In-Service Miniatures was a small company run out of Lakewood, California, during the 1980s and early 1990s.  They produced a variety of unique miniatures and specialized in variants of widely available models.  

Many items in the ISM line were existing miniatures with camo netting, on-board baggage or sandbags added, hence the name "In Service."  Many of their base models (that is, the models without the baggage) resemble those of other manufacturers.  I don't know their licensing arrangements (if they had any), but it appears that GHQ and CinC models formed the bases for a few of their models.  It appears as though the company was originally called Croissant Miniatures.

In terms of quality, ISM miniatures varied from poor (such as their IT-80), to near-GHQ (such as the Brockway bridge erection truck.)   In general, though, quality was pretty good -- wheels generally have treads and are round (not by any means a given with some manufacturers), tracks are well detailed, and the on-board baggage looks good.  Mold quality is also generally good -- there is little sign of flash or incomplete molding.  Overall, I would rate their line somewhere above H&R but below CinC.  

ISM packaged their miniatures in one of two ways (that I know of) -- either in a segmented plastic bag (see examples below) with 4-5 minatures or in a plastic tray containing a company-sized unit roughly analagous to a GHQ Combat Command.  I can't really comment on pricings, as they have long been out of production.

ISM was unique (as far as I know) in selling many of their standard packs as mixed units -- that is, with a selection of miniatures representing acutal units rather than just five copies of the same thing.  This was particularly useful as many of their packs continued items you wouldn't need five of (such as decontamination vehicles).

The fate of the ISM moulds remains something of a mystery.  From various rumors and stories on the net, it seems they were sold off in the early-to-mid 1990s when the manufacturer went out of the business (and moved?).  At some point, the molds were sold to someone in Illinois (see the address on several new additions).  Reportedly, however, the moulds were in rough shape and production was not resumed.  Any other information on this subject would be appreciated.

Images Of Generic Equipment

Mack Cement Mixer
Courtesy of Andrew Kirk

Aero Mack Tractors
Courtesy of Andrew Kirk

Images Of British Models

Challenger
Courtesy of RedRick.net


3114 Early Spitfire


3116 Hawker Tempest
Swiped from eBay


3218 Lysander Mk 2


3309 Bristol Beaufighter

3353 Harrier
Courtesy of RedRick.net

Images Of Japanese Models

4310 Yokosuka P1Y Frances

4311 Ki-21 Sally

B5N Kate