Random Photos of My Collection

This year is  the year I get my basement in order.  I have been buying boxes and finally go the sheds assembled.  I hope to clear off the tables someone this year.  The project includes building some racks to hold boxes and installing a second railing on my basement stairs for safety.  Dollar Tree row houses, Godzillasauruas in the back yards.

The last several years I have been working on a project to make police for some East Coast US jurisdictions and some West Coast ones for the years 1898 to 2018.  These are most of the actual cars that have been allocated for the East Coast.  Many will get new markings and some will be repainted.  This does not include most of the trucks, command centers, SWAT vehicles, nor fire trucks and other emergency vehicles.

Base temporary markings for a figure I am making.  James Bond in Thunderball, 007.

The original figure is 1/75th scale, hard plastic made in China, and comes in a bag of 100 rather generic civilian figures with a small number of poses.  Many companies sell these on ebay and Amazon.  Some painted, some not painted, in several variations of size, and quality and pose number.

The figure after mounting on a base and swapping the head.  In my role playing rules major figures get a hexagon shaped plastic base.  Stats will go on the underside of the base.  The character name my go on a plaque on the upper base or written on the bottom.  Being styrene plastic these are very easy to convert and I swap legs, heads, arms, even bodies all the the time since the poses are limited.  I save every unused body part and they often get used up in other projects so I don't have to sacrifice a whole figure each time.

Mr. Bond with an HO 1/87 scale Austin Martin.

It is a small car and he is a big guy, but it seems very small with the scale difference.

These figures paint up pretty well even with my marginal painting skills.

Bond, James Bond.
 

What Does Mike Collect?

 

 My collection is vast but it follows a certain logic.  I am an American and most of my collection is American focused.  My degree is in history with an emphasis on Modern European and American history.

The primary collection is the US Army from the First Muster of English Speaking Militia in the New World in Massachusetts in December, 1636, and it's enemies, and it's allies to the near future; including alternate history and science fiction elements.  It is mostly 1/72nd scale figures with HO 1/87 scale vehicles.  Buildings are as small as 15mm and as large as 28mm; because how large or small is a building?

My largest focus is on the 20th Century, World War Two and the Cold War in Europe between the USA and the USSR.  I also have significant collections for the Korean War and the Vietnam War.  I am building American cities from the period of 1776 to now.  They are represented by Los Angeles, South Pasadena, Hollywood, Disneyland; California, Sierra Vista, AZ, New York City, Grover's' Mill, New Jersey, Gettysburg, PA, and Washington, D.C..

I am also building elements of London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo; and the American fictional cities of Gotham City and Metropolitan City (the Green Hornet lives  there.)

My WWI US Army collection is about a Regiment of Infantry with supporting elements of artillery, armor, horse cavalry, and aircraft.  I have a smaller number of WWI Germans but just as varied.  I have a minuscule amount of French troops and a small group of Russian Civil War forces.

For the Interwar years I have combined WWI and WWII items along with a few specific interwar vehicles for a 1938 US Army.  That's close enough to World War Two but still using mainly WWI gear and a mixture of new technologies.

My WWII collection is all the combat elements of a US Army Infantry Division and an Armor Division.  An SS Panzer Army of two corps, and four to six divisions.  They are late war and under strength.  I also have two Soviet Union divisions, one infantry and one armor, with Free Polish troops also.

For the Cold War I have a US Army Separate Mechanized Infantry Brigade that swaps out the Armor, Infantry and Artillery battalions as time progresses.  So M26 / M46 battalion becomes M47 then M48, then M60, M60A1, Abrams for example.

These are the main parts of the collection, but I also have espionage, special forces, science fiction, alternate history, and other nations.

I also have a substantial World War Two 1/2400 scale waterline ships collection for most of the seafaring nations.  A collection of 12 inch GI Joe type figures.  There is also a large 60mm/ 54mm size collection of 20th Century era figures and vehicles.

That's the overview, I hope it was interesting for you.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

How Do I Store My Collection?

Most  of my figure collection is unpainted plastic soldiers in 1/72nd scale.

So they get put into plastic food storage boxes.  The boxes are color coded, Red for WWII Germans and WWII Soviet Union.  Blue or Green for US Army, Yellow for Japan, etc.

I put a post it note on the box to indicate the unit.  This is my WWII German Western Front Infantry Division Anti-tank Gun Battalion.

This is my WWII German Eastern Front Infantry Division Light Artillery First Battalion Headquarters.

Not all my figures are assigned to specific units yet, I anticipate a big sorting will happen next year.  This box is coded Revell, World War II, Deutches Reich (Nazi Germany) Africa Corps, 234 figures, so about 5 or 6 boxes of them.

Sometimes I use the package the figures came in, in this case WWII German Paratroopers from Mars.

These are WWII German miscellaneous hard plastic figures and accessories.  Often they are figures that came with a kit, often are not assembled, sometimes came in a lot of used items, that have not been assigned to a unit yet, or may have been mis-sorted or otherwise separated from their unit.

Vehicles and these food storage boxes are stored  in underbed storage boxes on custom built shelving under my wargaming table in the basement.  This is my WWII Soviet and German collection.  Each box contents  are noted on a 3X5 card taped on the inside of the box.  It's not hoarding if the boxes are neat and labelled. 
 

Moving and Packing

My living room in my old house.  My wife, and my friend COL Jim and I packed all the boxes.  I have over 300 underbed storage boxes for the move.  For each box I started with an empty box.  Then lay down a layer of bubble wrap from end to end.  Then put in each vehicle, and a second layer of bubble wrap over the models.  Put a 3X5 card with the contents listed on it, at the end of the box so they label can be read from outside the box.  Then fill the box with biodegradable packing peanuts.  I used well over 300 cubic feet of packing peanuts.  Then each box was wrapped at each end with stretch cling wrap to hold the lid on. 

Each box was weighed and the weight of each box noted on the end, in pounds.  The heaviest box was 24 pounds and the lightest was three pounds.  I tried to keep them under 12 pounds.  Lightest boxes on top.  Don't stack over twelve high or over 100 pounds in weight.  There was a lot of storing to keep the weight below the limit.  The movers damaged about 4% of the boxes, mostly the lids, by stacking them poorly and without regard to the box weight limits I prescribed.  As far as I can tell, none of the contents were damaged due to the careful packing I did on the boxes.  Sterilite makes the boxes and I contacted them for a dozen replacement lids, and I offered to pay for them.  They sent me a terse email reply saying they don't keep extra lids in stock and they don't sell them without the box.  Not very good customer service in my opinion.

Many of the larger items were packed in this size box. I used the same technique for them as I did the other boxes.  I lost two of the lids in the move, but again the contents appear fine.  Some items required even larger boxes and I even had a few custom made cardboard boxes for larger items like my flak tower and Altes Museum.

The vast majority of the collection is in climate controlled, high security, storage sheds waiting for our house to be ready.  Then it will move to it's permanent location in late 2018.