My Plastic Army

A little about myself.My name is John Mooney and I live in Ireland.I am 55 years of age and I am part of that first generation of children whose leisure time was influenced by television.I recall truly great TV shows like "Maverick","Bronco","Cheyenne" and many many more.

Like most boys of my age,I played with toy soldiers and my favourite figures were "Robin Hood" figures and "US Cavalry" figures.I dont suppose it was coincidence that my two very favourite TV shows were "The Adventures of Robin Hood"(starring the great Richard Greene) and a little remembered western called "Boots And Saddles".

So in my house in Belfast,Ireland in the early 1960s was a wooden "Fort Laramie" which was inhabited by a strange collection of military figures,mostly U S Cavalrymen,some Civil War figures including Confederate deserters,and occasional refugees from Sherwood Forest,the French Foreign Legion and even some Astronauts caught in a bizarre Time Tunnel.

I guess our living room floor was no different from thousands or millions accross the world.Some time around 1967,the fort and its strange garrison was gifted to a younger cousin but still very occasionally when visiting my mothers house,I come accross the odd much played with plastic figure.Or more likely at swap meets etc,I see a Lone Star or Crescent figure,or cereal box figure...a brother-in-arms of my old multi-national,multi-ethnic Brigade of Heroes.

In the mid 1980s,I found myself happily married to a beautiful lady who has given me two wonderful sons and the excuse to play with toy soldiers again.When my sons reached "toy soldier age",I was initially disappointed to find that the plastic warriors of my generation were now overlooked in favour of more directly TV merchandised toys such as the Ninja Turtles.Worse,some manufacturers such as the fore-mentioned Lone Star and Crescent had disappeared.

I was however happy to see that some brave adult souls were doing their best to keep alive those gloriously happy play days of the 1950s and 1960s.

I was actively collecting plastic figures from 1986 to 1993 when we moved house(many figures were "lost in action" during the upheaval)and became active again in 2001.Many thanks to my long-suffering and patient wife who never....well very rarely...complains about model paint stains on the carpet and is very supportive of me.

I should point out that I am not a Wargamer and I am not interested in Militaria.I am however very interested in Irish history and American history.I am not a model maker or diorama maker.My interest is solely buying cheap plastic figures,painting them to my best ability and moving on to the next project.I only collect 1:32 scale.

In terms of numbers,I only have about 1,900 figures.My favourite figures are Airfix,Accurate and Timpo.