Yaaaay AIP! (1 Viewer)

[Scott]

 

[Jay]

And who are they when they are at home?

 

[Scott]

And who are they when they are at home?

New 1898 Spanish, War of 1812, and 1900 Japanese.

http://www.armiesinplastic.com/newsets.html

 

[Ragnar]

Looks like the British are flankers {or are they Americans?}...but a couple of good poses in there!

 

[Scott]

Looks like the British are flankers {or are they Americans?}...but a couple of good poses in there!

SOP with AIP, different color plastics for different armies or regiments. If you squint at the blue and gray sets they are US troops. I just ordered 4 boxes in blue and red.

 

[NY Collector]

View attachment 120973View attachment 120974View attachment 120975

Same old Same old ......except the 1812 seem a bit different.

 

[9thHussar]

all good stuff and all figure sets welcome - British 1815 best set of course
9th

 

[Scott]

all good stuff and all figure sets welcome - British 1815 best set of course
9th

Some head swopping with the British and maybe 184os Mexicans and U.S.

 

[Angusprune]

Still look like stiff little dolls, poses are too standardised.
What the best metal makers do are plastic figures in metal, these look like old hollowcast figures in plastic

 

[Scott]

Still look like stiff little dolls, poses are too standardised.
What the best metal makers do are plastic figures in metal, these look like old hollowcast figures in plastic

I think that is the point of AIP's style...to look like hollow casts. One can make dioramas of Conte and TSSD plastics or 54mm war game with HaT's figures. AIP's have that look of figures that HG Wells would play with.

 

[Scott]

The sculpts are by Ian Farley of Regal Enterprises. Their line is trad-style gloss metal. http://regaltoysoldiers.wordpress.com He also does work for Stockade's Soldiers of the World. Some of the SotW and AIP sculpts are the same. I believe the Regal guys did their apprenticeships at Imperial; they're set up in the same town: Greytown, New Zealand.

Thank you Mike for pointing this out. I thought that Regals looked a lot like AIP but it's the other way around. I'd like to see AIP do those Crimean War Russians in plastic. I could actually set up the "Charge" with AIP's Light Brigade sets. Oh well, those cavalry figures can star as Napoleonic and Franco Prussian Cavalry for now.

I'll just have to happy with AIP's latest release. Thanks AIP!

 

[gk5717]

Just got of the phone with Tony (owner AIP) who stated the next sets, in about 6 months, will be the modern Iraq insurgeants and tailiban.
Gary

 

[Ragnar]

AIP have copped some flack over the years for having stiff wooden style poses,
But they still allow the hobbyist to tell the story they want to tell!

 

[johnnybach]

The sculpts are by Ian Farley of Regal Enterprises. Their line is trad-style gloss metal. http://regaltoysoldiers.wordpress.com He also does work for Stockade's Soldiers of the World. Some of the SotW and AIP sculpts are the same. I believe the Regal guys did their apprenticeships at Imperial; they're set up in the same town: Greytown, New Zealand.

Odd thing is - they do plastics for people to paint their own - yet their metal counterparts are only sold as painted. Same sculptor - same sculpts sometimes - but they don't advertise the metal ones as available as castings? Wonder why??? johnnybach

 

[Scott]

Odd thing is - they do plastics for people to paint their own - yet their metal counterparts are only sold as painted. Same sculptor - same sculpts sometimes - but they don't advertise the metal ones as available as castings? Wonder why??? johnnybach

It might be that company painted metal is treated as collectible with the boxes and all, while metal that you and I have painted is considered dust collecting kitsch outside our homes. (Sometimes inside as well.) There might be more $$$ in selling painted metal as collectibles than unpainted castings so I can't blame the makers for their business model.

 

[johnnybach]

It might be that company painted metal is treated as collectible with the boxes and all, while metal that you and I have painted is considered dust collecting kitsch outside our homes. (Sometimes inside as well.) There might be more $$$ in selling painted metal as collectibles than unpainted castings so I can't blame the makers for their business model.

'Pon my word sir! I think you may have hit upon something there!

Dust collecting kitsch eh? Hmmmmm.............must keep that little gem from La Commandante!jb

 

[Scott]

'Pon my word sir! I think you may have hit upon something there!

Dust collecting kitsch eh? Hmmmmm.............must keep that little gem from La Commandante!jb

I get sad when I see hobbyist painted figures collecting dust and not appreciated. Some end up as "grandma c-rap" at yard sales or treated as mere toys. But that's another story. I imaging that if Britains or Conte sold castings then there might be counterfeit issues in resale.

 

[Scott]

On the other hand, and I'm dating myself here, if you collected figures painted by Mike Leonard, Henri Lyon, Valentine Bean, Bob Bard or Sheppard Paine for examples, a painted casting kit would be very collectible.

I initial my figures if they have a base, but I don't have the "name" to make them collectible. A couple of my semiflat "toy" figures showed up on ebay attributed to my pewtersmith father.

 

[johnnybach]

I get sad when I see hobbyist painted figures collecting dust and not appreciated. Some end up as "grandma c-rap" at yard sales or treated as mere toys. But that's another story. I imaging that if Britains or Conte sold castings then there might be counterfeit issues in resale.

Well I don't "get sad" at all Scott. I have several thousand of them happily gathering dust in my cabinets - with most of them painted by myself and appreciated every day, by yours truly. I enjoy painting and playing with the finished result at some point every day. What happens to them after I'm gone - well - that won't be my problem any more - so I just enjoy them whilst I can. Also part of the enjoyment, for me, comes from trying to do a better paint job than some hurriedly painted comercial pieces that you can find ( my time is free - whilst in commerce - it ain't) - which is why I do wish that some of the firms that don't sell their wares as castings trust us a little more, though many do, of course - and I buy mine from them.

Remember, IF ANYONE, really wanted to counterfeit a particular piece - they can always buy a painted one - and then ILLEGALLY re-cast from that one. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A CASTING TO BE COPIED - and I suspect many that are copied, start off from a painted version. If you think about it - IF they only get issued from some makers as painted toys - they HAVE to get copied from a painted one. I may add that I have never sold on any of mine - though have given a very few as presents to special friends.

Counterfeit versions of "painted only" toys have been, and will probably, unfortunately, continue to be a perenial problem in the hobby for as long as it exists. When recent new copying techniques have been perfected - this may probably get worse. I always try to make any re-casts or originals that I have picked up and/or repaired and repainted - look just a little different to the real thing, whenever I paint any. Small differences in arm positions, changes in head/arms, or additions to the piece - and of course, modern paints that will show up under special lights will, I trust, and ensure that mine will never get passed off as something more valuable than they actually are whenever they get passed along to new temporary custodians ( nobody lives for ever!).

In the meantime though - I will continue to enjoy painting on regardless - and enjoy each little "blank canvas" challenge as it comes along. All the best - Johnnybach

 

[Scott]

Well I don't "get sad" at all Scott. I have several thousand of them happily gathering dust in my cabinets - with most of them painted by myself and appreciated every day, by yours truly. I enjoy painting and playing with the finished result at some point every day. What happens to them after I'm gone - well - that won't be my problem any more - so I just enjoy them whilst I can......

- Johnnybach

Great reply! I feel that way about MY soldiers to. I should have made that clearer as I was thinking of figures I've at flea market tables and such.