The World of Model Soldiers

Bookmark us now for the next gripping installment. Chapter 1 will be repeated, after we have finished the whole book.

Currently Part 5 - THE 25 mm TO 35 mm RANGE OF FIGURES

Based on the World of Model Soldiers originally commissioned and paid for by André Deutsch in association with Rainbird Reference Books 36 Park Street, London, W1Y 4DE in 1979, but unhappily never published, due to the miners and Ted Heath and the three day week.

Granted an ISBN number of 0-233-96537-8 and with copies of the original manuscript lodged with the principal libraries in the United Kingdom.

Much of the original material has now been superceeded, but I hope that this work will be of interest to collectors of model soldiers throughout the world.
Copyright 2003 © John Tunstill, Calzolaro, Umbertide, PG, Italy

click here for Preface & Acknowledgements

5 - THE 25 mm TO 35 mm RANGE OF FIGURES

And do remember that this tome was written many, many, years ago!

The war-gaming hobby underwent a tremendous surge in popularity in the early 1970s and almost every small toyshop began to stock 20 and 25 mm figures. This enthusiasm was accompanied by a proliferation of model-soldier and war-gaming magazines and the publication of new books, sets of rules, and the formation of a number of different war-gaming clubs. However, the would-be stockist of war-game figures soon found that the diversity that was being offered to his customers by the manufacturers was far greater than his financial capacity to stock. For example, there are about five major manufacturers of 25 mm figures, each making more than 1,000 different figures. The retailer is expected to stock all these figures in quantities of at least 100 of each figure. The stock holding required and cost is therefore enormous merely to fulfil, for example, the simple request for a Byzantine archer at the ready, two Napoleonic Austro-Hungarian grenadiers, and an artillery colonel of the Wehrmacht with binoculars.

Most of these shops have now given up and those that are still stocking small soldiers only do so on a very restricted scale: instead of stocking products by all the different manufacturers they have to narrow the field down to one or two and only keep figures that sell well. They would be disinclined to stock, say, the dozen or so different positions that are offered by just one manufacturer of a British Napoleonic line infantry private of 1812, selling only the one position of advancing, or on guard. All the other figures are still available by mail order direct from the manufacturers and the enthusiast is well advised to deal direct with them, having first obtained a copy of their catalogue. The mail-order services vary a great deal, but the majority of manufacturers are honest, if slightly artistic. Therefore, the prospective purchaser should be lenient with his supplier if the figures do not arrive within two or three weeks. If it were not for the artistic abilities of such people, the customer would not have the opportunity to order the figures!

There is a great deal of argument among war gamers as to the merits of the different sizes of model soldiers. It is the opinion of this author, however, that all the figures should be combined. One does not see a regiment of foot soldiers or even a squadron of cavalry where every man is the same height, the same build, and walks with exactly the same step, let alone where horses all put their left foot forward at the same time. It would therefore be more realistic to take all the figures of approximately 25 mm in height and, so long as they are wearing the same uniform and are in more or less the same position, assemble them in the same regiment. One would then have the short and the tall next to the fat and the thin, holding their muskets at a slightly higher or lower angle, as opposed to the regiments constantly seen where all the soldiers are marching stiffly forward, each looking exactly the same as his neighbour. Don’t tin soldiers ever lose their hats or their packs, or stuff loaves of bread in their knapsacks or bottles of wine in their back pockets, or hang half-eaten hams from their belt, or have skinned rabbits sticking out from their haversacks?

One of the most popular ways of starting a collection of 25 mm soldiers is to collect those produced by the firm of Airfix, which are made in England. These small figures are made in plastic, come in a variety of positions, and are sold in boxes of about 40 or 50 pieces for about the same price as three or four metal soldiers. They are generally excellent, but it must be pointed out that the manufacturers seem unwilling to take advice from humble model-soldier collectors and will often stubbornly go ahead and produce figures that are quite incorrect and out of period.

Another draw- back to collecting the Airfix plastic soldiers is that one is going to spend a lot of time painting them as, with playing, invariably the plastic will be bent and the paint will flake off. The muskets, arms, and ankles are the most flexible points of the figures, and this is where the paint comes off first. It is heartbreaking to have spent many hours producing miniature masterpieces, only to find that after playing with them half a dozen times they look like a collection of ragamuffins. The figures cannot be animated because there is no known solvent for the low-grade plastic from which they are moulded and the only way to change the position they are cast in is to use a heated tool or soldering iron. Metal figures can, of course be soldered or glued in order to give a variety of positions.

The London-based firm, Soldiers, is currently exploring the possibilities of producing moulds for war gamers for use at home and their intention is to produce a mould made of vulcanized rubber which will turn out three figures at a time that can be broken apart later. They will be cast in white metal, lead alloy, will be round in style, and 25 mm high. The figures will all be of simple straightforward line infantry soldiers – these are the figures that have always been most popular as for each figure of, say, Napoleon that one buys, one will probably want the better part of 1,000 foot soldiers.

The figures produced by Soldiers will be of British line infantry in the Waterloo shako (a peaked cap with a high leather plate in front, having a regimental badge, and a plume on the left) standing on guard, advancing, and advancing at the high port. All three figures will be suitable for offensive or defensive positions and will not look out of place when made to march in column along a road. There is very little sympathy amongst the war-game fraternity for men in fierce action positions, standing, kneeling, or lying firing, charging, running, dying, or any of the other dramatic positions so often depicted by the makers of the larger (54 mm) figures.

Rose Miniatures have made a range of 25 mm war-game figures in metal, as has Charles Stadden whose figures were marketed through the firm of Tradition which at one time had a shop in London’s Piccadilly. Tradition have recently brought out another size of small soldiers suitable both for war gaming and dioramas. They are made by Clive Knight and represent combatants of World War I. Standing 35 mm high they are of a size that (at the time of writing) is made only by this firm.

Until the recent huge increase in the cost of producing small soldiers, the 30 mm figure was used both for war gaming and in dioramas. A diorama is a static scene composed of small figures complete with background and other scenic effects to make a three-dimensional picture. It is invariably encased in a clear container and normally viewed form one side only. The makers of the 30 mm figures used to advertise them as being suitable for war games, but of late most of them have either ceased production or gone out of business as the figures are too large for war games and too small for the majority of dioramas. Ted Surén, however, the creator of the 30 mm range of ‘Willie’ figures, is still producing his wonderful range in unpainted and painted form.

The German company Elastolin Hausser manufacture a good range of 30 mm plastic figures, very finely detailed, and in fierce action positions, of a variety of ancient and medieval peoples. Their figures are always engaged in combat and to enable them to carry on their warlike pursuits, the company also makes an excellent range of fortresses, wagons, carts, artillery pieces, and siege engines. These figures, in Britain at least, are quite expensive because of the current rates of exchange.

To complement the range of tiny figures one or two companies are now producing model houses, and terrain and scenic effects.. Bellona are probably foremost in this field and are constantly producing different sizes and styles of buildings, roads, and walls.

These are plastic, vacuum-formed items which can be used together with the war-gaming figures to lend a scenic effect to the battlefield, or they can be built into a diorama. Warfare Card Constructions, a company based in Hull, in the north of England, also make a range of 25 mm buildings – from houses of the period of the American Civil War to a variety of European Houses suitable for periods from the medieval to the present times.

One of the greatest difficulties for wargamers these days is to complete the regiments they begin to collect. The firms of Hinchliffe and Miniature Figurines, for example, primarily in order to compete with each other, are constantly changing their master figures – they say ‘improving’ them – which from the collector’s point of view is extremely frustrating.

Both Hinchliffe and Minifigs have ‘improved’ their designs over the years by increasing or decreasing the size of the figure, vertically or laterally, by taking the saddle, which was cast attached to the man and putting it on the horse, and by changing complete ranges of figures so that the collector wishing to complete a set should do so as quickly as possible or he will find himself in the embarrassing position of having only half a regiment. The styles of the horses are also changed so that at one moment the regiment is being equipped with Shetland ponies, while the next they appear to be mounted on Suffolk Punches.

However, having said this, I should like to repeat that if collectors took a more realistic attitude and combined all the various soldiers into one regiment, not only would they have more attractive regiments, but they would be less concerned when a particular manufacturer discontinues a line upon which they have been relying.

Next chapter to appear in eight weeks or so………….if it doesn’t, then nag me. - John Tunstill

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