New Plastic Figures Galore Mars British Paratroopers

New Plastic Figures Galore Mars British Paratroopers I have a number of new figures to make you about. First, from the Chicago Toy Soldier Show, there are a future and present figures to reports Starting with the Mars Red Beret Paratroopers. Steve Weston had some interesting news.

New Plastic Figures Galore Mars British Red Beret Paratroopers

New Plastic Figures Galore British
At the Chicago show, samples of a future release from Mars were shown. They are also showing up on Facebook. The future set will be British Paratroopers. The first pose we have is an officer firing a pistol
New Plastic Figures Galore standing
The second pose is standing and firing a rifle.
New Plastic Figures Galore sten
British paratrooper firing a sten gun is the third pose.
New Plastic Figures Galore running
Another pose is Brtishparatrooper running with a rifle
grenade thrower
British Red Beret Paratrooper grenade thrower.
kneeling Bren gun
British paratrooper kneeling with a Bren Gun.
mortar team
Finally, a two-man mortar team lay firing. No date when they will be released. Also, please note the figures will be sold unpainted.

Weston Toy Soldiers

Gung Ho
Steve Weston had two interesting items at the Chicago Toy soldier show. The first was a notice on whether people would want to see the Gung Ho Vietnam Figures produced. There is what Steve Weston said about this product.

‘I’d like to put the record straight here: Gun-Ho produced the Cavalry and Apaches in plastic; the Vietnam range apparently actually belongs to our shared sculptor, Mike Broadbent. Only the test shots of the Australians were released in plastic, and a handful of sets did make it into white metal. The figures were only 50-52mm (so NOT 1/32 aka 54mm) at best which was way too small for my liking, and Mike and I have searched for a way to enlarge them to 54-56mm for a few years but failed so we gave up. Now, thru modern technology, I have had one figure up-scaled and it looks the perfect size and there is now a chance that I will produce these in 3D printed resin should I get enough interest as this won’t be cheap to do – so NOT as plastic, and NOT as toys, but as collectibles. The size of the original figures was down to tooling limitations and the learn-as-you-go used by Gun-Ho who had no previous knowledge of tool making for plastic injection. I can produce all 8 figures from each set (Aussies, Americans, and Viet Cong/NVA) should I get enough requests to do so.’

Weston toy
Steve was also selling a series of 3D resin figures which are quite amazing to see they are detailed not cheap you can see them up close at his site here
I have more plastic news coming soon.
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21 Responses to New Plastic Figures Galore Mars British Paratroopers

  1. Wayne W says:

    Good news on all fronts! I hope Steve can pull it off. He has managed to give us some great sets and figures in the past – glad he’s trying to carry on; it gives one hope for the hobby’s future.

    As far as Mars in concerned, my hat’s off in so many ways to them for continuing to produce in the middle of a war with some of the workers actually off on the front fighting and some have died. Yet they and others continue working and churning out figures that get better and better. Truly humbling and inspiring at the same time IMO.

    These red devils look to be another great set to go with the extensive line they’ve already produced. Kudos again! Thanks for sharing, Paul

  2. BRIAN says:

    If it wasn’t darn Resin I’d be all over that Gun-Ho.

    • Joe Costa says:

      I agree Brian. I don’t collect toy soldiers for display, I collect them for wargaming. I appreciate their effort, however, since I own several of the Gun Ho Apache and Calvary sets in SP.

      I hope 3D resin never replaces the injection molding process. I see a bit of a trend out their with other figures releases which would otherwise be great in my opinion if they were soft plastic.

      On another note, I’m glad Mars is still in business in the middle of a war. The British paratroopers look great. I’m still holding out for the eventual release of the current day Ukrainian military figures and the possibility of accompanying Russian forces.

      Modern day conflicts need better figure representations I think.

    • TD Barnecut says:

      The resins most often used for 3D printing tend to be brittle if printed too thin. But there are more durable resins available, just more expensive. Right now many are still experimenting with the process so using the cheaper resins. With more experience I think the quality of the products will improve.

  3. Everett Atwater says:

    Does anyone know how to find the mars Ukraine war set of ukrainians, I remember it from a while back but can’t find any information on it. Some help would be nice.

    • Joe Costa says:

      I was wondering the same in regards to the Mars Ukrainians. I don’t recall any toy soldier figures being represented during a current conflict of that particular country except maybe the Timmee Us GI’s during Vietnam and Armies in Plastics Modern US and Afghan/Taliban figures.

      AIP’s release occurred during the Taliban insurgency effort after the principle military US/Nato launch of the conflict. Incidentally, Mars also released Taliban figures during this period in the early 2000’s if I remember right.

      But I think the posting we saw were prototypes of the figure sets yet to be released and possibly delayed because of the current conflict.

      It would be interesting to see if the Mars British Paratroop sets get released before the Ukrainians sets which were advertised first. This might suggest a political or moral reason not to release sooner. Admittedly, I’m guessing.

      Hopefully, we get some more information on the Mars Ukrainians. If there is any, I’m sure it’ll pop up here on Stad’s. 😉

      • TD Barnecut says:

        There were some 1/32 Russian soldiers that were issued during their Afghanistan war which I believe were made by ESCI. I don’t recall opposition soldiers produced though.

        • Erwin says:

          ESCI made a set spetnaz in 7 poses as well regular soviet infantry ,both for 1970s/80s period .Airfix did a Warsaw and Soviet set as well for same period ,all on 7 poses each .
          Both Airfix and ESCI set were made innrather small 1/32 verssion range .
          Mars had done talisman as well Afghanistan war soviet sets too.

          • TD Barnecut says:

            I remember the Airfix modern NATO and other ‘modern’ figures as being labeled 1/32 but scaled closer to 1/35, I suppose to tie them in better (and better sales) with available 1/35 armor and other vehicle model kits. I think I got my Airfix figures from Squadron Mail Order at that time. I understand Squadron is up and running again with headquarters in Georgia this time.

  4. Detlef Heerbrand says:

    Hello,
    You can praise the Mars figures to the skies as you like. I am currently painting the pirates of the Caribbean and I am more than disappointed with the cast quality of the figures. All the figures are covered with cast grades and there are bumps on the figures. Sorry but expect this for the price I better quality, even copies from China are better…
    Detlef

    • Wayne W says:

      Detlef, I agree with you that the quality of the early Mars sets sometimes left something to be desired; their Vietnam series was of mixed quality. Their early 1/72 scale sets in particular left much to be desired with so much flash on the sprues you practically had to sculpt your own figures out of the blobs of plastic.

      However, in the past few years or so – particularly with their World War 2 series the quality has improved greatly. As I’ve commented before, they’ve “upped their game.” They’re not Plastic Platoon or EB, but for the price the newer WW2 sets have been pretty good.

      Re: Ukrainians, I believe those were prototypes or a proposed set.

    • ERWIN SELL says:

      I agree with Mars figures ,specially all early sets in ww2 and modern wars too ;however the over mold quality issue had increased positively recently much better ,so the faces too .But still some poses come with the halve junction deformity and faces not well done .Also out some same set boxes some defect figures show up in some buyers findings as well reported in several blogs .I was attack for these comments early when Mars first 1/32 sets come on unfortunately but plenty had seen that already I guess and realized .
      their amount sets produced in diversity of not before armies covered in 1/32 made them very popular too .
      best ..

  5. James Nixon says:

    The Mars look brilliant would like to see a heavy weapons set to go with them. A three inch mortar and crew and Vickers machine gun and crew and maybe a Piat team.

    • Wayne W says:

      James, if the war doesn’t interfere, I’m sure Mars will come out with support sets for the British paras. They did a great job with the German paras. I’m amazed they’re able to continue doing business, much less come out with new sets with the situation in Ukraine. Sadly, every so often an update comes out where a worker or artist has been lost in the war. Such a waste.

      • Wayne W says:

        There are occasional updates on the Strelets-R forum and the Mars FB page- they’ve been good about keeping their customers/fans informed not only about their own issues, but some of the other companies based in Ukraine.

  6. The next Mars set to be released will be WWII German tank hunters. They may ship next week. He showed a picture of his master sculpts of the modern Ukrainian soldiers a while back on facebook.

  7. mark t. says:

    I’d love to see the Gun Ho Vietnam and Wild West sets come back, but I would likely only buy them if they were made in soft plastic.

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