Small Scale Military Headquarters

My 19 year old got his own place recently. We've been going through the piles of stuff he left in his old bedroom, boxing it up for him to take, or us to store for him, etc.

Today I came across a few S1 Vietnam figures, which I no doubt bought for him when they came out (he shared my 1:18 mania for a while when he was younger). There were these:


Viet Cong, with both sets of arms and the RPG
Navy Seal (only one set of arms, and no Stoner Machine Gun)
M60 Gunner (both sets of arms, but no M60 or helmet)
Tanker with removable tanker helmet (the light-haired guy with that sort of mischievous look on his face)
Helicopter pilot (the one with the permanent, visor-down helmet)

Of course I already have all of these, some in multiples, but can always use more.


When he came over to lift weights this afternoon (unlike yours truly, who's a toothpick, he's built like a bull. Yes, I'm proud of him....) I showed him what I'd found, and said there's no obligation, but would he want to part with them for cash? To my pleasant surprise, he said, "you can have them," and refused to take money for them.

Good deal! I'm certain he doesn't care about these things at this stage of his life (right now it's all about work, girls, and beer, not necessarily in that order), but if he ever pines for them he can have them back. Barring that, my Vietnam collection (my favorite 1:18 era) just grew a little bit. Whoo hoo!

Seems to be pretty rare for the kids to leave the nest at 19 these days.

I am sure you like having the extra room, and you and your wife can "discuss" what you will do with his old bedroom.

I vote models.

I had a similar experience a while back... 10 years ago (was it that long now ) when the S1 Vietnam items came out, I remember I was at TRU with my younger brother. I got the M-48 tank and he got the Huey. My brother has never really been into military items and I'm not sure what his interest ever was with the Huey, but he hung on to it for years, mostly keeping it disassembled in his closet and later in the attic. Finally, after the helo had already become a rare and HTF item (which he didn't care about), I simply asked him if I could take it off his hands. He had no objections and I got the complete helicopter, pilot, and box, free of charge

Yes, it is rare these days for kids to move out at 19! He had decided a few years ago that he didn't want to go to college, so we told him, that's fine, then you have to work full time. To his credit, he's found a job on his own that he enjoys and pays just enough for him to get out on his own. His current nocturnal lifestyle didn't fit in well at our house anyway, so everyone is happier.

He still has a bunch of other 1:18 that we're storing for him here, but I'm not going to ask him about the rest of that stuff. One day he may want to sell it for funds, or he could end up deciding to keep it for his children, should he have any. Farthest thing from his mind at the moment!