Welcome to the Strelets Forum. Please feel free to discuss any aspect of 1/72 scale plastic figures, not simply Strelets. If you have any questions about our products then we will answer them here.
Stuart - "They were copies of Esci hard plastic..."
They were designed by the great Charles Stadden and pre-date the Esci kits by years, whether Esci pirated them or had a licence is unknown, but they also copied the Africa Korp (with head changes), US Infantry etc..
Esci did however have one or two 'new' poses, and both the British Red Devils (Para's) and Smoke Unit (Nebelwerfer) were original (and have heavier sculpting), also the Green Devils (German Para's) in 1:35 and others.