Esci & Valiant Miniatures

I sometimes mix figures from different companies, because people come in different sizes.  However, the equipment is all the same size.

This is the Valiant Miniatures US Army soldier with the head from the Esci hard plastic figure.  Reminds me of Littlejohn from Combat! the old TV show.

I cut down the length of the M1 rifle barrel. 

I also trimmed down the end of the rifle butt.

That way his helmet and rifle would be the same size as the Esci soldier.

Here he is with a Plastic Soldier Company US Army soldier.  A large corn fed guy from the heartland of America.  Thanks to my friend COL Jim for providing the Valiant Miniatures soldier.

US Army Men

The US Army in WWII had 87 divisions. At one point the US military was 13 million people in uniform. That's a lot of GIs.

As you can see from this photo the Valiant Miniatures have huge heads. The US Army M1 helmet only came in one size. Looking at photos of soldiers in the war, some fill the helmet and some look almost like kids playing army.

The Italeri US Army soldiers are too tall to mix well with most other brands, and yet, when shown with a Valiant Miniatures figure they look small.

The officer figure on the right had a broken off left hand. I repaired him by taking a hand from one of the spare arms.

The standing rifleman is a nice pose and I liked the officer too. Too bad they are so big.

US Army Figures

Valiant Miniatures US Army WWII soldiers in "1/72nd" scale. I think these are actually much larger than that stated size.

The set has a variety of arms with a bazooka arm, a 60mm mortar shell and a radio handset in the hands.

This is the firing 30 caliber machine gun figure. The gun is very nice and it all fits together very well. Note the fine detail on the boots / leggings.

The set comes with a radio, ammo pouches, back packs, and a 60 mm mortar.


This kneeling guy is probably intended as the #2 for the 30 caliber machine gun, but I built him as a radio operator. A nice figure. Overall the set would be great if the figures were just not so large. If they were the 23 mm tall I would have purchased a ton of them, probably hundreds of figures.

Free and Worth It

A British model magazine had a special officer of buy the magazine and get as sprue of 20 mm US Army WWII figures for free! I purchased the magazine despite the figures looking a bit large for 20 mm. When I got them home I measured them out as 27.5 mm tall. Not exactly what I consider to be 20 mm. When I read the magazine they explained these were the new Valiant Miniatures US Army set in 1/72nd scale. 1/72nd scale means one inch equals six feet, or about 24.5 mm tall. So these large corn fed American boys are all from Texas and are well over six feet tall. That's not the only problem with them, their heads are enormous. Even if you are big you helmet is the same size as everyone elses helmet. These guys must be wearing Navy talkers helmets. Compare this figure to a large Italeri US Army figure and you will see how simply huge these new solders are. I complained the Italeri guys were too big and then I saw these moose boys.

This is the free sprue I got. As I understand it you get four identical sprues in an actual set of Valiant Miniatures soldiers. Very little flash, some on the helmets and some on them M1 rifle front sights.

A good collection of weapons, 30 caliber machine gun, 60 mm mortar, two bazookas, two Thompson SMGs, three carbines, only one BAR, a radio, and a man with a Colt .45 in his hand. Mine has his other hand broken off.

Many of the figures have a separate arm or two. The machine gunner is in two halves, not unlike the 50 year old Airfix WWII Russian figure, except the Valiant figures accept regular model glue, and are of a slightly stiff plastic. There are extra heads, many with netting and the helmet strap dangling which is common for WWII US Army troops. With 15 troops, or 60 in the full set you get enough for a 12 man squad or a full platoon. More BARs would have been good, as the squads often had two each.

The machine gunner fits the 30 caliber very well, but he is kneeling and really should be prone so he can use the sights. There are several arm / weapon options. I did the bazooka team with a #2 loader. I did the 30 caliber machine gun but used the guy I suspect is the loader as the radio operator. A small walkie talkie would have been nice too with all the little bits.

These are very nice figures but a bit cartoonish. They remind me of many metal figures and look like they were designed to be used with lead and are probably easy to paint. For me they are just too big, neither large enough to be real 28 mm nor small enough to be real 1/72nd scale. Too bad, I would have purchased a ton if they were just three mm smaller and had proportionate heads.