A good option for the dioramist who doesn't want to ruin original Marx soldiers by painting or converting are the repos. Marx repos are made by a variety of companies but perhaps it is the Mexican companies, which continued production after the demise of the parent company, that have some of the most interesting sets. Here on Toys and Stuff we've already covered a couple of the Untouchables sets made by Juguetes Dinamicos de Mexico, S.A and with our attention focused lately on American Civil it's appropriate we take a look at one of their header bag sets. The composition of the set is really quite diverse and you get:
4 Split rail fence sections
1 Non-firing cannon
1 Sprue of cannon shells
1 Saddle
9 Confederates in 6 poses
10 Union in 8 poses
You'll notice there are Union soldiers included despite the set's name "Confederate Soldiers Set" and there were 27 pieces vs. 25 in my bag but that's quite common with header bag sets regardless of company. The plastics used by Mexican firms tend towards the brittle and while all of the pieces are molded in what would otherwise be termed 'soft plastic' (SP) there are breakage problems. The mansion, which Marx originally molded in hard plastic (HP), is done in SP and exhibits warping and breakage - a big chunk of the side wall was loose in the bag. Several soldiers suffered damage as well which you'll see in the photos. Most of the damage happened before the pieces entered the bag otherwise the broken pieces would have been inside the bag and I could perhaps have repaired them. Enjoy!
The cardboard header was held on by 10 staples!!
I guess they didn't want anyone to open the bag huh?
Original Marx cannons were HP and included metal firing pins. Repos are soft plastic with no firing pin.
The cannon shells can still be used as pieces within a diorama.
Confederates
Flag Bearer
Kneeling Firing Rifle
Laying Down, Wounded
Marching Right Shoulder Arms
Running with Rifle at Side
Yelling with Rifle Held High
Union
Flag Bearer
Kneeling Firing Rifle
Marching Right Shoulder Arms
Standing Firing Rifle
Standing Wounded
Unintended casualties
Standing Loading Rifle
Standing Waving Sword
Yelling with Rifle Held High
I cut the rifle butt off of the figure so he looks like he's just waving a fist. I guess he'll have to scrounge a firearm from the field of battle!
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