Marx Giant Blue and Gray pt 2

 Summer fun.

Pictured, is no particular battle, it's just the inventory of what I'll be working with in my all-Marx (mostly) battle scenario.

It'll be fun.

Soldier on!

Mannie

Shutdown memories, and time well spent

 In the season of government shutdowns, I recall a very productive few weeks when I still worked for the National Park Service.  I seem to remember that it was a four week shutdown and everyone was sent home to listen to the news and watch their savings balance dwindle.  I, however, had a pretty good experience.  I spent the time casting and painting what was to become my 3rd South Carolina Infantry Battalion (https://toysoldiersforever.blogspot.com/2019/01/third-south-carolina-infantry-battalion.html).  

This 202 man rebel unit is the foil to my 286 man-strong 3rd Michigan project (https://toysoldiersforever.blogspot.com/2012/02/old-third-all-present-or-accounted-for.html) .  Michigan took eighteen years to complete, and South Carolina only took seven, as I wasn't making my own molds as I did with Michigan.

The shutdown made for many fun, but chilly, days out in the shop casting, and warmer days in the studio painting.  

The men of the Palmetto State reporting for duty.

It was time well spent - among little pewter men, and far away from the hustle and bustle of working in Washington DC.

Have a happy new year, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie

WWII tankers in 1/16 scale

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?

Button up, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie

By the way...did someone mention Angelina Jolie?

 

Marx Giant Blue and Gray Summer

The toy soldier table has been cleared, and Navarone is just a pleasant memory.Now the scene is being set for a Louis Marx adventure as 1/32 plastic Civil War soldiers battle it out on the toy soldier table.

This is the supersized fantasy Giant Blue and Gray that I assembled a couple of years ago (lavishly profiled here)

This should be nostalgic for many readers of this blog.

Much work to do, but it's what I need to do in order to...

Soldier on!

Mannie

Navarone postscript

 Since yesterday, I've been playing around with an artificial intelligence ap.  I type in a description and images are produced. fine-tuning of the parameters will get the image closer to what I had in mind.

Here are two images of the before and after of Navarone Mountain.

My original description is the underlined text:

 a craggy, gray, forbidding mountain peak. there is a very large opening about two-thirds from the bottom of the mountain peak. extending, menacingly from the opening are the barrells of two huge artillery pieces. in the foreground, at the base of the monument is a WWII German military installation supported by pillboxes, bunkers, barbed wire and guard towers. German soldiers and tiger tanks are everywhere. all of this is under a gray and threatening sky

I got to a point of diminishing returns after too many modifications, and then the computer starts to drift away from the original concept.

But not to worry, Miss America is on the side of freedom.

The program is chat GTP.  Prepare to start wasting time.

Until next time...

Soldier on!

Mannie

Louis Marx exploding house

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.

It's a nice day to get outdoors.

Soldier on!

Mannie

 

Battle of Guam: little grass shack

To set the tone, let's give a listen to Don Ho singing My Little Grass Shack:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWlvYpJ5pRo)

The years-long Battle of Guam project is soldiering into its fifth year this spring with more construction.

Right now, I'm working on a bamboo hut, which will be a good all-purpose building that will suit many purposes.

I started with a foam core armature; the size will accommodate 1/32 soldiers.

The roof will be thatched and the rows of thatch were made of printer paper and cut with an X-acto knife.

I'm very satisfied with the effect.

I painted them in various shade of yellow and brown.

On Amazon I found paper, bamboo-pattern, drinking straws.  I made a jig to split them uniformly.

It's coming along nicely.  Eventually, it will be slightly elevated on stilts and the porch roof will be made to look like corrugated iron.

Come on inside, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie

1/16 Pershing tank walk-around

(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.

Here's a little video of this tank in action:

Stay warm, stay cool, and...

Soldier on!

Mannie