OTSN 2004

While the action got going early this year – Wednesday nite as many as 20 or more dealers’ doors were already open for business, I didn’t arrive for room trading until Thursday after work. Before for I could even get inside, playset action began. As I was approaching the door, Bill Berghorn, Ken Boyer and a couple of other playset enthusiasts were heading to Ken’s van to examine the playset items and toys that he had brought down from Wisconsin. Here’s a few examples from Ken’s sale list: Roy Rogers Ideal Fix-It stagecoaches, chuck wagon, figures and parts all for $225, 2 partial Marx Cape Canaveral playsets in boxes - $75 ea, TWENTY-SIX empty Marx playset boxes $375 for all, 251 Marx ACW Rebs $200 for all… and on and on… His van was completely full of items. It was a sign of good things to come!

In between catching up with friends I’ve made at previous shows, I roamed the labyrinth of halls at the Hyatt, snapping photos and looking for items on my want list. There were a lot of great new terrain pieces offered this year by the likes of CTS, Hobby Bunker and others. Minutemen Toy Soldiers had many of the CTS pieces for sale. Owner George Guerriero expertly repainted some of the display pieces. The new Forces of Valor 2nd Series WWII armor was readily available, except for the Tiger Tank, which was selling fast. I quickly noticed there was an abundance of plastic everywhere; even many of the dealers who traditionally sell metal toy soldiers had a smattering of plastic soldiers for sale. Boxed playsets were in abundance, both common sets and more rare offerings. There had to be at least 6 boxed Ben Hur playsets available, plus quite a bit of loose pieces and figures. Many collectors and dealers had the same comments about the large amount of plastic available this year.

Ron Barzso debuted his new playset, Braddock’s Defeat ($199.95) and it was very well received. In fact, Ron stated that it was the strongest opening of any of his playsets. He also had a prototype bastion from his upcoming Fort Ticonderoga (about 4 ft. square when completely assembled) and original sculpts for his planned Lewis & Clark playset. He also introduced new tree and rock terrain pieces and a cabin with detailed interior.

The Marxman had several new IMEX products including their 1/32 scale, Blackstone castle and the 1/72 scale Ivanhoe’s castle. Cando (Dragon Models Ltd.) had some new items including a series of WWII figures in something a bit smaller than 1/32 scale (I think) and Pirates of the Seven Seas series (In maybe 70mm or larger). Each of these sets included 4 figures, although the WWII series includes a “chase” figure for each set, i.e. German and American GIs. Can’t remember how many different set there are. The WWII figs are priced at $3.50 each and the Pirates are priced at $5.00 each. I picked up a set of the pirates and when set up together, the four figures are facing each other on a gold pile, very reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, the figures VERY closely resemble the 4 main characters from that movie.

Although traffic seemed light at times, dealers reported better than usual sales for the weekend, with many reporting their best show ever! I keep mentioning this, because I think it’s important to our hobby. Even though many of us are active on ebay, there IS a place for toy soldier shows and ebay didn’t destroy OTSN or other shows, like many feared. As Bill Kipper mentioned, OTSN is more about the people than it is about the playsets. It’s a real nice combination of both! And collector Dick Wood comments, “…at OTSN, you can talk for HOURS and HOURS about your hobby and people actually never get tired of listening AND making their own contributions.”

The show today looked to be well attended and early sales were made. I saw TSSD’s new, plastic 54mm Rebs and they are really nice poses. The Union figure will follow soon. I didn’t see the prototypes of their proposed WWII line, but they had photos available. The figures are all in action poses. TSSD owner, Nick said that people have been asking for more action poses – more shooters, etc. and they are delivering.

A fairly new company, Forward March had several new ACW metal sets available including both Union and Reb medical teams: A 10 piece hospital set and a 4 piece stretcher set. They are very well done and would probably fit very well with Conte ACW.

I know I’ve left out tons of information, but OTSN is a lot to take in! I’m already looking forward to next year.


Happy Hunting,

Jim