German War Hero

Caesar Miniature WWII German soldier in 1/72nd scale.

Months ago I took a large number of WWII German vehicles, troops, and guns and terrain outside to take photos of them. 

My patio is gravel and the rocks are rather large for gravel.

This guy apparently fell off the table and disappeared into the gravel.

This is not intentional weathering, the dirt and scruffiness is natural.  I suspect he may have been stepped on at least once and ground into the gravel.

However, he is now listed as returned to duty after having been listed as Missing In Action for months.

He will be cleaned up and probably a little bit of the scruffed plastic cut off.
 

Iron Ace

Iron Ace is a comic book hero who as a British pilot gets shot down in WWII and rescued by a Frenchman.

He eventually dons the armor of Charlemagne when the Germans search the castle. 

He has magic armor and a magic airplane that is given to him by the Frenchman.

Actually the magic is some kind of technology that makes them impenetrable. 

This is a Caesar Miniatures European Knight with a head swap from another European Knight, mounted on a new base.
 

More Jack House

The back of Jack Skellington's house.

The second pumpkin.

Jack figure fits inside the house in a special receptacle. 

Bitty Pop buildings are sturdy, in full color, and nicely detailed.

Out of the box and onto the wargame table.

Airfix MP with Jack.  Jack will likely make a Junkanoo appearance.

Caesar Miniatures un-dead figure with the Munsters Dragula car and a bat in the back.
 

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 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!
 

Odemars, Roco, and Ceasar on the Russian Front

We only get a few days a year with any snow accumulation here in KY, USA.

So when I get a little snow, I like to take advantage of it by setting up a few figures in the snow.

This snow is about 2-3 inches deep.  I took a 2 inch paint brush and used it to brush the snow into trenches.  I made gun emplacements by pushing a water bottle into the snow to make a circular impression for the guns.

This set up uses Roco Minitanks, mostly very old ones.  This is part of an SWS halftrack, the "sound detector."  I removed the dish and mounted it on a ground mount.  I use it variously as a radar dish and as a sound detector.  1/72nd scale figure by Odemars.

Roco Tiger II converted into a Tiger III.  It has a Tiger II hull with a Roco old Panther turret.  The turret has been modified with a new vertical turret face and the addition of the Tiger II gun.  The Roco old Panther turret is very similar in size and shape to the Trident Models Panther small turret version, Panther F.  The Germans determined that making the turret front face narrow and then sloping out the sides they could decrease hits on the face and more readily deflect hits.  The M60A1 American Patton tank has a similar configuration to the turret.

The buildings are some resin kits I got 20+ years ago.  I don't know who made them, or even where I got them anymore.

Odemars German Commanders and Caesar Miniatures figures in the upper floors observing the action, both are 1/72nd scale.  When I started collecting in 1963 the only sets were 1/72nd scale figures by Airfix and 1/87 scale vehicles by Roco.  I was not allowed model glue until a few years later and so I needed the snap together construction of the Roco.  Also Roco had a vary large number of vehicles on offer, far more that all the 1/72nd scale companies combined.

Roco Grille gun dismounted and turned into the ground mount version.
 

Ninja

On the bridge.

Next to the bridge.

The commander and his wife in the garden.

The Ninja confronts the alert commander.

Guards at the temple.

The commander, his wife and the ninja are gone, as if they were never there....

The small lantern makes a good small temple.

Perfect for Asian wargaming.