War Machines

I first heard about this Batman Happy Meal toy only about a week before the promotion ended. I was lucky enough that a friend of mine was able to get me three of them before they were all gone. My friend, my wife, my daughter and I must have gone to 30 MacDonalds looking for these. As a result, I hit the eBay auctions and one or two at a time the Martians built their forces. The mother lode of one auction of 10 and another of 5 really helped out. The goal was to get 27 war machines.

This shows a Twilight Creations, Martians! 1/72nd scale soft plastic figure on the leg of the war machine. This is right out of the package, and just deploy the legs.

A close up view of the torpedo. My plan is to disable the launcher and use this as the heat ray.

Saucer section with Martians! inspecting the unit.

Underside of the saucer section. This just snaps in place on the center of the legs. It moves left, right and up and down. I got so many of these things on eBay I am sure I drove the worldwide price up by 50% or more. Postage was just as much as the item in most cases, which was why I got multiples from the same seller whenever I could.

Martians do everything in threes. Three Martians is a squad. Three War Machines is a platoon. Three platoons is nine War Machines for a company. Three companies of 27 War Machines makes a battalion. If I could have gotten a regiments worth, I would have, but I am very happy with what I got.

Martians

1/72nd scale Martians! From Twilight Creations. They have a sort of Mars Attacks 1950's sci fi look to them that I love. The Martians do everything in threes, that's why there are three poses. Three Martians! is a squad.

A nice size comparison with the Italeri US Army set, 1/72nd scale plastic. This will make some epic battles. Twilight Creations should make the Martians! available in bags of 100 figures for about $10 later this year.

Everywhere you go there is hobby potential. These are Batman, The Brave and the Bold, Black Manta Sub-Launcher, MacDonalds Happy Meal toys. They are shown here with the three Twilight Creations Martians!

Take off the outer plastic bag and spread out the contents. A set of pre-assembled legs, instructions and the saucer, still inside the inner bag.

The concept shown in the instructions. The saucer fits on top of the legs. The torpedo fits inside the upper structure and with the press of a button it launches clear across the room. If the room is a very small hamster cage.

Notice it has three legs. The Martians! do everything in threes. Three Black Manta; I mean Martian War Machines is a platoon.

PAeL Automaton Master

Sarah Creek drew this image of a PAeL Automaton and his human Pal firing an 81mm mortar. PAeL wears a helmet, soldier wears a Jeep cap.

Italeri 1/72nd scale soft plastic US Army soldier with brass master figure of the PAeL Automaton right out of the crate.

I am having these figures made to my specifications and they are great! They may also be sold commercially if there is enough interest.

More Tools

This little lump is one of my best hobby tools. It is a lump of clean clay. I use it to hold paint brushes when I am painting. Rather than lay it on the table, I stick the end in the clay to hold it upright. I also use the clay to prop up parts while they are drying. Finally, clay can sacrifice itself by ending up in the nose of tricycle landing gear airplanes. It makes a great weight to keep aircraft in place on their gear. I often include small shot gun lead pellets in with the clay. The clay keeps them from rolling around inside the model.

This is moleskin. It is a soft fabric with a sticky back. Peel off the backing and then stick a piece on your skin. I stick it on my thumb and fingers when using a craft knife to minimize the skin slicing.

Florist pliers are great for light wire cutting, and plastic cutting. They also make good light pliers. I got them at Michael's craft shop and paid about a dollar for them.

These needle nose pliers are a real pair of pliers. I got them at a hardware store and paid top dollar for them years ago. They are very strong and I use them for the toughest work. I use the cutter for medium size wire.

I also keep both large and small paper clips on hand. They can be used to apply glue, hold parts together and even be made into small tools on their own. Sometimes I cut them up and use the small rods they create as model parts.

Double ended round tooth picks are good too. They can be used to apply glue, and I even paint with them. The wood will absorb paint and can be used to apply dots of paint. Sometimes I even use a craft knife to fray the ends of the toothpick and make a tiny brush out of the end. It really helps with the details.

Canned dust remover. When clean up time comes it's nice to be able to get the nooks and crannies of the model by using canned air.