Review: Classic Tim Mee World War II Soldiers

BMC and Tim Mee have been bringing a lot of classic figures back to market. A few months back, they offered recasts of the Lido Combat Soldiers. Now they have issued copies of the Tim Mee World War II soldiers. The set has 11 poses and is cast in olive drab plastic. There are 28 figures in the bag.

These figures did not come from original Tim Mee molds. Back in the old days, two other companies offered their own copies of the Tim Mee figures: Dell and D&K. Jeff Imel, owner of BMC, managed to acquire the D&K mold. The result is a new run of classic figures for a new generation of collectors.

The Tim Mee World War II figures, as well as the Dell and DK copies, were very common  in the 1950s and 1960s. Bags of them could be found in toy stores, 5 & 10s, candy stores and general stores. The only figures as common were Lido “flat feet”. (Marx was only sold in a few select stores.) At less than a buck a bag, you got a lot. There were many poses of infantry in the Tim Mee set. More often than not, there was also another items. A Jeep, a cannon, maybe even a “deuce and a half” truck. Many also came with a paper flag on a thin wooden dowel with a round plastic base that simulated cobblestone.

One thing that made the Tim Mee soldiers desirable was their bases. Lido figures tended to fall over. Tim Mee soldiers stayed up until you deliberately knocked them down.

The D&K copies are a little smaller than those from the Tim Mee mold. Some say they are less detailed, but they look okay to me. Keep in mind I have handled these figures since the 1950s. Good is good, and they are as good now as they were 60 years ago. The Combat Soldiers are toy soldiers. They were never intended to be 100% accurate military miniatures.

These troops look like American soldiers circa 1944 - 1955.  They are great for World War II and the Korean War. We used to have these with the Tim Mee Jeeps and cannons and the Army trucks. This is a good set of soldiers to fill in your collection.


Here is what I got in mine

5 guys with bayonet
5 guys with bayonet overhead
5 officers with pistol
3 minesweepers
2 submahcien gunner
2 marchers
2 heavy machien gunners
1 grenade guy
1 crawling guy
1 prone shooter
1 radio guy

Apparently, you get at least one of each pose. The additional 17 figures are picked randomly, just like they did in the old days.

Soldiers with the Tim Mee Jeep and Cannon

Size is a little smaller than the original Tim Mee figures. The figures are mostly in the 55mm range, with the marcher 62mm from head to foot. Compare sizes with a full-size minesweeper.

Of course, they fit very well with those classic Tim Mee Jeeps and cannons. (And I remember that we used to try to fit the radio guys in the seats.)

Painting? I have the Castings Inc / REB 3 cavity metal molds that make copies of Tim Mee World War II soldiers.  Painting them is rather straightforward. But then, these are classic army men, so paint is not required.

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To get a feel of the old times I would pair these guys with the Tim Mee reissue Jeeps and cannons. That is how we used to get them. Bags often  included a cannon, jeep or other item.  Remembering back, those were perhaps the most common toy soldier cannons. For Civil War sets, Tim Mee took the same cannon and put red spoked wheels on them.
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For OMOG Advanced, these figures make a good all-around infantry squad. The machine gun provides heavy weapons fire. You have an officer, a submachine gunner NCO and several riflemen.

The Dell mold has twelve figures. Unlike the DK mold, It does not have the mine sweeper. Dell has the other ten poses plus the bazooka man and man charging gas mask.

These Combat Soldiers are available from Victory Buy at https://victorybuy.com/collections/bmc-toys