ESCI U.S. Special Forces—Viet Nam

The scene here is a classic firefight as a patrol moves up a road toward a firebase. The running figure and man firing the grenade launcher are probably my two favorite ESCI poses, ever. The 'Rambo' character is probably my least ESCI favorite. Ever. I'm not a fan of soldiers without headgear. Unless wounded.

A view from the other side. Here is a fig without headgear, but he's wounded. 

A classic ESCI pose but this is one of the best realizations of it. 

Hard to see but these figs are painted as 1st Cavalry.

A view from the chopper.

As I'm going through and painting poses in my collection that have never been painted—I'm no expert nor really interested in Viet Nam, why I even acquired these I have now idea—I realized I have a ton of ESCI! I think I bought almost everything they had except Ancients just because they were all that was new at the time. I was never a true fan like I was with Airfix but they are easy to paint and to ESCI's credit, their troops put on a good show. 

The palm tree is from Pegasus and is a nice, convincing kit. The tall grass is fake fur, cut short and scrubbed with Testor Interior Green. I quit working in oils but that's the only paint that'll adhere to fake fur.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Okay, this is a shameless nod to one of my followers.

This quick diorama is somewhat a labor of love or should I say 'a labor of tribute.' I tend to be absorbed in past conflicts and fascinated with European armies often ignoring the work and sacrifices of our own military.

So this is for the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (and specifically those artillerymen in the 4th Division!)

56th Striker Brigade arrives.

I love google images and wikipedia.

With my love of European armies, I had to add one figure of our allies.
A 'Desert Rat' patrols outside Basra.

Revell Colonial Militia

I nice set, would have preferred more uniformed Continentals. Of the three advancing Continentals, the man with the gun across his chest is a paint conversion of Revell's British Redcoats. This small diorama was to be augmented with Italeri's Continetals but the figures towered a scale foot taller. Hoping to pick up some Airfix Washington's Army someday to round this out.

The 'Pine Tree' flag, the British Red Ensign with a tree in place of the Union Jack was believed to have been flown at Bunker Hill.

IMEX/Revell Civil War Skirmish

I'm glad this one's done. For some reason I got bored with this and painting became a chore.

A lot of this is because I'm not a fan of the Civil War--probably the idea of fratricide. Also, I have a penchant for European armies. These IMEX figures are not my favorite. The detail is dull, the body shape diminutive. The Union faces are often squat, the Confederates better shaped, but blobs. The Union are is a Revell/IMEX mix, the Confederates just IMEX.

The Union standard is the 1st Minnesota regiment who played a critical role in holding the line during Gettysburg. (I'm no Civil War buff.) I hope to add some more figures, mainly a Confederate with the flag of the 1st Missouri who played a role in the stout defense of Vicksburg. There are two Confederates reloading to one Union, the reflects the better armament and repeater rifles found in the Federal army.

Side note: Missouri/Minnesota? My great-great grandfather fought with a Minnesota Regiment, not sure which one. And I was born in Missouri.

HaT US WW1 Artillery

These are some test sprues I received from HäT. Initially I was not a fan of this sculpting style. I was very disappointed when the first images of HäT's World War One troops with this new style--German Heavy Weapons, US Infantry, Canadian Infantry. I have yet to purchase these figures. Plastic Soldier Review gave them low scoring marks as do I.

That said, I've seen some good paint jobs of these soldiers on HäT's Everything Toy Solider forum, most notably by Thomas Willers and Sander Van Straeten.

I thought I'd give these a go and I am pleasantly surprised. The main shift was that these figures are toys. Once I got my head around that (toys like the old Lineol and Elastolin) then I was okay with them.

Note: The house is the classic Airfix Command Post. The wagon is from IMEX's Civil War munitions/ambulance kit. The gun emplacement is pink insulation foam on an old CD. The sandbags are made from some Crayola craft putty I got at Wal-Mart.