Space Men

Robot to assist my Space Men.  I selected the largest and most robust looking figure for the task.

This Red Space Men unit is Rust-Oleum Gloss Apple Red.

Naturally I had to include the GI Joe Adventure Team in any space adventure.  Here is there yellow robot.

Rust-Oleum Sunburst Yellow gloss spraypaint.

This rather retro-color is Tamiya Coral Blue.  You can see a few of the Space Men on the right side of the photo getting some touch up paint.  The figures are 1/72nd scale figures from Dollar Tree from about 20 years ago.  They are pretty good copies of the 1/32nd scale Airfix WWII USMC and WWII British Paratroopers, all with US M1 style helmets and rather generic weapons.  Sadly only a few poses.

The white figures are more technical troops, supply, maintenance and others.  The are in a semi-gloss white by Rust-Oleum.

This last group is what I call my US Army Astro-Rangers.  These started as MPC 60mm troops in gold.  I use the gold figures because MPC made a space set and the figures were gold plastic.  Also one of the official colors of the US Army is gold, the other is black.  So when I started doing Space Men in 1/72nd scale I included the Astro-Rangers.  They take the name of Ranger and spread it throughout the solar system.  The are elite troops in space as they are on Earth.  I named them Astro-Rangers because it had a 1950's retro sound to it and combined astronaut and Army Rangers.
 

Robots and Space Men

For about 20 years now, off and on, more off than on, I have been working on a Spaceman Project.

The plan was to have 1950s style Spacemen, what we would call today, Astronauts. 

I wanted them to have a robot aid, companion, helper, like Robby or Robot B9.

That's one of the reasons I got these goofy robot molds for candy.

Three colors of robot all ready.  Actually, these are for a separate project, but that's another story.

This is the box for one of my Space Men units.  In the first big budget color science fiction movie, Destination Moon, the Space Men wear space suits in different colors.  That way they could recognize each other from a distance by the color of their suit.  NASA even has problems in some of their video and still photos telling which astronaut is which since they all dress the same on the Moon.  So my units are various colors, Red, Blue, Gold and other colors too.
 

LOD Meets ElastoWit

Lights, camera, action!

Filming the flying saucer interior.

Get that boom microphone in closer so we can hear what they are saying.

That's good.

Too bad it ended up on the cutting room floor!
 

Robots

Resin cast robots, unpainted, their back sides are just plain smooth.

While shopping at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and Jo Anns, I  always check out the candy making section.

They always have silicon molds for casting chocolate and other candies.

I got two different molds over the last few years but only now have I cast anything from them.

They were cast using Alumilite resin I also got from one of those stores.  Robots shown here with two 1/72nd scale police officers.  Despite the happy faces they seem pretty formidable at about 8 feet tall!

When placed with 60mm figures they seem more like Twiki from Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century.

I painted them with gold, copper and steel spray paints without a primer from Rust-Oleum.

They are very easy to cast, two parts of resin into a cup, mix and pour.  No mold release needed.  Wait a couple minutes and the clear resin turns white and the robot is done.

Flex the mold and out comes the robot.  There was no mold wear and I suspect you could make hundred of them for a mold cost of less than $10.  The resin was $20 and could have probably made at least 50 of these, maybe more.  The molds don't have to be poured to the full depth so you could extend the number you want to make.  I am sure those who paint well could really spice up the look of these little robots compared to my spray paint work.  While intend to make more I am still planning on exactly what I am going to use them for, some minor conversion work might make them more specifically construction, exploration, or military.
 

The Reconnaissance Company on Patrol

Patrolling burned out streets with the M47 tank.

Overwatch with the M41 light tank.

Advancing slowly.

Driving down the tree lined streets.

Armored personnel carrier and mortar carrier.

The town square.

The tanks together.

The scene.
 

M38s On Patrol

The light reconnaissance section of M38 Jeeps.

Section commander with radios.

With a light machine gun.

Along the storefronts.

Military police and a reconnaissance Jeep.

Guarding the statue.

Patrolling the back alleys.
 

M59 M41 M47 M84

Roco Minitanks Reconnaissance Company.

Deployed in small town America.

Ready to keep the peace after civil unrest.

Few rioting crowds will face off against tanks.

Soldiers in armored personnel carriers are well protected in such situations.

The M59 late production had an M48 tanks style cupola.

The M59 was also converted to a mortar carrier for the 4.2 inch mortar, note the base plate on the rear ramp.
 

Tim Mee SWAT

Tim Mee SWAT Team surrounds a house.

The lieutenant talks on the bull horn to ask the occupants to come out with their hands up.

The sniper is ready.

This man is repositioning.  Revolver in hand and baton on his belt.  In the 1960s when SWAT was new the often wore helmets and carried revolvers.

This policeman uses a radio, the radios were big and some agencies had small microphones that you could hold and leave the heavy radio on your belt.  It was tethered by a curly cue cord.

They often wore external body armor; armor was not common and too heavy to wear under clothing.

Grenade launcher ready to fire tear gas alongside the sniper.
Figures are about 60mm and are excellent.  They come in gray and blue, and even green and black.  My friend Clarence sent me these, thanks!