USCGS

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey men work in the high Arctic.

It is their job to survey the land and coasts to insure accurate maps for military and commercial purposes.

The commissioned officers are considered one of the uniformed services of the United States so they have the protection of the Geneva Conventions.

Here they are surveying a glacier near the coast.

It is cold and dangerous work.
 

Snow

It snows about three or four days per year here in Kentucky where I live.  This table is a wire covered table so there is no solid surface.  It's a good table to have because it is very difficult for strong gusts of wind to blow it over.  It does not accumulate snow well.  So when I read there is snow coming, I put a couple panels of wood or plastic on top of the table so it will be snow covered.  I like to take a few photos of the troops in the snow and it is easier to take the photos on a table than on the ground, unless I am doing a large set up.

My blog photos are sometimes taken as much as eight months ahead of their appearance on the blog, and this one is no exception.  I keep a backlog of photos and of blog posts so I don't miss a day even if I am too busy to post or run out of photos.

Another view outside my basement.  Photo taken at night, with about four inches, 100 cm of snow on the ground.  So when you see photos of snow on my blog, they are nearly always real snow.  If it's fake, it will be obvious because I simply used a white bed sheet, which is a poor substitute for real snow.  

Also the photos that I post are the photos I have taking using real materials and real miniatures.  While I nearly always crop them to bring what I want you to see into the center of the photo, and I sometimes correct for too much or too little contrast, I don't photo shop anything, my photos are pretty basic.  Unless I am at a museum all the vehicles, troops, planes, and stuff in the photos are almost always part of my personal collection that I have built up for the past 60+ years.

Bond in Toon Town.

The interior of the house has a little pin on the floor.

The bottom of the figure has a corresponding hole in it to site the figure near the door.

It's a nice Toon Town looking building.

The roof has locating pins for snapping similar buildings on the roof.  I won't likely be doing that.

James Bond has a  rather dynamic look through the door.

Probably won't be in Disneyland.  The buildings are pretty good for Toon Town, although I will likely repaint them or at least do more detail painting.

The eyes on the figures are well done, I don't know how they get the great sparkly effect.
 

Secret Revealed

This is the figure I got in the secret box.

It is from the Rapunzel movie, which I never saw.

The super size head would seem to indicate this may not be a line of 1/72nd scale figures that I will want to buy very many of to replace the other troops.  However, I think I will use them as a sort of street puppet Muppet kind of performer in my Disneyland Toon Town.  Note the body size is not too big compared to a James Bond figure.  The head could be easily manipulated I think, by a puppeteer inside the figure.

This is the little house in the set.

The "hair" on the right side is a plug in piece.

Apparently the deal is you put the figure inside the house and then open the door to reveal the figure.  It is supposed to be a lot of fun for little girls.  I was not all that amused.

The back side of the figure, each little house has an open back like a traditional play house.