Action Report: National Capital Model Soldier Society 2011 Toy Soldier Show

As I mentioned in a previous post, yesterday I had the chance to attend the 50th NCMSS Toy Soldier Show. There is always something special about seeing all these figures and vehicles live, even if some of them are in a diferent scale, time period or material than what I collect. In fact, sometimes it feels like I could just get them all if space and budget weren't a constraint! the other nice thing about attending these shows is that you get a chance to talk to and share experiences with some of the other folks in the hobby, dealers and fellow enthusiasts in person, and that's also enjoyable and rewarding.  Larry Weindorf from Larry's Legions, Gary Green from Warstore Collectibles, and the guys from the Northern Virginia Gamers Society were a real pleasure to chat with. Anyhow, I took a few pictures -just a thin slice of what there was to see- to try to give you an impression of what the event was like.

So this is a view of the dealer room. It was hosted inside the basketball gym at a local college. There were probably about 30 or 40 vendors. On the smaller side compared to other shows I've been to, or the one coming up in Chicago, but large enough to keep you busy for several hours with all sorts of things beyond figures like books, videos, paintings, etc. In terms of attendance, it was very well attended from the start. I got there 10 minutes after it opened and I already had to park in the adjacent parking lot!

One of the vendor displays that I enjoy the most is the one from George Guerriero's Minute Men Toy Soldiers. He spent the entire evening before and the morning of the show just setting up his scenes. A real joy to look at. The other nice thing about stopping by Gerorge's stand is that I always get a good deal from him on my figures and vehicles!

Minute Men Toy Soldier's North Africa display. I only took pictures of WWII scenes, but there was plenty more to see as you can tell by the other scene just to the left.

A western front scene: Fighting in hedgerow country.

Someday I have to get me some of those grassy mats. They really look like the real thing!

A bit of urban warfare. Unfortunately, most of these figures are metal, from King & Country, so they are outside the bounds that I have set for my collection, but they are still the right scale and time period!

Here is one of my favorite details in the whole display. Looks like Santa got himself into a little bit of trouble!

Another stand with a nice display was the one from the Hobby Bunker.

I particularly liked their Figarti Minesweeper Sherman. Unfortunately, that manufacturer is really for collectors with very deep pockets. The price tag on this Sherman, about $250!

Here is another nice display from Crown Miniatures.

I particularly liked their mounted unit.

The Marine Corps Museum was also present at the show and had a stand with the WWII uniform and equipment. I had to snap a picture to document the actual colors as the marines are one of the sets that I am going to be painting in the next few months. BTW, if you ever have a chance to visit the Marine Corps Museum, do so. They have some very nice life-size dioramas and the entrance is free!

The Soldier Show also has another room setup with dioramas and figure displays from members of the NCMSS. Those are not for sale, but are even nicer to look at. This is a really nice and detailed diorama, courtesy of modeler William Herd, of a fighting scene on Italy's Gothic line. The German defenders are fighting from a gun turret and a series of trenches that surround it. The turret is just the tip of an underground bunker, with multiple layers of nice, realistic detail.  

The diorama slopes back to represent the mountainous and rugged terrain of the italian countryside, and makes ingenious use of different figure scales to increase the depth peception in a short distance. Another nice detail are the explosions. It is really hard to make fire look realistic, and not only has William managed to do that, but also he has posed the figures and equipment that were caught in the explosion in mid-air. My quick picture shots don't really do justice to it, but at least you get an idea of the caliber of this scene and the skill involved.

Another nice scene by William Herd. If I recall correctly these guys are alpine French troops.

This is a Tarawa diorama courtesy of modeler David Vickers. Next to it there was a 10+ page document describing all the research and work that went into putting it together. Every detail was researched (like the handles to the tank hatches or the tanks exhaust system) and if necessary it was custom built. Even the palm trees were built from two manufaturers: one makes good foliage with inadequate trunks, the other makes good trunks with poor foliage, so what did he do? He took the best from each and built his own palm trees. Very impressive.

A close up of the action. Definitely an inspiration for when I finally manage to put together my marine landing scene. BTW, did I mention that I also got a few Amtrak's yesterday in preparation for it?

So there it is. Just a few of the sights, but I hope they give you an idea of what the show had to offer.

Click here to see a post about another Toy Soldier Show

Click here to see the Marines holding back a Banzai charge

British Infantry - Part II

I finished painting the British guys and giving them their final protective coats a few days back but had not gotten around to uploading a picture. Well, here they are. As I mentioned in the post about painting toy soldiers, after the paint job was done, I dipped them in Plasti-dip, then on clear Minwax lacqer, and finally in a watered down black acrylic paint to give them their final blackwashed appearance. I still can't decide if they represent a large platoon or an understrength company. In any case, the unit contains troops from Airfix, Atlantic, BMC, Britains Herald, Marx, Matchbox and Steve Weston Toy Soldiers. These guys are now ready for some action in places like Dunkirk, Normandy, Caen, Monte Cassino, or Northern Germany!

Click here to take a closer look at these figures by vendor.

And here to see them in action against a unit of Waffen SS in Normandy.

Upcoming Toy Soldier Show

If you happen to be in the DC area next weekend, the National Capital Model Soldier Society is organizing the 50th Annual Washington Show. It will take place on Saturday, September 10, 2011from 9 am to 5 pm at the Annandale Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College. Toy Soldier Shows are a nice way to see the figures and vehicles first-hand before you decide to buy them and it also affords the opportunity to interact directly and build a relationship with your favorite dealers. Many dealers sell new production items, but there are also those who sell old, vintage figures. You can find figures both in metal and plastic and from all time periods. It's fun even if all you do is walk around and take a look.

UPDATE: here is an after action report about the show.

Michigan Toy Soldier Sale

I got an email from Michigan Toy Soldier Company announcing a 20% off sale across the board. The sale will go on through September 9 and to take advantage of it you need to be a registered user of their site, and enter the promo code HappyBirthday when you are ready to check out (note that it's one whole word). If you are a preferred customer (you can become one by requesting your preferred customer number from them), you can also take advantage of a few other select items at 50% off. All in all it seems like a decent deal. I am already adding a few Charben and Cherilea WWII figures that I recently discovered to my shopping cart!

Sherman Tanks

The M4 Sherman Tank was one of the most popular Allied Tanks during the war. Over 50,000 of them were produced and it saw action in all theaters of operation, from North Africa, to Europe, the Pacific and even the Eastern Front through the Lend Lease program. The Sherman is what is considered a medium tank, and it offered a good balance of speed, armor and gun power, while at the same time, being reliable and easy to service in the field. All this made it a popular tank and many variations of it were made. Its 75 mm or 76 mm gun was able to take on most light and medium enemy tanks, like the German Panzer III and IVs, and the light Japanese tanks were no match for it. But its gun and armor were at a disadvantage against the heavier German Tanks like the Panther, Tiger and King Tiger (Tiger II), however the US made up for this disadvantage with numbers as well as air and artillery superiority. The Sherman's high profile also made it vulnerable as it made it easier to spot, particularly when it was silhouetted against the morning or evening sky, which made some of its crew men refer to it as a traveling coffin, particularly when fighting against the heavier German tanks. The book 'Brothers in Arms', the story of the 761st Tank Battalion, describes frightfully well what it was like to be a Sherman tank man fighting in Europe, and how the German shells would sometimes go right through the Shermans' armor wreaking havoc inside. In any case, the contribution of the Sherman during the War was substantial and they deserve proper credit for it. Manufacturers of armored vehicle models have done their part to help this happen, as illustrated below. 

21st Century Toys Sherman Tank

This is a plastic model with plenty of detail. It comes with a driver and a tank commander. The other figures around it are just guys that I added for the scene.

Notice the pieces of track welded to the front of the vehicle to give the driver extra protection against head-on shots.

BMC Sherman Tank

If you are looking for a good deal on a Sherman Tank or you are considering getting a large fleet of them, this is the tank you are looking for. You can get it for about 5 dollars and if you take some time to paint it slightly, it can look really good.

It is also a bit taller than the other models out there, which seems to be more in line with reality.

New Ray Sherman Tank

This is a die cast model, so it has a nice heavier feel to it. The scale is a bit on the smaller side though, but still acceptable and for some reason I've often seen them on sale, which can make it an affordable addition to your army.

This one also has some tracks welded on to protect the driver. The stars and the motif on the side are actually stickers, which is not great as they might come off, but you just need to be a bit careful with them so that they remain glued.

InAir / New Ray EZ Build Sherman Tank

Another all-plastic kit requiring some small amount of assembly. As with the other models in this line, the appearance is acceptable. The feel is a bit on the light side since it is all soft plastic and we've now become used to the FOV or 21C models. It was still a good find (ran into it at Amazon.com)

21st Century Toys Sherman Firefly

The Sherman Firefly was a British variation which contained a more powerful 17 pounder main gun capable of penetrating the armor of the heavier German tanks. Given that it is a British variant, I suppose I should have used British guys for this picture :-)

This model from 21C Toys is made of plastic, did not feature any figures with it and has a very light feeling to it, but its appearance is still fairly decent. The long gun gives it a more impressive look.

Forces of Valor U.K. Sherman Firefly - 7th Armored Division

FOV must be in cost cutting mode because this is the first vehicle that I come across which is pretty much made out of plastic entirely. The level of detail is still very high. For instance, the armor surface is all nicely pockmarked, but for the prices that they command these days, it was a bit disappointing that it was all plastic. Good thing that I found it on sale...

21st Century Toys Sherman Bulldozer

Another nice variation of the Sherman vehicle by 21st Century Toys. Vehicles like this might have been used in the rocky island campaigns in the pacific like Iwo Jima to clear paths for the other Shermans behind them with flamethrowers, which was the only way to clear some of those caves from where the Japanese fought. 

A bulldozer like this might also come in handy in the hedgerow country in Normandy, to create gaps in the hedgerows for the tanks and infantry to move through, avoiding the pre-set fields of fire. There is also a hedgerow cutter variation of the Sherman from Forces of Valor which is even more in line with what was used in that theater of operation.

Click here to check out other US Vehicles

Click here to see a post about other American Tanks

Click here to see a post about German self-propelled guns

Here are some pictures of GIs in action against German troops in Normandy