Materials used for model making

There is a hugh variety of toy soldiers and figures available on the market today. There are several factors which will have to be considered before you part with your money, such as the size or 'scale' of the soldiers; materials, including plastic, metal, and rubber; and what era the soldier will be in.

There are many different types of materials that have been used to make toy soldiers; however, most manufacturers and collectors prefer to specialize in plastic and metal. Metal soldiers were orginally made out of lead, which was found out to be harmful when out in the mouth and has since been banned from use in toys. Since the banning of lead, tin is often used as the substitute which is non-toxic and easy to work with. Even though tin is considered safe for children, a child has to be 14 or over to buy one! When it comes down to cost, metal is obviously more expensive than plastic and a lot more fragile. Plastic figures have less chance of breaking and it is cheap. Quality depends on the manufacturer too!

Wood and rubber is sometimes used in toy soldier production but are less common than there plastic and metal counterparts.

Information on scale modeling

Toy soldiers can be very small or relatively large, typically 12mm small up to 300mm tall. The most popular scale for toy soldiers is 54mm or 1/32nd. Most manufactureres specialize in this scale and this is the size that collectors are most interested in. They are not so big as to require a lot of effort in painting them, yet they are small enough to fit into a small space, on a moch battlefield for instance. Whether it is metal, plastic, wood or rubber, the 54mm scale is the number one.

The HO scale is the second most popular in the world of toy soldier production and is 3/4" high or about 18-20mm. The smaller size of teh HQ soldier allows wargamers to amass greater armies in a much smaller space compared with the the 54mm soldiers. The only problem is when it comes to painting the soldiers and it is difficult to get the same deyail on the 54mm models. Neverless, the HQs are still popular and come in both plastic and metal.

Another less popular scale is the 60mm scale. Examples of this scale are the Marx Warriors of the World and many European figures that are made of plastic. Many collectors mix the two sizes up on display work and on the field but some say thios makes the collection look odd and misshaped. However, ona real battlefield, soldiers of any platoon in the world will never be all the same size, so you could argue that these purists are being odd.