Dollar Store Tanks

 Several years ago I posted some pix of the World War 2 Style tanks and trucks I have found at local dollar stores.

http://dougssoldiers.blogspot.com/search/label/WW2?updated-max=2016-04-07T09:42:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=4&by-date=false

I was looking at Hugh Walter’s excellent blog “Small Scale World” and he had some of the newer made in China tanks. So I thought I’d post some of mine.

First up are some ersatz early World War 2 German vehicles.the Jeep’s are my “sorta Horch” conversions, with extra spare wheels, roll top and pellet headlights, a great idea I saw another guy doing. The figs are cut up Hong Kong figures.The tank transporter was actually a rocket transporter sans Scud missile.

The tanks are a mix of hulls and turrets and they are next to some Atlantic German Panzer Grenadiers.

Here’s some of the bags of toys as they come from the store. There are a lot of modern vehicles, based on the US MLRS type of vehicles, but with odd oversized Sidewinder missiles or archaic fantasy howitzers. The Montoy bag has an interesting heavy flatbed truck with a tiny tank on the back that is sporting a huge gun. So I got out the razor saw and did some surgery.

The truck is a nice size and looks pretty good. A box could be easily constructed, but the cast on wheels look odd. They look like WW1 solid metal wheels. The tiny tank would make an OK tankette, perhaps Japanese or Italian. I put half a Hong Kong soldier in the cupola of the colourful one.

Some more items. Firstly Jeep’s and an odd “dune buggy” with chained tires . I took off the silly howitzer mounted on the buggy and the small shielded Hmg on the fender. I am using these as recon armoured cars, as can be seen in my first pic. I also have mounted a turret on some, an ersatz Sdkfz 222.

The airplanes are kind of neat. The Osprey is a nice model as toys go. But the biplane has those friction motors on the bottom ruining the aircraft’s profile. Also the pilot is a cartoonish helmet and goggles that I cut out with an Xacto. I painted the plane as an early war aircraft. Not very satisfying but beggars can’t be choosers.

More tanks with swapped turrets. The top has several versions based on the Centurion tank.

The next lot are a new product, small panther hulls, with that annoying friction motor (easily removed) and a selection of inappropriate turrets. So I tried to turn one into a Lvt Buffalo, using the shielded Hmg from the the dune buggy. I also cut out the rear deck and added a lower one with half beads as the helmets of the sheltering marines. 

The last batch of photos have some of my plasticene blobby guys I tried to use as loads in those naked Jeep’s. Not too successful. They look like seals.

And finally some of the newer tanks.

Colourful, and of two types. They also have an annoying fuel barrel on the rear end, easily cut off, but an odd inclusion.

There are more items coming out all the time, but these are some that I’ve been working on for now.

Some Oddments I’ve Been Working On

 I’ve taken a bit of a break now that the lock down is over (for now…) by getting out and walking and listening to podcasts.

So here’s some items I’ve had on the go for a while now…

Polish Napoleonic lancers from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and a couple of fanciful horse guns. Giant toys with Esci riders. The lancers are Esci lancers on Thai Giant copies with plasticine shebraques.

Austrian foot artillery and an ammunition wagon. Odd looking  perhaps but I based it on a Minifigs model I saw in a French wargame magazine, “Uniformes”.

A selection of stuff. Heading is a group of Mexican militia. Suitable for Cinco De Mayo or even the Mexican Civil War. Converted Indians from the Lucky toys Revolutionary War Set.

Next is a toy coach I dolled up to be a European coach, suitable for a highway man or woman (Mary Ferrers) or for Marlborough to offer to Clerembault.

In the centre  is a Hinchliffe 25mm Marshal Murat from their Personalities range. I always had a weak spot for Hinchliffe. The other weak spot was in my wallet which couldn’t afford them way back when.

The coach again making a hasty exit stage right.

Finally a mix of 25 mm figures. I often buy mixed lots of figures and this is a result. Several Spanish generals painted up rather fancifully, one was horseless so he got a plasticine saddle and a Thai Giant horse. The Royal Foot Artillery guys are manning a gun from Eagle Games.

In the back are a couple of Minifig ADC’s painted up as fanciful dudes, maybe Spanish?

And the rest are Prince August Waterloo figures. I love finding these in eBay purchases as their lack of detail and over all smoothness make them true toy soldiers that look great in bright colours and gloss.

Well, that’s it for now.

I’m still working on Edgehill. Hope to have it up soon.

What Do You Do With A Bag of Nazis?

Prior to the covid scare, I was picking up lots of very cheap made in China toys.
Very cheap, a few dollars and with free shipping.
Now the prices have multiplied many times and there is a shipping charge.

So I ended up with some big bags of 1/72 scale World War 2 soldiers.
These guys in fact:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-72-New-Plastic-Army-Men-Figures-100pcs-Military-Set-Toy-Soldiers-Green/112878997493?hash=item1a481ccff5:g:JEcAAOSw4PRar9Vg&redirect=mobile

I was able to buy bags of 1000 for under $20.
You get about 8 poses, some more useful than others.
One pose is a copy of the second release of Airfix WW2 Germans. The officer firing a pistol.

So I got out the Xacto, some Tamiya model putty and had a go at making these guys into something else.
I looked at the WRG book about Armies and Enemies of Rome.
The Irish had soldiers with short pants, bare legs and long hair.

I also thought these rough guys might do as later Franks or Alan's with stripey clothes, axes and top knots.

This is what I ended up with:

Some guys are awaiting shields.

I also painted a Hong Kong cart, I'm not sure if I'll make chariots out of them, as I have a few. Also a couple of Esci barbarians with indigestion.

A Dollar Store Too Far

Last year was the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, and I started reading up on the battle.
I did the Cornelius Ryan book and watched the movie, listened to some podcasts, caught some interviews with Antony Beevor and watched a YouTube interview he did:

WWII and Lessons from the Past - 'Arnhem: The Battle of the Bridges'

27,472 views

Pretty fascinating.

He concluded that the plan never had a chance, and it was Monty's folly.

Sadly it cost over 10,000 lives.

I also picked up several DVD's about this period of the war.

So I decided to start up making a 1/72nd Airborne force and started with the British first.

But on the cheap.

Model jeeps, whether plastic, resin or metal are pretty dear.

So I scrounged in my pile of toys and painted up a small force.

I also did the "toy soldier" look, given that my figures were a mish mash of makers.

(And try finding any piats)

Cherry red berets in place of the maroon, and high gloss finishes.
Definitely TOY soldiers....

So here we go...

Dollar Store Jeeps (of a kind) with torsos of soldiers added.

The heavies, dropped by glider to be sure. Atlantic anti tank gun, mortars and heavy Mg's. A mix of figures. The pack 75 is nice but a terrible kit to assemble.

Commanders trying to get the radio working. Local help from a pensioner.

The soldiers. A real mix of makers.

A bit of a close up. I have to admit, I had fun painting this lot up, but like everything else, "it's a work in progress".

Helen of Toy Wargames: Comic Book Toy Soldiers

This is going to be, I hope, an ongoing post as I add more items.
We've all seen those old comic book ads offering wargames to kids for a couple dollars.
I'll start with a couple incomplete sets that I have.
Helen of Toy Fighting Ships + Convoy Terror

These are basically the same sets under different names.
Here are the ads, some of which varied over time.

The basic game had 132 pieces. I don't have them all. What I do have is here:

Two identical fleets of 64 items:
2 Aircraft Carriers
2 Battleships
12 Heavy Cruisers
2 Light Cruisers
2 Destroyer Frigates
4 Destroyers
8 Destroyers
4 Destroyer escorts
6 Destroyer leaders
20 Cargo Ships
8 Mine layers
2 Mine sweepers
12 Submarines
10 PT Boats
30 Planes
8 Mines
Now if you read the rules, many of the ships are designated by markings underneath the hull.
For example, the Cargo Ships are also the Mine Layers and Mine Sweepers.
The destroyers are differentiated with numbers under the hull.
In my photo you can see I have an incomplete set. I have never yet been able to track down the tiny planes for the game, or the little mines. You can see them though, at Thor's Trains website, where they have an article about this and other Helen of Toy Games:

http://www.thortrains.net/milihistriot/comictoys/comicbookwargamesFightingShips.html
http://www.thortrains.net/milihistriot/comictoys/comicbooktoysoldierswargames.html

Here are the rules from the set I have:

Of note is the stamp on the front page:

This set was a replacement for another on that was ordered, but was out of stock.
This is how I ended up with Supreme Command.

The ships are all about an inch to 1 1/2 inch long, except the carriers that are 5 inches long.
What I'll do in the future is flesh out this set and create a new map board to game the rules.
BTW a quick look at the rules show them to be a mix of Stratego and games like Dover Patrol. There is some level of the unknown and combat is resolved by pieces with the higher number winning and removing the loser.
It is quite possible to redo this game or one like it by using some available game pieces from the Axis and Allies games:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41863/axis-allies-1942
There are a large number of these games available now. There is the original set, then other WW2 campaign sets, and a WW1 set. They  have 300-400 minis inside so they are a real source of new ships.
There is also a company called Historical Board Gaming that makes very reasonably priced models to go with the Axis and Allies games:

http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/

I've ordered from them a couple times. They are fast and the minis are very nice. The ships will have their class name under the hull. They even make tiny tanks like Sexton APC's and Canadian Ram Kangaroos. Aircraft are many and varied, including Rata I-16 and Sturmovoks and RAF Barracudas.


The other game I'm looking at is the residue of my old game, Supreme Command.

THis was an air/land/sea game with cardboard counters for infantry. The game had three kinds of ships, Carriers, Battleships and a Cruiser. Land units are two piece tanks, simple artillery markers, headquarters huts, and small landing craft to carry the troops. The planes are delta wing Mirage look alikes.
Here's the Thor's Trains article:

http://www.thortrains.net/milihistriot/comictoys/comicbookwargamesSupremeCommand.html

The interesting thing about these games is the "board" which is a small vinyl plastic sheet. You use a damp cloth to wipe a smooth table, lay the map board on the damp surface and push out the air bubbles, just like wallpaper. The sheet sits tight until you are done and peel it off..

Instead of dice, both games had a spinner with numbers 1 to 6. Supreme Command had combat resolution using a cardboard and metal spinner you flicked (IIRC). The spinner also acted as a six sided dice. The numbers were printed around the card.

These games would make great pieces for a home made wargame.
As for rules, I really like this book:

There is a simple set of rules inside that covers air combat, torpedos, supply and gunfire. I've played them before, on a square gridded board, and they are fun. The author espouses 1/1200 models, but these tiny ships work really well.

A few other titles I have are Donald Featherstone's book, Paul Hague's book and a Peter Dunn title.

Featherstone's book is not very helpful. Very simplistic and general, it isn't much help. Also the focus is on earlier historical periods.
The PSL book by Paul Hague is noted for the miniatures sea game with triremes.
The Peter Dunn book is quite detailed and fascinating, but largely focusing on steam ironclads.

Another source for aircraft are the 1/700 sets of planes from Japanese companies like Fujimi:

30 - 40 planes for under $10. They make Japanese, American, British and some German planes.

Well that's it for today, I will keep adding to this page as I go along. I occasionally pick up a few pieces of these games in bags of toy soldiers. A complete set of Fighting Ships usually fetches $75 and up. Unfortunately the interest in these old nostalgic toys has fueled the greed of accumulators looking to make a quick buck, instead of the spirit of play the games intended.