Mergin' soldiers: cowboys, knights and little green privates

Small figures don't feature much on MC apart from small astronauts.

It's odd really because toy soldiers in the widest sense filled my own childhood and I imagine many others.

Staples were normal Airfix soldiers and the HO versions of them too. I used to pack them into the uber-cool Airfix Alvis Transporter and blast the whole lot with my die-cast UFO Interceptor missile and SHADO 3. Great fun!

Little green men were joined often by those other plastic warriors from earlier epochs: cowboys and knights in armour.

The cowboys were small plastic figures stood on plastic bases. I assume that they were Timpo. Maybe Britains? All the body parts came apart and could be re-assembled as another figure. I remember finding the plastic scalp stump on their un-hatted heads hilarious as a kid.

There were some beautiful small plastic parts: stetsons, neckerchiefs, belts and holsters. Above all of these though were the tiny silver revolvers, which slotted into the holsters. I adored those little pistols and would recognise them a mile off!

Another favourite plastic fighter was the knight. I loved knights in armour and had loads of the small chunky silver fellows. Many were on horseback replete with halberds and lances ready for the joust. There were standing figures with axes, standards and swords too. It's hard to explain just how much I liked these knights in armour as a kid. Again I assume that they were Timpo but they may have again been Britains. Not sure. I have often thought about collecting these chaps again and maybe I will in my retirement in four years!

Thinking about my old plastic chums has stirred memories of other figures with die-cast metal bases which I had. I think these were Britains and came in window or even open fronted boxes. They were in fact small dioramas. There was a brilliant mortar unit featuring two soldiers and a working mortar. I also had a Karate diorama with two fighting Karateka.

A final stirring of the grey matter has netted another Britains toy. Not a figure as such but rather a Police Motorcycle. It may have had a figure sat on but for me the memorable feature was the small telephone and an aerial on the bike. It stood up too by way of a small stand. A true thing of beauty! Ah, those were the days!

Did you like toy soldiers, cowboys and knights readers? Your memories and pictures welcomed!