TOY SOLDIER HQ INC

MPC

MILITARY TOY SOLDIERS AND ITEMS IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

WWII AND MODERN MILITARY FIGURES

MPC made five character figures to go with their army "Camp Swampy" playset based upon the popular Beetle Bailey comic strip of the times. General Halftrack figure only marked "General".

Comical figures made in 1966 to go with their Motor masters tank. The figures are hard plastic and factory painted.

These figures were made in many colors for many roles. In green as armymen, blue as police, red as firemen, white as ski troops, brown as cowboys, yellow as farmers, flesh as construction workers and other odd colors for whatever the reason. The four "shirt and pants figures (MP116-119) were made in brown and used as cowboys. These figures were quite frustrating to many kids as they just didn't look right.

Dressed in shirts and Pants

Dressed in coveralls/jumpsuits

Dressed in uniform overcoats

Dressed in uniform

We have seen one source list that there are four different MPC WWII belts. Well as you can see above we have found 11 different belts. The top two were probably made by Marx. It is possible that when MPC made their new better GIs they made a new set of accessories. It is also possible that some of the above accessories were made by Andy Gard who modeled their accessories after MPC. In addition to the belts, you can see three different submachine guns, three different carbines, two different rifles, two different pistols, two different life belts, and three different helmets in the pictures above.

- Canadian paper flag. used either with a WWII or Western set sold in Canada.

Helicopter pilot's helmet. (NONE)

Picture courtesy Jim Mcgough.

In order to keep up with the competition MPC made a set of more realistic armymen for their ring hand series. They were better detailed than the "generic" earlier figures and much more popular with kids. They were made in green for armymen, blue for Marines, Navy, or Air Force personnel, gold as spacemen and a series of bright colors (such as hot pink!) to perhaps grab the attention of small children. The kneeling figure was made with two base styles; elongate and oval shaped as can be seen to the below. In later years the mold was revised to make the bases smaller to perhaps use less plastic.

Figure pulled out of mold too quickly and makes a good casualty, purple.

Copies made in Mexico.

The Andy Gard 54mm figures are often mistaken for MPC figures. What we have for sale will be found in the "All Other Vintage USA Made" sales list. They are the same size as MPC & Carzol. A company known as CARZOL in Canada copied the later MPC military ringhand poses. Not very common. Each is marked Carzol and has a mold cavity number under the base.

MPC GI ringhand copies made by Carzol of Canada in a Plasticraft header card bag. No wonder we get confused.

NONE - Plasticraft No. 9029 Cobra Division Combat Troops with Interchangeable Parts. About 8-10 figures + a bunch of accessories.

SKI PATROL

MPC made the generic ringhands in white and sold them as ski troops. Some may have also served as medical personnel. Accessories found in white seem to be the same for ski and medical sets.

Other white accessories some may be used in medical sets.

2 piece box/foot locker.

U.S. stretcher.

Cot marked U.S.

Flag base for wooden dowel pole.

Paper red cross flag on a stick.

These figures have been identified as being made by Andy Gard

Army tent, HP, all poles intact with two SP cots & two SP foot lockers.

1982 Playset with odd colors in the figures and using XL5 accessories. See Space items for those accessories.

See below for availability.

Jeep Trailer -

Please note we now believe silver tracked vehicles to be made by Andy Gard and those with black tracks by MPC.

Sandbag wall -

- 8.00 Helicopter, maybe 45mm; NONE .

Tents came either with short plastic legs or wooden dowels for support. These support pieces are usually missing.

Tanks are marked Multiple Toymakers made in Hong Kong and are roughly 1/72 scale. Figures with plug in heads and other accessories 1/32. Look like Vietnam War Special Forces to us.

WWII Japanese Infantry

WWII Russian Figures

In later years MPC made their figures in new colors. The Russians were made in blue, red, gray & bright green.

WWII German Infantry

German Toter picture courtesy Jesse Sanders.

New Marx C0 1990s Battleground commemorative set. Only Marx pieces in the set are the two space cannons (German nebelwefers??). The 60 figures and both pillbox fronts were made from ex MPC molds so we list the set here. Also included are Sherman & Tiger II tanks made by BMC, two balsa gliding airplanes and some generic accessories from perhaps Hong Kong. Comes in a nice box and would make a good Christmas present.

1977 catalog - - Battling Buddies, 5 inch figures.

Photo cOurtesy Chris Salomon.

Like their 5-6 inch cowboys and Indians, the MPC large scale GIs came with separate accessories. There are ten poses each with two accessories and they were made in green and metallic blue.