Toy soldiers

Posted on August 10, 2019 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Artwork detail. Airfix Catalogue 2008, UK.

TVTA is pleased to present a selection of international toy soldier print adverts, catalogue pages and photos from the brands Airfix, Atlantic, Starlux, Britains and others in the scales H0/00, 1/32, and 1/72.

Airfix Military Figures. 1983. France.

Airfix Military. 1984. UK.

Atlantic soldiers. Italy. 1979.

Atlantic Toy Soldiers. 1981. France.

Atlantic Toy Soldiers. France. 1981.

Atlantic Far West. 1982. France.

Floraline pasta. Collect free soldiers and cowboy and Indians figures. 1979. France.

Cowboys and Indians. 1969. Denmark.

Wild West figures. Gerca. 1980s. Made in Macau. MIP. TVTA Collection.

Wild West figures. Gerca. 1980s. Made in Macau. Loose. TVTA Collection.

Britains Deetail soldiers. TVTA Collection.

H0/00 scale painted soldiers. TVTA Collection.

Various H0/00 scale soldiers. TVTA Collection.

BRITAINS SET N° 460, Scots Guards, circa 1933. No price listed. Christie’s Catalogue. 1988.

Toy Soldiers Combat Set. Wonderland Catalogue. France. 1987.

Footlocker Toy Soldiers. 1981. US.

: Tank Trap and Cannon Ball. 1971. US.

: Revolutionary War Soldiers. 1976. US.

: Task Force and Fighting Ships. 1981. US.

: Roman Soldiers. 1975. US.

Starlux Cavalry and Infantry. France.

Thanks for looking 🙂

Toy Soldiers

Posted on January 24, 2015 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Toy Soldiers (or Army Men) typically measured around 5 cm (2 inches) in height and were usually moulded in green, brown or grey solid plastic. Popular figure sets were based on modern military soldiers and came in various combat and strategy poses along with vehicles and accessories (often of a smaller scale to the soldiers) which were sometimes bundled into sets. As well as the modern military sets, other sets available on the market were cowboys and Indians, medieval knights and space figures.

US. Ghostly Haunts. 1974. Lucky Products ad.

US. Weird War Tales. 1978. This variant of the Lucky Products ad appeared four years later and shows a price increase as well as change of address.

US. Marvel Doctor Who. 1981. Fast-forward three years and this variant shows another price increase, some minor changes to the order details, and “imaginary war scene shown” added below the illustration.

The footlocker versions as seen above were probably only available via mail order. At the cheap end of the spectrum these soldiers were often sold in stores in clear bags with an illustrated cardboard header. Companies such as Louis Marx, MPC and Airfix offered a more expensive range that covered many more armies from around the world.

Below are more ads from the same Lucky Products stable, plus some from other companies offering similar toy soldier sets.

US. Weird War Tales N°1. 1971.

US. Weird War Tales. 1975.

US. Weird War Tales. 1976.

US. Star Wars 28. 1979.

Toy Soldiers Fighting Ships. 1981. US.

US. Weird War Tales. 1975.

US. Creepy Things. 1975.

US. The New Mutants. 1985.

Atlantic Toy Figures

Posted on November 2, 2014 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Atlantic was an Italian company operating between 1966 and 1984 which specialised in plastic toy soldiers and vehicles. Atlantic produced many WWII figures and vehicles sets, as well as an “Ancient Civilisations” line which included Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. Also noteworthy is Atlantic’s “Far West” line and the colourful “Galaxy Serie” space sets.

France. Pif Gadget. 1976. This 1976 French advert is a promotional tie-in for the French 14th July national celebrations.

France. Pif Gadget. 1977.

France. PIf Gadget. 1977. Left side of a two-page double ad.

France. PIf Gadget. 1977. Right side of a two-page double ad.

France. PIf Gadget. 1977.

The cover of Pif Gadget #446 Sept 1977. Pif Gadget featured many adverts from Atlantic and even devoted one of its covers to the Egyptian series line of figures.