Weston Toy Soldiers

A Q&A session with Steve Weston, of Weston Toy Soldiers

- Mike Blake

Your intrepid reporter ventured to Canvey Island (its somewhere near London) to catch Steve Weston, owner/ prop of Weston’s Toy Soldiers and all-round nice guy, the premier UK plastic figure retail and stalwart of the hobby before Corvid-19 clamped down on us. Here are his responses to our questions – and he doesn’t pull his punches!

TSCI: Who are you and how did you get into making plastic figures?

Steve: I’m Steve Weston, born in 1954, I guess this would have been the best time to be at just the right age when all the great manufacturers got into their stride and were producing plastic figures like crazy to try and satisfy the demand of a hungry nation! Herald, Timpo Solid, Crescent, Cherilea, Lone Star, Paramount, etc were all the rage – and then we got hit with Airfix, followed by Britains, Britains Deetail and Timpo Swoppets. How lucky were we?

There was hardly a time when I did not collect until my teens, when they were just stored in the back of my bedroom whilst I pursued other interests and over time, tastes changed and toy soldiers began to disappear from the shelves. Then we discovered Boot Fairs, and it caused a huge resurgence in collecting. Over the years I amassed hoards as did most of us it would seem.

This came to a head when we moved from a 3-bed house with no storage or potential into a 2-bed bungalow with plans to extend. At this point, my wife decided/dictated / demanded/’suggested’ that it would be a ‘very good idea indeed’ if I were to get rid of some!

A small ad in tiny magazine, ‘Toy Collector’ (I think) resulted in the start of which would be a 30+ year business of buying and selling, leading me eventually to be able to produce the figures that I wanted to see.