Britains Deetail
Hand-painted plastic figures on metal bases, popular in the 1970s–80s.
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Britains Deetail is a line of 1/32 scale (54mm) plastic toy soldiers produced by W. Britain, primarily manufactured in England during the 1970s and 1980s. The figures were hand-painted and mounted on sturdy Zamak metal bases, a design choice that improved stability and evoked the company's earlier hollowcast metal figures. Production moved to China in the early 1990s before the line was phased out.
Quick Facts
- Scale
- 1/32 (54mm)
- Material
- PVC plastic with Zamak metal bases
- Period of production
- 1970s–1980s (phased out after early 1990s)
- Sculptor
- Rod Cameron
- First figures
- WW2 American and German infantry
- Super deetail introduced
- 1978
Facts from the source article.
Background
Britains Deetail figures were developed in 1971 as a replacement for the Herald Miniatures line, which had been produced in Hong Kong since 1966. The new figures were moulded in PVC plastic rather than polythene, with plug-in arms glued to bodies to achieve poses not previously possible.
Each figure had a T-shaped footlug that locked into a rectangular metal base, ensuring they stood better than rival products and giving a heavier feel that consumers perceived as better value. The first Deetail figures depicted Second World War American and German infantry; sculptor Rod Cameron rented uniforms from theatrical costumers Berman's and Nathan's, and gave model Les Harden his air rifle to pose with. In 1978, the Super Deetail range introduced an overmoulding process that combined different coloured plastics in a single figure, starting with modern British paratroopers wearing red berets.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Britains Deetail (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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