Sunday, February 19, 2012

US Infantry - Part III

In a previous post I described all the American Infantry poses that I have already painted. That post left out some poses that I decided not to paint. At the time I was aiming to paint 100 different poses with the goal of using them for war-gaming, so I left out the poses that were least appealing and those that were the least useful in a war-game. Then there are also additional figures from those manufacturers mentioned in that post that I have managed to find after I painted those figures. Since I would like this blog to be as complete as possible and serve as a sort of catalog, organized by manufacturer I feel the need to remedy this. So without further ado, I present to you the GIs who did not make the 'paint cut'.  

BMC US Infantry
The BMC GIs are not the best sculptures out there. The guy on the right throwing the grenade has arms so short that he reminds me of a T-Rex. The guy next to him dropping the mortar shell into an imaginary mortar looks more like he is ready to take a dive. The third guy from the right, I must admit that I overlooked him. He is actually not so bad and considering that I did not have 100 unique poses when I painted the GIs, he should have been included. I actually like how he is leaning back a bit. The fourth guy got cut simply because I already had enough prone guys (10 per company), so he was not needed and he was not the most 'active' pose. He could be useful however for a scene at Omaha beach when they are using the bangalore torpedoes to open a gap in the wire in order to exit the beach. Maybe later I'll get to him.

MPC US Infantry
The prone guy got cut also because I already had enough prone guys and he was on the skinny side. The other two are poses that I did not have at the time I painted the rest. Had I had them at the time they would have been included. Although notice how the guy on the right has an uncanny resemblance to one of the Marx figures in the post with the painted figures.

Reproductions of Marx 6" Figure
Sold as a SWTS figure, this guy is the sixth in the set. I actually find him acceptable when I look at him. Not quite sure why I left him out. I believe at the time I thought he looked short next to the other guys.

Marx US Infantry - Part 1
At the time that I painted the other Marx guys I only had the dark one. I left him out because he is leaning forward too much, with his feet too close to each other. A bit unrealistic in my opinion. The other two guys are old Marx figures from the Battleground set that I found at a large bin in a local Toy Soldier Show. The two battleground guys will definitely get the paint treatment at some point.

Marx US Infantry - Part 2
A nice set of casualty figures. The guy carrying the wounded buddy resembles the figure in the Atlantic British Infantry set. I wonder who produced it first. Definitely a nice pose. The guy on the right is one of the most realistic wounded guys out there. He reminds me a of that famous picture by Robert Capa of the guy being hit during the Spanish Civil War. Lastly, the wounded guy who is crawling impacts me due to its realism. You can almost feel this guy's pain.

Marx US Infantry - Part 3
Another 3 good poses. The stretcher bearer is missing the stretcher, but that should be easy to manufacture. Of course he will need another guy to help him but I have a few of these already. The wounded guy will go on the stretcher. The crawling guy is a nice variation to the prone poses who are entirely on the ground. All these guys will need to be painted and added to the company.

Marx US Infantry - Part 4
Here is another less common Marx pose. I actually found the raft a few years back without knowing what set it belonged to, and it was only recently that I found the rower. I have to say though that the raft feels quite a bit underscale. The man is actually pretty nicely done. 

Marx US Infantry - Part 5
Here is the larger version of the Marx raft. It comes with two rowers. Feels better proportioned relative to the size of the crew, although the raft still feels a bit brittle to have to go into combat on it.

Marx US Infantry - Part 6
These are some marching GIs. The flag bearer was apparently sculpted by a different hand as the marching guys, but they are still close enough in scale and detail that they can be combined into a scene together. Now I just need to find an actual flag for the guy in the middle. 

Marx Gallant Men US Infantry
The Gallant Men, were 5 figures modeled after the characters in a TV series. They were released in 1963 as part of a 'Gallant Men' playset. They are a bit hard to get and there seems to be a strong emotional attachment to them which makes them a bit pricey. From left to right they are Lt. Kimbro, Pvt. D'Angelo, Sgt. McKenna, Conley Wright (the war correspondent) and Capt. Benedict. All very well sculpted, probably better than the rest of the Marx GI figures, although unfortunately, they are not in the most active poses. The Gallant Men were notable for being able to take on large number of enemy forces and defeat them with minimum casualties, the Gallant Men obviously not among them.

Click here to see even more GIs.

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