Destruction Comes

About the turn of the century the Martians attacked.

Their tall war machines stalked the North American wilderness.

Their gleaming war machines having been assembled from their fallen cylinders.

After assembly, they started out for the nearest human habitation.

Bent on distruction.

WWI US Army Air Corps

Airfix did not make World War One American aircraft ground crews.

So I took a few of the Airfix  WWI Americans and swapped heads with the Airfix World War Two US Army Air Force figures.

So now these guys are US Army Air Corps ground crewmen with infantry weapons to guard the air field.

I will put their original heads on the US Army WWII Ground Crews and then I will have WWI era ground crews.

Gotta keep 'em flying.

Even during the Great War.

Howitzers II

The officer on the left controls the battery.

Four men per gun.

The battery is short a couple guns.

And the crews are small even so.

But they are ready to defend freedom.

Howitzers

I got some new 60mm howitzers.

They are recasts of the old Marx gun.

They are green rather than the previous silver.

Here they are in the field with Tim Mee troops, and Marx accessories and MPC troops.

Standby for a fire mission.

American Hats

As a kid I used to watch the TV show, Combat!  My parents got me this book based on the TV show.  My copy over the next 30 years disintegrated.  However, my best friend, Randy, found this copy and he got it for me for Christmas this year.

It's in great condition and I can hardly wait to read it!  Thank you Randy.

Airfix made US Army troops for World War One but they all had the Montana Peak Hat, the Smokey the Bear Hat.  The problem is, when they got to Europe most of them were re-cut into the side cap, and these were replaced with the British style or French style helmet.  However, the US Army continued to wear this hat until the present day in various units and for drill instructors.  

So I have been taking some of these American heads and putting them on the Airfix World War One British Army troops.  These are the figures made for HaT Industrie and they are all in the same butterscotch color plastic.

The American Army in World War One expanded so quickly that Americans wore British, French, and even, American uniforms and equipment depending on their assignment.  So I am making a few "British" troops with the "American" hat and I will use them as US troops in training.

I also intend to paint some of them red and use them as Royal Canadian Mounted Police, just a small unit of them to operate along the American border when there are Nazis, or Martians, or other problems to deal with.

The change over is amazing to me, having had these Airfix sets since probably 1963 it is very odd to see them look so different with a change of headgear.

These are the few I have done so far, but I continue to do one or two per day as I concentrate mostly on unpacking the collection.

What do I do with the left over British heads and American bodies?  Well, I match them up with each other and end up with figures that look like American troops from the 1920's and 1930's.  Post-World War One the Americans changed the standard hat and went with one that looked very much like the World War One British hat.  So these troops will become Interwar American Army troops.

Tiger Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all.  I hope Santa brought you plenty of reinforcements for your armies.

Roco Tiger II with late war ambush camouflage scheme.

Roco Tiger II with a couple cheapo metal versions in the back with the antennas. 

A few unpainted ones still in the battalion.

Tanks are stored on a piece of corduroy with a piece of small bubble wrap on top of the fabric.  It really helps keep them from sliding and rolling around inside the box, and neither products react to the models.

A Tiger battalion consists of 45 tanks, three companies per battalion, four tanks per platoon, three platoons per company.

Roco Tiger Tanks

Roco Tiger I tanks.

I finally cleared a little space so I could take pictures inside.

As the collection is unpacked I will try and snap a few photos.

Rear and side views.

Roco Tiger II battalion.

Tiger I and Panzer III

As I unpack the collection a few photo opportunities arise.  Roco Panzer III.

German tanks carried two machine guns, one for the coax with the main gun and one for the bow.  One of them could be dismounted and used as an anti-aircraft machine gun at the commanders hatch.  American tanks had three machine guns, and the commander had a .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine gun.

Tiger I tanks.  The first Tiger battalions had Panzer III to act as scout tanks and for close in security.  The Tiger I was slow and very heavy, having a smaller, faster, lighter tank as part of the unit was a helpful addition.

Tiger I by Roco with a few extra track links added on.

Anti-aircraft machine gun on the commanders hatch.

Tiger I and Panzer III together.

Batmobiles

Batman and Robin confront...

The Penguin!

The Batman vehicle collection!

Batman needs to upgrade the Batmobile every few years as technology and automobile safety gets better.  Also, Batman needs more than one Batmobile because what happens if he has a traffic collision, or a bad guy damages his car?  He can't drive a loaner.

Batman also needs specialized vehicles, we know about the Batplane, the Batboat and the Batsubmarine, but what about the the BAT SUV?