TOY SOLDIER HQ

Header bag counter display stand.

WWII AND MODERN MILITARY ITEMS

THE NAVY

- Header Card Bag 187 (.98)U.S. Sailors, About 15 figures + AA gun + paper flag with base.

- Header Card Bag 487 (.65 over .49 mark) Navy Men, About 12 figures + paper flag with base.

- Grab Bag 487 (.49) Navy Men, About 12 figures and paper flag with base.

The Tim-Mee sailors are about 65-70mm in size, although skinny. They were made in white and several shades of blue, plus apparently red (rare).

Seated gunner for AA gun

THE AIR FORCE

- Header Card Bag 298 U.S. Air Force, Has about 8 figures.

- Grab Bag 298 U.S. Air Force, Has about 8 figures.

- Grab Bag 498 U.S. Air Force, Has about 12 figures + tent, tears in top of bag.

- Header Card Bag 1681 U.S.Air Force, Has helicopter , small P-40?, small ME-109 + five figures & paper flag with base. Header Card OFF bag.

0681 Set missing bag and paper flag.

The Tim-Mee Air Force figures are about 65-70mm but on the skinny side. They were made most often in aquablue but also tan and in later years in waxy gray and red.

The Air Force mold originally contained a tent. We have found three variations and believe the top two were in the mold. The third dark blue tent matches the color of the navy AA gun and we think that Tim-Mee removed the seated gunner from the figure mold and added it to the AA gun mold. To balance the mold properly we think they made a new tent cavity that produced the darl blue tent in the above picture.

ORIGINAL BAGGED SETS

- 298 Tim-Mee U.S. Air Force "29 Cents", 9 figures, circa 1960s.

Thanks to John Keller of Boston who shared the photos of his mint in the box set seen above. Turns out these figures are actually by Processed Plastic (who took over Tim-Mee in 1964). PPCo mainly sold items one at a time for less than $1.00 so a set this large is very unusual and was probably made as an exclusive for one of PPCo's bigger retail customers such as Grants. As the box is marked AURORA, IL this would probably date the set to around a 1962-65 time period.

Closer inspection shows that there are variations on two of the poses. The standing officer can be found wearing either a double breasted coat or a coat with a singlE column of buttons + pockets. Also the man with the wrench can be holding the wrench either close to onr end or in the middle.

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In 1967 Processed Plastic down sized to about 30mm two of the Tim-Mee Air Force and included them with their B-29 as "crew". Made in red and tan they are fairly close copies with the exception of the man with ammo now having a helmet. He has gone from being a ground crewman to a gunner on the B-29. In 1990 Processed Plastic made a large aircraft carrier. As crew members they made six new 30mm figures at least loosely based upon six of the earlier Tim-Mee 70mm Air Force figures.

THE ARMY

Armymen, cowboys and Indians were the most popular figures made by most manufacturers in the 1950s & 60s. Tim-Mee took advantage of this fact and offered a wide diversity of packaging sizes and styles for any budget.

- Realistic Soldiers header card bag, 29 cents, 8 pieces (7 soldiers & a dog). Early 1950s set without a number on the header card.

- Header Card bag 499, Army jeep & Gun, Older Tim-Mee jeep with separate steering wheel & cannon with rubber tires + aqua blue driver.

Figures were made in a rust color so kids could have two armies.

SOME OF THESE FIGURES MAY HAVE A HELMET PAINTED. FOR A SHORT WHILE THE FIGURES WERE ALSO RUN IN A RUST REDBROWN COLOR AS ENEMY TROOPS.

Small 35/40mm copy. (1)

The German factory also made some small vacuform missile bases that included soldiers made in bright green, yellow, red and blue which are hard to find.

The German factory made the jeep and cannon in different colors as well.

The German factory also made variation of the US missile trailer. The green jeep and tan figures in the picture are not Tim-Mee. Above three pictures courtesy of Daniel Lepers.

Somebody made some large size copies of the Tim-Mee GIs. Picture shows the six we have found along with an original Tim-Mee officer with pistol and binoculars.

Russians

Photo Courtesy Jim McGough.

Photo courtesy of Greg Liska.

The Russian figures were only sold briefly before they were pulled from the market. Supposedly for slow sales, but any kid I knew back then would have loved to have some enemies for his GIs to fight. The mold was then sent to the Tim-Mee partner in Mexico where it has had limited production runs.

The above picture (courtesy of Greg Liska) shows the different colors the Tim-mee Russians have been made in. Made in red and green in the US. The second figure in the lime green color was made in Mexico. The third figure in forest green was from a special run ordered by Tim Geppert from the Mexican factory. The 4th figure in olive green is the standard color used at the US factory. The 5th figure (prone shooting rifle) is in a rarely seen tan color whose place of manufacture is at this time unknown. These figures were only sold in the US in 1965 after the Processed Plastic takeover. Due to poor sales the mold was shipped to Mexico.

PROCESSED PLASTIC TOOK OVER CONTROL OF TIM-MEE IN 1964 (OFFICIAL JAN 1 1965)

Processed Plastic continued to use the Tim-Mee Toy name on merchandise.

ORIGINAL BAGGED SETS

- Header Card bag 5934, U.S. Infantry, 26 pcs.

Sealed bag of soldiers with decal sheet, BUT HEADER CARD IS MISSING, about 50 figures half tan and half dark green.

- Header Card Bag 147, Division Militar 31 pcs, MADE IN MEXICO, Final version tank & soldiers.

- Header Card Bag 0991 U.S. Jeep Patrol, 12 pcs, Jeep, armymen and flag.

- Header Card Bag 1991, U.S. Jeep Patrol 10 pcs, Jeep, armymen and flag.

- Header Card Bag 17840 Combat Patrol, later armoured card + armymen. (1 dark green vehicle, 1 bright green vehicle)

- JLloyd Int. reissue armymen, 100 figures.

- 6120 JLloyd Int. reissue pink armymen, 100 figures.

LOOSE FIGURES AND ITEMS

54mm Soldiers made 1968

Original figures were made in a medium "army" green very similar the waxy green then used by Marx. The blue, bright green, yellow and pink! colors appeared in the early 1970s as part of the antiwar "hippie" effect. Many manufacturers experimented with making their figures in bright "nonviolent" colors. Ohio Art made their farm playsets on 'PSALADELIC" colors. The Marx pioneers came in lime green and the Indians in orange etc... Later PPCo bagged sets had darker green and tan figures. The tan color came out in the 1980s during the Desert Storm Iraqi conflict. Blue came back in sets with the big airplane. Many copies and knocks of these figures have been made in China. In the picture above the GI Kneeling with MG is missing the bipod.

Modified Pose

For some reason the grenade thrower pose was modified to no longer be holding a grenade, but seems to be waving.

50+ pieces (pose assortment may differ from above photo). These were from the last production run circa 2004.

Later bag with Hong Kong pieces.

Military Accessories

Paper US flag with wooden pole and plastic base.

VEHICLES SOLD BY TIM-MEE BEFORE THE PROCESSED PLASTIC TAKE OVER

1950s Vehicles

Processed Plastic made an army scout car which they wholesaled to Tim-Mee who sold it as a tank. This piece was made by Processed Plastic and was marked as such. Processed Plastic sold the piece made in hard plastic with a MG glued on the front. When they made it for Tim-Mee they removed their name from the underside and because it was made for Tim-Mee in polyethylene soft plastic the MG was not used as there was no glue at that time that would bond to polyethylene. The first Version Jeep has separate plug in steering wheel and had a peg attachment for the cannon. The first version cannon has ring attachment. Rubber wheels used to about 1970-73.

1960s vehicles sold by Tim-Mee

About 1962 Tim-Mee made (with the help of their friends at Processed Plastic) a rocket launcher as seen above and an Atomic Cannon. The Atomic cannon only lasted one or two years but the rocket launcher was sold through 1965. Both are hard to find today.

1962 & 63 saw Tim-Mee selling an "Atomic Cannon"! Hard piece to find in today's market. Pictures courtesy Frank Mazza/Straymatter Inc.

PROCESSED PLASTIC ERA VEHICLES 1964 ONWARD

In 1964 Processed Plastic made a tank, 2 1/2 ton cargo truck and a large 70mm jeep with AA gun. These were sold under the Processed Plastic name but collectors have pretty much called these items "Tim-Mee" for ever. About 1965 processed Plastic made a square cab truck and a cannon whose barrel elevated. They sold these two items in their Tim-Mee division for about 5-7 years and then phased them out due to manufacturing cost. To save cost the jeep and non elevating cannon were remade about 1974 so that the end product used less raw materials. The jeep lost it's separate steering wheel and the jeep-cannon hitch was reversed from the early version and the new jeep had a ring (slot) attachment while the cannon had the peg attachment. As PPCo had made the new AA jeep in 1964 they sold the old Tim-Mee jeep as a civilian vehicle molding it in red and white colors. The red jeeps were never marketed as "Russian Army" jeeps as theorized by some collectors. These red and white jeeps were sold as bin toys and later versions were sold in header crd bags with the suburban family and farm figures.

JEEPS

Vintage 1964-2004

Processed Plastic revised the jeep & cannon (2nd version Jeep) to save on plastic about 1974. For some reason they kept the Tim-Mee name on the pieces.

J.Lloyd Int. Reissues 2015 onward

- 17.00 JLloyd Int. 2015 reissue Combat Patrol, 2 jeeps, 2 cannons + decals.

TANKS

Processed Plastic first made the "Tim-Mee" tank in 1964. Tim-Mee toy never made a tank as its earlier version scout car tank was also made by Processed Plastic. Original tanks had metal axles with rubber tires. Earliest versions also had an antennae on the turret. About 1975 the mold was redone to use less raw material and new clip on plastic wheels replaced the more expensive metal & rubber version. At some point in the 1980s the mold was retooled and the tanks lost their under wheels completely.

JLloyd International reissues 2015 onward

- 17.00 JLloyd Int. reissue Tank Command Desert Division, 3 tanks + decals.

TRUCKS

OTHER MILITARY VEHICLES AND ITEMS

JLloyd International reissues 2015 onward

Reissue armored scout car, axles a bit long, green.

-J.Lloyd International's return of the famous bucket of armymen. With extra stuff, this Tim-Mee/PPCo reissue set has 48 Armymen (24 green & 24 tan), 2 tan jet airplanes, a tank, terrain piece, flags and decals. All in a retro carry all plastic bucket. Made in the USA.

- J.Lloyd International Tim-Mee "Black OPs" header card bag with two PPCo Helicopters and the six man S.W.A.T. team all in black, A cool set Made in the USA.

Black Eagle gunship.

6215 PPCo F-15, mint on card.

PPCo 7379 LARGE Jeep & Cannon, has 54mm GIs but vehicles scaled for 3 3/4 inch figures.

PPCo 7520 LARGE tank, green, has 54mm GIs but tank is scaled for 3 3/4 inch figures.

PPCo 7520, tan.

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