Auction, MONOGRAM TOY SOLDIERS, and more

A VERY USEFUL AUCTION!

Keen to furnish some American WW2 crews for a handful of vehicles in my collection, I spotted these on eBay. 

One hundred and four hard plastic figures with a starting bid of £8, plus £4.70 postage. I immediately did some research and discovered that most of them were from boxes of Monogram PM35-98 'Fabulous GIs', in 1/35 scale. while a dozen or so were Tamiya and Esci figures. There was also ten that were 1/32 scale, make unknown. Decided to bid, and was the only bidder!

Here they are, some of which still need to be identified. (I could use some help here!) These figures were even painted quite nicely, but the colours were somewhat off. First job was to classify and number what had arrived..... I was only seeking a handful of drivers for fun projects!!!!!!

Four bazooka teams, two loading spares.

Six more joined bazooka teams, nice figures, what make???

Monogram support figures, two spare MG loaders.

Monogram infantry and radio operators.

These are 1/32 scale, hard plastic, two not shown. But what is the make, are they artillery crew, navy???

These are mainly Tamiya and Esci, many in shirts, no jackets.

Some very useful seated figures from the Monogram personnel carrier, and a few prone.

And finally, tank drivers and mortar teams.

In the late 1960s I had a handful of toy soldiers that were marked 'Made in Hong Kong', of very soft dark green plastic. They were small, and had a fair amount of flash. I now know they were inferior copies of Monogram. 

★★★★★★★★★★★★★PART TWO★★★★★★★★★★★★★

In a previous post I had converted and repainted a broken Corgi jeep, which was officially scaled 1/36. It required some work but for £2 it was not to be mocked. Well, have just picked up another two for £5, and have decided to paint-strip my first, again, to complete a pair of American jeeps. (And the Monogram figures fit perfectly.) I'll leave the third jeep as it's in good condition, shame to alter it.

Restoration work on the figures has started, twenty-two soldiers needing some repairs. The problem with 1/35 figures is that the weaponry is two thin and fragile to survive rough handling. A tricky job, I removed many of the broken gun barrels and replaced them with steel rods. Milliput restored some bazooka rockets. I really am enjoying this project, and have begun to structure how the 104 soldiers are going to be used, lots of interesting units.

With my surplus of American bazooka teams I decided to draft one to my small collection of Starlux post-WW2 French infantry. These are the first to be painted and based. Have sought to reproduce the Starlux camouflage paintwork.

Couldn't resist painting up some more. Here is a unit of Scout-Snipers. These were formed in the Pacific War, being the best marksmen. Later on, they often were selected to initiate island landings, or even attached to intelligence gathering expeditions. For game purposes I will add a dice point for shooting, and deduct another if fired upon. And a perfect reason to use those prone figures!

MGB

COMMENTS 

As previously, will reply to any post comments here, updating this post as and when. Cheers.

Hi MJT. I was looking at getting a box of Tamiya figures and then converting them to seated drivers. But they would have cost about £7 for six figures? Spotted these and placed a bid. I think I like the fact they are cheap, and damaged, I can do my own thing with them. Have taken a break from house projects to clear these figures, and I am making some real headway! I also took care to do some real research before using the paintbrush, I want to recruit some interesting and useful units.

Cheers Donnie, I know the Monogram figures were sold during the 70s, and reproduced during the 80s, so it is possible the others have some date to them too. I'm not claiming the 1/32 figures are anything great but I would like to know their portrayal before I start working on them.

Thanks Brad. I mentioned to a family member that it was among my top five bargains picked up in auctions. Those Starlux were part of a batch that cost about £9, and included 20 French figures, that is also among the top five bargains. The postWW2 French uniform was essentially the same as the American infantry, they even used Frog Skin camouflage in the Indo-Chinese War, but it is represented here in a very strange way, lol.