Thursday, June 28, 2007
Michigan Toy Soldier Company Trip
On The Shelves
This past week, I took a trip to visit the Michigan Toy Soldier Company in Royal Oak, Michigan. You can see photos of the visit here.
It’s an amazing store, filled to the brim with a wide variety of large scale metal and plastic toy soldiers. Some of the brands they carry include Britains, Armies In Plastic, Marx, Dragon, Forces in Valor, Frontline, Andrea and the St. Petersburg Collection.
While they don’t carry historical wargaming scales, such as 6mm, 15mm and 25mm, they have everything you could possibly want in 1:72 and 1:32 scales (54mm). On a previous visit, I picked up several boxes of late 1800s British, Sikhs and Afghans from Armies in Plastic for a large scale skirmish game. They painted up very nicely and made for a good game (you can see photos here.)
I was tempted on my recent visit by large bags of very finely sculpted 54mm World War II figures, and by American Civil War figures in the same scale. One of the advantages of using such figures is that you also can get plastic buildings and terrain pieces in the same scale for a price that is much more reasonable than 25mm terrain. They are generally not as well done as the smaller scale terrain pieces, being intended originally as toys, but with a bit of customizing, they could look very nice indeed.
My six year old came away with three bags of partially painted plastic toy vikings and knights—about 40 figures for twenty dollars. He really wanted some of the die cast airplanes and tanks, but I managed to talk him out of those. The store had a large number of plastic figures loosely packed in bags, including the aforementioned Vikings, Knights, and Romans.
Michigan Toy Soldier also has a very large selection of Papo (and similar) figures that straddle the line between toys and collector figures, and of miniatures primarily designed for display (such as Pegaso figures).
Although they don’t really carry any “wargaming” figures, Michigan Toy Soldiers does cary several wargaming magazines, including the now expired Wargames Journal, Wargames Soldiers and Strategy, Vae Victus and Miniature Wargames. There’s also a good selection of paints, brushes and other general hobby supplies.
But even if you don’t have any interest in gaming with large figures, and buy your paints and magazines elsewhere, it’s worth taking a trip to the store just to see the many showcases of finely painted large scale miniatures.
Michigan Toy Soldier
1400 East 11 Mile Road
3/4 of a Mile West of I-75 (Exit 62), 2 Miles East of Woodward Ave., (Between Campbell and Main St.)
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Phone 248.586.1022
Fax 248.586.9934
Store Hours, Eastern Standard Time:
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday:
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thursday and Friday:
11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday:
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Entry Permalink and Comments | Email this entry | List All Posts By Category
Didn't find what you wanted? Try our exclusive Miniature Wargaming Search Engine.
Comments:
No comments yet.