Historical playsets

As I browsed Ebay in search of other historical collectibles I became interested in collecting and painting detailed vintage playset figures. The Louis Marx Company produced a variety of beautifully sculpted playsets during the 50s and 60s that are now highly sought after by adult collectors. I particularly like figures from the Ben Hur playset and the Medieval Knights and Vikings from the Prince Valiant and King Arthur playsets. I also saw a picture of Eskimo figures from the Alaska playset that are nicely detailed and in dynamic poses. I content myself with buying selections of figures since a complete vintage Ben Hur playset now commands almost $1200. An excellent source of information about these playsets is Playset Magazine.

I stumbled across a link to history teacher Ron Barzso's playset website. Ron's attention to detail and selection of activities depicted in his early American, French and Indian War and Civil War playsets are truly outstanding and his prices are quite reasonable.

Since I am particularly interested in ancient history, I have sought out playsets produced by an Italian company, Atlantic, in the 1970s. I prefer 1/32 scale figures as they are easier to paint than tiny 1/72 figures and I have paid an average of $37 per unpainted boxed figure set for them. The Atlantic sets come in a box with a fold out mini history lesson including reference pictures of painted figures that are quite helpful. So far I have been able to obtain the Roman Legions, the Roman Gladiators, the Trojans, the Greek Acropolis set, the Greek infantry, the Greek cavalry, and the Egyptian Pharaoh's Court.

I also learned from a playset figure artist to use model railroad layout materials to create "grass" on the stand the figure rests upon for a more natural look (like the Black Watch playset figure above).