New Toy Soldiers added to the collection

None of my planned wargaming projects for 2024 actually required any new purchases this year, but on a Norwegian online marketplace I recently found an interesting lot of a collection of cheap looking toy soldiers/ army men. Since I could get the whole lot for $48,78/£38,40/€44,55 including shipping, not buying them was actually not an option. The market for new or used toy soldiers and army men is very limited in Norway, and lots like this are rare for a reasonable price.

So What did I get for $48,78/£38,40/€44,55???

First impressions was that there were various figures from various manufacturers in various scales.
Most of them seems to be Hong Kong copies of Airfix' US infantry, German infantry and 8th Army. But there was some 'originals there as well.

There were 16 original 1:32 scale Matchbox German Infantry. Only one rifle and1 handgrenade was broken:

There were 44 Hong Kong copies of Airfix' German Infantry, 50mm-ish:

There were 48 Hong Kong copies of 40mm German infantry with helmets based on Airfix German infantry and Africa Corps:

The Africa Corps soldiers with helmets to the left, and their German infantry counterparts to the right. Very nice that the guy with the submachine gun finally had a weapon based upon a real one.

There were 37 Hong Kong copies of Airfix 8th Army, slightly smaller than their originals:

There were 20 Hong Kong Copies of Airfix US infantry, again slightly smaller than their originals...

...-But to same size as 13 similar figures:

In this lot there were also some few copies of Airfix American infantry in different small scales, closer to 40mm height:

There were also some very few single figures copied from the Airfix range:

And there were 3 casualtiesto similar scale as the 8th Army. I'm not sure who made the originals, as I've never seen these before. Anyone who knows?

At the bottom of the box there was also some 'casualties of play' I guess a couple of them can be rebased or used for  conversions- or paint-tests.

There were also some vehicles, tanks and planes included in the lot. The gun, fortification and amphibious jeep are closer to the larger figures in this lot.

I think this was a good deal, and good value for money for almost 200 figures. As I initially said, I didn't actually need these new figures for any of my planned wargaming projects this year. -But, now as I got these extras, I've got a resource if I want to try out some figure conversions and some new wargaming scenarios, themes or periods. Too bad, it seems like Thor Sheil's salvaged website is 'down' again, so I can't access his section for 'troop substitusions' to see his suggestions for 'the 8th Army figures'. Anyone who remember or saved a screenshot of it??
Time will show.

So, do you think this was value for money?

A January Workbench update

2024 is still very new, and I'm impressed when I read other wargaming- and modelling blogs when I see how active many of those bloggers are all ready starting to realizing their plans for the new year. As stated in my previous blogpost I also have several plans for 2024, but my activity is merely up to the level of some of my fellow bloggers. Just before Christmas I read a fun meme on a Facebook-group I follow that the working space on our workbenches are usually very small, often just a few square inches, due to other projects, mess and general clutter we keep collecting there. -When I took a look at my own workbench, I recognized the meme as mine was just a mess after several projects in December. So I actually started this year not to realize any of my modelling plans, but to just tidy up my workbench, and hobbyroom/mancave in general as it was much needed. Now I don't think anyone who are reading this blog are very interested in reading about my cleaning, but now it was finally cleared some space to work on my planned 2024-projects. -So I'll share some images from my January workbench and those few projects I've barely started so far this year as teasers on what to  expect on this blog in the time to come instead. More info on each one of them will eventually follow in own blog-posts as I don't want to reveal too much yet:

An overview of my workbench and current projects after I made space there for them

Another 'bucket of soldiers'??

What is this, or what can it turned into?? These still  needs some more work, tweaking and adjustments before I'm happy.

Another Top Secret workbench-project just hiding away from the public, or is it crumbled household paper that's so useful for cleaning up spills etc???

And sometimes I try do do some smaller printer-jobs for my fellow MRC members in between my own projects.

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Stay tuned!