometimes the Accurate, Imex, and ACTA family have some foibles in terms of accuracy and pose choices, but they also include some of my favorite sets and poses. I think Accurate has really been the old war horse for many plastic collectors, especially for AWI and ACW, and especially vefore the 1/30 scale boom. As a matter of fact, I was thinking it would be fun to do a pose-by-pose review on the forum of the Accurate Civil War guys.
(I envy 1/72 collectors: they have www.plasticsoldierreview.com to enjoy, although you can find reviews of 1/72 guys who were also made in 1/32, like many of Farmer's sculpts.)

Among more recent releases, Conte's Civil War and Alamo plastics are some of my favorites. (Were those sculpted by Ken Osen or Robert Ortiz or...?) Great sculpting, great poses, great overall look.

 

[The Green Knight]

Those I like ( not necessarily from best to least favorite)

Conte, TSSD, Airfix, Paragon, Expeditionary Force, Matchbox, Britains Deetail, Italeri, A Call to Arms, Atlantic, Barszo (new sculpts)- I know I may have forgotten some names.

That being said, some rooms for improvement for me are as follows:

Conte - Some figures have oversized portions (example the Alamo Mexicans seem too tall) Spartans had too huge muscles (but they still look great nonetheless)
Italeri - Usually the torsos are a bit short making them look like midgets. Legs can also seem too short so I had to cut, pin and put some putty on my Union Infantry legs and then they'd be perfect to be mixed with my Conte and TSSD Civil war stuff.
Paragon - The heads of their 7th cavalry seem too small for the bodies given. The bodies are more the size of Conte but the heads are almost the size of Call to Arms or Imex.

Those I like less (since I like toy soldiers in general) are as follows:

Armies in Plastic, Imex, Timpo Solids, Toyway, and some other names I have forgotten.

That being said, all these manufacturers would have several poses that I find really good.

 

[9thHussar]

Hi
my favourites

Bill Farmer - good stuff and filled with action - easy to convert too

Ron Cameron - pure art - very realistic sculpts

Timpo Action pack figures - Although some of the Napoleonics muskets are a bit short but can easily be converted.

I also like some of the older British makes such as 1/32 Crescent Toy Co, Lone*star, Charbens etc...

Regards
Dave

 

[Warrior]

Rod Cameron gets my vote, his Airfix figures for the most part are iconic.

Anything Conte that Ken Osen did gets high marks; the newer stuff looks way too cartoon like.

The vast majority of the Marx figures get high marks as well; IMO, their ACW Confederates, Vikings and WWII American Infantry are still among the best figures ever made.

Specifically, the kneeling firing Confederate, infantryman with blanket roll and no hat shot falling backward, standard bearer and running figure with slouch hat and blanket roll are all spectacular, THOSE are what ACW Confederates should look like, amazing in that they were sculpted over 50 years ago............

 

[Denver]

TSSD's sculptor is my favorite.
He puts a different face on most of his figures.

 

[Middleguard]

As for sculpting quality I like whoever does the Hat Napoleonic French light infantry and ACTA Napoleonics even though the figures are undersized.
As far as pose diversity and originality I like the CTS Alamo group. Rather plain to look at but a lot of variety with what looks like correct posture and motion.

 

[Plastic General]

In some ways this important question provokes two separate answers,

A) Who is your FAVOURITE sculpture?
and
B) Who is the BEST sculpture?

For BEST SCULPTURE - *KEN OLSEN*
Ken was a serious game changer for the whole hobby, there were toy soldiers before Ken and after Ken.
Conte - Germans + US Para Tr + British Para Tr. and every other period!

2nd BEST SCULPTURE - AIRFIX sculpture.
There were two different sculptures for sure,
The sculpture who did British Commandos + Germ. Inf. + Japanese Inf. + Soviet inf. is the good one.
NOT the guy who did the German Paras & Mt. Troops. He sucks.

3rd BEST goes to the classic MARX sculpture,
the guy who did the Japanese inf, French, Russian and Brit inf. all the 6 inch figures!

My choice for "FAVOURITE SCULPTURE" goes in the exact opposite order!

The MARX sculpture #1


The AIRFIX sculpture #2


KEN OLSEN #3


Plastic General

 

[The Katzie Kid]

.
(I envy 1/72 collectors: they have www.plasticsoldierreview.com to enjoy, although you can find reviews of 1/72 guys who were also made in 1/32, like many of Farmer's sculpts.)

When I'm King of the World all the 1/72 Companies will have to do a 54MM size set at the same time.

 

[Brother Jonathan]

.
(I envy 1/72 collectors: they have www.plasticsoldierreview.com to enjoy, although you can find reviews of 1/72 guys who were also made in 1/32, like many of Farmer's sculpts.)

When I'm King of the World all the 1/72 Companies will have to do a 54MM size set at the same time.

As I understand the process, most toy soldier sculpts start out at a fairly large scale--54mm or even larger--and then are sometimes reduced to a desired size, especially in the case of 1/72. (From what I've seen on the forum, many 54mm guys seem to be sculpted in their actual scale).
If this is the case, then the 1/72 makers are really holding out on the rest of us!

I remember seeing on the Perry Miniatures website sculpts of 54mm Gallipoli Australians custom made for director Peter Jackson. Imagine if the Perry brothers shared their talent with us 54mm collectors!


Disclaimer: I'm sure there are considerable business considerations that affect manufacturers' decisions as to what scale(s) to offer. Then again, I must admit I like The Katzie Kid's campaign promise.

 

[Brother Jonathan]

Case in point, a Perry master sculpt and finished figure:

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net...=d93121302b9c8a4c8089a40d6ec679be&oe=55344C0C

 

[The Green Knight]

Wow Brother Jonathan, that would really be a treat for us 54mm collectors if the Perry Brothers were to get into 54mm. But I think businesswise it may not be good for them considering they have a very nice niche already. But then again, who knows. We can only pray that they do sculpt bigger ones eh?

 

[Ragnar]

Who ever the Russian guy is that does the work for Zvezda most of those 1/72 sets are just mind boggling!

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1598

 

[Breizh44]

Pvblivs, Engineer Bassevitch and of course Ron Cameron, for Airfix, Matchbox and Britains Deetail.:salute::

 

[binder001]

I vote for Ken Osen - remember that the prized Conte GIs were about 40% sculpted by Ken, with Ortiz finishing the series. He also did the masters for a number of ONTC and many Britains metals.

I also admire the sculptors who created the Marx figures back in the 50's and 60's. They were always nicer than the equivalent figures from other companies.

Gary B.

 

[bella louise]

I vote for Ken Osen - remember that the prized Conte GIs were about 40% sculpted by Ken, with Ortiz finishing the series. He also did the masters for a number of ONTC and many Britains metals.

I also admire the sculptors who created the Marx figures back in the 50's and 60's. They were always nicer than the equivalent figures from other companies.

Gary B.

hi its got to be roy selwyn- smith his hearld figures are wonderfull

 

[Ragnar]

AIRFIX Sculps just perfect neat clean 54mm figures....German Africa Korps top notch, but i like all there WW2 sets.
Have to be the soft plastic versions though....Sadly these new hard plastic sets with excessive mold lines and flash just don't do these old sculps justice!

 

[binder001]

Airfix had some variations in their figures. I agree that the poses and sculpts on the Afrika Korps, US Infantry and Eighth Army were quite good. The British Infantry Support Group had neat stuff, but some of the figures had mediocre posing. The Japanese were quite good, but the US Paratrooper set was a bad joke.

My personal favorite Airfix were the Multipose figures. I still watch for them at reasonable prices as I like to use their equipment with other 1/32 figures.

Gary B.

 

[combatmen]

Airfix had some variations in their figures. I agree that the poses and sculpts on the Afrika Korps, US Infantry and Eighth Army were quite good. The British Infantry Support Group had neat stuff, but some of the figures had mediocre posing. The Japanese were quite good, but the US Paratrooper set was a bad joke.

My personal favorite Airfix were the Multipose figures. I still watch for them at reasonable prices as I like to use their equipment with other 1/32 figures.

Gary B.

I agree with you, the Multipose kits are great. I was lucky and found a lot of them on sale from a mailorder hobby shop in the 90's, and bought a number of them for $1.99 each. I have used the arms, weapons and equipment with MARX figures to make a number of G.I.'s and German conversions. I still have a number of them and hope to do something with them in the future.
BOBBYGMOORE