Ring Hands and Marx

Another ring hand figure, this is a useful pose, because he can be doing almost anything.

The hole in the base was designed to fit over pegs on many MPC toys.  He could be snapped onto the peg on the deck of a ship and then cruise around the backyard without falling off.  I did not use that feature much.

I liked the backpack with the bayonet on the side.

 One use for these figures is as crews for Marx accessories.

Four men make up a good mortar crew and they don't need many accessories.

Here they are serving the Marx mortar.

Don't forget the box of mortar bombs.

Caesar Miniatures Modern US Army

These are the newest set of Caesar Miniatures Modern US Army, 1/72nd scale.

 They are current US Army troops for the War in Afghanistan.
 

These new sets only have about 21 figures in them and they seem to be retailing for about $12 each, so the price per figure is expensive.

The individual figures are very nice, as you can see there the poses are very good.

The troops come with a separate back pack, CamelBak item, in several configurations.  They go into a hole in the back of the figures.  They fit perfectly.  I tried to maximize the variety of the figures, giving them as many different backpacks per pose as I was able to give.

Tigers At Dusk

1944, somewhere in Eastern Germany.

As dusk approaches a small village is witness to a rare sight.

A company of German heavy Tiger tanks moves through town.

The precaution against aircraft is not as important in the East as it is in the West, but still, with this tempting a target, it's better to be save.

The individual fields and a few small bunkers are just visible outside of town.

Haul from the Show

At the Westcoaster show I managed to pick up some dogs and white ring hand figures.  The dogs were like new and the ring hand guys were very dingy.

Soldiers always have dogs around, so I like to have a few as mascots, pets and guard dogs.

This is a recast Marx undersea vehicle.

It's sort of an undersea bulldozer with grappling claws.  Works in space too.

While I have lots of green ring hand figures I needed some colored ones.

I use the colors for civilian employees, and special jobs.  The gold ones are space men; US Army Astro Rangers.

I was lucky enough to get a missile launching pad and a raft.  I love these rafts, I don't know why, I would buy 50 of them if I could.

Westcoaster

Besides the slush cast bunker, I got a couple more slush cast cannons.

Shown here with a 60mm MPC ring hand guy I also got.  They are rather generic, I use them as different versions of the 4.7 inch US gun in service from about 1900 to 1930.  I think the solid wooden wheels were intended to represent rubber tires and the metal wheels were intended to represent wooden wheels.  Seems rather ironic that.

Picked up a few 60mm Germans.  I always liked the guy in the middle there.

MPC made African natives as ring hand figures, I got some with shields and a canoe.

Marx always had nice accessories.  This is their medical supply kit.

They also made this mortar.  I use the medical supplies with the Tim Mee medics and also with ring hand figures in white, they look like doctors.

Campfire

Troops gotta eat, so I have been working on some camp cooking.  Actually, they are for my German embassy project.  This one is from the Imex Pilgrims set.

A small grill from the Imex pioneer set.

I like this piece, every soldier likes to drink coffee.  Also from the Imex Pioneers.

This little campfire is from the Imex Pioneer set, it usually has the grill over it, but I am using that separately.  I trimmed down the edges for a more compact fire.

The Imex Pioneer grill and campfire, usually it has a larger base with a woman stirring the pot.  I cut that section off so I could use this grill alone.

One of the things I like about 60mm Army Men is the accessories you can get for them. This Tim Mee soldier is standing next to a Marx switchboard. Military communcations from the time of the First World War relied heavily on telephone lines to carry important messages. Every headquarters would have switchboard operators on duty 24/7.

An army travels on it's stomach and miniature armies are no exception. These Marx table, benches and trash cans are typical of those seen in military bases all over the world. As soldiers would occupy positions for longer periods of time, they would seek to improve their lot. Even in WWII you would see barracks going up and mess halls being built as the lines were stablized in some areas.

No army moves or even sits still without paperwork. You need typewriters to write it, and filing cabinets to store it in and wastepaper baskets to toss it out in. This Marx desk set is just like so many I saw in the real Army. These desks were steel and just about indestructable. A great little set up from Marx, I really like the chair. Soldier by Tim Mee.

The top view of that desk. You can almost read the memos and orders in the in box. I like the pin with documents forced down over it. You don't see that any longer, but it used to be a common method of holding documents together. The blotter under the typewriter is a nice detail too. Papers under a paperweight and an inkwell with ink pen. Very cool, very retro.

All the papers end up in one of these two places eventually! Soldier by Tim Mee. Nice detail on the filing cabinet. Books on the top of the filing cabinet. Everyone in the Army goes by the book because if you don't the paperwork gets kicked back to you.