Bug Hunts Service Guarantees Citizenship, Camrade

In 1952 Joseph Stalin had his scientists working on atomic bombs in Chelyabinsk.

But the villagers in the area were reporting sightings of strange giant things in the forest.

Concerned about these reports Stalin directed Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria to discretely find the giant thing and destroy it.  Not wanting to deploy substantial resources to the project, he had .50 caliber Maxim guns places on wheeled artillery carriages and sent to the area to deal with the problem.

The US Army had also deployed such weapons in the past.

During the First World War these guns were taken from storage and were intended for coast defense against landing boats, or with their powerful .50 caliber cartridge, to cut down massed horse cavalry charges.

The gun crew consisted of a gunner who fired the weapon, two loaders, #1 to carry ammo from the limber and #2 to feed the ammo to the gun.  A third man was the gun commander who would observe targets and direct the gunner.  There was also a horse holder who maintained the horses, limber, caisson, and sometimes would help bring ammo forward. 

The men were trained in all the positions and could take over for one another in the event of a casualty.

None of these served overseas but were deployed around the coastal perimeter, southern border, and Canal Zone of the United States.

The unexplored jungles of the Canal Zones were particularly dangerous.

It's the only time these guns were fired in anger by US forces when gun #2 of a four gun battery defended the Canal Zone from a giant tarantula.

In the early 1950s a similar weapon was used by the Soviet Union to dispatch a giant tarantula that was ravaging cattle herds in Soviet Chelyabinsk.  The cause of the giant in the Soviet Union was thought to be sloppy atomic research contaminating the local area with radioactive waste.  The cause of the giant tarantula in the Canal Zone remains unknown.

Soviet figures by Atlantic, and generic civilians, US Army by Hat WWI US artillery crews, gun carriage by Eagle Games and giant Maxim gun by Atlantic WWII Russian set, all in 1/72nd scale.
 

Giant Tarantula Would You Like to Know More?

The movie Tarantula has an appearance by a giant Tarantula, which makes sense because it is the name of the movie and in movies we like to see stars who are larger than life.

I got this at Dollar Tree.

As big bugs go, it's pretty good.

No flash, durable, stands on the legs at least a little bit.  Often bug toys lay on their tummy with legs straight out and not on the floor.

Detailed underside.
 

Castle and Towers

Another view of the castle.  The square towers I used as outbuildings.  They would even work for bridge towers or small, local keeps.

Guarding the gate tower.  

More dragon on the wall.  Walls are not helpful if the dragons can fly.

These wall towers don't reach all the way to the walkway but a little work with an X-Acto knife would solve that problem.

It would put the little entrance right at walkway level.

It even fits on the round tower for more variety.  The square tower fits almost completely inside the round tower and provides no real benefit.

These are in the beach toys at Dollar Tree in little mesh bags.  The large keep I also found at Dollar General, and it was only $1.  They seem to have been made by the same company.
 

Castle Pieces as a Castle

Just a quick set up for Castle Dollar Tree.

This tower fits over the straight wall sections.

The round tower does not really fit anywhere specifically.

Round tower next to the gate tower.  I think you could trim the gate wall down a bit and make the round tower fit better if you wanted it there as a permanent feature.  The gate towers fit nicely against the straight wall sections.

The little square towers work as stand alone towers too.

I suppose you could fit the small towers at the corners or even along the wall at ground level.  For a quick game any configuration would work.
 

Castle Dollar Tree

Here is the castle set from Dollar Tree stretched across my outdoor table, four linear feet.

Later I got one more set and a second keep.  This is seven sets and one keep.  Less than $12 including tax.

Caesar Miniatures knights on guard on the wall.  Given that you get one of these for a $1.25 it could be worth it to buy a lot of them to make a walled city, or the Great Wall of China, or Hadrian's Wall.

Focus on the near guard.  These walkways are big enough for two figures in 1/72nd scale.  Since they are intended to be molds, I suppose you could cast them in resin, cement, concrete, plaster, or even sand to make your own walls.  Probably need a lot of mold release since they don't flex much.

Focus on far castle guards.

Small dragon I got a while back from Hobby Lobby.  Got a whole flock of them for about $3.  Several poses, designs, and different colors.

Three feet by the ruler.  You can see the gaps in the wall pieces, I have not cut the rims off of these yet.
 

Sand Castle

Dollar Tree sand castle mold toy.  You get a lot for $1.25.  Front gate with Caesar Miniatures knights.

Round tower.

Square tower.

This is the keep, and it is sold separately, also $1.25.

It is a handle and the keep.

They white thing is the handle.  Rather impressive all by itself.  I would likely paint up really well.

Upside down with handle employed.

Handle comes right off.

Kinda cool upside down even.  Sort of a space rocket castle.  Maybe someone could paint that version!
 

Cheap Castle

I don't really "do" armored knights.

There are a few in my collection because I think they are cool and sometimes a need for a superhero that dresses as a knight may come up, but I don't really collect much in the way of that sort of stuff.

Still, having a castle can be handy.  After all there are lots of cities that had castles or city walls and many still exist today.

Here are some Caesar Miniatures in 1/72nd scale with a bit of castle wall I got at Dollar Tree recently.

Figures are one inch, 25mm tall.

The straight wall sections have a rim around the bottom which prevents them from joining flush.

These are intended as molds for sand castles. so it was not considered a problem by the manufacturer.

But it is unlikely that I will mold sand with these so I cut off that end rib, and sanded it down a bit.

Fits much better now.

Each of the pieces in the set come in yellow or blue or red or orange.