TOY SOLDIER HQ INC

IDEAL TOY SOLDIERS, FIGURES AND ITEMS IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

IDEAL

Ideal was founded by Morris & Rose Michtom about 1903 at Hollis 23, New York as the Ideal Toy and Novelty Company. In 1938 they reorganized as the Ideal Toy Company. In 1982 the company was sold to CBS Toy Company who then sold the company in 1985 to Hasbro.

Medieval Items

Castle made in 1959.

Originals were made in; gold, silver, red and yellow. REISSUES have been made in a shiny gold, shiny silver, metallic green and black.

- Made in 1953

- Crow's nest to pirate ship.

The above figures were thought to have been produced by Ideal. It has since been learned that a small company known as ANDY GARD was the true manufacturer.

Colonial, Western and Pioneer Items

Blister/bubble packs first made in 1958.

Ideal made a series of header card (later blister card) small playsets. Each set would have a soft plastic gate and two tin litho walls. A few accessories were in the same mold as each gate and were included in the header card bags. Later blister cards no longer had the accessories. Eight different sets were made using five different gates; Knight, Alamo, Dodge City, Maine Base & generic palisade fort. The generic palisade fort came with a plug in sign to denote the set; Valley Forge, Fort Pitt, Fort Laramie or Fort Yukon. In later sets the plug in holes were filled and no sign came with the sets. The knight set got the knight figures, the Marine base set got a mix of Marines and sailors, Fort Yukon got the Mounties and Eskimos while the other four sets got a mix of the 60mm red and blue colonial figures and red and yellow 54mm cowboys and Indians.

The Ideal wooden gateway was made to accept four different signs; Valley Forge, Fort Pitt, Fort Laramie & Fort Yukon. The tin walls that came with the frontier sets. The outside of the wall has shooters at windows while the inside of the walls does not correspond and instead has a peaceful scene. Many of the sets contained the red and blue 60mm figures and the yellow and blue 54mm Indians.

This accessory sprue was made in the same mold as the Frontier Fort Gate and included in header card sets. When Ideal switched to blister cards the accessories were no longer included either to cut costs or due to lack of space.

Most often found in red they were also made in tan soft plastic.

Made in1957- Made in 1958

Stagecoach with brown vinyl driver and gray horses with vinyl harnesses and reins. Coach body is red, hitch, lamps and coach top are yellow, doors are brown and wheels are black. Has yellow vinyl back flap and both spare wheels. Seen above on the right.

54mm Cowboys and Indians

The mold was made by Lido and then sold to Ideal. Ideal made them in yellow and light blue for their frontier/western header card and blister card sets and in red for their frontier boxed playsets. In the late 60s and 70s they were made in green, silver, dark blue and perhaps other colors and sold in small header card bags by Ringo Toys who may have been a subsidiary of Ideal. Always look carefully as these figures were copied in Hong Kong.

40/45mm Western Figures

Later issue "Ringo Toys" about 6 pieces.

Later "Ringo Toys" issue chuckwagon on blister card.

Wagon figures

Perhaps in response to the Marx tin "Carryall" concept Ideal made a vinyl Fort Cheyenne fold open carryall about 1970. The 45mm figures were made in Hong Kong and were not original Ideal poses but rather 45mm copies of various British company figures. The Indians are copies of; Crescent, Lone Star and Britians poses, while the foot cavalry are copies of Britains Herald figures and the mounted cavalry copies of Timpo poses. The mounted cavalry figures were made in gray rather than blue for some reason. The mounted Indians were multi color and swivel at the waist. Unlike Marx who had specific figure sets Ideal seems to have simply used a total count so sets probably do not have all the poses. We think each set should have 8 each cavalry and mounted Indians + 16 assorted horses. Also 8-10 each foot soldiers and Indians. We have seen red saddles and foot Indians may be red or brown.

In 1971 Ideal also sold a western town vinyl carry set similar to the Fort Cheyenne.

The Frozen North

Made in 1957.

Ideal Trading Post / Mountie HQ, redbrown, open back for easy access. It comes with plug in signs "Trading Post" and "Royal Mounties" that can be put on the right front + a nice sled.

The white sled dog, walking bear and penguin went with the Ideal Polar ship. The others came in header card bag sets and boxed playsets. The original figures were made in a nice soft plastic in red, blue and yellow. The recast figures were made in a stiff redbrown color.

Military Items

Great for Seabee diorama.

Ringo headercard Target Boat.

The Anzio Invader ship would come with; 1 flagman, 1 pilot and three each of the four different GIs which are scaled down 54mm versions of 60mm poses.

PT Boat, HP, colors vary. - Boat is 60mm in scale.

PT boat helmsman, HP,

Vintage launch boat and minisub.

Ideal Marine base header sets came with a mix of the Marines & Sailors + the mortar and MG.

Marine base gate, red SP = both tin walls.

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First made in 1951

H.O. Scale tank, 1975; Patton like & German like. From Game

Made in 1958 - Boxcar made in 1959.

The picture shows the items that came with the Ideal Flying Boxcar/ Globemaster cargo airplane. Figure assortment is what would be in the later circa 1964 Globemaster version. The earlier 1959 Flying Boxcar came with twice as many figures. These figures were also made in a red color and came with a hard plastic "PT" boat.

Ringo Toys sold the vehicles and figures in later years. Both were made in soft plastic and easy to distinguish from the early rubber like vinyl and figures. Not sure if the blue figure in the above photo is from the Ringo Toys production but he is also made of soft plastic and darker blue than the originals. We can not remember if the red ones we got with the PT boat were vinyl or soft plastic.

The vehicles were also done in bright colors in later years (1965-75?). Probably to draw attention and promote more sales.

- Ringo header with rocket launcher.

These were made by RAY PLASTIC (RAYLINE), NOT Ideal Gangsters

REISSUE set of 4 inch firemen. Five figures in four poses, NO accessories. Light blue.

Ideal Farm Items

Farm sets made in 1953.

Ideal made a nice set of farm implements roughly 60/65mm in size in which parts actually moved.

Hay Mower, HP with rubber wheels.

Tractor, HP with rubber wheels.

polyethylene soft plastic unless noted.

- Like others Ideal made small cars. Later reissued by Ringo Toys with the Ideal name under the roof blobbed over.

- Lighthouse sold with the Ideal Motoriffic boats. Thanks for the ID to Bob Jones.

SPACE ITEMS

Spaceship made in 1954. - Items made in 1956.

Picture courtesy David Schafer.

Picture courtesy David Schafer.

- Space motorcycle rider, green, 4-5 inch size, SHORT GUN TIP.

- Mouse Trap game diver.

- Doll House bench, red HP.

COMIC FIGURES

- Made in 1956

David Schafer was kind enough to send us the pictures below. Like Marx and Auburn, Ideal climbed aboard the Disney band wagon and produced a set of eight comic figures. All eight could be found with the the former pirate ship (same ship as sold with pirates using different colors) in yellow and white. Half sets of four figures in red and blue were sold with the raft. These are not easy to find.

Photos courtesy David Schafer.

Disney ship as seen above, MISSING; cannon, anchor, crows nest and the other mast topper.