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Monday, August 24, 2015

Pech Hermanos - Toy Soldiers

Pech Hermanos was a Spanish firm based out of Barcelona. Started by the Pech brothers, Jose and Manuel in 1945, they started out by recasting and cloning metal soldiers in 50mm. Towards the mid-50's they began casting figures in rubber and later on in plastic. This is also when they began to sculpt their own figures. These plastic sets are bigger in scale, in the 60mm range. They cover a wide variety or periods and nationalities, as well. In terms of WWII figures, they produced sets for most of the participating nations, each with about a dozen poses. And then they also produced complementary artilly sets and heavy weapons sets. They seem to have had a great, and very productive run while it lasted. The following linksshow more of their sets:
Pech Hermanos Collection Page 1
Pech Hermanos Collection Page 2
Pech Hermanos Collection Page 3
Pech Hermanos Collection Page 4
In the sixties, the business was dissolved, allegedly due to family difficulties, and some of the molds got sold to the firm Oliver, known today for their reproduction of the Pech Japanese. Other molds apparently ended up in the hands of BUM who still manufactures several of their WWII heavy weapons sets of the GIs, and some Spanish soldiers in parade poses. Today, the original Pech figures are a much sought after collector's item in Spain, fetching top Euro for a complete set. Unfortunately I only have one Pech Hermanos figure to show, along with several recasts from Oliver. Let's take a look.

Pech Hermanos Japanese Infantry
Pech Hermanos Japanese Infantry
This guy is part of an artillery crew -the officer in charge-, but it is basically sculpted in the same style as the rest of their Japanese infantry figures. He is also 60mm in scale. Note also the size and shape of the base and compare it to the bases of the Oliver guys below. As you can see, their soldeirs came factory painted.

Oliver Japanese Infantry (Pech Recasts)
Oliver Japanese Infantry (Pech Recasts) - Part I 
The first half of the set. Note how they have much larger bases and Oliver did a poor job embedding the smaller base within the larger one. On some cases, like the man on the right holding the binoculars, the inner base sticks out higher than the outer one. Overall, the figures show quite a bit of dynamism and action. I bet the originals were even nicer. Another thing to note is that Oliver apparently replaced the grenade thrown by the man on the left for some type of pole or stick. 

Oliver Japanese Infantry (Pech Recasts)
Oliver Japanese Infantry (Pech Recasts) - Part II
The rest of the set. Again, a good set of action poses. I also like the fact that even though the figures are large in size, they are not bulky. They have nice thin lines. 

Pech Hermanos US Infantry
Pech Hermanos US Infantry
This is a group of 7 figures that I was lucky to come across. If there are as many poses as there are for the Japanese, this means that I found about half of them. In general, I like the dynamism of the poses quite a bit. I am sure that at the time that they were released, they must have been very well received. I particularly like the officer, rallying his men to move forward. The only odd figure is the bazooka man who is standing up straight. Forget about offering a smaller target, he is not even bracing himself for the recoil by placing one foot in front of the other! 


Saturday, February 7, 2015

Schylling Toys - Toy Soldiers

Schylling Toys is a US firm based out of Boston, MA. They have been around for about 30 years and they make and resell all sorts of toys. In fact they seem to make almost every toy but Toy Soldiers. That is except for a single set of US GIs. I suppose they've done it to be able to check off that category. Not surprisingly, what they have done is to clone (or recast?) the Matchbox GIs. Besides that, there is not much else to say when it comes to Toy Soldiers, so let's take a quick look at their set.

Schylling Toys US Infantry
Schylling Toys US Infantry - Part I
Here is another set inspired by Matchbox. These seem to be direct clones of the Matchbox figures, although you do see slight differences, like the missing bayonet on the second guy from the left, the running pose. Despite being clones, I find that the quality of the plastic is fairly good and the level of detail has not been lost. 

Schylling Toys US Infantry
Schylling Toys US Infantry - Part II
Here you see the rest of the poses. It is interesting to see that the officer pose is missing, the one who is aiming or firing a pistol. Instead we have the guy lowering his weapon, which by the way, might also be missing the bayonet if my memory serves me well. 

Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Air and Space Museum at Dulles, Virginia

If you like big machines, the Air and Space Museum at Dulles, Virginia is the place for you. Their collection includes both civilian and military aircraft, since the beginning of aviation to modern times. They also include some amazing items related to space travel such as capsules, space suits, satelites, etc, but pehaps the crown jewel of this museum is the recently retired Discovery Space Shuttle. In terms of military aircraft the collection covers all 20th century conflicts from WWI through the Cold War, and it includes not only domestic craft, but also some captured foreign planes. I have been to this Museum a few times, and every time I enjoy it as much as the first time. Below are some pictures I took during my most recent trip. Clearly, I have a bias towards the WWII items, but I also took a couple snapshots of some other cool things. Let's take a look.

British Hawker Hurricane IIC
British Hawker Hurricane IIC

British Westland Lysander IIIA
British Westland Lysander IIIA

German Arado Ar 234 B Blitz
German Arado Ar 234 B Blitz

German Dornier Do 335 A Pfeil
German Dornier Do 335 A Pfeil

German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 F
German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 F

German Fw 190 F, Ar 234 B and Do 335 A
German Fw 190 F, Ar 234 B and Do 335 A

German Heinkel He 219 A Uhu
German Heinkel He 219 A Uhu

German Junkers Ju-52
German Junkers Ju-52

German Messerschmitt Me 163 B-1a Komet
German Messerschmitt Me 163 B-1a Komet

Japanese Aichi M6AI Seiran
Japanese Aichi M6AI Seiran

Japanese Kawanishi NIK2-Ja Shiden Kai "George"
Japanese Kawanishi NIK2-Ja Shiden Kai "George"

Japanese Kawasaki Ki-45 KAI Toryu "Nick" under Aichi M6AI Seiran
Japanese Kawasaki Ki-45 KAI Toryu "Nick" under Aichi M6AI Seiran

Japanese Nakajima Jini-S Gekko "Irving" over Kugisho MXY7 Ohka Model 22
Japanese Nakajima Jini-S Gekko "Irving" over Kugisho MXY7 Ohka Model 22

US Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay
US Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay

US Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay
US Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay

US Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk
US Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk

US Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver
US Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver

US Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat
US Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat

US Lockheed P-38J Lightning
US Lockheed P-38J Lightning

US Northrop P-61C Black Widow
US Northrop P-61C Black Widow

US Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
US Republic P-47D Thunderbolt

US Vought F4U-ID Corsair
US Vought F4U-ID Corsair

US Vought-Sikorsky OS2U-3 Kingfisher
US Vought-Sikorsky OS2U-3 Kingfisher

The Concorde
The Concorde

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird

Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery

The Marine Corps Museum at Quantico Virginia

The Marine Corps Museum, located in Quantico, Virginia, chronicles the history of this distinguished US military unit from its origins as a naval infantry detachment aboard colonial era ships charged with defending against or acting as a boarding party, as well as defending the captain against mutiny from sailors to its modern day deployments. The Museum is nicely done with many impressive and very well made life size dioramas, vehicles & weapons displays, videos, and lots of material to read as you go along. I recently visited it for a third time, and it was just as interesting as the first. This time I did take the opportunity to document some of its displays, namely those depicting the conflicts of the 20th century. Let's take a look. 

Marine Corps Museum Harrier fighter jet
Harrier fighter jet hanging at the main lobby. Note that the Marines have their own air units. 

Marine Corps Museum Helicopter Landing
Life-size diorama of a helicopter landing, something which became quite useful during the Vietnam War. 

Marine Corps Museum Helicopter Landing
Close up of the landing crew. Note the high level of detail on the figures. 

Marine Corps Museum Corsair
A WWII era Corsair.

Marine Corps Museum Amtrak Landng
A WWII diorama depicting an apmphibious landing. Could very likely be at Tarawa.

Marine Corps Museum Tarawa Wall
A wounded man taking cover against the sea wall. Hard to say that he is not real!

Marine Corps Museum Beach Landing
The men jumping off the Amtrak and charging off the beach.

Marine Corps Museum Beach Landing
Overcoming the seawall.

Marine Corps Museum Diorama
Urging the men to follow, despite the flying lead!

Marine Corps Museum Amtrak Landing
The Amtrak MG providing some covering fire. 

Marine Corps Museum Mexico City
A marine unit charging up a street in Mexico City during the war of 1847.

Marine Corps Museum
A rifled artillery piece. 

Marine Corps Museum
An early armored vehicle, of the WWI era.

Marine Corps Museum
Hand to hand fighting at Belleau Woods. 

Marine Corps Museum
Some German casualties at Belleau Woods. 

Marine Corps Museum
A WWI German MG08 Machine Gun.

Marine Corps Museum
WWII era medic tending to the wounded. 

Marine Corps Museum
An updated Browning MG -to be water cooled- being used in the Pacific as AA defense. 

Marine Corps Museum
A WWII Stuart tank.

Marine Corps Museum
WWII era US weapons.

Marine Corps Museum
Some more WWII era weapons. Note the flamethrower, which came in quite handy to deal with caves and bunkers in the Pacific. 

Marine Corps Museum
WWII era Japanese weapons.

Marine Corps Museum
Some more WWII Japanese weapons, including their portable MG and a light mortar. 

Marine Corps Museum
WWII Japanese Pistols.

Marine Corps Museum
WWII Anti Tank Gun.

Marine Corps Museum
A 1/16 scale (my estimate) diorama of the Tarawa landing. 

Marine Corps Museum Sherman Tank
WWII Sherman in action.

Marine Corps Museum Iwo Jima Flag
One of the famous flags flown over Iwo Jima.

Marine Corps Museum Garand
The standard issue M1 Garand.

Marine Corps Museum Pershing Tank
A Korean War Pershing Tank.

Marine Corps Museum
A landing craft such as the ones used at the Incheon landings during the Korean War

Marine Corps Museum
A Vietnam era artillery base.

Marine Corps Museum
A man evacuating a comrade.

Marine Corps Museum
A helicopter unloading cargo at the Vietnam era artillery base.

Marine Corps Museum
A more recent howitzer.