Tin soldier

Tin soldiers are miniature models of soldiers, extremely popular in the world of collecting. They can be bought finished or in a raw state to be hand-painted. They are generally made of pewter, tin, lead, other metals or plastic. Often very elaborate scale models of battle scenes, known as dioramas, are created for their display.

By far the best-known tin soldier in literature is the unnamed title character in Hans Christian Andersen's 1838 fairy tale, The Brave Tin Soldier. It concerns a tin soldier who had only one leg because "he had been left to the last, and then there was not enough of the melted tin to finish him." He falls in love with a dancer made of paper and after much adventuring, including being swallowed by a fish, the two are consumed together by fire, leaving nothing of him but melted tin "in the shape of a little tin heart."

See also

• Militaria
• Miniature figures
• Model figures