Toy Fair

Then Nurnberg Toy Fair is on now. It is the time of they year when model companies show off their new products for the next years or even longer. There have been several new releases from Italeri so far.

US Cavalry from the Indian Wars
Apache Indians
WWII German Paratroopers in tropical uniform

I wonder if these may be Revell's old figures, but don't know. I hope they are new figures.
WWII German Soldiers in winter uniform
WWII American Soldiers in winter uniform

All good stuff. The Strelets US Cavalry set is okay, but far from great. I have four of them, but if Italeri does a better set I would buy a bunch of them. The new Caesar Miniatures German Paratroopers are nice, and I just got about a dozen of them. Pegasus is still planning on a set of Paratroopers, but it will be a long time before we see them.

M47 AVLB

The M-47 medium tank and the M59 armored personnel carrier did not serve for long in the US Army.

Still they are an important part of our historical Cold War arsenals.

I took a few M59 from Roskopf and added some Roco machine guns and other detail bits to spice them up a tad.

One of the M47s I have converted into an AVLB. I used the Roco M48 AVLB and transferred the bridge and equipment to make a bridge launcher. I figure it was a prototype that would have been done before series production with the M48 was undertaken, proof of concept as it were. If the Cold War went hot, it would not be unreasonable to think such a conversion would have been made and used in combat.

All those M38 Jeeps I have need a little back up sometimes.

Supplies

All military units require supplies and these are some of the supplies I recently purchases on a trip to Pegasus Hobbies, in Montclair. Larry gives me a bit of a discount on purchases because I am a good customer.

With all the new Caesar Miniatures figures that have been released recently, I was falling behind. My first priority was to build up my WWII German Paratroopers. Despite there being plastic 1/72nd scale paratroopers from Airfix, Esci/Italeri, Revell and Orion, I don't think there was ever a really good set until the new Caesar Miniatures set.

The new Caesar Miniatures Panzergrenadiers II set was also high on my want list. They fit perfectly with the Panzergrenadiers I set and so I had to get several boxes.

I got the Odemars / Ykreol Bosnians but I am using some of the new Caesar Miniatures Mountain troops to fill up the TO&E for them. I am also filling up the Airfix Mountain Troops with a few of the figures from this set too.

I also have gradually been getting the Maya and Inca from Caesar Miniatures. So I got a couple sets of them.

My late war WWI German sets have been upgraded by the addition of a few Emhar German Infantry, German Artillery, and Caesar WWI Germans. Altogether I purchased about 40 boxes of troops at one time. Something to keep me busy in the rains.

Beans & Bullets

I have been upgrading my storage for my vehicle collection. The corduroy cloth I am lining my plastic boxes is clear to see here in this box of M-60 series tanks and service & support vehicles.

Fuel and food keep vehicles moving. The Roco mess trailer shown here.

Tractor trailers filled with supplies. These are resin palletized supplies. They fit in the back of these trailers, 2 1/2 ton trucks and even 5 ton Roco trucks.

In combat, units often fill up their vehicles with other gear. Here an M-577 based on one from a photo, shows a seat planted on top. Troops like to sit outside the vehicles in the 'Nam and sometimes put seat outside the vehicles, as shown here.

Modern armies have a long tail of supply, maintenance, repair and medical troops to keep the tanks running. A complete wargame army will include these vehicles.

Training

One of the aspects of my wargame collection that I don't mention too often is my railroads. Under the Treaty of Fountain Valley, I am able to collect American railroads for the Western United States. Years ago, a number of us chopped up world history and agreed to limit our collections to certain eras, nations and activities. I collect American western railroads. So if another member wanted to collect railroads, he would be urged to collect, northern or eastern American railroads. This keeps our collections from overlapping too much and gives us the ability to field larger armies in our chosen fields.

Soldiers have to be moved around the nation in times of war and one way to do this rapidly is by railroad. Especially before the 1960's, sending troops from one post to another or to a port of embarkation by rail was a very practical method.

My trains are mostly from the first half of the 20th Century, and include AT&SF, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. I also have a few Amtrac and some from the 19th Century for the Wild West or American Civil War.

Naturally the majority of the trains are usable for World War Two. I would love to play a strategic game moving troops around the US by rail.

These photos show a few of my passenger trains, but I naturally, have a number of freight trains as well, and rail guns.

Space Arc

The Pegasus 1/72nd scale Apollo 27 rocket with the When Worlds Collide Model.

Pre-production box are and completed model on launch ramp.

A painted and unpainted version.

The very cool box art for the new model.

Space Arc and Apollo 27 side by side on end. We really need spacemen figures!

Rocket on End

The arc being inspected by two Pegasus Germans. This looks much like a V-2, so I intend to get one and paint it in German colors.

This is a very cool rocket model, it is only a few parts and goes together well.

Look at the size of the soldier on the wing. Very cool.

This is the rocket booster pod. It is a bundle of rockets that runs the rocket off the ramp.

The other cool thing, is the rocket will sit on it's end. Very good model. Lots of potential. We need spacemen.