The Kraken

The first to go was the captain.

Next the engineer fell under the tentacle of the kraken. 

Only the mate made it to a life raft.

He drifted away as the monster dragged the little boat under the waves.

Now he is alone on a tiny island, doubtful that an SOS was sent.
 

SS Dollar Tree At Sea

The crew is at sea, preparing the nets as the storm is subsiding.

Still a heavy sea they seek some relief from the winds behind some small islands.

It seems things are calming down a bit.

Yep, everything is just fine.

Until giant tentacles break the water and reach over the boat! 

 

Wagons and Cavalry

This is the HaT British Colonial Wagon from the 1800s.

In this size it is essentially identical to the US Army wagons in use from 1850 to about 1945.  I just got a bunch of them for my WOTW project.  They came without boxes to reduce weight in shipping.  None are put together yet so you will have to wait a bit.

These are Revell British Hussars.  Also without a box.  It's a nice set with 16 guys on horseback, which is a lot.  These are a very nice set of figures, clean, well molded, all I expect from Revell.

The plan is to make a couple units of Hussars form my American Militia / National Guard troops for 1898, 1918 and 1938.

They will be mostly the HQ and maybe one platoon of some of the horse cavalry, so maybe some head swaps to give them some dismounted poses.
 

Moving Through the Woods

Troops moving up through the forest at the edge of town.

Even close in the town is hardly visible.

A group of Germans burst out of the woods.

The sniper waits for the perfect shot, maybe an officer or radio operator.

Troops in the rubble.
 

Germans Advance

Moving away.

Pressing forward.

Sniping from the doorway.

The officer commands the troops move forward.

Another officer directs fire towards the enemy.
 

Moving Forward

The British troops have just arrived.

They are setting up roadblocks.

And consolidating their position.

Waiting for the anti-tank guns, and the rest of the battalion to catch up.

Meanwhile, Germans including a flamethrower are moving forward.
 

House to House

Two heavy German tank destroyers assault the city with infantry in close support.

They are a counter-attack trying to stop a British penetration of the line.

They move from house to house.

Grenades and submachine guns are the weapons of choice.

 Watching for movement across the street.

Brittle Plastic

I have had thousands of my figures go brittle over the years.  While taking some photos yesterday one of my missile launchers crumbled in my hands.  Museums have the same problem with plastic items in their collections. I have studied the problem for decades and have a few hints but no real answers.  A few years ago I wrote to about 15 manufacturers of soft plastic figures and received either no answer or a denial that the problem exists with their brand of figures.  Esci and Airfix seem to have been the worst for me, along with some very old, more than 50 years old, Tim Mee and MPC figures.

My collection has been stored in my garage or in my home for 50+ years. Two sets of figures in the same box, and one set will crumble and one will be fine. That tells me it was not the environment, but the figures themselves. One set of figures made in Hong Kong and another set made in the UK, and ten years newer, and the Honk Kong set will be perfectly fine when 40 years old and the UK set will crumble at 30 years old. That tells me it is not a quality control issue. I have been told that some sets have chalk / clay and similar products put in the plastic as filler because it's cheaper than plastic and keeps the price down. I know that can be done with resin products because I have been to the companies that sell resin and used such fillers in casting resin myself. So that tells me the filler issue is plausible. 

Plastic left in direct sun will be exposed to UV and will change color and get brittle. I have seen this with many products, my army men were kept in boxes inside drawers, so essentially no UV exposure, so that's not their problem, generally. My figures were stored in Southern California for 50 years in an attached garage, in a chest of drawers, inside plastic food containers. Temperature ranges from 40f to 85f the vast majority of the time even a smaller range. So I don't think temperature is much of an issue. 

If you open a box of brittle figures they will often have a chemical smell. I believe the plasticizer is off gassing from the plastic. If you take brittle figures and boil them in water they will become soft again, as long as they stay hot. Once they cool they are brittle again. I suspect if you could obtain plasticizer you may be able to boil the figures in it and restore them, but that is just a theory. I don't have plasticizer nor do I know how to to get it.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

U-Boat at Dockside

The supplies and the submarine are at the dock.  

The prototype JagdMaus with it's massive 150mm gun can take on any Soviet tank, but only one at a time!

The men are getting the supplies on board but will they be able to supply the boat before the Soviets break through?

The sound of gunfire draws ever nearer.  

Few things are more helpless than a submarine on the surface at dockside.

Look!  Is that tank Russian?!

The Last U-Boat Sortie

The last u-boat to sortie in World War Two prepares to sail.

The supplies and trade goods are on the dock, near the opera house.

The sailors are moving the supplies to the boat.

The vessel sits close to the dock.

A JagdMaus and a few naval infantry provide cover in the event of a Soviet Attack.

Coelacanth and Pterodactyl

 Pterodactyl were pretty common as late as 1864 in the Southern States.

 Union solders often shot them and sometimes posed with the bodies for photos.

 Coelacanth was a staple of the diet for Pterodactyl.

The coelacanth model was included in the set with the Pterodactyl.

Coelacanth was a staple for U-Boat crews in World War Two operating off the coast of Southern Africa.

A five foot fish provides a lot of filets.