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
Everybody seems to like me, even assholes that I have nothing in common with...I think that's because I'm such a good listener, and I have a keen sense of humor.
So read this as if we were already friends, because we probably would be if you found your way here.
Other stuff from me here: http://combathelmets.blogspot.com
http://toysoldiersforever.blogspot.com
Much of the reason that I'm a Park Ranger today has to do with the 54mm Louis Marx Blue and Gray playset that my parents got me for my tenth birthday. Along those lines, I just finished a wonderful sixty-day detail at Monocacy National Battlefield. I can honestly say that every day was a joy and I think that I've never worked as hard as I have over these past two months. Tomorrow, it's back to the National Mall...with an abiding hope of returning to a battlefield sooner rather than later.
I've been cruising ebay acquiring, a little at a time, a staple of my childhood - 54mm Louis Marx WWII Battleground figures and accessories. I have two Civil War posts coming up, and after those I'd like to do some Marx WWII posts. All of the Marx materials are unpainted, and I'll be leaving them that way; this makes me consider doing my Marx photoshoots in black and white; I think that might be kind of cool. Here is a scenic that I've been working on this weekend, it's a BMC pillbox embedded in concrete and stone, for part of the Marx Navarone playset.
It's been fun making it and I'm learning a lot about working with styrofoam...the craft store variety, not the nice high-density stuff. I've been having a lot of "happy accidents" during this learning process. So stay tuned, and I hope that we all enjoy upcoming posts. Soldier on! Mannie
I’m a baby-boomer who is running breathlessly trying to catch up with my childhood. Over the last few years I’ve been selectively acquiring some of the favored toys from my childhood including the wonderful toys of Louis Marx.
"Toy King" Louis Marx made the watershed of product with his wonderful playsets - Civil War, Fort Apache, Roy Rogers Melody Ranch, Zorro, Rin-Tin-Tin, Sunnytime Farm, Alamo, Space Patrol, Allstate service station, etc. These playsets set the standard for two generations of kids and are still spoken of with awe by toy soldier enthusiasts.
In 1964 or ’65 my parents got me the Marx Battleground set (the Giant Blue and Gray set was for my tenth birthday in 1962 which coincided with a trip to Gettysburg).As WWII was still relatively fresh in the minds of everyone at that time, Battleground had a fertile audience among kids as well as their doting parents, and Marx sets were flying off the shelves.
Over the winter I’ve been buying Battleground components as well as an original (though somewhat tattered) box. The plan is not to recreate the set that I had, but a set with a lot of extras and redundancies...the fantasy set. Right now I’m deciding whether to keep the accessories (blockhouses, dragon’s teeth, etc) in their original marbled plastic color or to paint them. I invite your opinions on that.
About ten years ago when I was still rangering at Antietam National Battlefield, one of the products carried in the bookstore was the 54mm model of Dunker Church which was a specialty item made by BMC. The bookstore manager asked me to make an assembled one that he could use as a store display. I did, and it came out pretty well.
BMC, unfortunately, no longer makes that model, and the new bookstore manager asked me if, after all this years, I'd like it back. I gave her an enthusiastic "yes" and today I swung by the battlefield and picked it up.
The BMC model was one of their least imaginative buildings but it provides a good starting place.
I used the Alexander Gardner photograph of the aftermath of the battle of Antietam as my guide.
The cannon damage to Dunker Church came from two miles away where the Union 20-pounder parrott guns were firing upon the Confederate battery deployed just across the road from the church.
Flat pieces of packaging plastic were used as the shattered window panes. To simulate whitewash worn from the bricks, I brushed brick red over the white plastic, let it dry, covered the brick color with packing tape, and stripped it off. I was very happy with the result.
I'm really happy to have it back.
In addition to working at Antietam for over eight years, I have another personal connection to Dunker Church...
My wife and I were married there nine years ago. Cheers!
Soldier on!
Mannie
p.s. Here's a video that I made with one of my ranger friends, Alann Schmidt, who is the authority on Dunker Church:
