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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Monument to Dollar Tree


Around Christmas time and Easter, my local Dollar Tree store has little about 1/72nd scale buildings in a sort of ceramic material. They are pre-painted, often with "snow" and glitter in the snow. This set of statues monument was one of them I picked up for only a dollar each. The base and part of the statue was in white with some glitter on it. Using a stiff brush, I brushed off as much of the glitter as I could and then repainted them. The one on the left I repainted with a heavy black wash to represent ash, dirt, ruins, over painting all the snow part. The one of the right I repainted with green and then flocked the green for a more normal look. Having a little bit of green on the monument looks like the maintenance crew is a bit behind on the gardening.


It was a pretty nice monument, I think it says "Samuel Adams" on the front, but it is hard to read. He fits okay as someone who could be on a monument almost anywhere in the world in the last 200 years. This Revell US Army guy shows just how large the monument is, the smaller figures are a chunky 1/72nd size.



Just changing the base really makes a big difference in these to models. And the difference from when they had the snow on them is huge; they really looked like toys before.


Monuments like this can be found in town squares, cemeteries, parks, and in front of great public buildings everywhere. Here a HaT WWII German soldier directs the tour to another interesting location.




I try and visit my local Dollar Tree about once every month or so, just for little gems like this one. A similar monument from a model railroad store could easily be $20 or more. This one was basically pre-painted. I have done similar ones and repainted the stature figures in bronze for a different look. In the next few days I will post a few buildings I got at the same time.


4 comments:

Hugh Walter said...

if you remove the 'Samuel Adams' either by filling-in or carving-off, you really could use it anywhere?...

MiniatureZone said...

Really nice - looks cool.

As you say, it could be used pretty much anywhere. Any town/city centre scenario would look right with this, right from the 19th up to the 21st century.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

Maybe it is Samuel Adams the Beer Maker. Then it may be able to be used in evem more places just as it is!

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

I even got a third one and took off all the little statues and use them as stand alone statues. They will work in front of buildings, as artwork or even in graveyards. This monument was a sort of resin, unlike most that are ceramic.