Latest Additions: Part 2

Shortly before Christmas I also purchased the following. Again, all recently retired sets from K and C, this time picked up from Mike and the team at King and Country UK

The flag bearer, together with the SS officer and his young HJ son, will all feature as part of the Liebstandarte parade scene I already have set up, and have featured before in previous posts. The plan for the street poster drum is to have it as a feature of the Berlin street scene along with the bill posters and advertising hoarding which I already have

The Berlin street scene diorama is one of the projects I'm really looking forward to developing over the course of the year, and I'll be posting about it as it progresses. Until next time.....

Latest Additions: Part 1

It's January 5th, 2014 and I'm kicking the year off with the best of intentions, starting as I mean to go on etc. etc. and posting a few items fairly early on in the month! How long will that continue I wonder?

The following two posts feature a handful of recently retired figures I purchased from K and C shortly before Christmas. First up, some figures from their Streets of Berlin series, together with a personality figure from another range, all of which I picked up from Sierra Toy Soldier over in the US

Konstantin Hierl, Leader of the Reich Labour Service

The figure of Konstantin Hierl, pictured above, will more than likely be placed alongside Hitler on the K&C Nuremberg podium I already have. The picture below shows Hierl standing alongside the Fuhrer at a party rally and comes from a photo book dedicated to Hierl and published in 1939

A page from the photo book about Hierl by Herbert Erb

The remaining pictures are of various SA troopers, all part of the Streets of Berlin series. The plan at the moment is to feature these, and several other SA, Hitler Jugend, BDM and Allgemeine SS figures, as part of a Berlin street scene diorama which I am in the very early stages of commissioning from David Marshall. More on that as it happens!

Latest Additions: SA Street Scene

Last month K&C retired a substantial number of figures and amongst them were the figure sets you see pictured below

They will eventually form part of a street scene, somewhere in Germany, to include a number of other SA figures from K&C, as well as a couple of scenic items, and [with any luck] showcasing the talents of leading diorama maker David Marshall

Planned additions to the diorama include three SA figures enjoying a stein or three of beer, the standing SA officer, trumpeter and flag bearer, the advertising drum and the recently released marching SA bandsmen and troopers making their way down the road

All very much in the planning stages at the moment but I will keep posting as things continue to take shape

Happy hunting!

Latest Additions: In Situ

Welcome to March

Just one or two more images of some recently acquired pieces, this time 'on location' so to speak, incorporated into a couple of dioramas

Apologies for the slightly dodgy picture quality in one or two of these shots

The new figures in question here are the two sets of casualty figures and the vehicle shown in the background

The newly acquired figures here and in the following shots are the three HY boys and the two BDM girls standing alongside them, looking on adoringly as the parade marches past

Latest Additions: Berlin '38

This will be my last latest additions post this month and this time it features a number of figures for my Berlin '38 collection

They've all been recently retired by K&C. Some I managed to get hold of from Mike and the boys up at K&C UK and a couple of them I had to go elsewhere for. The 'elsewhere' I went to was Magpie Antiques over in Evesham, a shop I thoroughly recommend if you're looking for something that K&C UK have run out of

The pictures below show large, medium and small Hitler Youth boys, followed by two members of the BDM and finally a group photo showing all five of them joined in celebration of the parading SS and SA

They could be used as part of a street scene, which is where I fully intend to place them, or, as they are here, standing by a podium at one of the Nuremberg rallies

Purchased at the same time as the figures shown above was the one in the following photograph. He now stands at the top of the podium pictured in the background, heralding the arrival of the various dignitaries who have assembled to witness the spectacle of the march past taking place below. He is soon to be accompanied by a second trumpeter, who will be positioned on the opposite side of the podium, and a couple of eagle-topped columns. More pictures to follow!

Keep 'Em Coming, K and C

Well, February is here and so is the latest King and Country Dispatches, the regular monthly newsletter detailing future releases and newly retired pieces. For more details, click on the link in the news section of the blog, but here is a taster

Being released in February or March are more reinforcements for Monty's beleaguered forces in Africa, some First World War Germans, a handful of Crusaders, Saracens on camels, Ancient Egyptian civilians going about their work, a Spitfire, various Volksturm defending the crumbling Reich in 1945 and at the other extreme, yet more additions to the hugely popular, and expansive, Berlin '38 range. Oh, and one or two scenic items. Phew. I don't know how they do it. Time for some pictures. Here are the ones I'll be adding to my 'wants list'

In a desperate attempt to hold off the Allied Armies even this grandfather has been drafted into the "Volksturm".
Still wearing civilian clothes only his army 'ski cap', armband and weapons mark him down as a 'soldier'

Another 'old-timer' marches off... but at least he has a helmet, backpack and a uniform greatcoat!

This veteran infantryman carries a bundle of deadly "Panzerfausts" (the cheap but effective German Rocket Propelled Grenade). His job is to help instruct and lead the "odds 'n' sods" of the Volksturm

The young and the old... a teenager "Hitlerjugend" member takes aim while his much older comrade gingerly "follows suit"

Set to accompany these 'die hards' into battle is this little beauty, K and C's largest and heaviest armoured vehicle to date, the Jagdtiger tank destroyer which will be limited to a run of 750 pieces. One of them will be mine! Weighing over 70 tons this "behemoth" of a tank-killer was one of the last gasps of the once mighty German armaments industry. Mounting a massive 128mm gun less than 100 of these heavy metal monsters were actually produced. This battle-worn version comes in a realistic two-colour, late war camouflage and is one of the "Henschel Production" models. It comes with 3 partial crew figures

Four views of this stunning looking new model. Reinforced shelving not supplied!!

Even at this late, desperate stage of the war there were some Germans who still believed in the Fuhrer... another Volksturm "volunteer", still wearing his SA uniform, salutes with one hand while clutching his Panzerfaust in the other

Three individual HJ boys ranging from 13 to 17 years of age... the elder being the "youth leader" of the group

Two teenage girls from the "League of German Maidens"... the female equivalent of the "Hitlerjugend"

Four sections of sand bags, and a selection of oil drums. Three extremely versatile display items that will help bring any WW2 diorama to life

That just about brings this little round up to a close, save to say that I might just splash out on this over the next day or two, a late war Normandy set that I initially discounted and is now being retired, and I have since decided to reconsider, purely and simply because of its sheer quirkiness