Today's post will be rather short, focusing on a single figure in the old collection.
This is one of the original 1950s U.S. green army men produced by, I believe, Lido.
He's a bit larger than the more standard 54mm soldiers that appeared later. The sets that this guy came in consisted of around 10 differently posed soldiers. None had plastic bases under their feet.
More to come....
These two figures are favorites of my collection - two different poses of famous frontiersman Davy Crockett.
The brown one was originally owned by my grandfather. I played with it so much when I was at his house that he finally let me take it home and keep it.
I'm totally in the dark about when or where I acquired the red version.
I have scoured the internet to see if I could find out the history and manufacture of both figures, but have been so far unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, both of these figured prominently in my playroom battles with toy soldiers. I was particularly fond of setting up recreations of the battle of the Alamo, using my extensive set of wooden blocks to build the fort's structures and ramparts.
One amusing note: These toys were definitely not based off of the 1960 film version of 'The Alamo'.
Neither one even remotely resembles John Wayne!
More to come....
Now that I have completed my random ramblings about the Civil War set, I think it's high time that I re-visit the collection of little plastic soldiers from my childhood back in the early 60s.
The collection is housed in wooden cigar boxes packed in a Rubbermaid plastic tote buried within the deepest, darkest recesses of the subterranean depths of my home.
Here is a quick look at the pile of the many-colored vintage army.
The next several posts will describe these guys in depth. There is much history and a lot of interesting stories associated with this pile of molded plastic figures.
Stay tuned!
The final segment of this series on the Hobby Lobby Civil War Value Pack focuses on the included artillery pieces.
These cannon are a very good representation of the Napoleon 12-pounders used extensively in the war by both sides.
These models are well detailed, with working wheels which are easily removable.
The best part is that each field piece comes complete with an attachable limber carriage.
The limber is detailed with an ammunition chest just like the real thing. It also features the hitch rail to which horse teams can be attached.
The 12 pounder Napoleon was a definite workhorse artillery piece in the Civil War. Most batteries had at least one or two in their line-up.
It had a bronze barrel weighing a little over half a ton, 5 and a half feet long, with a four inch diameter barrel size.
The piece was capable of propelling a 12.3 pound iron ball at a little over 1400 feet per second. The accurate range was in the 1600 yard distance, with a maximum range of 2000 yards.
All manner of ordnance was used with the guns: solid ball, timed-fused shells, spherical case shot, grapeshot, and canister.
The guns were highly mobile and could be moved quickly on the battlefield using a team of six horses. Along with each piece and limber was an additional caisson, a four-wheeled carriage that transported two additional ammunition chests. These were also pulled by a 6-horse team.
Typically, a crew of six or seven artillerymen was required to operate one of the guns, each man having his own specific task. A well-trained and experienced team could load, prep, aim and fire the piece twice per minute.
In addition, there were two drivers tasked with moving the pieces, one for the gun/limber, the other for the caisson.
This concludes my assessment of the Value Pack offerings. Overall quality is very good, and the set is perfect for regular play.
As pointed out in the past few posts, some modifications may need to be made for those who wish to use these soldiers for historically accurate dioramas.
All in all, I'm very pleased with the set.
Cheers!
This part of my review of the Hobby Lobby Civil War Value Pack focuses on the additional figures.
First, the mounted horsemen:
Both the Union and Confederate mounted figures are well done. These are great for representing either regimental colonel or even brigadier generals.
The Union officer is typical, wearing a sword and a kepi for headgear.
The Confederate officer is also well-rendered. Same riding configuration as the Union version, except that he wears a slouch hat, much like the infantry figures in the set.
The horses are well modeled, featuring such details as a bridle, harness, saddle, and blanket roll.
The flag carrying figures are OK, but there are some issues here.
On the rebel side, the staff seems to be a bit too short, and the flag itself is rectangular. The typical Confederate flag was 4x4 square.
On the Federal side, the glaring error is that the color guardsman is carrying a 50-star flag!
What's up with that?
$7.99 Chinese-made set, no doubt.
More to come....
The soldiers in this set which represent the Union army are very well done.
No complaints here.
The uniforms are pretty much correct, all of them are wearing forage caps, and no knapsacks are being worn in combat mode.
Unlike the Confederate soldiers, these men have varying facial features: some are bearded, and others clean shaven.
Well done!
Oops, I goofed!
This post was supposed to come before the last one. Senior moment...
Anyway, here goes.
The Civil War Value Pack from Hobby Lobby has been opened and is ready for examination.
In a nutshell, the set consists of 34 soldier figures (17 each Union and Confederate), 2 horses, 2 cannon and 2 limbers.
At first glance this is an awesome little set.
There are enough individual poses to make things interesting. It is my understanding that these packs are populated with random quantities of the various poses. It's very cool that the the poses of the soldiers are not duplicated between the two armies.
Viewed from a few feet distance, the soldiers and features are quite representative of the typical Civil War soldiers.
Here are photos of the two opposing sides all set out:
And the artillary:
General Lee sent over 12,000 men on that ill-fated assault on the Union center.
Next post: A closer look at the soldiers in this set and why a lot of it is not historically accurate.
Cheers!
T oday's post will be rather short, focusing on a single figure in the old collection. This is one of the original 1950s U.S. green ar...
