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.
 

Red Square

Four years ago I began significant work on my National Capitals project.  My intention is to build Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, and Tokyo.  I am taking a Hollywood approach for most of them.  If you see a large city and the Eiffel Tower and Arch de Triumph are in the background, then you are in Paris.  None of the other buildings matter and so when the scene switches to the New York Street portion of the MGM backlot, since all the signs are in French and some men are wearing berets you still think you are in Paris.

In keeping with that plan I built Moscow represented by Red Square and Lenin's Tomb.  Most of it is paper stuck onto foamcore boards.  The Lenin's Tomb is mostly wood with some plastic.  It has a detailed interior.  My intention is to us this mostly for James Bond espionage games.  This set up is on one of my four side tables.  If more Moscow space is needed for a car chase or something, I can set up other more generic buildings on the main table.  Once the scene is set with this Red Square, then the other buildings just need a few Cyrillic alphabet signs and a poster of Stalin to continue the illusion.

The Saint Basil's Cathedral is a bird house with Christmas tree decorations for the domes.  My concept is that it does not have to be perfect, it has to be recognizable.

I printed out a computer generated Kremlin and GUM department stores that I found on line.  The posters are all from World War Two, or around that time.  Most feature Stalin, military vehicles or Red Square, or all three.

This tower is 3D cardboard with paper covering.  It creates a nice balcony for observers, security personnel, spies, or whatever.  The little trees are from Dollar Tree.  I also have the post WWII tombs on several famous Soviets behind Lenin's Tomb.  I started this project with the purchase of the bird house cathedral in about 1995.  I don't operate on a Five Year plan like the Soviet Union.