Plastic Showcase Part Two July 2017 is back. In this issue we will look at an odd color variation of a Marx Civil War figure. Next we will take a look at some Reisler figures from Denmark. We finish up with a Timmee pioneer copy and some other figures.
Plastic Showcase Part Two July 2017 Marx Civil War
I recently picked up the figure on the right. It is the Marx 54mm Confederate being shot. As you can see it is done in the photo is in a flourscent red. As you may remembered I showed a Marx 54mm U.S. Army in the same color. I know it is not from Mexico recasts , do you know?
Plastic Showcase Part Two July 2017 Reisler Figures
When I first saw this figure I knew I need to get this figure. One aspect is getting poses that I think are neat. In my mind’s I could imagine him defending with a mass of enemies. I was made by Reisler of Denmark. Looking at the Reisler website I found the figure was done in two versions. The first version done in have the figure with rifle in the right hand nothing in the left hand. In 1960 it was changed to a two gun cowboy.
Reisler also copied many of the Timpo 54mm solid American Army figures. Reisler also did orginal poses for this series. According to the Reisler site the figures first done 1952-53.
Plastic Showcase Part Two July 2017 Timmee Copy
Timmee had its figures from made in West Germany. Their figures were also copied other companies. This figure I believe was done by an Italian company.
Plastic Showcase Part Two July 2017 Other Figures
This is the Accurate Revolutionary Redcoat. It was not in the first offering. The figure replaced the colonial biting the cartridge.
Comansi did this cavalry cook. I picked him up as other than the Atlantic, there are no other cavalry figures doing cooking.
Finally we have a unknown figure. It is U.S. Army figure kneeling firing bazooka. Do you recognize it?
The Accurate British Biting the Cartridge figure was replaced by a solider holding his rifle on the ground, at arms length. Not that figure
What you show is a common second series Accurate AWI figure.
One of five new poses commonly packaged with 5 original poses.
Thanks for the correction, it has been so long since I have bother with Accurate. I knew the figure was not in the original group. I am using the posts to refresh and correct my knowledge. Accurate I have not bother with for years. when thisfigure popped up in a lot recently I knew it was not out the first set.
That redcoat is actually from the Accurate Colonial Militia set only cast in red instead of blue. Because of the short pistols he kind of looks like he might be a knockoff and not an official Accurate release. The Accurate British officer that replaced the cartridge biting guy was very similar, but has a saber extended in his right had instead of a pistol.
One possible origin for both the Accurate figure and the Marx figure: I think I recall reading that The Toy Soldier Company commissioned many sets of Accurate and possibly Marx recasts in many different colors back in the 1990s.
I really like the Reisler cowboy. I have a couple of their bankrobbers. They mix very well with other brands. The Comansi cook is great too. Is he larger like the other older Comansi figures?
Actually, Billy is right about the replacement figure being a man holding his rifle on the ground. There is a redcoat officer who looks similar though.
I’d agree that the Revolutionary Redcoat is a knockoff or maybe a mis-mould as the original accurate figure has nicely defined pistols with good detail.
I will have to look for an original box so we can get a comparison to see if it is a copy or not. I was not interested with the various colors that were offered back in the day.
The Biting Cartridge mold developed a crack in it and was replaced by the figure I described above. The mold cracked when the British figures were run in red by Hobby Bunker (Excalibur at the time).
Bill Murphy imported the original colors and ordered the Americans in blue and the Brits in Red. This was when the mold cracked and it was replaced mid run. Copies of the biting cartridge pose, in the original red, are uncommon. Not rare, but not found in every box either.
Al Stankiweicz of ATS got the right to run the British in a Cream/White color. This is where the 11 th pose appears most often and in every other color variation after that.
John Stengel then got the rights to run the British in a beautiful Marx Blue and the American in a Rust Brown color.
For my money these are the best plastic and colors ever done.
After that Delson got the rights and ran them in all sorts of colors.
Some good, some almost translucent.
I’ve personally spoken to all of the players involved here and got the story straight from them. I was, at one time, going to write a history of Accurate colors, so I spoke to everyone involved all of whom I’ve known for many, many years.
When accurate first produced the British figures there was a pose that was never released due to casting problems. The mould apparently broke at the beginning of production. He is kneeling at the ready in the original blue/grey colour. Many years ago I went to do some swaps with a guy who worked all over the world, and while living and working in England, seemed to be getting every figure he could get his hands on. During our swapping of figures he opened one box and there were about 8-10 of these figures. He explained that he had been to the factory where they were produced, and bought all of this pose that were there. I managed to persuade him to let me have one which I still have. I can not remember his name, but he is known to the Plastic Warrior guys as there was an incident where he used the name Plastic Warrior to purchase some figures in Europe, and they received an unwanted bill! After that he disappeared from the scene.
Bill,
The original factory colour of the Accurate AWI figures that we got in the UK was Cream for the British and Grey for the Americans.
I’ve had the ‘biting bullet’ pose in Black, Olive Green, Dark Blue and Rust Brown. All were mis-moulded with a short bayonet, but the rest of the figure was fine.
Les, the original accurate British were in fact the Blue/Grey colour. The company produced a flyer, prior to release showing the figures in this colour. There was quite a bit of excitement about, when this set was released, as very few new figures were being produced at this time. I waited for them to be released and acquired my figures as soon as they were available. This set Included the biting cartridge figure. I did acquire some cream figures a bit later and in this set the cartridge guy had been replaced with the standing at ease pose. It is hard to believe that this was about 25 years ago and I hope my memory is not playing tricks with me.
John Cross is correct concerning the original colors. Sorry Les, you’re wrong.
Cream figures were the third run of Accurate figures, but they may have been the second released in the UK.
Bill Murphy ordered the second run of figures in blue and red due to complaints from playset collectors, who don’t paint their figures.
It’s common in Europe to paint the figures which is why you see plastic usually released in lighter colors. Over here, collectors wanted the colors to match existing Marx figures. So, Murphy’s were the second run, not the cream.
Al Stankiweicz of ATS got involved and won a contract to run them in Cream/Tan/White, whatever color you call it.
He called them “French” to cash in on the F&I war craze that Ron Barzso had started.
Les, it is entirely possible that the Blue and Red runs were not released in the UK until after the ATS cream run, if at all. There were some legal problems between Accurate and Murphy and Accurate took a financial hit.
Because they needed cash to stay afloat, they
ran smaller orders for Stengel in spectacular
Marx Blue and a beautiful rust color for Militia. These are the best of all the releases in my opinion. John told me that he used the best grade color and pellets possible and that it was expensive to do. That’s why he only could do a smaller run
Accurate went bust and were bought by Revell, who released figures in gray and was very short lived. You only got 10 figures in a box. One of each pose. These were not around long.
Jamie Delson (and others) got permission to run all the series in various colors and combinations. Quality here varies. Some are excellent and some are not. The original Delson blue is almost translucent, so avoid that.
Eventually,Imex takes over and that’s where we stand today.
Yes, John Cross is correct about the original colours and about the rare pose, kneeling at the ready, which was never issued. The collector who visited the factory and got all the examples they’s made was Charles Kohari from Australia, he still surfaces from time to time and was a massive collector of many things not just toy soldiers, sadly he lost everything when his house in Sydney was burnt to the ground.
I also have some Accurate figures in other colours, which were test shots given to me by John Jeffries who owned the company, these are in transparent red and clear but with a yellowish tinge, they used transparent plastics so they could see where the air bubles occured inside the figures when they were being moulded, most of these are mismoulds and never intended to go out of the factory so I don’t know if they count for Bill’s history of Accurate colours.
John Jeffries also told me that he wasn’t going to issue the kneeling at the ready pose as part of the set because he simply didn’t like it, this seemed strange to me at the time because I thought it looked okay, so maybe it was because of problems with the mould that he didn’t want to mention.
Paul Morehead has added this. We have covered all these figures
by Accurate in PW issues 144 and 145. Also an interview with the designer in
issue 77.
Thanks Brian for clearing that up. My knowledge of Accurate history only includes public releases, but any new info is always welcome.
It a shame that no one is writing a history of the second “Golden Age” which started with Accurate and moved onto Barszo, TSSD, Conte, Imex and several others.
Somebody should be keeping track of it all.
Bill,
I’m sure you have looked into this more than I have, I bought my figures when they first appeared here in Scotland, in original Accurate boxes, but it is entirely possible that the first run never came here as happened with many figures in the 1960s.
I have seen some Blue/Grey British at UK shows and as this is a popular colour with another UK maker, CTA, it would seem reasonable that this was the original colour as mentioned by John Cross.
I don’t believe that the Red British and Blue Americans were available here as you say, as I got some interest when I got stock from CTS in the 1990s and advertised them in the UK. The ‘biting cartridge’ pose was gone by then.
I am working from memory , so I’m happy to be corrected on some points.
Les, I was interested in Accurate from the beginning. Since I knew everyone
involved, on this side of the Atlantic, I began to speak to all the participant and took some notes.
An occupational hazard, I guess.
I was considering writing an article about the various color changes for one of the magazines. I still might if I ever get up the ambition.
Brian Would you have contact (email) information for John Jefferies?
I would love to write to him and clear a few things up.
Stad, how do you know the red shot CSA is not a Mexican recast? I’d be inclined to suspect it was. No idea who else could have done it? Would like a CSA set in different colors of red, blue, yellow, green, purple, etc. like the Ranch Kids.
I know the ranch kids issue from Mexico as I brought the big majority of them into the states. They were done by Jugtue Mundo and they used aa soft plastic. The ranch kids were sold with the 54mm Roy Rogers character figures. Dinamicos had the Civil War molds and they used a stiff plastic until Americans came down and had them change.
I’ve been able to acquire several sets of the recast Ranch Kids in every color imaginable including pink and purple, plus different shade variations in solid and translucent. I prefer them to originals in cream enough that I sold my complete set of originals in favor of the multicolored recasts. Took the money and ran for $2000. Still glad I sold them.
An update that I will post later. Marc Gaynes mention hhe has this color. they could have been from Plasticmarx which was before Dinamico’s Dinamico’s eventually bough Plastimarx.
Andy, Although Marx figures from Mexico came in every color under the Sun, I don’t think that I have ever seen a Mexican recast for ACW in any other color but some shade of blue or gray.
I know that metallic blue ACW recasts exist, but those are not the original Mexican recasts. The metallic blue figures are in a soft plastic and they were produced years later.
The Marx reissues when first produced they done various colors and in a stiff plastic. The Civil War may have been done in other colors. It was only after people like Stone Caastle and Bill Murphy that they were done in correct colors.
So, who did the metallic blue recasts that I have scads of? I thought it was the best recast color for the Federals I’d seen. I hated that nasty baby blue the originals came out in even as a kid. The other recasts looked too bright and fruity. I can’t believe that absurd light blue still dominates the hobby’s ACW Federals to this day. Every time I get near them I imagine the smell of baby powder and Desitin.
Greg, as far as I can remember this is what happened.
Stone Castle partnered with Excalibur (and perhaps others) to run the molds in soft plastic. Collectors were crying for soft plastic recasts at this point.
It was too expensive for SC to go it alone. Most times when molds are run, costs are shared among different dealers. Then the main dealer has exclusive rights to sell figures before the others can. Maybe a month or 60 days. Whatever.
SC ran the Shako Mexicans in metallic blue that are almost impossible to tell from the originals. They were a bit more like Heritage plastic, but still extremely close.
SC sold them for a couple of weeks. Once the PFPC crowd began screaming about recasts and originals losing value, the figures were withdrawn. I still have the flyer for them around here somewhere. I was able to get two bags before they disappeared. Old timers here will recall the uproar and the animosity that existed back then.
I do not believe that Excalibur ever got these Shakos for sale. I may be wrong about that. But I do know that a decision was reached not to run recasts in original colors. Murphy’s original run of gray wagons was already here and he did sell them. They too, are very close to originals.
OK, back to the metallic blue plastic. So now, SC and others are on the hook for tons of metallic blue colored plastic pellets that they already bought.
Enter the ACW, 54 mm Cavalry and the ground crews for space playsets. Maybe some others, I’m not sure.
Remember, this is soft plastic not the Mexican regrind stuff. And that’s why you still see bags of metallic blue figures with the name Excalibur on the inserts. I’ve seen Hobby Bunker, too.
I have a binder with all the various Stone Castle flyers in it. I also have a ’78 or 80’s catalog which is about 100 pages. Yellow cover with a red binding, I think.
And that’s the story as it was relayed to me by a crusty old ex-Marine.
The history of the reissue figures from Mexico forme is this. I got a hint they were down there. My family did a trip to the West Coast and went to Tijuana where I had the dream come true. rows of Plastic figures in Woolworth’s. I did border runs for awhile until Stone Castle brought them in. SC had the Civil War Bridge first. Some the first colors were bad Redcoats in yellow if I remember. Next innvolvement was at New York toy Fair. I bought playsets until Murphy got an exclusive.
Excalibur bought molds from American Plastic including the wagon.
Tom Terry got blindside by Horowitz on his playsets. Horowitz promised to mark the pieces in the set to tell the difference but did not. Terry being a purist ban reissues losing thousands of dollars in the process. There still purist floating around.
I got back into toy soldiers in 1993. I was an avid buyer as Paul can tell you. I knew virtually nothing of who was recasting what or even who had made what. I recall explaining different poses to Paul on the phone and he would tell me who made them. It was ALL WWII stuff for me then and I’d gotten a taste of the Euro stuff; mostly Atlantic, Airfix and Matchbox from 4 years in Germany. I didn’t get into anything else until ’97 when coming back to the US from first Bosnia then the UK, I bought a load of AF stuff from a Brit Para who’d kept his stuff from childhood. I took what I wanted and traded the rest to Bill Staley for a decent start on my 54mm ACW collection. That’s where I got most of my metallic blue guys and I have them to this day. I liked hearing how they came about and I’m sure glad for it, even if few others are.
I have a catalog from the Mexican company that shows all the recasts in various reds, greens, yellows and on and on.
The ACW figures are shown ONLY in blue and gray colors.
There are pix of the header cards, on this site, that I sent in few years ago.
I’m not saying that they don’t exist. Just that I’ve never seen any other color but B&G.
Maybe that’s one of those “BILLY” figures?
ACW soldiers were done in Mexico by end of 70s from Plastimarx molds as to be sold in bags for 1860s French Mexican war intervention and sold in following shades in soft plastic according to Mexiac blogs.
Green,grey ,dark blue and mid blue .They were mix with Alamo Mexican with UNION used as French and Mexican Alamo as mexican mix with few rebels in same colors as Mexican as well.
Sets were sold in two configuration -small set bag and big large set bag with cannons and mounted poses till 1979 .
According to bloggers it was last intent by last managing molds before being move out of former factories and were not run or sold for long ,neither popular .
Erwin I’ve seen these and all the figures arein Kepi’s all have haverlocks on he rear of the kepi.
Is that what your talking about?
No Bill.those are downsize copies made by a person the copied 6 union poses for a private investors.they were post here by Paul under Amex brand as maker label then.
This is same maker of pirates.conquistadors and other done.
The mix set x french mexican war I mention are using same marx mold in soft before the plastimarx mexico factory was close down and before Paul trips to Mexico.
Best.
Bill the one u saw most be these…
and were only 4 not 6 poses…
http://www.stadsstuff.com/?p=3417
best
So who DID make this one?
While I think of it, re: Marx recasts; does anyone know where I can get a set of Captain Gallant HP accessories cast in gray – the lanterns, rifle rack with separate rifles, two piece well, etc.?
Andy, I’ve been big on acquiring recasts since I got back into the hobby as an adult in the 1980’s, and I’m big on FFL/Cpt. Gallant, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Cpt. Gallant HP accessories cast in gray — only in light desert brown.
I own a set in gray and I’ve been looking for more of them. I bought mine from Kent maybe two years ago; it was the only one he had at the time. Several “experts” have told me they don’t exist, but it’s sitting in my display cabinet. It’s the same color hard plastic recast accessories for Untouchables tin buildings that came in brown and gray.
Don and Andy…
The grey or dark grey(NOT SILVER)- FFL-ARABS tents ,packs and weapons reissues were included in late 70s early 80s PLASTYMARX-made in mexico playsets(Ben Hur and Untouchable sold in hard plastic case luggage type shape .You mat google and see pieces in some online auction or photos .
Mexicans split the Captain Gallant accessories in the two playsets .
These are not the later reissues in mexico playset brought here after by late 80s or early 90s please.
best…
That’s nice, but where can I BUY them?
I know they exist; I have a set.
Andy more easy could be on mexico site or ebay I post before.
I had seen in full playset only.
So maybe some execess left over were brougg here before
I have that Reisler cowboy pictured in black. On his back he has a hat that reminds me of an American campaign hat like you would see in the Wild Bunch. Mine has movable arms. He has a poor attempt of a holster on his left hip. Resiler made some cool looking cowboys, I generally prefer the ones with movable arms like this one.
I have the black cowboy with hat on back, poseable arms, knife in one hand and other hand is open. I also have the tan Indian – poseable arms with a tomahawk and open hand that he is fighting. The open hands block the arms with weapons on the other. Great pair of figures.
My cowboy has two guns with two swivel arms. I also have another pose of which I have two in one he has two guns and the other a pistol and a shotgun, both arms swivel.
My cowboy and Indian set are pictured here on Kent’s site in the Indians & Pioneers – little block on the lower right:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldierhq/Reisler.html
Also – the cowboy above came attached to the totem pole with a rubber band. His arms also swivel. I have him tied to a Marx dead tree with some twine.
I recently picked up about 1,000 Accurate figures, they come in many colors, I have them in red, blue, green, cream, butterscotch two shades of gray and white. I have or had a bunch of the Americans run in red and blue. Interestingly enough I had none of the biting a cartridge guy. I still have a bunch of them including many drummers who was in a Grenadier hat instead of the tricorn. Most of them are in a soft plastic, the ones in white seem to be a stiffer plastic.
I had mention before with respect to ACW Marx reissue that i had seen in soft plastic these translucent figures being sold in bags by a card brand marked (Broadway !) As far my research goes the brand was distributed in Mexico and in Spain from late 70s till 80s 0.
Broadway is also being known to sale the Jecsan and Reamsa western line figures on Mexico,portugal,Spain and Argentina as Pinata feelers .
The “Broadway” brand bags are not that hard to spot once in while in international-Ebay and TODO COLECCION bid/sales sites .
As far I recall seen Marx sold in soft translucent described under such brand seller i do remember the big space figures,westerns ,marines ,sailors,Alamo soldiers and indians.I do not recall seen the ACW.
Best….
The only translucent Marx figures that I know of were the GI’s in blue that were some kind of premium give away.
I have not seen the blue. I have a red translucent GI which I have shown before. I have rarely gone for color variations.
Some guy was selling the blue ones on E-Bay a while back he called them prototypes. Stengel used to have a bunch of them, I used to see them at shows.
I remember seeing them on Ebay. I believe nearly, or all, 16 poses were listed singly and they were as expensive as they were unsightly.
Those are the ones I bet, I think he had somewhere around $30.00 per figure in buy it nows.
I remember buying the Accurate sets when they came out. I saw them in an ad in one of my Military History magazines. I think it was SC. I did a lot of business over the phone with them back in the pre-internet days. Then I found Paul and another well-discussed dealer whose name will not be mentioned. I also got some of the Revell figures – I still have them stored away, as I recall they did the same sets as Accurate, perhaps in different colors? I do know the ACW figures were smaller, 1/35 scale so I preferred Accurate. I also remember my first ARW figures along that line being blue and red – I KNOW I have some of the biting cartridge guys in red. It was a few years later I started seeing them in gray and/or yellow? But at that time I was doing all my ordering by phone – I’d call a dealer up and ask “what’s new?” This often led to some great conversations. I remember more than a couple with you, Paul. It was always appreciated as it was lonely being a collector down here.
I bought my first bunch of re-casts in 1992 from SC. I had come in to some extra money (rare at that time) so bought several recast wagons and caissons. They looked pretty good – I still have them in pretty good shape considering how old they are now – only a snapped axle or two or a hitch in my last move in 1992, the ambulance wagons have a blue cover for Union and Grey/off-white for Confederate (not accurate but I wasn’t as picky back then). Over the years I’ve been replacing them with the newer (and in my opinion improved) versions available.
I guess it was about a year or so later I bought a whole slew of Marx recasts from the unnamed dealer. I had Marx ACW from both sides I remember something like $25 for 50. I got a bag of each in reverse colors, too. The blue was a medium. The thing I remember was the plastic was so brittle several of the figures were broken off in the bag – and it wasn’t due to shipping, either; one thing good I could say about the transaction.
From the conversation here I can safely assume those ACW figures came from the scrap plastic casts in Mexico. I have the pieces in a bag somewhere hoping one day to maybe salvage what I can to do some conversions – if they’re even fit for that…
I also got some Marx re-cast ARW figures. The plastic was better, but out of the fifty British grenadiers I received eleven of them were the standing officer and another six or seven were mounted officers. In the words of MG Jim Lindsay speaking of his LGOP in Sicily, “Never have so few been commanded by so many…”
I’m thinking about that time (Summer 1992 or so) I also bought from same seller the “Series 2” issues of both the Accurate ACW and ACW figures. I remember the Union were in a very dark blue. And I have some reverse colored figures of the ACW figures with the Union in the same dark blue so in my mind it had to be about the same time frame.
Since then I’ve picked up Accurate ARW figures on Ebay and other places in not only yellow and gray, but in other colors – I have the British regulars in different shades of red as well as “reverse” blues from baby blue to medium and a blue-grey I like. I have a big bunch of white to represent the French (until a real decent choice comes) but haven’t bought any of the colors thinking now that I’m in to painting…
THAT transaction, and the customer service I received after receiving the item kind of soured me on that individual and his business.
I’ve gone on awhile; I hope I’ve added at least something useful to the conversation – I admit my knowledge of the pales before many here.
I will say I am grateful for the internet. Sites like this have saved me a whole bunch of money through word of mouth.
I got my first Accurate Rev. War figures from Stone Castle as soon as I first saw them offered. I thought then, and still think today, that they are truly great. James Delson calls them hands down the best and greatest Rev. War figures, both British Regulars and American Militia, ever made.
Since those, I’ve acquired every color that I’ve seen offered, including red, blue, red/brown, tan, cream, dark blue, light blue, green, and white.
I remember the issue of the initial British Regular biting the cartridge, and was sorry to hear about the mold damage, because it was a pretty neat figure. But I still have several of that pose in Blue/Gray, and about 10 of them in red, all of which came from Bill Murphy. My other sets were all acquired from Stone Castle, CTS, and James Delson’s Toy Soldier Company.
The replacement pose of a British Regular sort of standing with his rifle in an “at ease” position, was actually a pretty good figure in it’s own right.But I’ve never seen the British kneeling at-the-ready pose. If anyone has either the figure itself or a photo, I would appreciate seeing it posted on this site.
Delson had many of the different colored sets on sale last month, all in the original, high-quality soft plastic. I think they may still be on sale, because Delson thinks big and ordered so many thousands of them at the time. CTS has several colors as well, including the American Militia in the nice red/brown color. But only Delson still has the British Regulars in red.
Those nice red brown colors are probably Stengels. I know that John would trade product for product with other dealers.
The British series 2 are in the beautiful Marx blue color. However, because you get 5 original poses, with the 5 new poses, in the series 2 boxes you can build a complete set of all 15 poses.
I have all the colors from everyone and the Stengel run is the best.
I accidently left John Stengel Sr. out of my list of sources. I think it was, in fact, from Mr. Stengel that I got the red/brown American Militia. But CTS currently offers them as well.
Don, The original red for the British were from Excalibur.
When Excalibur ran into legal problems, Delson ended up with most of Excalibur’s remaining stock. These may have been part of that stock.
This message for Bill Nevins, I had to tack it on the end here because I’m not getting the reply option on his final question above.
Sorry Bill, I don’t have any contact details for John Jeffries, he lost a lot when Accurate folded and just dropped off the radar, that was many years back. I don’t think he was ever a collector of figures so he never really moved in our circles. If there’s anything I can help you with you’re welcome to contact me direct, you can get my contact details from Admin.