LOD Enterprises – War at Troy Figure Set 3 we recieved an update from Keen Chiak and thought you would like know what is going on with this line.
LOD Enterprises – War at Troy Figure Set 3 Information
I wanted to share an update on the third War at Troy figure set. I received and reviewed the initial 3D print models from Eastcorp Toys last week. A couple of the figures were larger (taller) than expected so we are working to revise the height on four figures. The figures, however, look very good. Of course I am biased, but the details and style of the sculptor get better with each set. Here are a couple of photos of the figures mixed in with some of the poses from the first two War at Troy figure sets.
This set will have 12 figures in 10 different poses. The wounded and dead warrior poses will be produced in both the Greek beige and the Trojan blue.
The timeline for the figure set calls for a release at the Chicago Toy Soldier Show in late September. We are on pace for that release date.
In other LOD news, the four figure sets we acquired from Barzso Playsets continue to move at a brisk pace, especially the Robin Hood and Sheriff’s Men bags. The painted versions of these sets along with the first two War at Troy sets are also doing well with collectors.
Thank you and your readers for their continued support and I will keep you posted as the prototypes are completed and production begins.
Ken Ciak
LOD Enterprises
They look awesome! The woman I suppose is Helen? Are there other character figures?
Hi Tom …. Thanks for the response and question(s). This set includes a number of character figures. Included in each figure set are Priam, Achilles, Odysseus, Hector, Diomedes, Paris, Helen, and Agamemnon. The figures contain aspects of how Homer described them in the Iliad.
And yes, the woman is Helen. In the photo with the white 3D prints, the other three figures are Hector, Achilles, and Odysseus moving left to right.
Hooray! Getting 10 new Trojan War poses all at one time is exciting. And when thinking about character figures, I was originally contemplating all male warriors. I had forgotton that one character in any War of Troy set had, of course, to be Helen. Having Priam as one of the character figures is also great.
Unfortunately, I’ve decided I can’t go to OTSN this year, but I nevertheless will acquire this set as soon as its available the quickest way possible other than going in person to Schaumburg.
Hello Don ~ thanks for the comment and sorry to hear that you will not be in Schaumburg this fall. I will make sure to have a set sent to you that week as if you were picking it up at the show.
I think Priam and Helen turned out really well and though they are not in combat poses, they are key figures in making an inclusive Trojan War diorama.
Cool set .well sculptures and well designed …
best…
Hello Erwin ~ thank you for the comment and compliment. I appreciate it.
Will Ken be getting anymore of the Barzso figures other than the robin hood and American war of independence be lovely to get the older ones that Ron made. We have them all but it would be great to bulk out what we have.
It would be amazing to finally get the entire Barzso line in soft plastic. There are so many great sets. Daniel Boone, Lewis & Clark, Churubusco, Treasure Island etc… I sure hope this is a possibility for LOD. I don’t know if the molds for resin figures can even be used for soft plastic, but it sure would be great.
I would be ecstatic to see Barzso Shawnee, Cherokee, and last of the Mohican Indians, as well as the pioneers and rogers rangers in soft plastic as well as the British, French, and pirates.
The problem for Ken is those figures were done in resin and would require new molds which would take away time and money from Ken’s main project.
I’ve always thought the various Barszo Indians are among the best toy soldiers ever.
My guess is that Ron Barzso’s earlier work was resin cast in rubber molds – not suitable for injection molding of soft (polyethylene) plastic. If Ron could license his earlier designs to someone with a 3-D scanner & printer, it’s possible his figures could be produced in various materials – including soft plastic.
It should be noted that the Barzso injection-molded figures (Robin Hood with knights, American Revolution British and Colonials) were done as 60mm figures, while all his other sets done in resin were in 54mm scale.
If they were scanned, as TDBarnecut suggests, then they could easily be produced in any scale required.
Someday I hope companies will offer Print On Demand toy soldier lines (or 3d printers will become much more affordable and produce cleaner items). Imagine if you could contact TSSD or ExForce or Basevich and get their figures in 60mm, 1/72 or 54mm or buy the files to print them at home?
Good morning everyone ….. Thanks for the comments on the Barzso figures and the potential additions to the LOD line. I do have the opportunity to visit with Ron and will broach the topic with him. Paul is correct in that any acquisitions will require a new mold to be made, thus require some careful planning to make sure the investment is sound for the business and what collectors are seeking. Perhaps refreshing the desired era with a new figure set is a more viable option.
LOD Enterprises utilizes 3D printing for our models as our sculptor creates the figures using computer-aided design (CAD) software. I am not an expert by any means but my sculptor is an artist and the software does allow her to amend or revise poses along with manipulate the size as needed. The cost to create the prints has come down over the last few years and I believe that trend will continue.
Take a look at Shapeways.com as they have a user-friendly website and this is the company we send our files too for initial prints to judge size and detail. They have large online stores for “tabletop gaming” and “miniatures” which come closest to what we talk about here.
Ken, the idea of new figures vs. Barzso recasts sounds good to me.
I collect American Wild West and ACW 54mm figures and would
love to see good, original, interesting new figures on the market.
Really need some Western “civilian” townspeople like
storekeepers, blacksmiths, and women and children, etc..
My only concern with new figure sets in the desired era is the size creep over the past few years with the new releases. Ron’s earlier work is 54mm and thus IMO they should remain 54mm without going to 57-60mm. That is what ruined my excitement over the new Xforce WWII figures. With Conte, TSSD, CTS, etc you already had an established size and Xforce figures were not compatible.
But I am excited by the prospect of possibilities.
I’m with Eddie on scale creep and have passed on several beautiful new sets for that very reason. I do think if the Barzso figures WERE scanned and reproduced somehow a slight enlargement would make them more compatible with other contemporary – as well as some of the older sets. I do remember some of the sets being small even besides some of my old Marx figures, but would have to get them out again and make sure.
Looking at the prices the old original figures go for on ebay I have no doubt there would be a market for remakes or clones (or whatever you want to call them). I KNOW new versions would not get the prices folks are paying for the originals but I do think there is a market for plastic (the resin figures are kind of brittle) versions. At the same time, remember Ron only made on average about 500 sets of his now much-sought after playsets. This was a fact I painfully became aware of after I delayed buying some of his early sets.
Some re-runs of figure sets aside, I myself would love to get some of his sets to fill out my formations if the price was right. What that price might be would depend on several factors. I had little problem paying for the Re-issues or clones or whatever of the Marx FFL and Arabs when CTS issued them recently. After all, I’d been looking for them for years but didn’t want to pay the price for originals on ebay – and it wasn’t that important to me as that era is a secondary interest to me.
I DO have a thing for 18th and 19th Century warfare – from 7 YW to ACW; but that’s me. Ron’s playsets were always right up my alley. Many of his sets would be attractive to me particularly if they were made a bit more compatible with other sets – but even if not… and if they weren’t at EB prices? Better.
The question Ken has to ask is whether such a project would be cost effective or not. He is doing a wonderful job with the Trojan War series and obviously has a plan there. Would such a rabbit trail be worth his while? I, for one, hope so.
If this hobby is so few in numbers that it cannot, as presently constituted, adequately support a War on Troy line so that it’s a financial/commercial success — it being such a dramatic historical period and the subject of at least three major motion pictures (Bridget Bardot, Steve Reeves, and Brad Pitt), with a line of well-sculpted figures incorporating a comprehensive panorama of character figures, regular figure formations, chariots, walls & towers, ships, and a soon-to-be Trojan Horse, all as well-done as the LOD project is shaping up to be — then I see little commercial hope for most other toy soldier new-release manufacturers.
That would be my humble opinion.
As to Barzso, I got almost all of his playsets as they were released. I thought much of their popularity and success was due to the fact that each release was typically a full, lithographed boxed playset (centerpiece, figures, and accessories), made in the Marx style of a complete, stand-alone playset, and with nearly everything being 100% new stuff. They were all very exciting, and I got them despite the fact that the figures (other than the Robin Hood and Lexington Rev. War sets) were resin rather than the much superior injection-molded plastic. And I especially liked the fact that on the two occasions when Barzso went to injection molding, he also bumped up to a 60mm size.
Even though I liked the sculpting of the Barzso resin figures, I think I would personally prefer Ken’s efforts to go into new sets of figures, as opposed to simply trying to clone the Barzso resins into a more traditional plastic.
There is now no market for the traditional toy soldier as a mass produced children’s plaything.
I have spoken to reps and managers at several companies and the consensus is that toy soldiers will no longer sell .
The last effort to create this market in the UK was the “Horrible Histories” range of figures, which was canceled because of licencing problems.
Another non starter was the “World of Warriors” series but the figures were squat and cartoon like, not realistic depictions of human beings.
Today toy ranges are mainly tied in with film, TV and Animated series, with licencing being the big earner for the Media company ( Warner, Marvel, etc.) and the manufacturers pushing new ranges each season with no continuing core product.
I will be covering this subject in greater detail in a future issue of PLASTIC WARRIOR
I agree with your Peter. The mass toy soldier market is dead. Two things killed it here. First the rise of action figures makers could make more on one large figure than small. Second the anti war feeling started durn Vietnam War era and still on going. The figures will sell in the market are fantasy, pirates and knights. Even then they are pushed to side with tv licensed toys.
I may be interpreting above post wrong may be…
But in my opinion the toy soldier market died in retail by 80s long ago.
Now
In our hobby.Mass production is been death since mid 2000 already in US with every year less producer and those making extending to rubber band to max .
with the old leader producer AIP gone and those other expired or making none in years.
In West Europe-UK the few as SW long ago stop, in Argentina DSG after the Viking roman sets stop years ago .
All do I admire the few still up and pushing ,the market is not all enough x long run mold making figures unless you want spend a lot and not worry in years to recover .
So far EXF is taking the lead as only long run mass produced using standard mold and making about 10-12 sets per years least.
While few others are still struggling in very proud way and with respect to make much less.
Now-The era of short production -limited mold production set/figures that start in 90s with REPLICANT as leader, continued or followed with BARZSO-resin and had increased from east Europe(Russia ,Ukraine and others) plus those made and produced x me AMEX and CTS in Mexico that bring much more revenue at short time but could be costly and define the real number demand of buyers .
3D is already in the production in the HO,28-745 mm gamers hobby for past 5 years and few are entering in the 1.30-1.32 scale so far.
Of course many are NOT looking any Chinese original designed as SIMBA,BOLEY,APLAUSE,DGN,HING FAT ,SUPREME,OWN… and many others that had feel very good the ranks of this hobby and many fail to ignore and appreciate and are actually long-run production in the more economic way either for taboo of being (‘ made in China” or else and I consider most here had use some or many sets from it.
My thoughts…
best regards..
Austin Miniatures, CTS, TSSD are just three examples, off the top of my head, of EXCELLENT figures made in China. I’m sure others will cite many others. No problem with origin of figures as long as they aren’t junk.