Category: General Hobby Related

The Ever Growing Pile

I was looking over a handful of miniatures from my “pile of disappointment” -it’s like what other hobbyists refer to as a pile of shame, but rather than being un-built, it’s more focused on being let down by projects I started, but never fully completed. And it also isn’t a single pile. It’s an assortment of minis, projects, bits, etc., that grows at an exponential rate. It is also not limited to miniatures – it includes model kits, action figures, book series, etc.

I’ve been pondering this phenomenon. I’m prone to such bouts of self examination, having worked for most of my career in mental health treatment. I sometimes look for maladaptive behaviors more overtly than the average person. And if there’s one thing I’ve discovered, it’s that I have a couple of maladaptive behaviors.

Like most problems, its root cause doesn’t seem to be simple or straightforward. I can get distracted by the next new, exciting thing, pushing the original project to the never-ending back burner. This sudden “SQUIRREL” moment typically happens 1/3 of the way through the current project. It’s a trait i picked up from my late father, and it was made all the more clear when my brothers and I were cleaning out our parents’ house. He had his own piles of disappointment. The only difference was that he had a 25-year head start on his collections.

I recognize that I’m an easy mark for FOMO (fear of missing out,) especially in regard to “collectibles.” Limited edition sounds pretty exciting, since they always increase in value…right? I mean, with only a few tens of thousand available, I’ve GOT to have it before they’re gone forever. But even if I did happen to trip over that signed first edition of “The Old Man and the Sea,” 1909 S-VDB Lincoln cent, or original Honus Wagoner baseball card, I can almost guarantee I’ll open it, remove it from the box, and likely, throw away the one thing that stands any chance of making it retain its value – the packaging. And the fear of missing out doesn’t seem to care about these facts.

There is also an actual, irrational feeling of need to complete sets. If there are 12 of something, people tend to feel uncomfortable if they only possess 10 of them. Sometimes it isn’t even a conscious feeling – just an internal drive. If a TV show has 4 seasons, and he’s only seen the first 3, he will feel like he must see the final season. Even if the quality of the writing seems to have gone down over the run of the series, he’ll want to “see it through.” And the very nature of being a “collector” of something implies completing the set. The problem is that most of these sets are open-ended. You will never get them all, because they always make more.

 

As I said a couple paragraphs ago, I was cleaning out our parents’ house. Along with all of dad’s half – completed projects, I found several of my own, stored in boxes in the basement, attic, and garage. It drove the point home that this tendency to leave things incomplete wasn’t going to self-correct. And rather than simply accepting my fate, I should work to improve the situation.

I have a lot of interests, and many involve creativity. But not all of my ideas need to turn into masterpieces. In fact, they probably shouldn’t. Some of these efforts aren’t worth continuing. My next project is going to involve evaluating these initial efforts, and where appropriate, ending the experiment.

So, with that in mind, I’m starting a new collection. I’m collecting things to take out to the dumpster.

-Toph

Pick Your Battles

When I first started writing this, I did a little research, to share some history of toy soldiers. They have actually been around for a long time. Even in the “modern” sense, they’ve been around since the late 1700s, (Really? MODERN?) I mean, you could make a claim that the Chinese Terracotta soldiers were actually just a really big collection of large scale toy soldiers, right? And they date back 2200 years. But for our purposes, I’ll only go back to the early 70s.

I think of 3 categories of toy soldiers.

The first (and least favorite of mine) were the “green army men.” They are what most people think of when you say “toy soldier.” The original molds were made by TimMee in the late 1960s, and depicted modern uniforms and weapons of the day. They had M-16 rifles, “steel pot” helmets, and some pretty iconic poses: the “guy on the phone,” the “mine sweeper,” the “officer with pistol and binoculars,” and perhaps, most memorable of all, the “guy with the rifle and bayonet over his head.” They could be bought at just about any store (including grocery stores) in a plastic bag on a peg. Although the soldiers themselves were about 1/35th scale, the tanks and other vehicles were way undersized, and usually hollow. They were really inexpensive, and that’s why so many were sold. They were so prolific that they can be found to this day. Many are copies of copies (pirated and mass produced in China) so even the limited details of the originals are now weak.

The second category are the toys by Louis Marx and Company. As far as toy soldiers were concerned, they were best known for the 1970s era boxed play sets. I had “Battleground”, with figures depicting Americans vs. Germans (though to avoid controversy, the Germans’ flags were French.) It included blown up buildings, a German bunker, and a bunch of additional terrain scenery. Although the soldiers poses were a little stiff, Marx got many of the details right. But it was the boxed sets that make them stand out. I never owned the “Navarone” play set, but I think it was the most impressive. It was a 3 story tall plastic mountain, with artillery guns poking out of the caves on top. It also had a working elevator for troops to move inside the mountain. The top of the box states it is from “The Famous WWII Battle,” That’s a bit of a stretch. There was a really famous MOVIE – The Guns of Navarone. It was based on the fictional book by Alister McLean. Oddly, neither Mr. McLean, his novel, nor the 1961 movie are mentioned on the box. Just the famous (fictional) battle. I guess intellectual property laws were more just intellectual property suggestions back then.

As seen in the Sears Christmas catalog of 1975

That brings us to the third category. This is my personal favorite. Airfix made the best toy soldiers from the 1960s through the 1980s. They were a little larger – closer to 1/32nd scale. What makes them stand out was the attention to detail with the weapons and uniforms. And it was made better by some of the best full color box art. Airfix also made similar soldiers in a smaller 1/72nd scale. The advantage was getting 48 in a box, vs. the 15 or so in the larger scale. But just like their larger brothers, they had amazing artwork.

They were intended to be played with, but also to be painted. It was what started me down the rabbit hole of war gaming miniatures. Along with Arifix, Matchbox had very similar soldiers. Their sculpts were a little less precise, but they made up for it in more dynamic poses. Side by side, they paired VERY well together.

Time was not kind to my original toy soldier collection. I was the oldest of 4 boys, and each of us got a turn commanding the low-density polyethylene warriors.  Later, the survivors of those battles went into a large plastic tub, and my own kids took them into combat. The forces that once numbered in the thousands are now reduced to a clear plastic shoe box of battle scarred veterans. I recovered them from my parents’ house last year (along with the color box art shown above.) The soldiers spent about a week in a Ziploc bag of brake degreaser / detergent, and almost all of the old enamel paint finally came off.

(Now, why would he bother to remove all that old paint…? )

-Toph