Blue Box WWII German set #1 Regular army (50 to 52mm) was the second series produced by Blue Box right after the WWII Japanese. The Germans were done in hard and soft plastic. The soft plastic was sold painted and unpainted. They were sold in window boxes with accessories and bag with figures alone. Most armor vehicles sold with this set were only in HO scale and had the German cross which was added later.
Picture 1 shows the correct order from left to right that they would come from the mold.
Picture two is the back side of the figures.
Pictures 3 and 4 are close ups of the officers and two soldiers holding MP40’s. The detail in the officers always impressed me. The MP40 was well done; the only negative was the long mag. It was easy to cut as I did with most of my figures. I kept these figures in the original form. The Blue Box MP 38/40 was a plus because at that time as most plastic WWII German soldiers with the MP 38/40 by other companies were poorly depicted.
Pictures 5, 6 and 7 the Blue Box Germans are shown next to 1/35 Scale Italeri kit Germans and German zombie figures.
Some of the Blue Box aren’t too bad !
I’ve sure seen worse than this. If I had them, they’d find a lace in one of my units.
*place, not lace. I hate this new computer.
I also collect for two reasons. First, out of curiosity and nostalgia. Second, for historical relevance. Regarding the first reason, I am not concerned with scale, measurement, or detail. However, for the second reason, I prioritize accuracy and matching in my collection choices. The Blue Box collection is among my preferred choices, but ironically, some figures, particularly the German ones, may not have the best poses or scale. Nevertheless, I find them to be more historically accurate in terms of uniforms and weapons than others, such as Marx, Lido, and MPC Germans. While the poses from those brands are generally superior, particularly Marx’s, their uniforms often appear unrealistic, and their weapons leave much to be desired. Even the Airfix German infantry, which is well-uniformed with decent poses, features an unusual light machine gunner pose that raises questions about why a British company would create such an inaccurate representation, especially given their reputation for historical accuracy. This same pose was almost replicated by Matchbox, resulting in a rare MP 40 with a short barrel, which is another inconsistency. British representations of German infantry improved somewhat, but they still did not provide an exact MP 40. In fact, it was early manufacturers like ESCI, Dulcop, and even Atlantic from Italy that produced more accurate weapons. Dulcop was notable for creating the first MP 44 pose ever in plastic. While the Blue Box collection may fall short in scale and pose detail, they still serve as a nice addition to my collection and pair well with CTS’s underscale armor.