Started with the very first two sets available in the US in the early sixties.

i 1st came into this hobby at about 7 or 8 collecting & playing w/ toy soldiers from Giant i purchased at the long defunct Grants dept store. i discovered my 1st Airfix sets a couple of years later at Woolworths. these t 2 makers were the bulk of my army til high school when i lost interest for nearly 20yrs before i was given my old soldiers from my father during a move. seeing them brought back many memories & i decided to get back into the hobby, but all the stores i used to buy them from were gone! i started checking out hobby shops in my home town, Buffalo & Cleveland where i discovered Atlantic, Matchbox, ESCI & Revell. the internet & Plastic Figure & Playset Review mag allowed me to fill in gaps in my Airfix collection. since then, i've bought every set that's come out from numerous new manufacturers! my army is now well over 60,000 in my standing army w/ probably another 40,000 in unwanted poses or older boxed sets!