DID YOU KNOW?

• Over 100 firms have produced plastic figures in the UK since 1945.
• Polythene was invented by accident.
• There were only about a dozen designers and sculptors creating the figures for these firms.
• Of these sculptors, one also designed coins, another designed cars, and one also sculpted erotic statues.
• The major names of the British toy industry were political refugees from mainland Europe.
• Several of the 'companies' were merely sidelines or hobbies for the owners.
• Airfix were the first to make plastic soldiers in the UK.
• Lone Star never made plastic soldiers: they were produced for them by the Harvey Toy Company.
• One major plastic toy soldier maker had a sales manager who was a hit-man in his spare time.
• The rarest figure in the world; no-one has ever reported seeing an example.
• The oldest figures shown in PW were probably made around 1900.
• Many moulds passed from firm to firm.
• Spanish plastic figures developed along very similar lines to British plastic figures.
• Some French figures can be found in lead, aluminium hard plastic and soft plastic - all made from the same moulds.