A Call to Arms: Paul Simadas

How long have you been collecting, Paul?

I started collecting as a young boy in the late-1960s, with Britains’ Eyes Right plastic figures because lead figures were no longer available. There was then a big gap until around 2005 when I started my new collection of metal toy soldiers. That began at Peter Nathan’s shop in York Street and my collection has grown to several thousand individual and boxed figure sets. I continue to buy figures there. I also visit toy soldier shows overseas to find figures. My last show was the 2023 Toronto toy soldier show in Canada. Occasionally I buy figures on-line but less so now as my collection is largely complete.

What periods span your collection?

I collect both old- and new-metal gloss-painted toy soldiers, mainly Britains. I also have Ducal, Bill Hocker, Beau Geste, and King & Country sets. And many more makers including Regal and Imperial on New Zealand are in my collection. Broadly, I concentrate on Ceremonial and British Empire subjects and then only 54 mm good-painted. I particularly look out for Australian-made toy soldiers from makers like DB Figurine’s ‘Soldiers of the Queen’ sets and TASFIGS in Tasmania, now long-gone. I also collect the K&C matt figures in the Australian Vietnam series. 

I have a library of reference books, magazines, printed material and digital images to plan and catalogue my collection. Two of the best are:

What is your favourite model/period/vehicle? 

There are so many in a large collection like mine, though mostly figures. I do like collecting Drum horse and drummer sets and regimental mascots with handler figures Here are some of my most favourite:

Above: A Johillco-marked soldier in Khaki with the Bren Gun at the ‘Port’ position, circa 1950s.

Above: 17th Lancers! An original Britains figure in the centre is surrounded by solid recasts. They all look quite grand, though a little disorganised.

Above: Motorcycles are my favourite ‘vehicles’, these are modern solid recasts of the original Britains, and look wonderful.

Above. A very valuable set is this Brigadier set of the famous Captain Bligh. Original tied-in-box, a real highlight in my collection of some flirty or more sets like this from Australian makers of the 1980s and 1990s.

Below: My 2021 article in Toy Soldier Collector.

How do you display your figures?

I have a display case in which I display most of my single figures. Others, I keep in red-coloured gift boxes. I keep most of my boxed sets in large ‘Union Jack’ boxes which can store dozens of sets and be stacked on top of each other. I display my figures on Facebook, and have published articles in Old Toy Soldier magazine and Toy Soldier Collector. Occasionally I show figures at meetings of my toy soldier friends and give a talk. I do not do dioramas as such but I have made a ‘Musical Ride’ using figures of the New South Wales Lancers which I have had published.

Above, Hundreds of my single figures are in the display cabinet.

Above: I have nine boxes of varying sizes. Here are three.

Below: I often bring out my figures for display on the carpet. These are Tommy Atkins from England.

• Do you have a model on your wish list you're still looking for but can't find?

Well, I do want to find a set of old Britains Bahamas Police, eight figures at attention 1960s, to complement my rare Bahamas Police Band. These sets were only available for sale in that island nation.

• Are there any periods you wish one of the manufacturers would do that aren't covered yet?

I would like to see more Colonial and WW1 period gloss figures of Australian and New Zealand subjects. Recently Sven found a group of more than twenty PNF 54mm figures of ANZAC and Turks which I snapped-up.

I would also like to see K&C to bring out figures of an Australian army adviser in the Vietnam war coaching a South Vietnamese soldier in the M-16 rifle.

A display of some items from my collection at a recent meeting of toy soldier friends:

Above: A table-top parade of classic toy soldiers: John Tunstill’s “soldiers’ Soldiers”, Britains, Brigadier of Australia, DB Figurines, Robertson’s, Alexanders Toy Soldiers, Ducal, Marlborough and Dorset.

The figure to the right of the two NSW Lancers is a Britains solid-recast jockey and horse. It depicts a Melbourne Cup winner ‘Black Caviar’ and was made by Robin Yates for the author. On the far right is a Marlborough Military Models mounted figure, J5B 17th Lancers Officer in the ‘Diamond Jubilee’ series. The Alexanders Toy Soldiers set to the right of the ‘Mountie’ contains three military cyclists each with his separate bicycle.