Brewer Bros Model Kit Expo!

Today was the Brewer Brothers Model Kit Expo at Old World Village in Huntington Beach, CA. They expected up to eighty tables and while there were a few empty ones, the turnout was pretty good. Each seller gets one or more tables and then offers new, used and often vintage model kits, accessories and other hobby items. Larry and Dimitry chat at Dimitry's table loaded with hundreds of 1/72nd scale military models.

This expo was much more diverse than most I have visited. They had military models, loads of car models, model railroad accessories; some vendors stacked models eight feet high!

My daughter Sarah had a great time with the slot car race cars. Back in the 1960's slot cars were very popular and they are making a come back. This figure 8 track was a huge hit with the kids. Slot cars have become very high tech and even use computers to keep track of laps and times.

Wiatt The Odd with a portion of his collection of vintage model kits. He has been cleaning out the garage and managed to provide many bargains to expo goers. I got four of his old B-17 kits in 1/72nd scale; they may end up as German versions. A great value, thanks Mr. Odd!

A nice selection of videos and DVDs were also on sale at the Expo. Prices were good and sales seemed to be pretty good. I got there at noon, and stayed for three hours. Afterwards several of us went out for lunch to discuss our finds. This is a good venue, parking is free and it is adjacent to a full bar and restaurant, with waitress service in the Expo.

The next Brewer Brothers Model Kit Expo is Sunday, August 16, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The admission is only $5.00 and kids under 12 are free.

modelkitexpo@hotmail.com is the contact for Chris Brewer the Event Coordinator. Tables are not expensive and a good place to sell any hobby items.

Modern French

These are the French Army from the Caesar Miniatures 1/72nd scale soft plastic "Modern French Army & Chinese PLA figures. The Paris / Beijing Axis forces set?

As I understand it, Caesar wanted to do both French and PLA troops but did not think the market for them was large enough to warrant a set for each so this is a compromise set containing a few of each. Much better than when in olden times Esci did FOUR NATO nations in one set and four Warsaw Pact sets in a second set. At least here you get a usable squad for either nation.

I know very little about the Modern French or Chinese PLA armies but I know a lot about army men. These are very nice figures as is the norm for Caesar. No flash, one piece, and nice poses. All are molded in the typical dark grey that is common for Caesar.

The French are active in the War in Afghanistan and also have sent troops into various places in Africa in recent years, and also went along with the US in the First Gulf War. For those kinds of battles these guys would do just fine.

This guy looks very much like a French Foreign Legion soldier, but again my knowledge of French uniforms and equipment is almost non-existent so I can only say he is a great miniature.

A nice variety of weapons makes this a very nice little 1/2 set. I am sure Liberation Miniatures can provide additional heavy weapons and specialized troops to help you maximize your French Army experience. While I don't actually collect modern French Army as such, I will get a few boxes just to give more variety to my modern collection. French troops show up all over the world and having a few in a modern collection is probably a good idea.

Visiting the 60mm Troops

More troops and more specialists are assigned to the Atomic Testing Base.

The Chief of Science and the Vice President inspect the troops and chat briefly with them.

More troops arrive every week. The Army has pledged a full Regiment to insure there are enough hands to get the work done.

The Base Commander and the Vice-President made a few concluding remarks and are then off to the next stop in their tour of the facility.


In the meantime more troops and scientists arrive and will perform some actual field testing and investigation for the Base Commander and Vice-President.

Sherman Tanks

The Sherman tank was developed from the M2 and M3 series medium tanks. The M2 was slated for full production with thousands supposed to be manufactured, but with the fall of France, the Americans realized that the Germans had a short barrel 75 mm gun and so they desperately wanted to field one that would be at least that good.

They had worked on an artillery piece with a 75 mm gun in a sponson, with a quick rework they designed the Lee M3 medium series. It was supposed to be a interim training tank to give Americans experience in using a 75 mm gun. It was used in combat really only because the British purchased them and used them in North Africa. The US used only about 150 in Tunisia and about 5 or 10 in the Pacific. As they were destroyed in Tunisia they were replaced by Shermans.

The Sherman was a good tank when it was first fielded, it was very reliable, and it had many "luxury" items that can't be found on other nations tanks. The Soviets were amazed with the workmanship, the compass, the siren, the general high quality of the welding and fit, radios and other items made for the almost disposable T34.

The problem with the Sherman is that while the US continued to make many upgrades to the tank, many of them were never fielded, or fielded in only limited numbers. Part of the reason was the doctrine of the US Army that tanks don't fight tanks, tanks are infantry support weapons to destroy the machine gun which had created trench warfare in WWII. Tank destroyers were to destroy tanks. Only later, post war did the US Army determine that the best anti tank weapon was another tank. At the beginning of the war, 1941 the standard tank, the Sherman fielded a 75 mm gun. The tank destroyer was a 37 mm gun. At the end of the war in 1945 the standard tank was still a 75 mm gun Sherman but the tank destroyer had evolved from 37 to 57 to 76 to 90 mm guns and from all towed guns to all self propelled guns.

The other issue was shipping space and weight. US planners seemed to think that tanks of greater than 30 tons could not be off loaded from ships without major seaports and could not use most of the bridges in Europe nor could they use the standard pontoon bridges. Heavier tanks with thicker armor also cost more, could not be produced in as great a numbers as the Sherman and caused more wear and tear on tracks, suspensions and engines and transmissions. That meant more pressure on logistics and maintenance and recovery troops and supplies.

The Germans had these problems with their massive Tiger series. They were always short of parts, short of fuel, lubricants, had problems recovering damaged tanks, and difficulty getting tanks over rivers. Look at the Panther and Tiger problems. Always transmissions dying, drive sprockets breaking, tanks that are nose heavy due to suspension failures.

The Sherman was a great tank in many ways and they look great on the wargame table.