More Combat Mission 80 pound store plastic soldiers – Part 2.

Previously on Pound Store Plastic Warriors we looked at my favourite charging figure out of the pack of Combat Mission 80 Soldiers.

https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2017/06/10/combat-mission-80-plastic-pound-store-soldiers-part-1-charge/

There was another slender plastic old toy soldier style figure inside the pack that caught my eye, advancing with a sub machine gun.

A group of these roughly 42mm figures would make another fine SMG Sub Machine Gun unit all advancing together.

My Sub Machine Gun Regiment advances in formation.

The original figure might have been an Airfix WW2 German Infantryman, shown here for size comparison. The pose also reminds me of several 1950s and 60s US infantry plastic soldiers that I have (somewhere!)

Airfix WW2 54mm German Infantry next to the smaller 42mm Combat Mission 80 soldier.

Crude as they are, they have loosened into a useful generic Imagi-Nations modern infantry type, much like the Italian made Atlantic “Euro Infantry”.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/tintin-and-imagi-nations-games/

The lack of detail might appal some and appeal to others; it becomes useful, something that is often said about my favourite slender 15mm figures by Peter Laing. With a paintbrush you can pretty much adapt these loose or lightly detailed figures to many periods.

For those pound store figures just with rifles, these could even be taken back to the 19th century with their equipment and simple headgear as I have tried to do with the red coat toy soldier style of painting. This is something that James at Quantrill’s Toy Soldiers has been doing too with the odd hat plume or Milli – putty Green Stuff slouch hat

http://quantrillstoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/how-to-make-horse-hair-plumes-for.html

http://quantrillstoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/ruritanian-tropical-uniform-4th-infantry.html

Grenade!

Another slimmer or slender figure from the Combat Mission 80 Soldiers pack is based on the very familiar Airfix WW2 German Infantryman throwing a stick grenade. The China made version has a distinctively different sort of grenade, more like a Home Guard sticky bomb!

L to R: Airfix 54mm original, Hong Kong / China copy and my recent Combat Mission 80 China copy of the WW2 infantry German Stick grenade thrower.

I should be able to muster a unit of about about 24 of these plucky  rifle grenadiers.

http://www.airfixtoysoldiers.com/set_list.htm

Over Here 

The other Airfix figures raided for this pack include American infantry.

Combat Mission 80 China made copies of Airfix WW2 US Infantry.

Airfix 54mm original figures on left of each pair.

Red Devil Paras

One of the other Airfix ranges raided is the WW2 British Paratroops.

Combat Mission 80 versions of Airfix British Paratroopers.

Airfix original WW2 British paratroops on the left paired next to the Combat Mission versions.

Combat Mission 80 China made version of the Airfix WW2 paratroop figure with change to a helmet rather than beret, just like the officer figure.

Airfix original with paratroop beret on left, followed by the helmeted copies from different pound store packs.

Other pound store copies

Copies of the famous Airfix WW2 British Paratroopers have cropped up in my other pound store packs of China made plastic Soldiers over the last ten years. Even older copies turn up inscribed Hong Kong, presumably pre 1997.

Airfix original second from left, next to a rather good Hong Kong copy first left. The other smaller two on the right are recent China made pound store copies.

Airfix original  WW2 Paratrooper (Far Right) next to three China made pound store copies, including one I painted with red coat Toy Soldier paint style.

Spot the Airfix original …

There are other websites out there that focus on plastic figures and their copies, notably Small Scale World: http://smallscaleworld.blogspot.co.uk This site has an impressive web list to explore the world of plastic figures.

Brian Carrick’s site http://toysoldiercollecting.blogspot.co.uk also has good plastic soldier coverage and web links.

A fun summer of pound store plastic unit painting awaits.

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN for Pound Store Plastic Warriors blog, June 2017.