Do You Recognize These Figures

Posted on December 25, 2015 by admin

rsz_1rsz_rev_war_arty_crewDo you recognize these Revolutionary War Artillery figures and who made them? Greg Liska found these figures, I thought Armies in Plastic but when I looked at their web site I could not find them. So we need your help.

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44 Responses to Do You Recognize These Figures

  1. Erwin says:
    December 25, 2015 at 8:56 PM

    I can barely open pic from my phone but I think are IMEX artillery set.

    Reply
    • Don Perkins says:
      December 25, 2015 at 9:09 PM

      They are the Imex Rev. War artillery crew that came out a few years back. Nice figures sculpt-wise, but Imex again reverted to their cheap, crappy, stiff plastic (the equivilant of the Ideal Rev. War reissues) —- which resulted in perfectly good figures being made into junk. The price quickly dropped at Michigan Toy Soldier Shop to $5.00 per set, when nobody wanted them.

      Reply
      • erwin says:
        December 25, 2015 at 9:59 PM

        Ok the sets I have are in cream and light grey not in the cheap plastic as far I remember, so I most be lucky I guess!!.I saw later the other colors but never got them, only one set each.
        Yes the bad plastic is ben used by many companies ,A call to arms, later airfix reissues, matchbox reissues, rebel 1.35 sets and even accurate /italeri start coming in fragile type too
        They look like kits, extremely fragile. Like I mention before regarding the super pricy Russian sets, they need to work on this.! Or they don’t care any more apparently!?.
        On Russian sets I was trying to carry for business, after did a test and heard others not related to mine buy from Russian direct source and have them damage I stop right there. Sorry but an expensive figure need to be top quality in all, specially if unpainted as collectors in many cases use it x conversion and shipping services are so bad today that prompt buyers/seller use the cheap possible way with out insurance that required less space x protection ;conclusion fragile figures will get damage easy and buyers-collector unhappy.
        I like to see my fellow collectors happy.I won’t carry items that damage that easy. Other retailers/hobby stores should think twice and either let factories know by right channels or stop caring items done in such bad quality material. It is a unique hobby,small but pricy and demanding. I understand business want to offer all in stock, but disaponitemet need to be express out for better and good.

        Reply
      • admin says:
        December 26, 2015 at 12:12 AM

        Don
        Now I know why I do not remember them because they are Imex, which as everyone said went to stiff plastic. I gave up on this company so many years ago. I remember the horror on the Mexicans. I love how makers get these great ideas that are so wrong. They wonder why their business goes in the toilet. LOL

        Reply
  2. Mike says:
    December 25, 2015 at 9:04 PM

    Agree, imex. TSSD , I think, has them on sale. also made a british set. A little larger than marx 54mm, but I like them.

    Reply
  3. Christian Aldo says:
    December 25, 2015 at 9:43 PM

    The stiff plastic is great for conversions!

    Reply
  4. Wayne W says:
    December 25, 2015 at 10:18 PM

    Yes, they are Imex. I agree the plastic is crap. I bought a set of their rebs and half of the set was broken (bayonet tips, rifle barrels, etc.) out of the box. Forget that.

    Reply
  5. Kent Sprecher says:
    December 25, 2015 at 10:19 PM

    I talked to the owner of IMEX a number of years ago after he switched to the stiff plastic. I told him of all the complaints from customers, but he answered he was using the stiffer plastic that paint would adhere to so that kids could paint them up for school projects. He was not interested in going back to polyethylene. He also switched his 1/72 line to the stiff plastic and his excellent Lewis and Clark and Eastern American Indian sets would arrive at my customers with damage so frequently I quit restocking IMEX and my supply is slowly dwindling. It was a real shame as his 1/32 Alamo Mexican figures were quite good as were their AWI artillery sets (albeit with their undersized cannons).

    Reply
  6. erwin says:
    December 25, 2015 at 11:03 PM

    Well I can tell every years is much less school project involving war works at school program level. So I bet there IMEX owner my had a slap back by now.The paint thing ,yes it is true adhere faster and cheap off less in harder plastic specially for not professional painters. War gamers prefer it too as not converter and paint quick too.

    Still I can tell in our hobby less people had bought the fragile plastic figures once find out, so no wonder all these making them sale less and price drop so fast. Too bad they don’t understand your point in right way. If the think they will sale more to kids. Good luck on that.
    But as you said Kent; shipping in my experience as well is a pain with these fragile figures. For conversion soft type plastic are the best ,stiffer plastic is hard to cut and not bendable with any process. I’m not a professional but converters I had talk to said that.

    Reply
  7. ed borris says:
    December 26, 2015 at 9:45 AM

    I still have the Imex Mexicans, they are a very hard fragile plastic, if I remember correctly they are still attached to the sprues for fear of breaking them.

    Reply
  8. Wayne W says:
    December 26, 2015 at 1:09 PM

    The Imex Mexicans were the final straw for me after having several of their Vikings/Saxons break cutting them off the sprue.

    I had several of the Mexicans break similarly and bought several boxes of Mexican artillery. I converted them all to Napoleonic French. I carefully stored them; a few months later I got them out to do a large diorama and most of the wheels had broken off the pegs on the gun carriages. I’ve since found a glue that bonds it but who wants to mess with that?

    As far as holding paint? I don’t see a difference worth the fragility. I prime all my figures with a plastic bond paint such as Fusion before painting and then seal with an acrylic spray afterwards – it has almost completely eliminated chipping and cracking.

    Reply
    • admin says:
      December 26, 2015 at 6:34 PM

      Wayne
      I see that you are just one of many disappointed with Imex/. It is a shame as they have nice figures.

      Reply
      • Wayne W says:
        December 27, 2015 at 12:34 AM

        Paul, you are so right. Sad thing is, I made contact with the folks there about the plastic issue and received a rather curt response. I chalked it up to the problems of communicating via e-mail, but figured my hobby money was better spent with friendlier folks with better product.

        Reply
  9. Mark says:
    December 26, 2015 at 6:21 PM

    Nicely sculpted ,nice color .

    Reply
  10. erwin says:
    December 26, 2015 at 8:18 PM

    Yep .not doubt in sculpting, too bad the plastic issue. Another (bit smaller than 1.32 scale) company with same issue that made me stop buying was Emhar. After I got the Vikings and WW1 I realize how fragile they were too, not as bad as IMEX any how

    Reply
  11. TDBarnecut says:
    December 26, 2015 at 9:59 PM

    Whatever happened to good old fashioned high impact styrene? If they intend the figures to be painted or converted that is what they should use. Otherwise, high quality polyethylene in appropriate colors are what collectors want. Just my opinion.

    Reply
  12. Greg Liska says:
    December 27, 2015 at 10:01 AM

    Thanks for solving the mystery! That’s some kind of flawed logic coming out of IMEX. Yeah, kids want broken toy soldiers for their school projects. This kind of thinking is likely the result of breathing too deeply when you’re mixing up the plastic.

    Reply
  13. Daniel Murphy says:
    December 28, 2015 at 9:30 PM

    I have some of those Imex Revolutionary War artillery figures. Aside from general fragility, one thing that I noticed was that the old hot water treatment does not work with that stiff plastic, leaving me with a c-shaped ramrod.
    Amidst the general gloom above about poor plastic, let me put in a good word for Revell, whose recent Matchbox recasts were done in a nice soft plastic. I was looking for some good quality inexpensive 1/32 WWII soldiers to go along with Marx figures. The Airfix reissues were done in a hard tinny and fragile resin or plastic. But these Revell Matchbox reissues are well detailed and robust enough to stand up to hard play or in my case the worst sort of clumsiness. My only criticism – some of the Germans had some minor flash – not surprising given the age of the molds. Sadly, I think they only reissued the German infantry, American infantry, and British infantry. At a box of 15 for about $7.95 I think they were a bargain. I have no idea why Revell went with soft plastic instead of the Imex or Airfix fragile plastic – the boxes had painting instructions, so Revell obviously doesn’t buy the Imex line that you can only paint hard plastic.

    Reply
    • Brian Johnson says:
      December 28, 2015 at 10:30 PM

      Wish Revell would get off the dime and upscale all their 1/72 sets to 54MM!!

      Reply
      • erwin says:
        December 28, 2015 at 10:56 PM

        Yep me too ,revell early 1.72 sets are awesome. They only did AK, British paras, modern Germans paras sets and then stop right away, any how their figures are 1.35 not 1.32.They reissued the accurate sets and that was all.
        The matchbox sets are being reissue x long, the early 90 ‘s reissues come with Germans WW2 in flash grey color too. Any how I’m not impressive as the particular set is just many are exact copies of Airfix poses with again the German standing with MM40 again with wrong weapon. The AK are much better in poses (15) and design/weapons.

        Reply
  14. Mark T. says:
    December 28, 2015 at 9:30 PM

    Add me to the list of people who gave up on Imex. I was really looking forward to getting their 1/72 Korean War figures, but after getting the brittle fragile WW2 figures, that was it for me. They really blew it and I think they suffered financially as a result. I don’t even know if they are producing figures anymore. Haven’t seen any on the shelf at the hobby shops in a while. I absolutely HATE hard, brittle plastic for toy soldiers.

    Reply
  15. Daniel Murphy says:
    December 29, 2015 at 12:12 AM

    I agree about the Matchbox Afrika Korps – a great set. I hope that Revell reissues them along with the Matchbox Eighth Army and British Commandos. Revell has reissued the 1/76 versions of these figures. I have my fingers crossed about the 1/32 versions.

    Reply
    • Wayne W says:
      December 29, 2015 at 6:16 PM

      I liked all the Matchbox sets – even their WW2 US & German Infantry sets had some nice poses. I used to mix their 1/76 figures with their Airfix counterparts. I would like to see some quality recasts instead of all the Hong Kong knockoffs proliferating these days.

      Reply
  16. ed borris says:
    December 29, 2015 at 7:02 PM

    Even Accurate is inconsistent, I have had some that are soft and pliable while others are hard as rocks, not brittle like Imex, but harder to cut and convert. Have had the same issue with Marx re-casts.

    Reply
    • Wayne W says:
      December 30, 2015 at 1:31 AM

      Didn’t Imex get hold of the Accurate molds? In my mind (and that can be a scaaaary place), it seems to me Imex got the molds and began issuing them and that’s when they began coming out in a harder plastic. But I could be wrong on that.

      I know a lot of companies are moving to stiff plastic, Italeri and Zvezda come to mind, Italeri in both 1/72 and 1/32; Zvezda is now out of making full sets in 1/72 but their last several releases were a hard plastic. I’m not fond of stiffer plastic, but none of these companies’ plastic is as bad as Imex.

      I bought some Marx ACW recasts from Mexico over 20 years ago from a company that I no longer do business with. They arrived with several pieces broken in the bag and have proven too brittle to really be useful for conversion even.

      Reply
      • Daniel Murphy says:
        December 30, 2015 at 9:33 AM

        I believe that Imex acquired the Accurate American Revolution and Civil War molds – which led to the transition to the fragile plastic. I don’t know if the Revolutionary War artillery that started this discussion were originally done by Accurate or were a pure Imex initiative.

        Reply
        • Erwin says:
          December 30, 2015 at 9:42 AM

          Imex and accurate are complete different mold.I never heard of Imex reissue accurate;but may be happen .Revell of Germany did reissue them x some time under their brand and new cases design .Artillery ARW are original IMex design.

          Reply
          • Wayne W says:
            December 30, 2015 at 12:02 PM

            I know that Revell and Italeri have both issued each others’ sets (and some ESCI molds) under their own logo in both 1/72 and 1/32 scales. I am thankful for Plastic Soldier Review for alerting collectors and hobbyists BEFORE we plopped our precious hobby money down on figures we already had.

            I know Imex got hold of Accurate/Revell’s ARW Infantry sets and were issuing them under their own logo with a couple new figures. I bought a couple sets when they first came out to get the new figures – the plastic wasn’t too bad back then. I know one can still get these sets at places like Hobby Lobby under the Billy V label.

            I also know that Imex re-issued several of Airfix’s Napoleonic sets under their own logo but as I had scads of originals I couldn’t see wasting my money on recasts that might be in that shoddy plastic.

            They were also in a co-operative deal with Emhar on their Vikings and Saxons. I was disgusted when several of those figures broke as I was cutting them with their sprues.

            But these are all 1/72 scale sets; I was wondering if they had also acquired the molds – and the rights to those sets in 1/32 scale. But doing my homework it looks like they are still doing their own 1/32 scale stuff. For now.

          • Les White says:
            December 30, 2015 at 12:05 PM

            Imex acquired the accurate moulds and ran the sets in all the different colours for ACW and ARW. The plastic was different from Accurate original, being more brittle but not as bad as the IMEX Rev war artillery which were their own design.

  17. ed borris says:
    December 30, 2015 at 5:20 AM

    I’ve never been a big fan of AIP, but they do use a nice plastic and it’s easy to cut and convert.

    Reply
    • Erwin says:
      December 30, 2015 at 9:47 AM

      I agree ED.Yes AIP are great plastic.Even in last productions were they change it and come a bit stiffer.So is CTS too.
      TSSD are not at all good plastic.

      Reply
  18. Wayne W says:
    December 30, 2015 at 12:03 PM

    Correction: That should read “off their sprues.”

    Reply
  19. Erwin says:
    December 30, 2015 at 12:51 PM

    I wonder if all these are purchase
    Or temporary rental/contract agreements between to run the molds.Buying require a lot of money and legally in so short time I gad seen the molds from.accurate going run by many
    Any how I got all early sets and no need any more in my collection.Same in airfix.
    Imex run the DGN civil war Chinese made sets in buckets too.
    Much better design than BMC poses/figures by the way and very close match to accurate and original Imex figures.
    Because similarly between figures in Imex and Accurate I also will like to know if same artist was involved in making

    Reply
  20. Daniel Murphy says:
    December 30, 2015 at 3:47 PM

    Aside from the assertion that stiffer plastic is easier to paint than soft plastic, is there any other reason for toy soldier manufacturers to be embracing it? Is the harder plastic cheaper? The plastic used in dollar store soldiers or the Imperial Timmee/PP recasts that you find in a lot of places looks and feels cheap, making me wonder if it is made of a genuinely inferior material. But the plastic used in Imex’s Revolutionary War artillery, aside from being too breakable, looks and feels fine. Emhar and Imex actually advertised the hard plastic used in their Vikings and Saxons as being posable, which might lead you to believe that it was some sort of superior plastic. I’m no chemist, but I prefer the old bendable polyethylene of the Marx figures, the Revell Matchbox recasts, most AIP etc. Remember when bags of polyethylene toy soldiers, cowboys, knights etc. were labeled as “unbreakable!”

    Reply
  21. Greg Liska says:
    December 30, 2015 at 3:52 PM

    Well, this has been confusing, but educational. I’m left with the need for AWI artillerymen. Seems like BMC is the most economical solution and are acceptable for 60mm scale use. ‘Perfect’ for me would be a full set in white and 2 in blue. Anybody?

    Reply
  22. ed borris says:
    December 30, 2015 at 5:29 PM

    We may have some AWI AP artillery guys.

    Reply
    • Greg Liska says:
      December 30, 2015 at 9:25 PM

      Has the search for BMC guys yielded nothing? I was hoping Mike was going to get back to me with a freakin’ battalion sized element of artillerymen.

      Reply
  23. Wayne W says:
    December 30, 2015 at 8:45 PM

    Daniel, I fell for that “bendable” and posable with the Vikings and Saxons. Beautiful figures and I guess they were bendable – if they didn’t break at the first touch. Personally, I’ll go for the softer plastic and the old hot water trick if I want to bend them and with the new glues and acrylic and plastic bonding paints there isn’t the problem painting and gluing them we used to have.

    Reply
  24. Daniel Murphy says:
    December 30, 2015 at 10:17 PM

    Wayne, I bought up a bunch of the 1/72 Emhar Vikings and Saxons on a Dark Ages kick. I was excited about the “bendable” “stay-put” or whatever they call it plastic. I was surprised at how hard the plastic was, and also broke some swords and spears cutting the stuff off the sprues. It didn’t help that the figures were connected to the sprue in all sorts of awkward places. At least the plastic can be glued. I did an abortive experiment with the posing of the stuff – it was really hard plastic, requiring a lot of effort to push on it, and as I started to get some give the plastic began to discolor just like polystyrene when it is about to break – so I stopped. They are still nice figures, but because of the supposed posability they are waving their shields in all sorts of goofy “toy soldierish” ways. So much for my realistic shield wall! I also bought some Zvezda Vikings at the same time. They are lovely figures, but also done in a hard plastic. Several spears were broken before I had them out of the box. The plastic also did not glue as well. Give me soft plastic any day! But as Erwin pointed out above, its cheaper for manufacturers to use hard plastic and I guess they don’t get enough complaints to make them change course. I know some wargamers/modelers have a bias towards hard plastic. Polystyrene is fine for a chunky Warhammer 40K figure waving a chainsword and a bolt pistol – but it and other hard plastics make much less sense for realistically proportioned 1/72 and 1/32 figures. All the stories about Imex figures broken in the box make that clear!

    Reply
  25. ed borris says:
    December 31, 2015 at 7:02 AM

    Mike said he had some BMC artillery guys and I thought he said he was going to ship them. Not sure what he’s up to in that regard. I know he sent me an e-mail saying we had some. They may be on the way.

    Reply
  26. erwin says:
    December 31, 2015 at 11:16 AM

    One of the best material to use and pretty much used in the middle era production by MARX are the early formula is the polyethylene high-density (PEHD). The same type but w variation used in many Chinese toys today such TOY SMITH,BB pirates figures and others had used it.
    AIP is a very close to but not exact as using a mix with others during process.
    Others more resent productions (I won’t said who for privacy reason)are using Polyvinyl chloride -Know as PVC but in many variation by mixing/adding components such as phthalate esters in many different amounts that reduce or increase the flexibility and durability. Other plasticizers are added too as well.
    Following should not be used DEHP,DBP,BBP,DINP and DDP ,specially in amount over the 0.1%;till some factories does use it and not disclosed. Once products are made ,it is very hard to determinate how much(quantity) of it are in the mix because the process eliminate many traces. Still strong test could give positive result.
    The main toy factories across US with Chinese factories carry very strict daily test at factories during process to avoid this.
    In conclusion because polyethylene contain more petroleum are more dedicated to other industries than Toys today as cost more.
    PVC types cost less in material and fumes are less toxic as well require factories to operate under less environment exposure fumes strict rules but only main control during internal mix process that is more easy carry on .Giving the best option to toy manufactures use PVC variants types than others to avoid main environmental contamination issues and fees when producing.
    Please note this is not standard industrial PVC type commonly use in hard construction material but specially designed for toys, it was formulated first by Germans in the early 60’s and then test in all early action figures else, from there had been created many variant specific for the toy industries, a complete different derivate from others.
    A minor tip, any figure with strong polyethylene will keep the good smell of plastic for decades+, any with strong PVC content will not at all. The more PVC in a figure the better to mold painted during cooling process, the more polyethylene the hard to do this giving the option to hand paint only. Toy factories choose more PVC to save in hand work at paint process.
    My information is base in my experience working for plastic making companies and resent in the Hobby.

    Reply
  27. ed borris says:
    December 31, 2015 at 11:56 AM

    Greg,

    I got in touch with Mike he hasn’t located the figures yet, he’s sure we have some.

    Reply

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