When it comes to gifts or perhaps a treat for yourself, shops in malls and across the internet boast a myriad of options you can choose from. So why, of all things would you choose a Miniature Stories Singapore Soldier figurine? After all, they’re not considered cheap for the majority of us.
But before you dismiss our figurines as expensive toys that “waste money“, hear us out on a couple of things.
1) Soldier Figurines Bring Delight and Nostalgia
Across the globe, people collect soldier figurines for many reasons. Some have a love of history and enjoy re-creating it through scenes comprising soldier figurines decked out in the uniform and gear of their era and country. Others view it as a way of honouring those who have served in the military.
A soldier figurine collection is a recreation of military history and culture (picture source)
Singapore soldier figurines are even more special because they speak to every Singaporean man on a personal level.
Whilst figurines of foreign soldiers merely serve as tales from other cultures, figurines of Singapore soldiers represent an experience that these men have actually been through personally.
They are a physical way of recreating memories from their common experience of National Service – a time in their lives that shaped them, challenged them and left memories that they’ll carry with them the rest of their days.
2) Material & Workmanship
It’s hard to tell from pictures, but all our soldier figurines are actually made of solid metal and individually hand-painted.
Our Singapore Soldier Figurines are cast in metal then individually hand-painted
Soldier figurines from our Assault Series and SOC Series also come with soft synthetic grass turf on their individual bases to give a realistic look. Even without any additional jungle dioramas, they display beautifully on their own.
Assault and SOC Series Figurines come with grass turf for a realistic look
Resin and plastic, though cheaper in cost, may degrade with time. We wanted our figurines to stand the test of time, and be admired for generations to come as a keepsake of that particular era of National Service. This was why metal became our material of choice.
NS50 Set – Showcasing the transformation of the NS man across the generations
3) Extremely Fine & Accurate Details
In a word: anal – that is how we are when it comes to capturing and making the details in our figurines as accurate to the real thing as possible.
Every facet of the soldier’s weapon, gear and uniform is poured over endlessly – down to the number of ventilation holes in the SAR 21 and the grooves of the combat boot soles. We are such perfectionists about this that we sometimes even lose sleep over it and annoy our sculptors and painters with the numerous re-works!
But it all becomes worth it when we showcase the final product and see that glint in the customer’s eye, when he recognises the details that we painstakingly added, and relates to the soldier figurine because he see it as a likeness of himself during his days in training.
Details of the figurine, down to the SAR 21’s ventilation holes, are meticulously recreated
The ‘Singapore’ badge and rank, replicated in our soldier figurines
4) Free Formation Badge Customisation
When we released our first few figurines almost a year ago, we were a lot less familiar with what our customers wanted.
All the figurines back then came with only the Armour formation badge by default, chosen because of Co-Founder Caleb’s roots during his National Service (#OnceArmourAlwaysArmour!!!). As time went by however, we learned that everyone wanted to see their own formations represented.
Luckily, it was possible to remedy the situation by bringing in waterslide decals that could be applied onto every figurine. We quickly collaborated with a decal artist to design a set of formation badge decals so that customers could customise their soldier figurines accordingly.
Custom formation badges on our soldier figurines
The formation badges currently available for our figurines – we’ll soon be adding to the series!
Though the design work and decals came at a cost, we decided to offer them as a free add-on with every figurine purchase. This was because we strongly believed in the significance of owning a soldier figurine that represented the formation you are/were from.
These decals have proven to be extremely popular, so we’re currently working on our next set of decals to include even more formations!
5) Our Figurines are Benchmarked Against the Best
Folks who are veterans in the hobby would immediately recognise these two brands: King & Country and First Legion.
These international brands have established a reputation for producing collectible soldier figurines that are both popular and of collectors’ standards.
Caleb himself has been a collector of both brands for many years. His familiarity with their work lends him an eye for various features that make a high-quality figurine.
And it is against these two brands that we benchmark the standard of our figurines. After all, Singapore Soldier figurines must look just as good as German WWII troopers and Japanese Samurai!
Our Singapore Soldier Figurine alongside German and Samurai figures from King & Country and First Legion
6) Bigger is not Always Better
Many of our customers have asked us for larger figurines, especially when they intend to present them as gifts to their commanders or VIPs. We can see why – the larger the figurines, the more eye-catching and grand they appear.
But the larger the figurines, the more space they take up as well. This can be a problem for the majority of us HDB-dwellers.
Moreover, our intention has always been to create a line of soldier figurines that can be integrated and built on one another to form a scene. Hence the scale of our figurines across the different series and our future vehicle models have been kept the same.
A parade scene with our Commando figurines in No. 1 dress
Our soldier figurines and upcoming vehicles will be in the same scale
Can you imagine the size we’d have to make our vehicles in if our soldiers were 30cm tall? If they were that big, those who wanted to put together a section of soldiers with a tank would probably have to take up half a room to display them. We would then likely receive lots of hate mail from their wives / partners!
Besides, like we shared earlier, our figurines may be small but they are definitely big on details!
What are your reasons for collecting soldier figurines? Share them in the comments below!
* All macro shots photographed by Eddie Sng.
Interested in getting something? Check out our Online Store now! Shipping is via door-to-door courier, and is free for purchases above $100, and a flat $8 for purchases below.