Cherilea Toys
 

https://i.imgur.com/O1eVAeP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/EGc4sus.jpg

Cherilea were well known for their large figures' highly animated and often flamboyant poses, so they were especially limited when it came to the rigidly organised world of The Guards. They made up for this in part by producing a set of bandsmen (see the Drum Major in post #143)

Timpo Toys 1
 

https://i.imgur.com/w1Kfciw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RBaDhl1.jpg

Fairly crude early plastic figures using the moulds from lead/tin soldiers - bit before my time (repaints)

Timpo Toys 2
 

https://i.imgur.com/Fjm3YYg.jpg

Timpo developed figures that didn't require painting by simply moulding ALL of their parts in different-coloured plastics, a technique only used in a limited way until then by companies like Crescent and Britains

They were always very cheap to buy compared to Britains and we tended to rate them pretty low on the expendability scale during battles, as they were a bit naff looking anyway (with poses making half the army look as though it was disco-dancing)

They couldn't, however, have the guards regiments disco-dancing, so these weren't too bad - in fact that horse looks very nice by most standards

https://i.imgur.com/2Jk1VFj.jpg Saturday Night Fever, 1776

Z is for Zang
 

https://i.imgur.com/im6ESZk.jpg

One of the most famous designers of toy soldiers ever was Roy Selwyn-Smith, who began developing his miniature masterpieces while working for the Zang Plastics Company in the 1940's. Their range of figures, first distributed by Britains then ultimately bought out by the larger company, became known as Herald Miniatures (identifiable by the medieval trumpeter on the base). But his very earliest creations were marketed as "Zang" and had an odd geometric logo underneath - or sometimes nothing at all

Here's a Zang guardsman standing next to one of Selwyn-Smith's later Herald guardsmen - the improvement in his skill is evident. Note that the early figure shows a grenadier wearing white webbing straps over his shoulders, so is more representative of a Victorian/Edwardian guardsman - they don't wear these any more

Toy soldiers have come quite the way, not sure how they get such intricate sculpts now https://micshaunscloset.com/collecti...s-of-san-diego

Some crackin examples there :yep:

Cavendish Miniatures
 

https://i.imgur.com/c4R7cOb.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oFYgxX4.jpg

65mm Lifeguard of the Household Cavalry Division. Another of the figures that Cavendish produced for the toursts. He has a plug-on right arm, allowing for other options such as a standard-bearer. A great quality figure (repainted)

https://i.imgur.com/ziHueLa.jpg

A close copy of the Cavendish Lifeguard, 68mm and probably by Charbens, another old English maker. He's pretty good but not as good - and he doesn't stand up well

https://i.imgur.com/WdRirFf.jpg Two Crescent 75mm Lifeguards (repainted)

Way back when, I had some of these exact fellows https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KQYAA...w0/s-l1600.jpg

They were given to me by our expat neighbor whose first husband was lost in the Battle of Britain. She later remarried a Yank.

^ These are guardsmen made when Britains transferred manufacturing of the Herald figures to Hong Kong around the late 1960s. They were made from a PVC type material, as were many of the later ranges such as "Deetail", which led to many having bent weapons

https://i.imgur.com/DR1zkgC.jpg

I took this photo a while back to point up the differences - most of the figures made in China seem to have had the moulds re-worked, some much more than others. In this case you can see how the officer's face is different and some detail has been added to the fur of the bearskin. Also, many of the Hong Kong soldiers, knights, etc featured a plug-on base in a green plastic. The painting was also greatly simplified

Louis Marx & Co
 

https://i.imgur.com/spFTgu8.jpg

Magnificent 75mm Household Cavalry by US maker Marx, although these here were made by them in Swansea, Wales, and can be distinguished from US made figures by the type of plastic used - I believe all those made in the US were in hard plastic, whereas those in the UK were in an 'unbreakable' polythene

https://i.imgur.com/ppYZUWY.jpg

These are by far the best looking of all and paint up really well - they're in a cream coloured plastic so can be painted either as Life Guards (red tunics, white plumes) or Blues & Royals (dark blue tunics, red plumes)

https://i.imgur.com/D8JGk45.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Ygj85a9.jpg

The photos above show two different mouldings of the marching figure, one for a trooper and the other an officer with lanyards. I hadn't realised these were two different figures until recently. There is also a figure without breastplate. I shan't go into all of the permutations of uniform but there are very many - such as which soldiers wear a breastplate and which don't; the colours of horses and their sheepskin saddlecloths; odd regimental individuals such as the Farrier, who carries an axe and has a black plume - this is a really fascinating but separate study

https://i.imgur.com/G6DMBZU.jpg Officer without breastplate

https://i.imgur.com/TXFM1SI.jpg

60mm Lone Star figure (centre) with two slightly smaller soldiers by a company known variously as GE MODELS, GEMODELS or GEM MODELS. These are very small compared to the Marx figures

Lone Star was a very widespread toy figure brand in the 60's and, like Crescent Toys, they also made a lot of diecast big-guns as well as other vehicles. This Blues & Royals trooper is very well detailed, the Gem Models less so

https://i.imgur.com/mjLPIwh.jpg

Charbens
 

https://i.imgur.com/gJNiEre.jpg

This appears to be a Charbens 65mm plastic figure from an early lead hollowcast mould - not very accurate but it is 1940s-50s vintage. Repainted

Timpo
 

https://i.imgur.com/SFOVEDN.jpg

Another very early (1950s) plastic from a hollowcast lead mould, so pretty basic - about 60mm

Britains
 

https://i.imgur.com/A02ZL5W.jpg

Blues & Royals trooper from Britains' "Eyes Right" range - the best

Britains/Herald
 

https://i.imgur.com/9XJiNGQ.jpg

Britains moved production of their 'Herald' range to Hong Kong in the 1960s. After that the figures were more basically moulded and painted, but still great looking toy soldiers

Britains always did make an effort to keep the uniform codes accurate too - which I was typically very fussy about as a kid

Cherilea Toys
 

https://i.imgur.com/gtR3v8q.jpg

British maker Cherilea produced these 70mm troopers which were similar to the Marx ones although not copied (repainted)

HILCO
 

https://i.imgur.com/TXXqIeX.jpg

John Hill & Co. produced these (unrestored) figures in the 1950s or 60s

https://i.imgur.com/v9Nk0wG.jpg

Copying was common in the world of toy soldiers back then and these show some examples: First is Hilco v Cherilea, then two more Hilco figures alongside identical poses by Marx

http://i.imgur.com/yq1bxaN.jpg

Couldn't get too much info on this Gem....."Tin soldier ( brand? ) 54mm Crazy Horse Dancer."

For their show they were coached ( sounds better than drilled ) by a real life Sgt Major.