Just What Exactly Are These?

 Everyone knows (well, if you've been following CBO over the last 10 years at least) that I collect, ostensibly to wargame, 1/32nd scale -or 54mm- toy soldiers. I actually dread the idea of counting how many and from what periods I have. I blacked out even thinking about the number of  1/72nd (20-25mm) figures I have.

The problem with buying job lots cheaply (come on this is me and I do not have the cash to throw around) is that you often get figures you have never seen before. Look at the ones below.

I have been around a long time but never seen "cowboy" figures like these and on very odd plug-in bases. I asked around and no one had any idea who the maker was.

My first thought was that they were nice sculpts but looked like young boys playing at being cowboys. 

 So off I went on a mad three hour internet search (WHY, you OCD moron?!)  I would find out who made them or...get  bad eye sight from trying.  

 The underside of the stand may well have the makers name but as you can see it is unreadable. 

Being dim I had not thought of a Google Lens search but when I did try that I ended up with pages of images but nothing until....after one hour a small image caught my eye.  I thought it was rather odd and comical that the fella lying down and shooting has his foot plugged into the base and is shooting stright up into the air!

It took a bit longer searching but then I discovered these were made by Texas APS an Italian company.  Now I could copy what I found online at a site I should have checked at the outset -the Small Scale World blog of Hugh Walter!

If you want to find out more I recommend visiting his blog and as I am so nice here is the link:

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/i-is-for-international-brigade.html