Copyright 2008 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
When I first tried homecasting back in the 70s, I had a set that included a pair if three-cavity milds. One made US soldiers: a charging rifleman, mine sweeper and officer with binoculars. The other made three Germans. Both those molds are gone, but I managed to get another copy of the US mold. I also acquired one that made two riflemen and a machine gunner with .30 caliber water-cooled machine gun.
World War II is one of the top genre for military miniature collectors. It is second only to the Civil War in America, and holds its place worldwide against the Civil War and the Napoleonic Era. For those of my generation, it loomed large because most boys had parents and older relatives who had fought in that conflict. "The War" was still a tremendous influence even in the 1950s. The figures depicted on this page were sculpted at that time, by the way. They were copied for molds by the predecessor of Castings Inc.
World War II burst on the United States with such intensity that our Army scrambled to get things together. One problem was uniforms. Our nation's inventories were in the midst of a change form older khaki uniforms to newer ones in olive drab. The result was an army outfitted in a variety of old and new items. Troops wore khaki and brown drab, dark olive drab, sage green and any color in between. That is half the fun of painting World War II figures: variety.
The figures illustrated here show a little of that variety.
Along with U.S. soldier, one occasionally came across British figures. Herein we have three such soldiers which were known worldwide, thanks to a company named Herald. They were copies and made into molds here in the U.S. The figures on this page are examples of traditional metal army men.
Ironically enough, the "modern army" of my day had more in common with World War II than the U.S. Army of the 21st Century. Our boots were black and our rifles were M16s, but we still had green fatigues and steel pots and webbed gear made of natural fabric. Today's Army looks very different from ours.
|
American soldiers cast from Castings Inc three-cavity metal molds. These were all copies of Timpo brand figures. |
|
American machine-gunner from the same molds. Another Timpo figure copy. |
|
Three British Infantry from a three-cavity Castings Inc mold. These are copies of Herald brand figures depicting 1950s style British troops. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
