Metal copies of well known plastics

First, let me thank Clive for inviting me to contribute here. In the future I will probably post the odd unknown Nappie Mounted or ACW Advancing, however this is a collection of pirates! My first post is related to Clive's latest post over at 'The Hinton Hunter' and my comments. The images are 8.5 Mpx so if you click on them they should come up at least twice life-size and clear.

This is a set of one each of the contents of the Airfix 'Civilians' set. I do have two or three others, but they are really poor home-casts, while these are very well done. The mould-release mark on the base tends to be diagonally across the base from corner to corner, the Airfix originals had them straight across form side to side. Any ideas?

Here is a set of Esci's Napoleonic Russian Grenadiers [I said they were Austrians on HH, Doh!], these seem to have been factory painted in a gloss 'Toy Soldier' style. This is a part set, I have seen larger and smaller groups being sold on eBay. This time I have an 'idea' - Below - but it's not cast iron, and may only hint at the geographical region rather than the same company?

These I do know, they're two sets by a Hungarian company - Panits Laszlo - out of Budapest, and the phone number (569-681) is short enough to hint at the Soviet era. The police seem to be original designs, while a few old friends appear in the pilots set both Esci and Airfix.

The only real link is Esci, otherwise these have a poorer finish than that of the Russians, especially on the underside of the base, are matt (matte) rather than gloss and as suggested by the police set try for some originality?

Any Ideas on either of the first two would be much appreciated, and further info. on Panits Laszlo (does it mean "Lazlo's paintings" for instance!!) would also be useful.

Thanks - Hugh Walter