Toy Soldier Saturday: IDEAL GIs (Part 2)

Here's the rest our hard-bitten Ideal troop. Their brothers-in-action are HERE. 

More Toy Soldiers (and some non-soldiers) HERE.

Toy Soldier Saturday: IDEAL GIs (Part 1)

These 60mm heroes (about 3" tall) appear to be the work of the same fine sculptor who gave us the Ideal Pirates (HERE) and the Ideal Navy (HERE). Wouldn't be surprised if he also did the Ideal Knights (HERE). As you see, they came in several colors. I'm thinking the light brown guys are the oldest. The plastic has a different texture, both harder and more pliable. We'll meet the rest of this squinty-eyed squad in a future post.

Toy Soldiers keep marching on HERE.

Toy Soldier Saturday: IDEAL NAVY

These 60mm (2 3/4") sailors were no doubt designed by the same sculptor who did the Ideal pirates (HERE). Dang, that guy was good. The figures shown here, like the pirates, are made of rubbery, pliable plastic. I have a couple more poses from later years in milky, almost translucent white plastic that photograph about as well as ghosts, so I left them out. 

The blue guy above has turned away because the left side of his face is horribly disfigured. Ah, the horrors of war. The swab below looks almost like he could have been included in the pirate crew.

More midget armies HERE.

Toy Soldier Saturday: IDEAL Pirates

These pirates were made to scale for a plastic Ideal pirate ship. I once had a chance to pick one up at a reasonable price, but was too cheap. One of my great regrets. I found a pic online that I posted at bottom. 

Note that this sculptor was far more talented than the one who did the Ideal 7th Cavalry (HERE). I believe this same guy did the Ideal GIs and sailors (coming soon).

Our Toy Soldier arcade is HERE.

Toy Soldier Saturday: IDEAL 7TH CAVALRY

These Ideal 7th Cav guys are peculiar in that they don't look like Ideal figures. Most Ideal soldiers were sculpted as finely as those of Marx. If anything, Ideal figures were even more finely sculpted, along the lines of Greek or Roman statues. .

Not so with this bunch. The poses are awkward and the bodies ill-formed. Rather than looking ready for battle, they seem about to belt out an opera or break into ballet. Ideal also had peculiar ideas about horse colors. You should (or actually shouldn't) see the orange ones.

More Toy Soldiers HERE.

Toy Soldier Saturday: IDEAL Knights

These 70mm soft plastic figures (about 3" tall) were sold in the late '50s and maybe early '60s. There was also a charging horse (great for jousting). Don't know if there were any other humans in the set. 

More Toy Soldiers HERE.