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The most popular eras for plastic soldiers were "Modern" troops (World War II to 1970), Wild West figures, Spacemen. the American Civil War and Medieval knights. World War I troops may have been popular as lead figures, but they were uncommon in plastic. Of course, for figures made in the 1920s and 1930s, the World War I style uniform was quite "modern." The first plastic soldiers with the flat trench helmet were troops of the late 1930s, with a very different cut of uniform. Beton soon replaced those flat helmets with a standard M1 field helmet. .The only World war I figures made were part of a small playset. They were undersized flat types, molded in red, and there were three or four of them packed with a couple of biplanes and a rhomboid-shaped tank. Airfix introduced World war I troops in 20mm, but no larger troops appeared in significant enough numbers to be noticed.
In the last few years, a company called Armies in Plastic has been issuing its own sets of World War I figures. These look pretty good. (For historical reasons, we needed some kind of World War I soldiers for the Army Men Homepage. Fortunately, the AIP brand is a good set of figures and fits the bill.)
The US Marines and US Army are the same figures, just different shades of brownish green. These four advancing figures include riflemen plus a BAR gunner.and trooper armed with a shotgun. The plastic is a PVC rubber-like type, a bit too flexible. |
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The figures have good proportions and the poses are well-animated. |
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Here are a grenade thrower, officer with pistol and two riflemen in the "standard" poses. Again, poses and animations are good. That pack on the solders' chests holds their gas masks. |
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