Loveland, Colorado Has a Great Vintage Military Collection

Inside a small building in Loveland, Colorado lies a collection, that could be the country's largest private one, of U.S. military dioramas and figurines. It is rarely open to the public; so when it is, you need to go.

Large Military Miniatures and Figurines Collections in Loveland, Colorado

Coloradans that have respect for the military and military history will be gland to know that there is a collection in Loveland, that keeps U.S. military history alive, in miniature form.

Having grown up in Loveland, I was surprised that I'd never heard of this collection until it was announced that they were going to have a open house for the public to view it, in March of 2025. A collection that spanned several decades to amass, really is something to see.

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According to the Reporter-Herald, Mel Neal and Frank Ward began putting the collection together after a trip to California in the 1970s where they came across a toy soldiers collection. They began collecting their own soldiers, planes, art, books and more, mostly from the World War II era.

READ MORE: When Colorado Was Under Attack in WWII

It sounds like the two men had a lot of fun traveling around the country and the world to get items for the collection that lives in the basement of the Ward Building in northern Loveland.

I used to work at Runza, which is next door to the building; if the collection was in the basement back then, I never heard about it.

It was great to get the chance to view the collection, though photos of the items don't truly depict the amount of time and patience it must have taken to put it all together.