Vietnam War US Army

These are great troops.  1/72nd scale soft plastic US Army troops for Vietnam.  Unlike the Esci / Italeri figures which are rather thin, and even sort of comic book looking these guys look like they are in the war.

You get a infantry group and a command group.  43 figures is a perfect size for a Vietnam era plastoon.

First figure has an M14 rifle and a Stetson hat.  A bit Hollywood but a great pose.  Probably do a head swap on a few of these and give them a regular M1 helmet.

Advancing at the ready with an M16 rifle.  Look at all the gear he is packing!

M16 at the hip, fire while advancing, walking fire.  Note the extra canteens.

Radioman with smoke grenades.  I am popping smoke.  I identify yellow smoke.  Roger, yellow smoke.

You discharge a smoke grenade and the helicopter pilot tells you what color smoke he sees.  You confirm he has picked the right color so that if the enemy has also thrown smoke your pilot will still know where to land.

I love the gear on these guys, clearly they did not just dismount from a helicopter unless they are planning to walk back to base.  Note the quality of the casting and depth of detail.  Great figures.
 

Stealth Batman

Batman is always developing new gadgets.

The new Bat - Stealth - Drone.

Small Batman markings top and bottom.

Small, black, and able to evade radar, to spy on the most sophisticated criminals.

A new weapon in the war on crime.

It's a die cast toy that is very small for my 1/72nd scale air forces so I repainted it and repurposed it.  Now it has a new life as a crime fighter.
 

Big Gun

Interwar years and the American army is ready for war.

Using the latest technology to keep up with the times.

Soldiers prepare the artillery projectiles.

They use the crane to bring them onto the gun.

12 inch mobile artillery piece, the latest in firepower and mobility.

The crew get ready to fire.

The cavalry has spotted the enemy and reported back to the battery.

The commander gives the order to fire.

The lanyard is pulled and the gun goes ka-boom!
 

More Beach Action

In California and in Beach Blanket movies car culture and surfing overlap.  This little car has Malibu on the side of the car and depicts a surfing doing a wipe out.  I have been to Malibu a few times, many TV shows and movies are filmed there and have been for decades.

This car is the Mantaray.  It was in a Batman TV show episode and also in a movie called Bikini Beach.

The original car is a pearl white color, but Hot Wheels has released it in several color schemes.

Dune buggy parked in the parking lot along the beach front.

Two different dune buggies; they are sometimes production vehicles but often they are custom built.

Chicks dig the car.