Marching Marx

Marx soldier at Port Arms.

Marx soldier at Parade Rest.

Betan buglers and Lido standing rifle at the ready.  The Betan figures were painted Rust-Oleum Satin Moss Green because the originals were some odd white with swirly dye in them.  Apparently this is normal!  The Betan figures were made by several companies and they vary a little between them, these two have different base types.

I like a variety of companies because it gives me a variety of poses.

Marx does good job of providing non-combat figures, marching, standing, medics, chaplain.

Other companies do a good job with the combat poses, although Marx 54mm figures are very combat action packed, and I do use many of them with my 60mm figures from other companies.  Their style does not stand out too much and many of them are a little tall for 54mm which I like.
 

Betan and Marx

A Betan figure with bazooka marching along.

I think the other companies figures being added really liven up the scene.

In real parades troops often carry the weapons they would normally use.

The Betan figures have bazooka, radio, and flags.

Also rifle and parachutist.

Under the watchful eye of the Marx 60mm Military Police officer.
 

Betan Post WWII

Charging man, perhaps the most action packed figure in the line up.

I read someplace that these were released after WWII because of shortages of materials they could not upgrade the mold to the new helmet.  Radio man, so an improvement in communications.

A bazooka figure, firing would have been nice but since he is left foot forward just like the radio guy I suspect they are supposed to be in a parade.  Parades were common in WWII so kids may have wanted to play what they knew.  I liked being in parades better than watching them.

Drummer he as in the old set but I don't have all the poses in either the pre-war or post-war groups.

Nice color guard, two riflemen, identical, and a flag bearing pass a saluting man.

Just as before these came in both green and tan.  I only have a couple tan ones.

A perfect fit with the old Tim Mee marching figure in 60mm.
 

M1917 Helmet for M1 Helmet

Just as the US Army changed over from the M1917 helmet to the M1 helmet so too did Betan soldiers.  Essentially identical apart from the helmet.  I think the bases are due to different manufacturers rather than the helmet change.

Many old favorite poses are back, like this one.  He has no cheek weld on the rifle, it's like he is firing a flintlock.  Get that eye down close to the stock and used the sights!

The gas mask wearing man has returned.

And the guy with the Thompson ray gun also.

This one is a pretty good pose I think with pistol at waist level.  Note he as a gas mask.

Something new here, a parachutist.
 

Tim Mee Betan and Tan versus Green War

Betan figure on the left and Tim Mee 60mm figure on the right.

Tim Mee figure marching and Betan figure with Thompson submachine gun, or something.

As you can tell from the photos the Betan figures are a pretty good size match for the older Tim Mee figures.

Not content with the standing firing pose Betan doubled down on the odd weapon and did one in a kneeling pose.

This khaki color is the most common color apart from green.  Looks like the Tan vs Green war has gone on since the 1930s.
 

Back to Betan

 

This is one of the Reliable versions of the Betan figures.  Note the word Reliable in script font on his back.

Not a bad officer post, directing artillery fire no doubt.

American troops wore this helmet between 1947 and in some formations probably until the end of World War II but overseas essentially gone by the middle of 1942.

The figures are not exactly action packed, but they have their own charm.

And a reasonable assortment of weapons and poses.

The bases are nice and sturdy and big so they stand up well.

Betan Soldiers

There is a company called Beton that made metal figures in the 1930s and switched over to plastic just before World War Two.

They made basically the same figures in plastic as they did in metal.

They also helped out other companies by setting up production facilities for the.

So some of the figures go by the name Reliable and it's molded into the back of the figures.

So there are differences in the bases mostly that tell you which company made which figures or when they made them.

And the figures come in a lot of color variations.  I like the dark green and the olive green.

The figures are kind of chunky and about 60mm tall.  They fit well with the very old Tim Mee troops.

They come with the M1917 helmet and later they were modified to the M1 helmet.  This guy has a .30 caliber belt fed machine gun.  Or a Thompson submachine gun.  Or a ray gun.  Or something else.  So I use him for whatever I want at the time.