Hi ther,
These come in kit model kit form of usually about 8-10 pieces per figure.
They're a nice inexpensive (about £12) little starter set in which you get enough parts to assemble six figures glue, paint & 2 brushes.

This video provides a good introduction:


Of course there's no hard & fast rules on building.. I personally use only what's included in the box & follow the instructions regarding the poses, trying to reproduce a good quality toy soldier like finish, but I've seen people at model shows really go to town with parts conversion, super detailing & painting to produce some very lifelike results.

The models themselves originally date from the 70's and were something of a revelation at the time. The concept is, that, by buying multiple sets you can create a near endless combination of poses.. there's a selection of different headgear & weapons included that aren't even shown in the instructions.

Some recent additions:

@ArtooDetour wrote:

Post up any toy soldiers you may have! Stuff like Britains, Airfix, Atlantic, Timpo, etc.



I had lots of toy soldiers as a kid which all got traded away or lost as I became older.
I recently picked up these three Britains Deetails, stamped 1974.








The soldiers below are really tiny, about 10cm, and have been hand painted.




The following are also around 10cm and are from late 70s / early 80s and more than likely Airfix as I remember the same moulds used for the bigger soldiers.





Here are a few toy soldier ads from my site too:

Those Deetails were -still are- some of my favourites of all time. Never understood why there were so few of them...

Britains "Space" figures from the mid 80's:


Stargard:


Aliens:




"Terror Raiders"

It's neat how one of the black suit and one of the yellow suit are kind of falling as if they have been hit or are moving out of the way.

Are the little weapons removable? I also notice a hole in the belly of the aliens, is that to plug one end of a weapon into? It kind of looks like one has a blue lightning bolt type thing plugged into it, but I can't tell for sure. These toys with removable weapons are great pieces.

Hi there,
That's correct
The Terror Raiders can hold there weapons in either hand or plug them into the hole in their body. You can also remove them from their stands to become more like true action figures with limb articulation & ball jointed necks.




The weapons are can also be swapped around between the yellow & black figure. They're basically the same 6 sculpts which makes it possible to swap the heads around too. You can unplug the figures from their stands to stand them onto the vehicles:



One of the humans is clearly a woman so one of the aliens must be female too

On a side note, the alien helmet design must of been inspired the Cylons (from Battlestar Galactica)

Lol I still have those Matchbox Battle King tanks. My father used to tell me the man on top of the Panzer wasn´t a german. In fact, he is the same from other US tanks! Talking about Matchbox, these were a present from my dear aunt a year I had quite an accident during holidays. Not very common to see I guess...



And some other all time favourites from my personal collection:

Elastolin collection. Made in Germany



Elastolin diligence. Never seen anything THAT good...



Small scale figures from unknown origin - Gladiators

Those Elastolin knights & Stagecoach are beautiful

I've always had a soft spot for Matchbox soldiers.. the individual sculpts have much more personality than their Air-fix counterparts.

@Thundershot wrote:

Those Elastolin knights & Stagecoach are beautiful

I've always had a soft spot for Matchbox soldiers.. the individual sculpts have much more personality than their Air-fix counterparts.

Should have cleaned them before taking photos... lol

Cool additions T'Shot and Fito. Love the Britains space figures verymuch, and agree those Elastolin knights and the stagecoach are superb.

Those little soldiers are matchbox? I had no idea they made little figures. Think my favorite thing here though is that stage coach. Are those terribly expensive? Easy to find? I want one, going to have a look around eBay to see if I can find one. Is it die cast or plastic? I am thinking it must be die cast as it is so detailed. Thanks for showing these.

@trappedtexan wrote:

Those little soldiers are matchbox? I had no idea they made little figures. Think my favorite thing here though is that stage coach. Are those terribly expensive? Easy to find? I want one, going to have a look around eBay to see if I can find one. Is it die cast or plastic? I am thinking it must be die cast as it is so detailed. Thanks for showing these.

Plastic. Most of it. Except for the horses bases. I ´ve seen some on ebay. Not exactly the same, not cheap either. Yes, Matchbox also made little soldiers. In my humble opinion the best HO scale by far. Tiny, but full of details.

Assault craft, produced by a toy firm called Herald Toys

You always have some of the nearest stuff, and i swear you are incapable of taking a bad pic of your toys. The way the blue even has a reflection and the appearance of a sky line, it's another great photo of another neat toy.

Many thanks

I've a small selection of toy soldiers on display, most of my collection's in storage so photography's the only way I get to see & enjoy playing with them..