Roy Selwyn-Smith (22 September 1923 in

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, locally known as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Walton forms part of the Greater London built-up area, within the KT postcode and is served by a wide ...

– 16 June 2006), was well known as a sculptor of English

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

figures and

toy soldiers A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve ...

. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

service as a merchant navy radio operator in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

, Selwyn-Smith joined Myer Zang's Modern Packages where he learned sculpting and plastic moulding from 1947 to 1949. He then joined Willmore & Sons that made moulds for lead

hollow cast Permanent mold casting is a metal casting process that employs reusable molds ("permanent molds"), usually made from metal. The most common process uses gravity to fill the mold, however gas pressure or a vacuum are also used. A variation on the ...

figures for Timpo. Selwyn-Smith used his wife Mary as a model for a figure of a woman leaning against her suitcase. In 1951 Selwyn-Smith formed Selwyn until his backer committed suicide and the moulds were sold to W. Britain. Returning to Zang, he developed the Herald Miniatures plastic figures with Zang that Britains distributed from 1954 until the firm was purchased by Britains in 1959. Selwyn-Smith also developed Britains Swoppets where figures could be assembled and combined with pieces of different coloured plastic to form a variety of poses that was patented in 1956.Improvements in or relating to model figures – Patent Review GB19560014389 19560509
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selwyn-Smith, Roy Model manufacturers of the United Kingdom 1923 births 2006 deaths British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II