I acquired a whole pile of 1950’s - 1960’s Lido
toy soldiers recently. They came with a
stack of rubber Auburn half-tracks and tanks,
all for the amazing price of twenty five bucks (pretty good haul if you ask
me). Most of the Lido
army men had broken rifles so they’ll get some repair and be painted up as WWII
Nationalist Chinese troops. I think this
suits the Lidos…as toy soldiers, frankly, they are worthless unless they are
glued to a base. I guess the toy
geniuses thought that putting out an army man that barely stands unless you
sink him knee deep in sandbox dirt was a good idea. You might as well set up a few hundred side
by side and watch them tumble over, ala “falling dominoes”.
Despite a cheap and “cost effective” approach
by Lido (no base, less plastic, less money),
the figures themselves do have some value.
They have enough detail to make them usable if they are painted up,
despite the proportion problem of having big feet, rail thin bodies, funky
clunky weapons and clown-sized buttons on their uniforms…
