Toy army tanks are a staple for any army toys fan.
Combine them with some plastic army men and you have an affordable military play set that will offer hours of fun for your kids.
This set of 3 die cast toy tanks are very affordable and well regarded so I thought I’d check them out.
They arrived in a clear plastic bag with no product name or item number, just the choking warning for small children in bold black type, written in English.
They are quite small but a great size for small hands to play with easily. My son really enjoyed playing with them both indoors and outside and having three toys made ‘on maneuvers’ role play that much more fun.
There are 3 tanks in this set, allowing your kids to create large scale army action scenes.
One is camouflage green, one is desert camouflage and one is a multi-purpose camouflage color; ideal to blend into many surroundings.
They are all powered by friction so you just pull them back, let them go and away they trundle.
The guns move back and forth as the tank rolls along.
The main guns move up and down simulating real tanks.
Each tank measures 4.5″ long, 2″ wide and 1.5″ tall.
All tanks have working movable parts.
Pros
Complete an army toys collection: They make a nice addition to toy army men, allowing kids to stage mock battles and exercises.
Nicely detailed: Each tank is a separate color with a camouflage design so it can fit into grass, dirt or sand play areas.
Size: They are 4.5″ long so not a bad size as you can see in this picture compared to an apple.
Smooth ride: The self propelled reverse wind-up wheels with rubber tank track roll along on smooth and slightly irregular terrain.
Distance: With each pull back they travel about 10 feet on a smooth solid surface, about 2-3 feet on low pile carpet and about 1 foot on a level dirt track.
Kid friendly: They hold up well in dirt and mud with only a quick rinse under the faucet required to clear debris from the under carriage.
Educational: They introduce a whole new element to army play and can be used to introduce a bit of military history.
Durable: They are sturdy and well made and have stood up to a fair amount of play already, such as being bogged down in mud, trampled by a large dog and beaten up by a 4 year old boy! The gun turrets also wear well with normal activity. They did not break off even when they were forced upward about 15 degrees beyond their limit.
Metal & plastic: The tanks are die cast for the body and the gun turret but the gun itself, under carriage and wheels are plastic. The die cast parts makes the toy slightly heavier than those made completely of plastic but they are light enough for easy play.
Decor: The paintwork is cool making them nice looking tanks.
Cons
Gun movement: The gun turret does not move 360 degrees. It moves side to side about 45 degrees and up about 45 degrees as well.
They are a bit of a funny size so don’t really fit with other toy army vehicles that we own.
They are also a bit small when compared to standard army men but my son didn’t seem to mind!
Overall Review
These sturdy and surprisingly life-like little tanks were well received by Ben (my son) and his group of friends who helped test drive them. They all highly recommended them.
Little green army men, tanks and jeeps have been providing hours of outdoor army fun for boys for years.
But the fun doesn’t have to stop just because the weather gets wets or turns cold, not when you can build a toy fort for your army men to bring the fun indoors.
So gather up the craft supplies you have lying around your house, pop out and buy the rest and get your army mad kids in the mood for a little fort building.
I only spent $13.50 on items that I didn’t already have. So this is pretty cheap for a sturdy, custom made toy fort.
Alternatively you could of course just buy one. There’s a nice one HERE but at around $65 it’s a bit pricey.
Materials you will need
To make your fort you will need to assemble the following items:
Foam core board: 2 sheets 30”x 15” (click here to buy from Amazon)
A round cardboard oats box
A pencil
A permanent marker
A tape measure
A straight edge ruler
Duct tape
A craft knife
Scissors
A cutting mat
Step by step guide
Once you have your supplies together just follow these step by step instructions:
Step 1
Measure 7 inches along the long edge of a piece of foam core. The foam core is 30 inches long so can be divided into four pieces.
Place the foam core on a cutting mat or cutting board on a flat surface. Cut four 7 inch sections from the foam core. Set the left over 2 inch piece aside. You will use it later.
Be careful when using a craft blade; be sure to keep your stabilizing hand out of the way.
Step 2
After cutting through the front of the foam core turn it over and score through the cut mark from the front side. Once you have scored the back the piece will snap off cleanly as shown.
Step 3
The next step is to find the center point on the bottom of the oat carton. Now draw a straight line across the center of the carton bottom and down the side of the carton.
Step 4
Turn the oat carton and draw and line perpendicular to the original line to form an X. Continue the line down either side. You will now have divided the carton into 4 equal triangular sections. The label could be removed prior to marking the sections to make them easier to see.
Step 5
Using scissors cut along the lines starting on one side, going up and across the top and down the other side.
Step 6
After cutting the carton in half cut each half in half again. The craft knife may be necessary to cut through the thick rim.
You now have four pie-shaped sections and four 7-inch tall pieces of foam core.
Step 7
Cut two of the 7-inch sections in half to leave you with two 7-inches x 15 inch and two 7-inches x 7.5-inch tall foam core sections and the four pie-shaped carton sections to use for the main fort structure.
If you would like to have a notched top edge on your fort cut 1-inch squares out along one edge of each piece at 2-3 inch intervals. Now is also the time to make windows or weapon access slits in the tower walls using the craft knife.
Step 8
To assemble the fort, tape a pie-shaped section at each end of one of the 7-inch x 15-inch pieces on the inside and the outside as shown.
Step 9
Before attaching the final 15-inch panel (this will be the front of the fort) you will need to cut a 4 inch x 3 inch doorway using a craft knife. In the center of the BACK of the panel start the door about 1.5 inches from the bottom edge cutting up one side, across the top of the door and down the other side and then across the bottom.
To finish the doorway so that it will drop open like a draw bridge turn the panel over and cut the sides and top all the way through the foam core. DO NOT CUT THROUGH THE BOTTOM but lightly score it instead. This will allow the door to drop open and allow access for troops and armaments into your fort but will also let the door swing up and into place securely. See the second image below.
Step 10
To finish the inside of your fort you will need to add a walkway along the upper portion to hold lookouts and arms. Using the second sheet of foam core measure and cut four 4-inch pieces.
Step 11
Tape 2 of the pieces on the inside about 2 inches from the top edge of the fort wall by placing a piece of tape lengthwise along the piece so that half the tape is on the walkway piece and half goes up the fort wall. DO NOT TAPE FROM UNDERNEATH THE WALK WAY! Placing the tape along the bottom of the walkway will result in the ledge created tending to droop downward which will send your patrolmen tumbling to the ground.
Step 12
To make the tower ladders you will need to retrieve the 2-inch piece of foam core left over from the wall sections and cut it in half to make two 2-inch x 7.5 inch pieces. Using a permanent marker draw a ladder on each side of the piece.
To attach the ladder piece under the tower sections simply use duct tape on the front and back. The ladders will not reach the ground of the fort. This is on purpose as it adds to the defensive position of the troops within the fort.
Now get out your army men, tanks and artillery
It’s time to arm your fort with your plastic army men and plan your military strategy in your custom made and very inexpensive military fortress!
You could also add in an extra step and paint your fort if desired.
Finished fortress with draw bridge
Full view of the fortress in action
Close up of the fortress in action. See the tower ladders and walkway in use and a view of the tower windows.
I’d love to see your fort if you make one. Please send me a photo.
The Toy Story movies have really helped to re-introduce plastic army men as a fun and imaginative toy.
My son really enjoyed this Toy Story bucket of soldiers from the official merchandise range.
It is top quality with plenty of soldiers, a variety of poses and the added bonus of 2 parachutists.
In the movies, the 200 animated little green army men toys are often seen being sent on missions by Woody and the gang. Led by Sarge they spy on new toys, rescue Buzz, find Woody’s hat and try to stop Andy’s dog getting through the bedroom door. And their ‘Leave no man behind’ motto is a good message for kids to learn.
The toy version is a replica of the bucket seen in the movie. Unfortunately it only contains 72 of the 200 troops but this is still plenty for some army fun. They are stuck to bases just like those in the movie so your child can stand them up or copy the animated walking sequence (just imagine trying to walk with wooden planks strapped to your feet for how to do this).
There are 72 Toy Story green army men that are accurate versions of those in the movie.
They are 2″ tall so larger than a lot of plastic army men.
They are fixed to base plates so stand up easily.
There are 12 different poses (see pictures below). There are 7 soldiers in each of the 10 main sculpts and 2 individual parachutist sculpts.
There are 2 figures with working parachutes. The strings are already fixed through a ring on the top of their helmet. They are made of more flexible plastic (presumably to withstand the impact of being thrown about).
The soldiers are not painted and have no articulation.
All the soldiers have weapons which are molded as part of them.
Pros
Quantity: 72 is a nice number of soldiers to have – there are not too many and not too few. There are plenty to use to re-enact army missions.
Quality: The build is far superior to the cheap sets that you find in dollar stores. They are sturdy, stand up well on their base plates and feel good. The plastic is softer than cheaper products so less brittle and less likely to break or snap.
Number of positions: having army men positioned in 12 different stances allows for a good variety of battle scenarios.
Size: The 2″ height is perfect for little fingers to hold, play with and position. (I love comparing things to apples so you can get a feel for how big they really are!)
Detailing: The level of detail on the soldiers is much higher than I was expecting. Uniforms and even facial features are clear.
Molds: The soldiers are well made and do not have any of those scratchy join seams and bad edges that are typical of toy army men. They are smooth with no sharp edges to cut your foot, if you tread on them, or your child as he plays.
Durable: They are sturdy and have stood up to all kinds of play. They have been dropped, trodden on, squashed etc and are still in great condition. They are suitable for both indoor and outdoor play (see our ‘on location’ pictures below).
Imagination: these toys will stimulate your kids imagination. They will soon get other toys involved in their imaginary battles too – cars or tanks, Legos for buildings and even things like Transformers for aliens to fight.
Parachutes: The inclusion of 2 parachutists is a real bonus and spices up the army role play. They are great to throw down from the top of the stairs and really do work (obvious disclaimer – just watch young kids playing on the stairs).
The bucket: I love the bucket. It is perfect to keep the soldiers tidied away at the end of the day. There is also a handle so it can be carried around easily or taken to other people’s houses. The bucket is sturdy and the lid stays on. It can also be stacked in a toy cupboard or stored in a toy box without getting damaged.
Cons
They don’t come to life like they do in the movies!
They are more expensive than generic plastic army men but you get what you pay for. They are not cheap as you are buying official Toy Story toys (complete with Certificate of Authenticity. But you do get a lot of soldiers of a great size and quality as well as a readymade storage bucket.
The parachute strings get tangled too easily but I’m not sure what the manufacturers could really have done to avoid this. They are also hard to throw up into the air and get to work – you really need to drop them from a height.
Toy Story Army Men Review
For kids into playing army or those into Toy Story toys, I would highly recommend this set of Toy story army men. They are a great quality classic toy as well as being movie replicas.
You can also find other Toy Story army toys such as the Lego Army Men On Patrol Set and Sarge’s Helicopter.
Having heard good things about the S107G Syma RC Helicopter, I thought I ought to check it out.
I was a bit worried when the box turned up as it says for kids aged 14+ and Ben (my son) is only 10, albeit going on 35.
Opening the box did nothing to allay my fears as the actual helicopter looks very fragile in real life. Being a micro helicopter, it is also pretty small so sits happily in the palm of your hand.
As such my husband had the first go as I thought Ben might smash it into bits before I got a chance to take some video. I should have known better as hubby managed to crash it straight away anyway. Luckily it is very durable so survived and Ben then got his turn where a few more crashes later, it is still in one piece – phew.
This is a micro coaxial Syma RC helicopter. It is hobby grade so is one step up from a toy helicopter. This basically means you can replace parts that get damaged or if you want to make modifications.
The best bit for beginners is that it has a built in Gyro. This stabilizes the spin and ensures it stays on course going in the direction you want.
The remote control has 3 channels so you have control over height, speed and direction. A 4 channel helicopter would have additional control over bank/roll.
You can turn it 360 degrees as well as up and down.
There is no assembly required but the remote control does need batteries.
It is made from a mixture of plastic and metal and is designed to withstand crashes.
The range of the remote control is 30ft.
You can choose from 2 frequencies allowing you to fly 2 helicopters at once.
The infra red remote does not work well in sunlight so this is an indoor toy.
Other Syma Military Models
For something that looks a bit more like its from the range of toy army vehicles, take a look at these other Syma helicopters:
So was it really as great as many hundreds of reviewers had promised? Yes it was! Watch it in action on our video or read the transcript at the end of the review.
Pros
Costing around $20 this Syma helicopter is great value for money.
It is lots of fun and the control functions are easy to learn. The sensitivity of the controls does take a bit of getting used to though. If you’re too heavy handed you’ll crash into the ceiling or floor very quickly. Small adjustments are all that is needed.
It is quite quick to get up and running, especially if you have pre-planned the initial charge.
The Syma S107 battery charges via a USB cable to your computer. You can also charge it up from the battery powered remote control which I can see would be good if you were out and about with it, although I imagine it would deplete the batteries pretty quickly. If you don’t have your computer on all the time, you might consider buying an AC plug to USB adapter.
Whilst not indestructible the helicopter is more durable than it looks. It has had some big crashes and other than tweaking the tail blade a bit it has survived. There is a metal casing that protects the innards which seems to do its job nicely. The blades seem to take care of themselves and don’t break. I think being lightweight with a sturdy frame and only moderate power means that it cannot crash too heavily.
The Syma S107 RC helicopter only flies for 6-7 minutes at a time but I actually think this is a pro because if my son had played with it for a few hours non-stop he probably wouldn’t have gone back to it for a few days but now when its charging he keeps checking on it so he can go and have another 6 minute fix when it’s ready.
The in built gyro means that the helicopter does not spin out of control so it can be controlled and flown very precisely. It is versatile, flies well in the direction you tell it to and is very responsive to the remote control. It is very easy to keep in a hover without moving forwards when you’ve had a bit of practice. All in all it is ideal for novices.
There is an adjustment knob on the remote to correct slight directional issues (see image of Trim Control below). In other words if you push the forwards lever but the helicopter veers off slightly to the right or left you can adjust the knob to get the helicopter back on track.
It is fairly quiet when flying.
If the worst does come to the worst, Syma S107 parts and spares are readily available. You can easily find rotor blades, tail blades, connect buckles, USB charger, tail parts etc so there is no need to throw the whole thing in the bin. They are also very cheap.
I messed up and bought a product on Amazon that said “colors may vary“. As such we got yellow when my son would have preferred red. You can get red, yellow and blue, so double check which one you are buying.
Out of the box it needs to charge. Of course us adults understand this, but a 10 year old does not. So if you are buying this as a gift, you might want to charge it, then stick it back in the box and wrap it at the last minute.
The Syma S107G helicopter takes 40-50 minutes to charge and this will last for 6-7 minutes of flying. Again to a 10 year old this seems terrible but it does keep him keen for the next flight.
It only works indoors as direct sunlight interferes with the remote control. You also need to avoid AC, heating or fans indoors as the airflow affects the flying. Depending on where you fly the Syma S107 indoors, you may want to cover up furniture so that it does not get scratched.
The plastic charging socket on the helicopter itself is twinned with a plastic mate on the USB lead. The resulting fit is not as tight as I’d like although it seems to work.
The Syma S107G manual’s translation into English is pretty bad. Here are some gems – and no it is not my bad typing – “When the helicopter flies steadity, you can showly push” – ha ha!
It needs 6 AA batteries for the remote control – blimey! That depleted our supplies.
You need quite a bit of space indoors to fly it more easily, especially at first. Somewhere where you have no precious ornaments and the like is probably best.
Things I Think You Might Find Useful To Know
It is quite tiny. Check it out compared to an apple below. It measures 22cm long, 3.8cm wide and 9.8cm high. The rotor diameter is 19cm.
Battery care – this is the most important bit of advice I can give you.
Never fly the helicopter until it is completely flat. Time yourself and limit the flying time to 5 minutes.
Allow the battery to cool down for 5 minutes between charging and flying (so after flying and after charging).
Unplug the helicopter from charge as soon as the red light comes on. (The lights are a bit confusing – basically when you plug the cable into the computer the light comes on. When you plug the helicopter into the other end, the light goes out. When the helicopter is charged, the light comes on again!)
You can see how the controls work on our video above but this picture also shows them:
The left hand lever moves the helicopter up and down vertically.
The right hand lever is directional, so front, back, left and right.
The smaller knob in the center is the trim control. This corrects the flight path of the helicopter if it is veering off to one side when you are supposedly flying straight ahead. Only small adjustments are needed if any.
The hardest thing I found was that the direction works relative to the helicopter. So it is advisable to stand behind the helicopter and then forwards is forwards as you would expect. But if you then turn the helicopter back round to face you, the forwards lever will now bring it back towards you. My natural instinct was to point the lever towards me (ie backwards) but this sent the helicopter backwards into the wall – oops!
Avoid hovering the helicopter too close to the ground on take off and landing as the air currents affect the stability. So go up quickly but immediately release the throttle or it will shoot into the ceiling.
Start off slowly with these practise exercises so you can get used to it and don’t damage it beyond recognition straight out of the box:
move up and down and left and right;
go in circuits (left and right);
perform figure of eights.
When you are about to crash, which at some point you definitely will be(!), kill the throttle to prevent damage.
Pick the helicopter up by the main body not the blades or tail.
You will notice the battery power depleting as you get close to the end of the charge. Initially when the battery is full, the helicopter takes of rapidly (too rapidly sometimes!), but as the battery drains the helicopter will not be able to fly as high and when it is about to run out, the helicopter will barely get off the ground. But as noted above, you should not run the battery down this much if you want it to last a long time.
Fun ideas
Obviously flying around the same room all the time might get a bit boring after a while, so set up some obstacles, activities or helipads from books or stools etc. As you can see on the video, we have a martial arts mat so we set up mini tests where we had to take off from one mat, fly to the edge of the room, turn around and land on a different mat.
As you get more experienced you can come up with your own more advanced flight skills competitions or just fly room to room.
Syma S107 Mods
We’re not really at the stage of needing to modify or repair anything yet but if you are then KillBuckets.com has a few great mod tutorials. These include:
Become a Syma S107 mechanic with this step by step teardown.
Remove the throttle return springs to allow for thumbs-off flying.
Replace the LiPo Battery.
Replace a flybar.
Overall
The Syma S107G helicopter would be an ideal learner level helicopter or one to practice with before spending your savings on a more expensive model. It will stand up to a bit of abuse while you learn to fly!
This is a video made by me and my Dad on how to fly the Syma S1076 [Edit: the box looks like S1076 but it’s actually S107G] Gyroscope system.
Before you fly the helicopter make sure that you get to know the controls properly. On the left you have the up and down key. This will basically lift you off the ground and hover you above the ground. Try not to push it too far up or you may go into the ceiling or if you’re outside who knows where you’ll end up. That’s the left hand key.
Here is an example of how to hover the helicopter so just pretty much using the up and down control as previously shown this is the helicopter taking off and hovering around the room. There are a very few slight adjustments to direction to stop it veering off but as you can see this is pretty much only using the left hand key. It takes a bit of practice to keep it at a certain level otherwise it does tend to go up and down but once you’ve got the hang of it you’ll soon get used to it. And that’s just using the left key.
Secondly you’ll need to get to grips with the directional control. The directional control works as you’d expect. Forwards is forwards. Backwards is backwards. Left is left and right is right. This is one of those controls that can move in any direction so it doesn’t have to be perfectly right or left or forwards or backwards. So do practice with this before you actually set off with your first flight.
Here is a small hop forwards. And here is a small hop backwards. Here we can see the directional commands in operation – the simple left manoeuvre followed by here we go a simple right manoeuvre. You can see its very straight forward.
If you find the helicopter veers off in one direction to the left or to the right then this is what the central control here is for. If you turn it to the left it will actually stop the helicopter from veering to the right and vice versa for the other direction. Use this carefully as only a small adjustment may be needed.
In this clip we’re looking at the left and right adjustment control. I’ve left the sound on on this clip so that parents can see exactly how loud the copter is. Here we can see the copter is actually rotating to the right so we’ve corrected it and now it’s staying just about perfect. So you will need to take some time to get this control exactly right. It’s the control at the centre of the console itself. Just play with it until you get it perfect and you’ll have hours of fun using this. As you can hear the helicopter isn’t very loud and your child or yourself in fact should have hours and hours of fun with it.
Finally this last clip is to show you how my son who is 10 years old after probably an hour’s worth of flying can control a helicopter in a very very small room. So you can see how easy it is for your child to get to grips with this. As you can see he’s just spinning it round here but keeping it very central and moving it backwards, forwards, left and right within a space of probably around 15 x 12 feet. Just do be careful when you first learn to fly this because once it’s hit a wall a couple of times it might not be coming back again.
We’d like to thank you for spending your time to see this review of this Syma Gyroscope and hope you have hours and hours of fun with it as we already have. Thank you very much.
Whether your child just wants to look the part for army role play in the backyard or whether you need to add the final touches to their kids army costumes if they are going to an army themed party, you may need some ideas on how to apply camo face paint.
I was in this exact situation last week so having bought some army face paint I did a bit of research.
Colors needed
You can have some fun with colors and even mix up the camo style that your kids try for different occasions. In the military, camo colors are supposed to match the
terrain so consider using the following colors to give specific looks:
Woodland: Brown (light and dark), green (light and dark), black, perhaps beige.
Desert: Sand, light green.
Snow: White, loam.
Just make sure you buy a range of colors in a few shades and you’ll be able to come up with something.
Where to apply
Camo face paint is supposed to be applied to the face, ears, neck and arms, ie, any area of skin that is exposed. Obviously as your children are not actually going on operations, you do not need to go to these extremes unless you want to.
As my son is washing-shy and was likely to rub his arms near walls or soft furnishings I just painted his face.
The theory
The great thing about applying camo face paint is that you don’t need to be an artist. It is the most forgiving design as it is not supposed to look like anything. There are however a few rules to follow if you’re going for an authentic look.
Basically you are trying to make the face not look like a face. This means highlighting shadow areas and darkening shiny areas. You are also trying to remove the natural lines and features of the face (ie, horizontal eyes and mouth, vertical nose).
So for:
Shiny areas use dark colors: eg, forehead, nose ridge, chin, cheekbones.
Shadow areas use light colors: eg, under eyes, under nose, cheek hollows.
Elsewhere use middle colors: eg, temples, side of nose.
Now you know which colors to use, you need to apply them in irregular stripes and patterns. Going back to making the face unrecognizable as a face, you do NOT want to circle the eyes or put a stripe down the nose as this just highlights the natural shape of these areas. Instead you want to disguise prominent features as follows:
Eyes – draw vertical or diagonal lines or shapes across them.
Nose – draw a horizontal line or shape across it.
Mouth – draw vertical or diagonal lines or shapes across it.
How
If you have makeup sponges these probably make it easier to apply the face paint. Two are recommended – one for brown colors and one for green colors. Put dark shades on one end of the sponge and light shades on the other.
I didn’t have any sponges so had to use my fingers but this seemed to work OK too.
My attempts
I have never applied face paints in my life (as you can probably tell!) but my son was happy with it. Here is what I did:
These are the shades I used.
I started with a brown base layer.
I then added the dark brown shades …
… and the lighter green shades.
I thought it wasn’t dark enough so I added in some black and tried to do the lines vertically across the eyes and mouth and horizontally across the nose.
Here’s the look with the papier-mâché army helmet we made a few weeks ago. I think the nose stands out too much but this was my first attempt!
When we wiped the main colors off with a soft tissue I had another go with stripes. Whilst not applied according to military theory, we both liked this look best.
When trawling through the myriad of military face paint options out there, be sure to look for those that are hypoallergenic, FDA compliant and water based. This way they go on with a bit of water if necessary and come off easily with water.
I was worrying about how to remove face paint easily before I started as my son has an aversion to washing his face at the best of times. Anyway I was pleasantly surprised to find that a sink full of warm water mixed with a bit of baby wash only took a few gentle wipes with a flannel to see it gone. Phew!
Try it and send me a photo
So next time your child wants to dress up with their kids army gear for a parade, party or holiday, you know what to do!
Please send me a photo of your handiwork and I’ll add it to the gallery to give other parents inspiration. Thanks.
And don’t forget you can continue the camo theme by making over your kids bedroom with kids camo bedding.
So craft is not really my thing but my son wanted an army helmet to play with, so we had a bash.
He actually wanted to paint his bike helmet but after I explained why that wasn’t such a great idea, we decided to go the papier-mâché route.
It was actually a fun thing to do together in the school holidays as well as a cheap activity, although being papier-mâché, it did mean we had to wait while it dried which is always annoying for a child.
And here is the end result – not too bad I think! He’s pleased with it anyway and it would go perfectly with many kids army costumes.
Things you will need:
A tape measure
A round balloon
Newspaper
A tub of multipurpose white glue (or flour and water)
Cardboard
Scotch tape
Acrylic paints and paint brushes
Steps:
Measure your child’s head around their forehead.
Blow up a balloon until it is slightly larger than the measurement you just took (say by an inch).
Tear up some sheets of newspaper into pieces about 1″ x 2″.
Prepare your glue. Either mix the multipurpose glue with water 3:1 or mix flour and water 2:1.
Find an old tub to prop the balloon up in (I used an empty sour cream tub). It won’t balance perfectly so you will need to keep a hand on it.
Dunk your pieces of newspaper into the glue and start layering them over the balloon.
Keep going until you have a good few layers of newspaper covering the top two thirds of the balloon.
Leave it to dry overnight or for 48 hours.
When the papier-mâché is dry and hard, pop the balloon and peel it away from the inside of the helmet.
Measure your child’s head from the top of the skull to the top of their ear. Place the tape measure at the top of the helmet and mark about 10 points around that are the same distance as you just measured.
Using a marker pen, join up the 10 points and then cut the excess papier-mâché away.
Trace round the helmet onto a piece of cardboard to create the rim of the helmet. Draw an extra circle about 1 inch out from the tracing you just made and another one 1 inch in.
Cut around the outer and inner circles.
Make short cuts from the inside of the circle to the middle line. Fold the cardboard up along the middle line.
Cut out 6 very thin triangles from the outside to the middle line (make sure the points do not match up with the cuts from the inside). Also make sure they are evenly spaced around the helmet. (Note: mine were too big so I had to cover them with paper – oops!)
Using Scotch tape stick the edges of the 6 triangles together from underneath, allowing the rim to tilt downwards.
Join the helmet and rim together by sticking the flaps on the inside of the helmet rim up and into the helmet.
Check the fit and install a chin strap or internal padding (eg, foam) if need be. A chin strap can be fitted by carefully skewering a hole on each side and affixing string.
Get the paints ready and let your child loose designing his own camouflage pattern.
Let it dry and enjoy this cheap and cheerful addition to your kids army gear collection.
For an army themed birthday party, why not prepare a number of helmets and let the kids decorate their own one to take home. If you can stand the mess that is! Don’t forget to provide some cheap rain ponchos or something to protect clothing.
Lego army toys can be hard to find as they are not made by Lego themselves so are not packaged in the nice kits you have come to expect.
Luckily various custom manufacturers have stepped into fill the gap by investing in the tooling necessary to make miniature weapons and to print directly onto plain Lego minifigures. They also use their engineering skills to build tanks and other army vehicles from standard Lego pieces, making detailed instructions as they go.
Other custom builders use decals to give plain minifigs an army look and these are mainly the ones you will find on Ebay.
Ebay is a great place to find Lego army men for sale as there is such a large selection. You can find single figures or sets of 2, 3, 4, 5 and more to start your own army as well as figures from other armies such as Germany, France and Japan to complete your set.
Lego military sets, such as base camp playsets, and vehicle kits can also be found on Ebay although the selection is not huge. It is however, not the place to buy Lego army guns as the choice is virtually non-existent.
It can be quite hard to pin down the best people to buy from as the names they give to their items for sale can vary meaning that your search may not bring up your desired results. As such we have trawled the Ebay sellers and found 7 that you should consider depending on what you want to buy.
The table below details what Lego army toys they typically sell. Obviously Ebay is a dynamic market place so the items we saw for sale at the time of writing will change over time, but these sellers are a good place to start.
You can see who sells Lego soldiers, army tanks and decals and whether the minifigures can be purchased in sets which will save you money per item. You can also see a comparison of prices, colors on offer as well as which armies the soldiers relate to.
Also don’t miss the extra information on three of the best sellers underneath the table. Each has an area where they are particularly good:
Battle Brick are the only seller to offer Lego army tank kits.
Sargeant Bricks have a great range of base camp sets and a few unusual Lego military minifigs.
Deadnight44 is not to be missed if you want to buy your soldiers in larger sets. They have many 5 figure sets that are worth checking out.
SigMiniFig also has Ninja, knight and samurai warriors for sale.
Minifigs all come with weapons.
Prices are the cheapest of the range.
Color chart: Bl=Black; Gr=Green; W=White, G=Grey, B=Blue, R=Red, T=Tan.
DeadNight price is based on a set of 5.
GIJoePirate price includes a horse.
Battle Brick
Battle Brick is more of a complete resource for custom military Lego toys. They sell minifigures, decals, and complete vehicle sets and individual instructions. They do not however sell individual weapons.
They are currently the only Ebay seller to offer Lego army vehicle building sets including all the required bricks and complete CD instructions. Sets can be quite expensive due to the sheer number of real Lego bricks that are included (in non-standard colors) as well as a mark up for the labor of putting together these custom kits.
The M1A1 tank set is the largest comprising 660 bricks and is offered for sale at $145. The 1:35 scale model (which is perfect for minifigs) features a fully rotating turret, a poseable 120mm main gun, other guns, 2 minifigs, a working suspension and 3 hatches. It is not motorized but there is room for an engine if you are so inclined. Once built it will measure about 9″ x 4″ x 4″. Alternatively you can buy the instructions on their own (without the bricks) for $10.
Battle Brick also currently have Humvee and Stryker tank sets available.
They are a good choice for minifig soldiers as they have a range of single figures, 2 figure sets and 4 figure squads.
They are also the only place on Ebay where you can buy army decals. So if you already have a collection of blank minifigs, you can turn them into soldiers quickly and easily with a set of 15 decals for $6.
Sargeant Bricks
Sargeant Bricks is definitely worth a mention for their playsets which cost upwards of $36. They have a range of base camp sets which normally include 3 minifigures, a tent, weapons and accessories. Base camps sets are available for the British Army, USMC Desert, USMC Camo, Japanese army, German army and US army. You can also buy the US and German army tents separately for $8.99.
Some of the more unique pieces on offer by Sargeant Bricks are a minifig in Dress Marine uniform, a German army flamethrower soldier, a USMC Minesweeper soldier and a US Army Medic soldier with stretcher and medic bag.
There are also machine gun fox hole Lego army sets which include Lego bricks, baseplate, 2 Lego soldiers, weapons and accessories.
DeadNight44
Deadnight44 is the ‘go to’ place if you want to buy sets of 5 Lego army soldiers at a good price. They range from $35-$55 for 5 soldiers complete with weapons and hats/helmets. You should also note that all their weapons are made by Brickarms and helmets are made by Brickforge. Their variety of different armies is also excellent.
If your kids love Lego and they love army toys, then building a Lego Army seems the next logical step to take.
Unfortunately Lego does not make this easy for you, preferring to keep children playing in fantasy scenarios than realistic types of war game.
Luckily for you, the world of custom army Legos is quite vast. Here you can find a diverse range of Lego army soldiers, Lego army tanks and other vehicles and teeny Lego army guns to complete the look.
For readily available Lego military sets please check out our other post that details the army vehicles you can find in the Lego Creator range, the Toy Story Army Lego Men on Patrol set for youngsters and the Mega Bloks Probuilder military sets for older children and adults.
Obviously you can build anything you like with Lego bricks, but kids often need a bit of a helping hand to kick start their imaginations. An army of Lego soldier minifigures complete with weapons may inspire them to build some vehicles from scratch, or you could buy the instructions for custom builds to help them along or even custom sets complete with instructions and relevant bricks.
Whilst these custom army Legos are not endorsed by the Lego company, they are made using their bricks and will therefore work nicely with any existing brick collections.
So what Lego army sets can you find?
Army Men – Minifigs
Lego Army figures are available to replicate soldiers from the UK, Germany and the US. There are WWII and modern day soldiers from the marines and other branches of the military. They come in different colored uniforms, including grey, black, white, green and tan. They come with removable helmets, uniform detailing and may or may not come with one or more weapons. They cost from around $6 singly or you can buy them as part of Lego army toys sets, for example, a set of 3 minifigures at a base camp including weapons will cost between $35-40.
Things to watch out for when purchasing include how the uniform is printed onto the minifig. Direct printing front and back is the best as it will not rub or scratch off, but some may just come with army Lego decals on one side. You can also just buy the decals yourself to add to your own minfigures. These cost around $6 for 15 decals.
Click or HERE for a great selection of Lego army men for sale
As well as weapons you can buy individual helmets for your soldiers. These include modern combat helmets, brodie helmets, steel pots and German Stahlhelms. Most come in a variety of colors and cost $2 each.
Click for a great selection of Lego minifig helmets
Minifig stands have two studs and are designed to keep your Lego soldiers upright in battle. Whilst not a necessary accompaniment, they can be well worth the $1 price tag.
Guns & Weapons
Precisely detailed using computer aided design, Lego weapons are amazingly intricate tiny toys for your minifigures. They are made from the same plastic as Lego uses so will blend perfectly. You can buy weapons individually for about $1 or in multiple weapon packs. From high caliber sniper rifles, to assault carbines, to grenade launchers and many more, you can really rev up your military with these pieces of minifig weaponry.
Why not stock up your tanks with some Lego grenades too. The iconic and highly detailed fragmentation grenade can be added to your arsenal to send your enemies fleeing.
For great value for money, why not treat your Lego soldiers to a weapons pack. These come in three colors, black, silver and cobalt blue, and include such things as precision sniper rifles, tactical PDWs, assault carbines. combat SMGs and bipods. The variety in these weapons ensures your army is ready for both close quarter combat and long range attacks.
Kits for building Lego military vehicles are available for World War I, World War II, and the modern military. Tanks are by far the most popular although a couple of fighter planes, jeeps and Humvees are also available. Tanks include those such as the Sherman and Panzer. You can buy instructions for building these custom tanks with your own Lego pieces or buy complete kits that comprise the pieces and the instructions.
Click for a great selection of Lego tanks
Tips For Improving Your Army Lego Sets
Make sure you opt for distinctive attire between armies. This can be done with decals, helmets and weapons.
Consider what era your war is set in and choose minifigs, helmets and weapons that are suitable.
Assemble your Lego soldiers into squads, such as groups of snipers, close combat army men and artillery units.
Identify some ranks within the squads, say one officer to every 5 infantryman.
Make use of some custom Lego military vehicles.
Build an army base with normal Lego for your army to defend.
You will probably need at least 20 Lego soldiers and a couple of vehicles to achieve a realistic battle scene.
With army toys and Lego toys being so popular with kids, it is no wonder that parents would like to see them join together into a range of army Legos toys. Unfortunately Lego does not produce modern day warfare Lego, such as tanks and helicopters as they prefer to keep children’s playtimes in the realms of fantasy rather than reality. You can, however, find army type vehicles in the LEGO Creator range, including the LEGO Creator 5866 Helicopter, the Lego Creator 6741 Mini Jet and the Lego Creator 6742 Mini Off Roader.
Click HERE for great prices on the Lego Creator range
Lego is of course a construction toy, so in fact you can build anything you like. You don’t really need a set as you can instead use your own creativity rather than follow a set of instructions from a Lego box. Just look what you can build with a bit of inspiration.
For those of us that are not quite up to that standard, you can improvise and buy the few Lego army sets that are available. The Toy Story movie helped us out when the Toy Story green army men became so popular that Lego produced a set of them, called Toy Story Army Men On Patrol. Four of these brave toy soldier Lego mini figures come with a 3” Jeep, a spare tire and a stretcher. Everything in this set is bright green and it is well liked. The minifigures are cool – three are Lego soldiers, one mine sweeper, one rifle man and one radio man, whilst the fourth member is a medic. They all come with printing on their chests to show the detailing of their uniforms as well as helmets. The Jeep rolls easily and is an adorable addition to help with role play. At $11 it is well worth the money, but it may be worth buying a few sets to extend your army.
Click HERE for a great price on this Toy Story Lego set
For a more medieval army feel, you could get a set from the Lego Vikings range, such as the Army of Vikings with Heavy Artillery Wagon (7020). This 312 piece set comes with 7 Viking Lego minifigs and a rolling armoured wagon that launches 10 bolts. The army Lego toys can march into battle as brave warriors carrying swords and spears.
So if your child has a fascination for things that go ‘boom’ as well as for Lego, you should be able to come up with something. There are of course other manufacturers of construction type toys, similar to Lego, who do produce an army toys range. Best Lock Toys have a 750 piece Transporter & Tank set, a 500 piece Attack Copter & Tank set and a 330 piece Military Play Set amongst others. The building blocks used are very similar to Lego but the range includes many highly detailed and realistic military vehicles. However, reviews suggest that they are not up to Lego’s quality which may explain why they are relatively inexpensive.
Another reputable option to consider is the Mega Bloks army sets found in the Probuilder range. It includes many military models such as the Navy Destroyer and Minehunter ships and the Air Force Warthog. They are quite advanced sets so are recommend for children aged 8 years and over but receive good reviews.
