Plastic Figure Showcase Part Three February Readers Contribution we first look at the Chintoy Mounted Union. Rich Fisher gives his impression on these figures. I will share some more interesting figures. Finally I give my thoughts on the on going debate on the prices from Russia.
Plastic Figure Showcase Part Three February Readers Contribution
Rich Fisher purchased the Chintoys Mounted Generals Union. Here is what he thought.
There are 4 Generals- Custer, Chamberlain, Grant, & Sherman & 2 different horse poses molded in a nice Blue( Looks like Atlantic figures Blue). You get 4 figures & 4 horses. Cost me $18.99 & $6.95 shipping from Cal. & I had them in 3 days. Purchased on ebay from dealer rebelalpha( other dealers are asking & getting ($32-39 for the same set).
Plastic Figure Showcase Part Three February Readers Contribution Figures
The figure on the left is Spanish and is 70mm. Figure on the right is a Dom figure. Some call it Sir Lancelot, but I feel they are wrong.
The figure on the left I may have shown before. I like to find civilan figures as they show the changes in our culture. This figure is a miner. The worker figure is on right is smaller than I usually collect. I keep him as the scupltor based the figure on a cowboy clubbing figure. Checking the internet the person used a Britians Herald Cowboy clubbing
A soccer figure from China, I wonder how many other figure were done in this line
Plastic Figure Showcase Part Three February Readers Contribution Thoughts
It has been one of our biggest discussion on our site; the prices for the new Russia plastic figures. I can understand people being upset on the prices. Fourteen plus dollars for a single new plastic figure is shocking. Engineer Bassevitch and Plastic Platoon at five dollars and higher prices are also upsetting U.S. collectors.
The problem is we are a secondary market at this time for these makers. Their main market for them is Russia and East Europe. Those markets are accepting these prices, so the makers see no reasons to lower their prices. There has been talks behind the scenes on lower prices with no luck.
Another factor is these companies are doing short runs. The days of going to China are just about over. It is too expensive for the return. The world today in our hobby is short runs. Replicants was the first to do short runs. These companies are doing less 500 runs. Add in the cost of design and replacements of molds (these molds have a short life span.) If anyone is doing 3D printing of figures that is slow process at this time. One figure can take easily 20 minutes or more.
So what can a collector do with these rising prices. It is going to be their decision if they want to pay the price or not. There is no way around it. I wish you luck.
Regarding Domplast its almost sure it shows a non-licensend Ivanhoe
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-ivanhoe-serie-tv-ivanhoe-anne-1958-tv-series-uk-roger-moore-ralisateur-22253827.html
late Roger Moore character figure
Yes you can say they did an Ivanhoe type. Starlux did some pose like it too.
I really like the Dom Ivanhoe figure, Ive never seen him before and would love to get hold of one one day.
As regarding the prices of the Publius figures, As ive stated before I really like these figures and love the sculted detail, But 6 figures for £40 plus postage is too much for me and i’m not a fan of all the poses that are put out. So unless they sell these figures individually for a reasonable price in which case I would buy some of them, I’m afraid I wont be buying any. Its a shame but many of us cannot afford these prices.
I don’t know but you just don’t think of Chamerlain riding a horse although I supposed he did but to the average collector he is remembered for his actions at Gettysburg where according to the movie he was on foot so maybe Chintoys could have picked another Union general instead but you could always just re-name the figure to what ever trips your trigger eh.
Sheridan would have been an ideal mounted pose.
In not order the soccer player is Chinese made 1990!? s and are 13 poses total.,made in different color variation x different teams
The Dom/ManurbaHeinerle is Ivanhoe character as always sold out and is varied slight derived from another brands as well not exact at all of course.sTARLUX,Reamsa and elastolin did same variation alike but who did first is hard to tell,definitely this come in 60s .
Reason i put the three brands is are very correlative between the three brands production to actually categorize the actual mold maker and still some confusing fact on that as far i had red.
The miner is part of small scale(1/32 ) made figures x Indiana Jones and is a German soldier AK and belong to maker of nice Sidecar motorcycle plus other figures in 1/32 and some vehicles/planes in very small scale as well in type shell egg hard plastic blister pack,i have several poses as well two sidecar .Brand.Hasbro Galoob limited edition 2008-2012 Indiana Jones Titanium Series.
Roman is Oliver (not PH mold )and one of latest two rare poses made as 7140 and 7142 of their last series romans for nativity scenes ) The romans(12 poses total) are only known original made soldiers made by Oliver as used for their vast nativity set
Plus also the 4 Gladiators are only odd true cation poses made by then and specifically included in nativity set -Rare fact by the way
Best
In regard to 3D printing is anybody actually doing any military figures? I would invest in a better printer if I could produce accurate, strong, and usable original figures. I could certainly wait 20 minutes for each figure if I was printing out a set of 10 figures.
A thought – could the Russian/Ukranian sculptors be able to sell software versions of their figures? For a fee the figures could live on beyond the mold life and could be made in the USA.
Also, does anybody have downloadable 3D software for military figures? I have several 3D printers at my school and the students are always looking for something to print.
I think a device rarely mentioned but extremely useful for 3D printing would be a 3D scanner. Imagine you can scan a figure of practically any scale, re-scale it to your desired scale and print it out. Also cut & paste arms, heads, legs, weapons, etc. to customize your prints, Victor Frankenstein would be proud!
If u have a program where u can design a figures these are the only u need to direct to printers.
You do not need scanner unless u want only copy scan s figure already done and the sent to be print.For any figures to be done at actual prices u need invest in printer models not less $4000 in order archive deep multiple details such faces, clothing else.these printer take around 20 minutes oftern requires to retoch back each figure.The amount spooler spend is still huge versus objet and versus cost spooler the figure will come to around 12.00/ 15.00 aprox cost because amount material.
Every time u printer run one you need to let cool off x periods that range from 18 minutes to 1.5 hours depending model.The programs are not difficult to get .Many companies sale then with e en. Cannon , tanks and else to be done plus soldiers.The design in these programs bring prototypes that could be varieed or converted to any pose and uniforms.These programs run from 70 to up to 300.00
The type filaments and spooler calibe rs plus spooler type give you better options.
I had done test and so far result in figures is very slow and not accurate. Often require many trials first plus printer adjustments.
You may want see some personla videos in you tube with explanation and tips.not the sellers video samples please
Still in its infancy
best
Go on-line and check out 3Dshook. They have a variety of toy soldiers.
The Miner is a conversion I did for Paul about 6 months ago.
China made Road worker body with an Airfix Afrika Korps head.
I knew I had posted it before LOL. Thanks for correction
Then I really goof here big time.
Indeed.
The AK soldier I have from titanium is fighting but heck as that.So is another officer.
Nice job Peter. You got mr here complete.
Best
go me ,not mr….lol
If u have a program where u can design a figures these are the only u need send direct to printers.
You do not need scanner unless u want only copy scan s figure already done and then sent to be print.For any figures to be done at actual prices u need invest in printer models not less $4000 in order to archive deep multiple details such faces, clothing else.These printer take around 20 minutes to finish often and requires to retouch many times back each figure.The amount spooler spend is still huge versus object and versus cost spooler the figure will come to around 12.00/ 15.00 approx cost because amount material.
Every time u printer run one you need to let cool off x periods that range from 18 minutes to 1.5 hours depending model.The programs are not difficult to get .Many companies sale then with a Cannon , tanks and else to be done plus soldiers.The design in these programs bring prototypes that could be varied or converted to any pose and uniforms.These programs run from 70 to up to 300.00
The type filaments and spooler calibers plus spooler type give you better options.
I had done test and so far result in figures is very slow and not accurate. Often require many trials first plus printer adjustments.
You may want see some personal videos in you tube with explanation and tips.not the sellers video samples please
Still in its infancy
best
While 3-D printing tech is getting better all the time, I think unless you have a lot of money to spend right now, it is still a few years off before a affordable 3-D printer that can do the detail we would want on figures becomes available. But, the positive is that the 3-D printing tech as well as making afforable desktop 3-D printers that can put out better and more detailed prints faster is one of the goals of the 3-D printing companies and is being worked on all the time.
I have thought of getting a 3-D scanner and using some of the better and more poseable 1/6 figures, (like Dragon or the later 21st Century Toys), and posing and scanning them and 3-D printing them in the larger 1/32 to match TSSD, Conte, CTS, ect..
Anyone have a list of the companies that have programs for printing figures ect.?
BOBBYGMOORE
When the technology is ready someone can make some cash by downscaling some large scale figures into 1/32. Maybe a library type system among collectors to download for their own use. I’m thinking the Marx 6 inch figures, Marx 12 inch (the heads only), and any other 1/6 figures as Bobby Moore noted.
Sounds great, Tom. I’m sure you are familiar with Rubenstein 50 – 54mm figures that appear to be scaled down from 6″ Marx figures:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldierhq/Premiums.html
I would also like to see Auburn, Atlantic, Timmee, and whatever other 60 – 70mm cowboy & ACW figures scaled down to 54mm.
Somehow, though, with the high expense of the relatively new technology, I don’t think they will be affordable in my lifetime (I’m pushing 67 in June) and by the time it may become affordable, the Toy Soldier collectors that we know will be long gone and not widely replaced. If people are balking at $10 figures, I can’t even imagine a large demand for much higher priced 3D clones.
I know it’s been beaten to death, but higher prices for plastic figures with shrinking demand don’t indicate a wise business plan for toy makers. So the short run figures to a niche market may be the last chapter in a hobby that’s spanned my 67 years. My first Marx playset arrived for Christmas 1955 and my most recent Marx wagon arrived in today’s mail. I’m not seeing any Marx playsets readily available to today’s kids to buy for nostalgia later in their lives.
I would mainly 3-D print the 1/6 scale figures in larger 1/32 for my own collection and make one or two copies of each pose to trade with others doing their own 3-D printed figures. I don’t think it would be cost effective to try to sell them.
Andy, I don’t think you will miss out on the 3-D printers. From what I read about them, I believe it is only 3 to 5 years before we have an affordable 3-D printer that can do all we want it to do.
BOBBYGMOORE
Bobby, what are you estimating as cost per figure for these with “affordable” pricing?
Yeah I collect only 1/32 scale figures, But there are so many brilliant figures of all sorts in the much smaller 1/72 scale. If it ever does become easier and cheaper to do it yourself I would love to upscale several hundred figures myself one day. Or if someone else did it I would be willing to pay for some figures as long as the price is not ridiculous.
I always wish that someone would upscale the Revell 1/72 winter G.I.’s and Germans. They are great figures.
BOBBYGMOORE
My Chintoy mounted Union General Staff personality figures (Grant, Sherman, Custer, & Chamberlain) arrived today from Scott’s Model Shop (ebay handle is “rebel alpha”).
These latest figures are completely up to Chintoys’ normal high quality in sculpting (both riders & horses), scale, and good, flexible soft plastic.
They are all in a nice medium blue.
The only deficiency is the horses are cast in the same blue plastic as the riders. Hence, you have blue horses.
Fortunately, these riders also fit perfectly on the excellent TSSD Civil War horses, so you can change the horses to the galloping TSSD models, which are the best anyway. I’ve now got Grant on a black galloping horse, Sherman & Custer on galloping tan horses, and Chamberlain on a brown galloping horse. They all look quite good. And like I said, they fit perfectly.
A few have complained that Chamberlain probably isn’t in the same category as Grant and Sherman. It’s true that a mounted Sheridan would have been a better choice. But the same could have been said of Custer. It appears that after Grant & Sherman, Chintoys just went with whoever was most famous from the movies.
But the upcoming Confederate mounted personalities of Lee, Jackson, Stuart, and Forrest can’t be criticized at all. They are the four best mounted Confederate personalities which could possibly have been selected.
I really wish everyone would give at least one of these Chintoy personality sets a try. There are now 11 different sets (with one more — the mounted Confederates — on the way), all very well done, and all very reasonably priced.
We still don’t know who this mystery Englishman is who is commissioning these sets. But Engineer Bassevitch is manufacturing them, and they are up to Engineer Bassevitch quality, but at a much more affordable price.
For what it’s worth the U.S. Army purchased thousands of horses during the war between the states; They specifically required the horses to be brown in color. Of course officers may have brought their own horses. There is a great story about Custer stealing a thoroughbred horse at the end of the war, have you read about it?
I think The history goes as he took the horse from another person as typical spoils of war made my union armies in Confederate regions states and used in victory parade later ,then the owner reclaim it back as he try sale the horse but before that happen the horse died or else.
I did happen .
can be read here from extracted smithsonian library database.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-custer-stole-thoroughbred-180956961/
Andy,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you on what the cost would be on 3D printed figures on affordable 3D printers. Has been a busy week.
To be honest, I haven’t set down with pen and paper and tried to figure it out. Maybe I should clarify and say that others may find a way to make 3D printed figures and sell them at affordable prices, but I don’t see myself doing more than making extras of the 3D printed figures I do to trade with others.
I do believe like I said in an earlier post that within the next 3 to 5 years we will see an affordable 3D printer that can do figures with the detail we would want.
Now, like everything else, “affordable” is up to each person.
By keeping a check on the info about 3D printers and things having to do with 3D printers over the last 4 plus years, I have seen a lot of progress made toward making desktop 3D printers that cost less, are easier to operate and maintain, that have extruders that are more trouble free, that are able to use a variety of printing materials as well as 3rd party printing materials and at a more reasonable cost, and are able to print at a higher speed a object that has a higher resolution (more detailed) with no flaws. I have noticed these positive things make a lot of progress in the last two years.
One of the best mid-level 3D printers advailable now that has gotten high reviews is the Lulzbot Mini. It cost $1350.00. According to the reviews, it is almost as good as a higher end 3D printer that cost two times as much. It is easy to set up and start, can use a variety of printing materials, has a self leveling print bed, has a good print speed, and prints an object with good detail with few if any mistakes.
There are lower priced 3D printers around $500.00 or so that have good reviews as well. Of course the higher priced 3D printers, (around $3500.00 or more) have better print speeds and better print resolution, but the trend is heading toward lower prices and faster print speeds and mistake free printed objects with greater resolution. If this contiues, I believe in the next 3 to 5 years or who knows maybe sooner, we will be able to be printing our own toy soldiers. I myself am not set up at the time to have a place to put a 3D printer. (My plan is to have my “Mancave” in the next 5 to 6 years, in time for my retirement and have a place for a 3D printer and all of my other Toy soldiers ect.)
Here are some places to check out for more info:
3ders.org
PCMag.com (2018 Best 3D Printer Reviews)
http://www.tomsguide.com (2018 3D Printer reviews)
http://www.techradar.com
There are others that can be found on the internet.
I hope this helps.
BOBBYGMOORE
Just received my mounted union. Dead on match with marx 1st issue for size. They match the “smaller” figures in the union general set. (So the mounted Custer is smaller than the large custer from the union general set). They are kinda plain poses, very “face ahead”. They are easy to reshape with hot water. I twisted the heads on Grant and Sherman, turned the arms on Grant and Chamberlan and they look much more animated. Was able to cant the heads on the horses too. I am painting mind and they should look pretty good. Also received the Austrain. Outstanding detail but kinds on the small size…kinda thin like centential Marx ACW. Definitely look small standing next to the Italeri Austrains. I am not complaining, I will probabaly wind up with everything they make.