Small Scale Military Headquarters

I recently broke out a small collection of 1970s Marx figures to picture with some newer reissued Marx and CTS items. Doing so really brought back some fond memories of displaying and playing war with these figures. Here's a few shots pictured in various scenes:


Band of Brothers - Marx Style


March of the Wehrmacht


The Last Outpost

Lastly, and my personal favorite:


105mm Howitzer with Marx Exploded Building

Comments are most welcomed.

EDIT: I think a few of the scenes deserve some color:

Cool..I still have my marx stuff from when I was a kid...love it.

I have mine also and I have painted some of the extra pieces I have acquired over the years. Brings back fond memories.
Even when I was a kid my biggest pet peeve was Marx's vehicles were too small. I loved the MPC pieces: trucks, tanks, mobile missile launchers, missile launchers...

Light.Inf.Scout wrote:Cool..I still have my marx stuff from when I was a kid...love it.

Aren't they great?

ketelone wrote:my biggest pet peeve was Marx's vehicles were too small.

Me too, but I wish I had held on to them. I pitched a whole bag of tanks and vehicles many years ago. I had left them in the garage over the years and many of the items warped.

hated the under-sized vehicles! Also have a bunch of Airfix stuff. Marx had the standard Americans, Germans, Japs etc. I remember walking into a hobby shop in the mall and seeing Airfix Italians, British Commandos, Australians, Gurkhas, German Paratroopers etc and just about $hitting my pants! Also have some old Matchbox figures too.

I traded my brother all my Matchbox cars for all his soldiers when we were kids. I had a barrel full of those soldiers. I remember finally getting the "Guns of Navorne " Mountain with working elevator for Christmas and thinking that was the best Christmas present ever. Gave them to my Nephew about 20 years ago . Who knows where they are now.

Light.Inf.Scout wrote:Also have a bunch of Airfix stuff.

I just picked up some Airfix figures over the weekend. I must say that they're pretty nice and I like the variety of sets and poses.

JJVan wrote:I remember finally getting the "Guns of Navorne " Mountain with working elevator for Christmas and thinking that was the best Christmas present ever.

Would you believe these figures are from that set as well as a boxed set with Japanese figures? I pitched the fort many years ago as it was just collecting dust in the garage - as well as the vehicles. I regret doing so but saved these figures in a shoe box.

Oh, I also held on to all the yellow accessories you probably remember.
Here's a shot of a few of the items:



Okay, I thought I had it. JJVan: you might appreciate this one:


It was a fun Christmas for me as well.

I looked at that box everytime I went to the store.... It seemed so big. I use to have those crazy green trees, gray barb wire fence and bunkers as well. We use to use brown hair nets for camo nets and my Mom made us some parachutes that we attached to the guys with fishing weights that actually worked when we threw them up in the air.
I also use to have this big metal landing craft that worked nicely with the guys.

I just remember buying lots and lots of generic army men sets from the local Ben Franklin. Being born in '75 and not having any older siblings I missed out on Marx and all their plastic goodness. Hell, half the figures and vehicles might have even been from old Marx molds.

Sorta on the subject, I bought a set of army men back in the 80's that had your typical green vs grey thing going on but came with the most awesome cannon.

It looked to be a WWI type gun, pretty realistic but under scale. The fun part was that it came with red plastic "shells" that you loaded in the barrel. The back end had a wire "bolt action" where you pulled the bolt back and moved it over a notch in the plastic. When you flicked the bolt with your finger the projectile would fire. However, I quickly discovered that if you pulled the bolt back as far as it could go it would fly clear across the room, it was probably not very safe in retrospect but damn it was cool.

JJ, was the metal landing craft a Buddy L? I occasionally see these at flea markets.

It sure was .... good call.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Lot-Buddy-L-4 ... 4605f0aec0

Karl Dak wrote:

I see the ubiquitous family favorite Spirograph in that pile as well.

[CAT]CplSlade wrote: I see the ubiquitous family favorite Spirograph in that pile as well.

Good eye - good eye.

I still have the LEGO Brick Yard but the Crazy Buggy was a huge hit with many that year. Unfortunately, it quickly crapped out and could no longer climb the up-lift.

Fort Navarone provided years of fun and hours of play for my best friend and I.

Continuing my Marx Battelfield Restoration Project, I recently added a small makeshipt field hospital:



And a howitzer to help defend it - a few miles away:

Nice photos, Karl!

Other than a few 21st pieces and some FOV lying around, these are about the only types of 1:32 I collect anymore. I have two Navarone mountains, 900 Dark gray and white Germans, 950 Green GIs, a few hundred marines, a couple hundred Japanese and an unknown number of free French, British and Russian soldiers; all of the Marx variety.

I have not counted any of my vehicles or playset pieces, and that is JUST Marx. I also have Ideal, MPC, Airfix, Esci, Italeri, Revell, CTS, Conte, BMC, TSSD and Tim-Mee among others in the "army men" variety.

I know there is some controversy over scale differences, but I go by what I refer to as "good enough". If it looks like it fits within reason of the scale, it gets added to the collection. If it is too small, such as 1:48 or too large, such as 1:18, it doesn't get added.

Ehh, my two cents.

Soldier16S wrote:Nice photos, Karl!

Thanks S. Appreciate the feedback.

Sounds like you've got an amazing Marx collection. I always found the vehicle scale awkward, but I wish I still had my tanks and other accessories. While small, they were very "playable" and while the Ultimate Soldier and Forces of Valor vehicles are incredibly detailed and to-scale, they take a lot more space, esp. if displaying on a table. Storage is also a factor for larger vehicles. It was always easy to "box-up" or "bag-up" your old Marx sets for future play/display.

Share some pictures of your collection some time. I'd love to see all your Marx stuff.

Here's the latest, the small re-issued bunker that I use to have as a kid:

Karl,

Will do. I doubt my photos will be as good as yours though. I'm still using a 4MP Olympus.

Did you just want WW2 or was anyone interested in other types of military, such as Civil War or Western scenes, such as the US Army's 7th cavalry and Fort Apache?

Soldier16S wrote: I doubt my photos will be as good as yours though.
Did you just want WW2 or was anyone interested in other types of military, such as Civil War or Western scenes, such as the US Army's 7th cavalry and Fort Apache?

That's a nice compliment Soldier, but you'd be surprised what you can do with a little trial and era. I'm using a Sony Cybershot camera but I'm getting better every day as I experiment with different techniques and lighting.
Try it out - you may surprise yourself with some nice shots.
I'm into WWII but I like Civil War and Western as well, and have a few items related to these themes.

Karl,

Well, I can try. LOL

Currently I am working on a massive Ft Apache set. I am still in the process of collecting the pieces, but I only have a window of till the last of October, before I move on back to WW2.

The most difficult part right now is obtaining the cavalry and Indians. I set myself a goal of 500 Indians and 400 cavalry, but I am sorely missing that mark, as I think I am up to maybe 175+ cavalry and 200+ Indians. Pioneers/Frontiersmen and settlers are easier to find and I only have a goal of less than 100 of each of those. I still have to get a few covered wagons and horses and some more cavalry horses, a few cannons, a few gatling guns and some more fort pieces and buildings.

Most of that is Marx, but I have had to supplement with other manufacturers as again some are hard to find or more expensive than I want to pay, or Marx never made the item in the first place (i.e. BMC gatling gun).

If you like, I can PM you the group address for the Armymencrew Yahoo group, where some of my photos exist. You would probably fit right in with the group as well (taking nothing away from SSMHQ that is).

Will check it out S - thanks.