Rocket Men

HaT makes a set of Napoleonic British Rocket Troops.

It's one of their oldest sets, 20 years old I think.

An almost identical rocket was used by the US Army in the First World War.  So I put together this US Army Rocket Team using Hat and Airfix WWI figures.  I added some of the Napoleonic Rockets to the figures.

Several three man teams seems like a good idea, twelve men would give me a whole squad or rocketeers.

Lined up ready to signal an attack, retreat, artillery barrage, or shoot rockets at Godzilla.

 They turned out so well I am considering getting more Rocket Troops and making more of these guys.

NYSP Van

HO scale Trident New York State Police van.

Detailed underside.

Looks a bit small with a 1/72nd scale figure.

The only assembly is rear view mirrors which I don't use because they break off with handling.  And the light bar, which is optional on this vehicle.

I think it looks great with the light bar.  Excellent model, nearly fully assembled, no flash, great value.
 

New York State Police Van

New York State Trooper van in HO 1/87 scale plastic.

Trident makes a lot of American police vehicles fully assembled and painted.

Mostly I buy California agencies but sometimes I purchase others.

There is no national police in the United States.  Most police work for cities, counties, and states.

There are Federal Law Enforcement agencies but they mostly do specialized enforcement of Federal laws or help local agencies with training or special expertise.

State police often provide police on state highways and state parks and buildings.

Vans like this can be used to transport officers to handle special events like a parade or sporting event that requires extra officers.
 

Submachine Guns and Rifles

Soldier with his rifle at the ready and soldier firing submachine gun over his head.

I am not a fan of this pose, firing an automatic rifle from behind cover and not aiming the weapon is more of a post-WWII era pose.  Troops who are interested in putting out a lot of fire in the direction of the enemy but not wanting to expose themselves to fire in order to aim are more related to troops with low morale, and minimal training.  I remember seeing a famous photo of a US soldier doing that in Vietnam from the bottom of a trench.  It's also not unusual to see "terrorists" firing that way.

Light machine gun and reloading.

I like these to poses a lot.  Troops on the move often fire their light machine gun from the shoulder and since the Japanese machine gun has a box magazine it makes it easier to do without the awkward belt.

Tossing a grenade and firing the submachine gun from the shoulder.

Two very good poses, particularly nice to see the submachine gun pose after the other rather poor one.
 

Japanese in the Tropics Strelets

Man with submachine gun and machete.  Officer with sword and very tiny pistol.

Sometimes the jungle is so heavy you have to chop your way through it just to move.

Lunging with bayonet and sniper with camouflage.

I like the scoped rifle.  This is a great figure for Japanese in the jungle.

Kneeling firing rifleman and charging with bayonet.

The Japanese were strong believers in the bayonet and used it often.
 

Tropical Japanese

More Strelets figures in 1/72nd scale soft plastic.

Japanese troops in tropical uniform are what many of us think of as the classical Japanese Army look.  Many of their most famous battles were fought in Burma, India, and various islands in the Pacific Ocean.

I write these blogs often months ahead of when they appear for publication.  As of July 2022 Strelets is made in Ukraine and that nation is fighting a war against a Russian invasion.  I hope by the time you read this the war is over and Ukraine is victorious, without the war having spread to other countries.

Back to the figure review, these are flash free and include one Streletsi figure.

I used to give those away but now I keep them.  I saw some painted as Santa Claus once, red suits with white trim and they looked great.  I am using them for a fantasy / alternate history army.

These WWII Japanese are in combat poses with a nice variety of small arms including rifles, submachine guns, and a grenadier.

Submachine guns were in very short supply in the Japanese Army in WWII but it is nice to have a few of them in my army.
 

Submersible Round Up

Here are the giant shark submarine submersibles with the

I have not decided if  I going to paint these vessels or not.

Since each one is unique, and I can't get anymore, I am thinking of leaving them untouched for now.

I have been repainting some of the Matchbox Deep Diver submersibles.

They yellow one may eventually get an Adventure Team logo on it.

 Not unlike their Sea Wolf Submarine.

Japanese 75mm Guns

A while back Strelets came out with a lot of WWII Japanese sets.  I have been struggling to keep up with them!

The 75mm Field Gun was very common and used widely in WWII.

It's a good kit, easy to assemble and you get a good number of crewmen too.

 The set includes three guns, I hope to buy 12 guns total.  Soft plastic, 1/72nd scale, no flash.

Space Mountain Base

These are sheets of styrene plastic that I have glued together and then sanded down to make the base for Space Mountain.

Here it is with a 1/72nd scale WWII German soldier next to it for size.

This is how Space Mountain fits on the base.

Now the entrance is tall enough for the figure to pass under the sign.

A little more light on the figure so you can see him better.

In reality the whole attraction should be about two feet across but I am happy with the smaller footprint.