These days the figures are no longer made by Marx.Many of the figures are made in China.This particular set is made by the HingFat toy manufacturing company of China.here are 4 nationalities each in its own color, and at least 12 poses per nationality.You get a good variety and a good quantity for the price.Although many of the poses will be familiar, in reality these figures are slightly smallerand less detailed than the Marx figures. They are also molded of a harder plastic thatwill snap more easily than the classics. You can see lots of sprue twists and mold linesin the figures. Sculpts are not very crisp. Some of the poses are slightly out of scaleas if the molds were acquired from different sources.The Japanese soldiers in particular look like a slightly smaller scale than the others.
The photos above show the American army figures.First the uniforms were painted with a mix of olive drab and khaki green colors.Then the fleshtones were painted in.Next, the webbings and ammo holders were painted in khaki.Then boots and rifle butts were painted with an earth brown.Finally metal pieces were painted with blackened silver.In most cases I used Vallejo or Reaper acrylics, but the metallic paint was Games Workshop.Once the figures were dry, they were dunked in MinWax Polyshades Tudor paint to give thentheir shading.The shading tends to darken the figures, but it also highlightsany sculptural effects and brings out the details.The PolyShades stain/polueurethane is spirit based and messy, but unlike water-based inks and washes,the PolyShades is consistent and insensitive to the paint finish.After nearly a week of drying, the base was sprinkled with somes static grass,and the entire figure was sprayed with Krylon Matte Varnish.
The photos at right show the German army figures.These minis look like they came from multiple sets.One set has a European Heer uniform while the other set seems to have Afrika Korps uniforms.I painted the uniforms a mix of German uniform gray and gray-green.Black boots for the European uniforms, brown for the Afrika uniforms.Let them dry and djunk them in MinWax.Flock the base and paint matte varnish.
Notice the MixWax polyurethane is a little heavy on these figures.The Tudor satin is one of the darkest browns next to Black.For lighter figures you might want to use the Pecan shade.Avoid the Walnut color. It is too red.In this case I was experimenting with the mix of the Tudor stain.Normally I give the polyurethane a gentle shake or two before dipping figures.Here I gave the cans a complete mix and shake, and the figures are noticablydarker.You also can use a brush to remove any pooling or obviously dark areas (which Idid not do here).Experiment to get the shade you like.
These troops are painted much like the others.The uniform is Vallejo VP 117 "Japanese Uniform WWII".The MinWax polyurethane was only given one or two shakes before dipping.You can see the effect is more subdued from the Brits above.
Thanks for reading about my painted plastic army men.I hope you learned a few tips and can appreciate that it is funto paint up a bunch of toy soldiers.There are many free rule sets for battling with these plastic troopers,and painting the figures helps you enjoy the battles more.More miniatures and scenery photos are locatedat the Miniatures section.