Why have Swoppets not been reissued ? (1 Viewer)

[maloyalo]

I have always hoped to see these again, particularly the AWI, ACW and Knight figures by Britains/Herald. But I have only seen a few repro accessories over the years. Does anyone know why ?

 

[Gideon]

Very expensive to produce and maintain as a series.

I like some of the old swoppet stuff - mainly the Britains landrovers produced in the mid/late sixities.

 

[OzDigger]

The Herald swoppets were made from a plastic that wasn't very durable over time and most have fallen to pieces. The Timpo plastic swoppet types of figures have a similar problem but tend to just snap rather than fall apart.

 

[maloyalo]

Its a shame about those figures deteriorating. I picked up one of my civil war mtd swoppets just a week or so ago & the horses front leg broke off just from holding it. Since I use mine for set ups & let kids play with them I no longer will invest any $ in these expensive figures. Which is too bad, for I only have a few & like the look of the ACW & AWI guys. One of the problems with these & Timpo like you mention is the plastics, additives and 'fillers' used. I believe I read chalk was actually used by Timpo in some polyethylene & these are extremely fragile shape now, if not broken. Marx, I believed used lead around the same time, but I am not sure as filler or for finish etc.

 

[kilted vampire]

I had been considering the swoppet lines but after reading your stories and coupled with their prices I have decided to wait this one out.

 

[Steven Chong]

I think the present condition of old Swoppets depends on how and where they were stored. I have a large collection of ACW and Knight Swoppets from the early 70's and none of them have the plastic fatigue problems described in this thread. My only problem is some of the rubber-band like straps for knapsacks have become very brittle.

 

[OzDigger]

Steve, the Herald/Britains Swoppets can look ok whilst on display but are prone to breakage if not handled carefully.

 

[kilted vampire]

I think the present condition of old Swoppets depends on how and where they were stored. I have a large collection of ACW and Knight Swoppets from the early 70's and none of them have the plastic fatigue problems described in this thread. My only problem is some of the rubber-band like straps for knapsacks have become very brittle.

Could be you are just a lucky man Steven

 

[Gideon]

If you are interested in collecting the old swoppets there is a little trick.

Ask the seller (if you are not there personally) to smell the figure. There is a very distinct and strong odor like a strong crayon smell. Figures that have this smell are brittle. Don't buy the figure if there is any indication of that odor no matter how faint it is.

If there is no odor then go ahead and grab them.

Of course, now you are at the mercy of another persons sense of smell.

 

[wadepat]

If you are interested in collecting the old swoppets there is a little trick.

Ask the seller (if you are not there personally) to smell the figure. There is a very distinct and strong odor like a strong crayon smell. Figures that have this smell are brittle. Don't buy the figure if there is any indication of that odor no matter how faint it is.

If there is no odor then go ahead and grab them.

Of course, now you are at the mercy of another persons sense of smell.

Hi Gideon,

That is a very interesting and useful piece of information. Thanks for sharing it!

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[maloyalo]

If you are interested in collecting the old swoppets there is a little trick.

Ask the seller (if you are not there personally) to smell the figure. There is a very distinct and strong odor like a strong crayon smell. Figures that have this smell are brittle. Don't buy the figure if there is any indication of that odor no matter how faint it is.

If there is no odor then go ahead and grab them.

Of course, now you are at the mercy of another persons sense of smell.

I have noticed that smell too. I found out thats the 'plasticizer chemical additives leeching out. A noticable oder is normal immediately after manufacture, and then usually tapers off. But exposing a figure to high heat or sustained UV will trigger a greater leeching out & more oder. The plasticizers among other things make the plastic flexible. Their departure contributes to brittleness.

Figures made of PVC can give an small oder for their whole life. PVC has higher (normal) plasticizer migration. My Herald knights that I have owned 35 years have always given off a faint oder. But the smell test is a good indicator for Polyethylene & Polypropylene.

Some modern PVC figures may be made with very inferior ingrediants & may degrade faster then the old ones ironically. The softer the plastic the more plasticizers & susceptiblity to degrading.

If I remember correctly some swoppets and swoppet parts are poly & some PVC.

 

[HistoryfortheAges]

Very informative posts. I also, have a large Britains ACW and AWI swoppet collection. I find that the infantry figures hold up very well. I don't have any broken ones. It's probably best to keep the figures in a controlled temperatured environment. The mounted Herald/swoppet ACW figures are a different story. They can be very briittle and should be handled with care. I've had a few horse tails and riders legs break off. All in all, I'm happy to have them in my collection. They hold their own in a diorama, too but, you can't really mix them with anything else out there. The Britains swoppets are my favourites. I never liked the ACW or AWI swoppets made by other manufacturers. Just didn't like the sculpting.

 

[maloyalo]

I really like the AWI & ACW swoppets too. There is something I like about them that is hard to define. But I didn't get any early on, and have been able to get just a few ACW. Which is why I started this thread. I wondered why these fairly popular pieces were never remade.

I will check some of this out with some testing, but I think the ACW infantry bodies are PVC. The horses, I would be willing to bet are Polyethylene & is the most fragile large piece in the series I have come accross. The old Britains & Timpo Poly is often very fragile, particularly for large parts such as bodies, due to fillers used. Some of the recipes/ingredients they used for their plastic is essentially reaching the end of its servicable life. If they were exposed to Heat & UV light (and humidity, oddly) they will be worse, but even the best kept still deteriorate as we speak. It boils down to chemistry & physics.

btw I would guess the muskets are Poly (different ingredients from horses) the knapsacks, being that soft, are very likely PVC.

 

[Carnahan]

I remember back in the day 7-11 actually carried them loose in the candy aisle racks - sadly, mine are all dismembered and lost

 

[skeeterbuck]

I would think that with today's plastics that a new line could be made that would not present the problems of the original figures.

I have a collection of Britains "Eyes Right" figures and to my knowledge none of them show this sign of drying out and/or cracking. I wonder if they were made from a different type of plastic?

 

[thebritfarmer]

I would think that with today's plastics that a new line could be made that would not present the problems of the original figures.

I have a collection of Britains "Eyes Right" figures and to my knowledge none of them show this sign of drying out and/or cracking. I wonder if they were made from a different type of plastic?

I believe the eyes right came later so by then plastics had evolved a little more, so they are probably different.

As to the swoppet moulds, First Gear may not have acquired them in the sale of WB or perhaps they were destroyed years ago.

 

[lancer]

I own some of these from my childhood. They are all very fragile. I had a Union soldier (Herald) literally fall apart in my hands. My swoppets (the nice, early ones) are not too bad. I have a set of AWI troops (both sides) that are pretty flexible. The ACW infantry, artillery have held up better than the cavalry which is very fragile. The few modern British Army swoppets I have are still pretty flexible, but as said, my swoppet cavalry, Herald infantry, and the many Timpo ACW cavalry and infantry will break if you look at them cross-eyed. Extreme care must be used in handling them, thus they do not get moved much. -- lancer

 

[skeeterbuck]

I believe the eyes right came later so by then plastics had evolved a little more, so they are probably different.

As to the swoppet moulds, First Gear may not have acquired them in the sale of WB or perhaps they were destroyed years ago.

Both Swoppets and Eyes Right came out in the late 50's. Sometimes the Eyes Right figures will crack but it seems to me that it is much less frequent than the Swoppets.

 

[Deitz]

I have quite a few Timpo Swoppets and you need to handle them with care.
The only ones that have broken so far have been one that I knocked off a shelf by accident. I also keep them out of sunlight and heat.

I have stopped buying any new Timpo Swoppets, due to possible deterioration, but I can not bring myself to sell any of them. Timpo were the first TS I collected.

 

[Whistlinghen]

My guess is because of the many small parts involved-we're talking serious choking hazard, if not for the intended user, perhaps their smaller siblings. While the actual number of toy soldier related deaths in history is probably very small, the safety and liability laws would keep anyone from mass marketing them, and I would doubt there is enough of a collector's market to justify bringing the range back, after all, they were supposed to be toys. The ability of children to find the danger potential of a given object is amazing. My daughter once put a cooked pea up her nose, which the emergency room docs never found (I kid her about it twenty-two years later). Of course, that's part of the charm of these things-they bring back memories of a time before we realized how truly dangerous everything was. I've got the Swoppet foot knights, the AWI Redcoats, the WWII Tommies, and some Timpo Swoppet knights and commandos. I like the Timpo because of their awkward poses. There is someone in England that makes parts, and I may get around to contacting him some day. I've had some luck making replacement arms for my Herald Highlanders using Alumilite, although I have serious doubts as to whether those parts will survive my lifetime. Although my daughter will probably sell off my collection when I go, I'd kind of like to be buried in a trench with them like that Chinese Emperor. -Emily