Cheap Scenics at Wal-Mart

The set is the "Savannah Collection" from a series of hard plastic toys called Nature's Wonders. This Tree and Rock, plus a couple of other small rock pieces and a fairly goofy looking pond, cost a whopping $2 at my local Wal-Mart. They had a TON of them, and I plan on going back and picking up a more tomorrow.

For 1/48th Airplane guys, they had 21st Century planes for $3 each.

RSS feed for Plastic Soldier Review site

I don't know how many people use RSS feed readers, but they are handy when sites make use of the capability. the 1/72 news site Plastic Soldier Review is now offering an RSS feed. Awesome. Now, you may be asking yourself "why would he want to keep updated with a site dedicated to 1/72, when he obviously doesn't care a lick about 1/72?" And I would say, because an awesome web site is an awesome website, and it's a wonderful source of actual history as well. The reviews are well written, and simply keeping up with anything in the plastic toy soldier market is fun.



If you don't use a RSS feed reader, I would suggest Bloglines. It's what I use, and it works great.

New Hat Masters

I like the way Hat thinks. Check out these previews (especially the dude with the axe!!). Skim through their whole site and you'll see lots of plans for future 1/32. Also, keeping up with their forum board makes for good reading.

Hobby Bunker Sales

My wife is a bargain hunter, and she rarely comes home without a kill. I mean it. She can walk into any store and find an item that was once $60 on sale for like $3. I'm not kidding. She bought a nice denim jacket for $3 from Sears one time. I doubt she has a pair of shoes that cost more than $20.

As for me, I never find good sales. But it ain't my fault. The junk I like (toy soldiers, orange crush, star wars books, and guitar strings) NEVER go on sale. I've just become numb to the fact that 99% of what I buy is going to be at retail cost.

So, whenever a nice sale comes along, it's a bonafide reason to celebrate. Go check out Hobby Bunker's "Weekly Sales" section. Good browsing and good prices.

Half-Price Books carries Osprey

Try Quarter Priced books! My local Half-Price Books, which I never go to, had an awesome selection of Osprey Books for sale. All of them $5, including the thicker "Essential Histories" series. I got several including the on topics of Inch'on, Celtic Forts, and Pirate Ships. I think I got about 7 all together. I didn't even get all that they had. They had 5+ copies of several of the titles, and some more unique titles that didn't interest me much.

Anyway, if you got a Half-Price books around you, probably worth checking out if you're into Osprey.

Colts vs. Chargers

...bummer...

that's ok though. I'll just root for the other Manning.

21st C. Clearance at WM

Stopped by my local Wal-Mart today and saw that all of their 21st Century items are on clearance. 1/32 vehicles are $9, all 1/32 figure three packs are $3, all 1/18 figures are $3, all 1/72 vehicles including planes were, I think, $3. Good time to stock up, if there is any stock left. All mine had in 1/32 were some Chinese Infantry and some planes, which didn't look to be discounted.

It's Wildcard Weekend for us NFL fans, so today is going to be spent in front of the TV with a Grape Crush in one hand, and a paint brush in the other. Going to try to finish up a few projects that have been sitting around for awhile including a few Hobby Bunker foam pieces, starting with the courtyard. But I have a huge decision... should I paint it a Summer or Winter theme?? Hmmm.... maybe I can compromise with a Fall look.

Oh, one more thing. I hit my local Hobbytown U.S.A. today and they had some nicely bagged cloned/copied WWII figures. They were labeled as Stevens International. They had bags of American, Japanese, and German... possibly some Russians?? They were 5 dollars a bag. They were the usual Matchbox and Airfix clones, so if you're in the market for some, try your HobbyTown, or whatever is equivalent.

Osprey Men-At-Arms Book

I gotta tell ya, this book I got is awesome. Almost 400 pages of color plates, the ones that Osprey is known so well for. It's a big, heavy hardcover book with a nice slipcase. Amazon has it for a pretty good price, and you never know, keep an eye on it, and you might be able to grab it for a discount at some point. But it's just awesome. Got me reading about all sorts of historical time periods I'd never been interested in before.

Taken... again

I've been taken, abducted if you will, by the evil snare of video gaming once again. It happens sometimes. The toy soldiers start to gather dust, the shiny new parts of my collection don't seem so shiny, and I don't even bother to pick up the latest troops knocked over by the cat. All I can think about is getting back on this confounded computer to continue my journey as The Witcher. (beware, hide your children, it's rated M, which stands for "More Fun Than You Should have on a Computer")

But seriously, and I know most of you probably don't fall into the video game playing demographic here, but this is the most awsomest... yes, it's a word... awsomest game ever. No kidding. I almost thought about skipping the Colts game this past Sunday to keep playing. I didn't, but I THOUGHT ABOUT IT, and that's the scary part.

Anyhoo... so what you think about this new picture on the Conte site?

The Haul

As you can see, my Christmas turned out pretty well. The first picture is of three buildings from Hobby Bunker, Hand-painted by my wife. I have no idea when she had time to do it, but it was a surprise!! The second picture is of course the Barzso Fort Boonesborough.

I also got the new Osprey Men-At-Arms 4oth Anniversary book, full to the brim of color plates. Possibly the best book ever put into publication.

Hope all your Christmas days were wonderful. Rock on.