Posting each month with photos, reviews, discussions, conversions, and play with 54mm Toy Soldiers of the American Civil War and WWII.
Do stop by and remember that your comments, questions, and corrections are always invited and appreciated. Copyright 2024, Mannie Gentile
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I think that CTS reissued these a few years ago, and they can still be found on ebay frequently. It is made from the original Marx molds but comes without the essential mousetrap-style activating unit.
Frequently, when I go to the twice-yearly Gettysburg toy soldier show, I see these spring-loaded activators for sale at very reasonable prices, and with minimal filing and fitting you can install them into the house.
When a projectile hits the front door, the whole thing "explodes" in a very satisfying manner.
They also paint-up very nicely. You may remember this Greek cafe from the Navarone scenario. Several Nazi officers met their doom while sipping strong coffee on that morning.
Did you see the Brad Pitt movie Fury? I consider it one of the all-time top five of war movies. Certainly liberties are taken to advance the narrative, but it is a gritty look at tank combat in WWII. It is an incredible movie. If you saw it, please share your review in the comments section.
Along those lines, I painted up some tankers to go with my 1/16 Pershing and Sherman tanks. Unlike Brad Pitt none of them were once married to Angelina Jolie, but they are pretty cool nonetheless.
I found these resin figures on ebay; there were enough parts for four guys. The parts were flash-free and highly detailed. Assembly was very easy with super-glue, and following assembly I gave them an overspray of Tamiya gray primer.
I painted them with Vallejo paints, which I seem to be using exclusively these days.
I wasn't going for military miniature-style painting, but just a nice, detailed, toy soldier look.
A touch of panel-liner really brought out the detail, and also makes for some nice five-o'clock shadow.
He's no Brad Pitt, but I think he came out pretty well.
I also painted up these guys: they started in the Sherman, but moved to the Pershing. Sadly, the loader got lost out in the shrubbery one autumn day when I was out in the yard tanking...MIA, I guess.
As always, I enjoyed painting these figures, it is relaxing, satisfying, and ultimately...fun; and isn't that what our hobby is all about?
(I invite you to click on the photos for larger views)
This is a follow-on to my post from yesterday.
In late November I decided to buy another tank (the last, truly) a Heng Long 1/16 Pershing tank.
The tank, like the Sherman in my previous post, is fully functional, right down to shooting BBs out of the 90mm gun barrel.
Here it is right out of the box (it still has Styrofoam crumbs on it). These are referred to as "R2R", or, "ready to run". They are good to go right out of the box, so the very first thing to do is run it through all of its functions (including exhaust smoke) to make sure that everything works.
Here it is in its final livery, all painted, detailed, and weathered.
The 90mm gun is massive; though it frequently misfires.
When I first saw this model, I didn't think that the Pershing was particularly attractive, with its squat, plain architecture; but painted, weathered, and detailed with lots of stowage, it has become very pleasing to my eye.
Figuring out the logical attachments was much of the fun of detailing the tank, and there are loads of photos of WWII Pershings crammed to the gills with exterior stowage.
These latest-generation radio-control vehicles are a marvel right out of the future. When you open it up you are confronted with electronics that weren't even within the realm of imagination when I was a kid pushing toy tanks around the floor. The manufacturer of these tanks (Heng Long) states upfront that unless you are comfortable with constant tinkering, these tanks may not be for you...indeed, I have these tanks on the bench frequently.
The frailty of this massive ten-pound tank, is its rear-sprocket drive. Everything that gets picked up by the tracks immediately wraps around the sprocket, and I have to pause the action to get the track back on.
After one particular patrol, I fished all of this leaf litter from behind that one sprocket; it was the same on the other side.
And clay is the absolute nemesis of the Pershing; it will pack so tightly that the tank will stall out. Despite its rugged looks, the Pershing is no match for the Sherman when running off-pavement.
The bow machine gun has an LED light, which flashes (along with recorded sound effect) when fired.
The driver's hatch opens to reveal the on/off switch.
I really enjoyed painting the details.
The wire-wrapping of a guitar-string makes for some pretty convincing barbed-wire.
The loader's hatch gives access to the BB magazine as well is the port for the infrared sensor. I/R battles with other tanks are a blast. Every time you hit your opponent, his tank shudders, and after five hits it shuts down and needs to be restarted. These tanks make for much raucous fun.
The large size of this tank makes the mud splashed on the tank looks very much to scale.
Despite its significant shortcomings, this tank is a blast and I'm very happy to have it in the motor-pool.
Just three minutes from my house, lives a good friend who is also a tanker. He has two different ranges in his basement, including this fort set-up. Today was a bad day for the Germans and Confederates.
