History of Britains Deetail Plastic Toy Soldiers in Argentina

 Beautiful Hand Painted Plastic Toy Soldiers and Accessories 

During the 1970s many of the 54mm (1:32 Scale) Britains Deetail and Herald toy soldier molds were moved to Argentina to reduce production costs. The molds eventually became the property of the Crovetto family, a toy manufacturer that produced the British 8th Army, German Afrika Korps, French Foreign Legion, Arabs and Mexican Bandit figures as well as 7th Cavalry, Indians, Cowboys and Royal Guards. The sets were manufactured earlier in Hong Kong with a plastic base replacing the traditional metal base.

All colors used in the manufacture and painting of these early recast figures were a direct copy of the original Britains standard of only four colors per figure. The most obvious change was the introduction of a plastic base as opposed to the original metal base. This being done with the sole purpose of reducing costs.

Other cost cutting measures during this time period included the replacement of the Deetail horses with Herald horses. Only a single horse pose was produced (and in one color only!). The remaining metallic weapons were also replaced by plastic weapons in all figures. The replacement weapons were Britains Swoppett style and not the more common Deetail plastic weapons. The figures were produced under the banner of Britains Herald and were sold only in Argentina. Due to the poor overall quality and relatively high price the figures failed to generate enough interest and production was ended.

The molds are now in the possession of Mr. Enrique De Saint George, an energetic and enthusiastic toy soldier collector and founder of DSG. Mr. De Saint George has started producing these Deetail and Herald figures once more with a focus on the collector market. New production and paint standards along with a meticulous attention to detail have resulted in a superior and highly sought after product line.

The vastly improved quality of these figures may well have influenced the decision by Racing Champions to withdraw the license allowing W Britain to focus on their popular Britains Super Deetail Plastic figures including WWII German infantry, British infantry, Japanese infantry and US Army infantry as well as 7th Cavalry, Indians, Cowboys, American Civil War Union and Confederate figures and Medieval knights. The painting and manufacturer of the DSG figures is closely supervised by Mr. De Saint George and he takes great pride in producing the models for his artists to replicate.

The paint applied to each figure is identical to the original Britains Deetail standard. Although the original Deetail figures had a maximum of just four paint colors, DSG has no such limitations and applies as many paint colors as necessary to achieve a high level of detail and authenticity. DSG has also mastered the use of different colored plastics to allow for new and custom figure sets including Napoleonic French Grenadiers, Napoleonic British Infantry, US 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers (Indian Wars), US Rough Riders (Spanish-American War), American Civil War Confederate Quantrill's Raiders, WWI French infantry, WWII German Mountain Troops, WWII German SS Troops, WWII Canadian infantry, WWII French infantry and so much more.