LeadSoldierCasting Sam's Toybox Homepage

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The WWII Lead Soldier Casting Set by Rapco is a neat old toy, probably from the 1960s (no date on the box or instructions). This particular set, model 1295C, originally came with two pairs of mold halves, the mold clamps and handles, the electric stove and ladle, as well as 30 pigs (ingots) of casting lead. My set came with three additional molds, a heavy cast iron ladle, and a mess of already cast figures. All of my molds were heavily covered with soot from use and I cleaned them with a wire brush before I tried to use them. I did leave one mold half uncleaned when I snapped the picture below.

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Lead Casting set contents and box
 

Here are the five molds that came with my set. From the right is No. 68103 German Officer and Foot Soldiers. This was one of the two molds that came with the set. In the middle is the other mold that came with the set, No. 6090 Mop-up Squad. On the left is an additional mold, No. 6086 Infantry Squad in Action. The plane mold is No. 52X1 U.S. Attack Bomber and the last mold is No. 6197 Civil War Utility Cannon.

Lead Casting Set soldier molds Lead Casting Set airplane and cannon molds
 

My first attempts at casting were using the electric stove and ladle. The stove worked but didn't seem to heat the lead hot enough for it to flow well. The instructions say to pour, separate, re-melt as needed until the mold is hot enough. They clearly say to not try to pre-heat the mold and they say it IN ALL CAPS. After heating the mold with a propane torch, the lead flowed a bit better including the pictures below. I moved on to the cast iron ladle heated on my kitchen stove, along with pre-heating the mold with a torch, and things worked pretty well for the soldier molds. The plane above is my best attempt in many tries. I used some C-clamps on the mold, put it on a baking sheet, and heated in my oven at 550 degrees for an hour to get the lead to flow as well as it did--and it still didn't completely fill the wingtips. Uncle.

Lead Casting Set, early casting attempt Lead Casting Set, early casting attempt Lead Casting Set, using heavy ladle and kitchen stove
 

Here are all the castings from the former owner of my toy. A busy boy to say the least. The seller of this toy lost a bit of money on shipping since the box must have weighed 30 pounds.

Lead Casting Set, completed figures from former owner
 
Name:WWII Lead Soldier Casting Set
Manufacturer:Rapco
Vintage:1960s
Obtained:From eBay (#Ad).
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Last Modified: July 9, 2012

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