Official 1:18 Military Toys Thread (21st, BBI, FOV, etc)

[Darth Gamboa]

I know, I saw them Saturday, just hadn't gotten around to mentioning it 'til now.

[Vator]

Has the Pak 40 been released yet?

[Jesse James]

Yeah, in some areas supposedly.  I've yet to see it but thena gain we've had a 21st Drought out here for some months really.  nothing new at all.

[Vator]

Aye, we haven't seen anything past last year's Marines and Japanese, which is a shame; BOTB S3 figures looked really nice.

[Nirvana]

Picked up another BotB Marine at a WalMart tonight.

And since this thread is also sort of a BBi thread, I bought a Navy Seal Sniper tonight as well. As soon as it came out of the package, the bicep joints were glued shut and fell out when I tried to twist them loose. I sent BBi a replacement request, the figure should be here in 2-3 weeks ( )...

EDIT- I meant to say 4-6...

[Jesse James]

there are new BBI guys too, new photos...  I didn't even realize this.  I hope they are shiping with WW2 guys like the last moderns.

Here they are...

[Darth Gamboa]

I saw the 1:32 scale Dogfight 2 pack consisting of the ME 262 and P-51 Mustang in Palmdale. This set is real nice but I'm into the larger scale. It'd be nice to pick up a 262 in 1:18.

[Nirvana]

I'm planning on creating a Battle of the Bulge diorama for my history project based on either this picture:

or this one:


I'll be using 21st Century Toy's BotB Marines and some hobby supplies.

I'll post pics when I'm done.

[Jesse James]

You know the BotB troopers aren't Marines though, right?

The Battle of the Bulge was fought by a U.S. Army personnel that got cut off by the "bulge" in the lines caused by a German push deep into the Ardennes forest and elsewhere in Belgium...  The US Army's 101st Airborne were rushed into Bastogne to hold it because it was a key location and they were used to being isolated and surrounded during combat, and were needed to back up the troops already there that were having a tough time holding onto the real estate.  Other units got trapped there (a good friend of mine was an engineer for instance, and not a front line combat troop, but he had to become a rifleman due to the situation) of course but the 101st were the most famous/known group there.

While marines saw service in the European Theater it wasn't widely known, and while I could be off I don't believe any Marines were involved in "The Bulge" at all, but more with landings and whatnot earlier in the ETO.  If you want to learn a substantial bit more, check out some episodes of Band of Brothers that deal with the BotB in particular.  They're informative, realistic...  That's what I'd do.

[Nirvana]

D'oh!

Well, I'll be using the 21st Century American figures. At least I know they're American.

[Jesse James]

21st made Battle of the Bulge figures and US Marines from the Pacific Theater both, so I'm not sure what you've got but there are both for certain out there.  Marines are pretty easily available around us but the BotB figures shipped to our area too.

The key difference is the Marines are in their trademark green and camo uniforms while the Bulge figures are in winter gear like Mackinaw coats and trenchcoats and the like.  Not sure what you've got to work with of that stuff.  There were Germans too...  They actually released 2.5 full lines of Battle of the Bulge figures.  Series 1, Series 1 repaints, and Series 2...  Series 2 just started shipping in the last few months.

[Nirvana]

I made sure I got the Battle of the Bulge figures, and I knew which ones were which, just called them Marines by habit I guess...

Anyways, went out to WalMart and bought 4 Battle of the Bulge troops and went to work swapping arms, coats, and heads to try to match the people in the picture above (the one with the 3 up front and the fourth running in the background). I also bought some Fomecor and put together the box:






I still have to add some painting details (5 'o clock shadow on prone one, black helmet on the running one *I know that it's steel, but I only got 3 from the troops I bought*, etc.).

Tomorrow I'll head out to my local hobby shop and buy the rest of the supplies I'll need to complete it- spary adhesive, snow ready mat, sprinkle snow, trees, and shrubbery. Then I'll put it together and hope to be done my Tuesday, Monday if I'm lucky.

[Nirvana]

AWESOME!!! Picked up some of the first series of the D-Day figures today at the Beaver Valley WalMart. The whole first wave was there (German Parade Officer, Camo Smock German, Tank Commander, Ranger Scout, Tank Gunner, D-Day Rifleman), but the only ones that really caught my eye were the Tank Commander and the 2nd Ranger Scout. I really can't wait for the rest of the DDay figures, I'll post pics if anyone wants them.

[Jesse James]

I'm seeing BotB2 figures out here now actually...  If i had extra $$$ I'd probably buy couple of the trenchcoated US troops at least but X-mas has me strapped for spare cash it seems.  Bummer.

The Pak-40, US and German halftracks, and D-Day figures are out too so that's a lot to look for...  Especially since I wanted a couple of the halftracks, lots of D-Day figures, a few Pak's...  Yeesh.

Oh, and RC Panzers in Panzer Grey scheme at my local Wal-Mart...  I'm thinking of doing a trade-in on the scheme I have because I like the plain grey coloring much more, and it's more of a Northern Europe paintjob anyway.  I just know I don't want 2 RC Panzers...  I have one plain, so 2 total is more than enough for me.

[Darth Gamboa]

Last night the Palmdale Super Wal-Mart had 4 1:18 scale Mig-15s, as well as the 1:144 Dogfight 2 packs. These little planes are just repaints of the earlier wave but cool none the less.

The Lancaster store has 1 remaining 1:18 scale TBF Avenger.