My search for plastic soldiers starts here!

As a kid I used to play with little plastic soldiers a lot! Born in 1976 I was raised during the Cold War, and this was my strategic fantasy play of good vs. evil. I could build a setting with wooden blocks and little stones for hours and even days, then let it be for a while, and then start all over again. I do not recall actually playing a war scenario and shooting at each other. Building a setting was my cup of tea.

When He-man, Star Wars, Transformers and especially GI Joe entered my life, the little plastic soldiers got an early retirement, even before the actual Cold War came to an end... But I never got rid of them, I always kept them stored in my old Playmobil suitcases, sorted by country and set-color. And now after about 30 years they are about to be reinstated!

Now I have a five year old son that just like me likes He-man, Star Wars, Transformers, GI Joe and on top of that he likes Lego Ninjago a lot. He knows I had these plastic soldiers stacked away all these years, but he was to small of a kid, up until now... And now, just this week, over here in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) the Vierdaagse starts tomorrow. This is a four day march, in which lots of soldiers participate. Every year we stand by the side of the road to support the people attending the event. The soldiers make the biggest impression on him every year up until now. So I think this is the right time to add my old plastic soldiers to his current toy collection. Time will tell if he will enjoy them just as much as I did at his age.

I remember as a kid I had a friend called Cristian, and he always painted his soldiers in accurate color schemes. At that time I did not do that, I just wanted to play with them, but I did always look up to his patience to do this job, because it was definitely an upgrade in my opinion. So this is what I would like to pick up with my son. I have some specific sets from Matchbox and other brands I would love to paint. I the meantime he can play with some other bulk sets I purchased at the end of my plastic soldier era.

So, for this painting job I will need to find out what sets I posses. At this time I think I do know what county the sets represent, but I would love to know the specifics. I would like to know what brands they are and if my sets are all complete, what I definitely doubt. I would love to see the old box-art again! And I would love to find out what the correct color schemes are so we can start working on these little figures next couple of months.

Above is one part of the bulk sets I have. In my perception as a kid these were Australian soldiers, because of the hats they wear. I also have lots of Germans, in several different colors. For starters, these will be the ones to play with for my son. I hope he will enjoy them.

But next to them I have about 25 sets that I still have to identify. For now I have made some pictures of each individual set, and I will post them separately. During my quest I will add the information I find to these posts, so they will be updated during the process. Underneath I will make a short list of the 25 sets, and in the beginning they will be unidentified. Once I found the needed information, I will add it to the individual post, but I will update the list in this post as well.

So... Let's rock and roll!

Set 1 - Japanese Infantry (Matchbox P5007)

Set 2 - Japanese Infantry (Airfix 01718)

Set 3 - Japanese Soldiers (Esci 204)

Set 4 - Italian Mountain Troops (Esci 211)

Set 5 - British Commandos (Matchbox P5006)

Set 6 - Air Force (Atlantic 102)

Set 7 - British Paratroops (Airfix 01723)

American Infantry (Matchbox P5002) Set 8

U.S. Marines (Airfix 01716) Set 9

Australian Infantry (Airfix 01750) Set 10

French Soldiers (Esci 205) Set 11

Russian Soldiers (Esci 203) Set 12

British 8th Army (Matchbox P5005) Set 13

British Commandos (Esci 210) Set 14

British Soldiers (Esci 200) Set 15

British Paratroopers (Esci 208) Set 16

British Infantry (Airfix 01703) Set 17

German Mountain Troops (Airfix 01752) Set 18

Afrika Korps (Airfix 01711) Set 19

German Soldiers (Esci 201) Set 20

Afrika Corps (Matchbox P5004) Set 21

German Paratroops (Airfix 01753) Set 22

Set 23
Unidentified

US Paratroops (Airfix 01751) Set 24

British Commandos (Airfix 1732) Set 25

Fliers (Atlantic 103) Set 26

Source used:

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/