2014 OTSN - Pat's Pictorial Parade (2 Viewers)

[wadepat]

Pat,

Who is the manufacturer on the knights in photo 059?

They are really well done.

Regards
Mark

Hi Mark,

I agree, the knights are remarkably well done. The figures in the photo are produced by First Legion. They are part of the Agincourt series. Most, if not all, of the figures in the photo represent the English forces that were engaged in the battle. I understand there are many more figures planned to be introduced into this series. The battle should be covered in depth and provide ample figures for a great diorama. They are very difficult to resist, so please let us know if you begin to collect them.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

Having completed my round of photography in Ted Deddens' room, I progressed to the Sierra Toy Soldiers room. If you have ever done business with Sierra, you have certainly encountered Mike Hall. Mike always has a witty method of attempting to sell me figures. This year, his theme with me was, "Buy a figure and receive one day of good luck." He expressed all kinds of concern that I would not have a successful show if I did not purchase figures from him. Naturally, the pressure was intense, so I was compelled to purchase three figures since there were three days remaining until the completion of the show.

I should also add that on Sunday, Mike expressed great concern that something untoward might happen to me on my return trip home. And, since we usually take several days to return home, the pressure was, once again, intense. Mike informed me the three days of good luck that I had purchased earlier was only good through the conclusion of the show. So, what could I do? Well, let's just say I returned home without mishap.

In my frantic attempt to secure all the photographs I hoped to obtain, I especially wanted to return to the Sierra room in order to photograph some beautiful flats Mike had for sale. Prior to the show, I told myself I would like to return home with a nice set of flats. Flats do not constitute a very large portion of my collection, but I am always drawn to them. When you view the photographs I took in Mike's room, I think you will agree the flats were wonderful.

Photo 061 - Here is a very nice set of Napoleonic flats. Unbeknownst to me, there was a second layer of flats below the layer you see in the photograph. They are very, very nicely painted.


Photo 062 - A very nice set of Spanish Horsemen. Much like the set of Napoleonic figures mentioned above, there was a second layer of figures below the ones you see in this photograph.


Photo 063 - There was no identifying label on this set, so I cannot knowledgeably tell you what the figures represent. Nevertheless, it was a fine set of figures.


Photo 064 - World War I French Infantry.


In a few moments, I will post more photos of these wonderful flats.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

More flats from the Sierra room.


Photo 065 - The figures you see in this photo are one card of a two card set of flats representing a town in the American West.


Photo 066 - This photo presents the second card of American West flats.


Photo 067 - This photo contains the left half of another two card set. In this case, the set is Ben Hur's Chariot Race. I will post the right hand card in the next photo.


Photo 068 - The right hand card containing the Ben Hur Chariot Race set.


I will post a final few photos taken in Mike's room in my next post.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

Presented below are the remaining few photos I took in the Sierra room. I hope you have enjoyed the flats as much as I have.


Photo 069 - These flats were placed in the center of the bed, consequently, I could not get a very good frontal shot of them. Further, the label was unclear to me, so I am a bit uncertain regarding the title of this set.


Photo 070 - And, like the set viewed above, I could not get a good frontal shot of this set either. Nevertheless, it was an impressive group of figures.


Photo 072 - And, finally, here is a shot of Mike visiting with my good friend, John Rio (a.k.a., leadmen). As you can see, John is resisting Mike's intense sales pitch. I guess that is why John is such a role model for me. :rolleyes2:



That's all for now. I will post some more photos when my time permits.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[Leadmen]

Now Pat you know I am not a good role model. The flat sets are really nice. Did you buy the set in the picture that we liked? J

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

After completing my photo shoot in the Sierra room, I determined my next stop would be in the Crown Military Miniatures room. Not only did I want to take photos in Nicholas' room, I wanted to return a "contest" form to him. I have not noticed if anyone has mentioned the contest, so let me explain.

John Jenkins Designs sponsored a type of scavenger hunt that could result in some nice prizes. There were eight JJ dealers present at the show and each one of them possessed a JJ prototype of a figure/vehicle John hopes to produce. First, A participant needed to obtain a list of the items from any of the participating dealers. The list contained eight questions that must be correctly answered in order to qualify for the various prizes. The prizes consisted of the eight prototype items on display in the dealers' room. Each dealer had one of the eight items, so you had to visit all eight dealers in order to identify the items, obtain the question that had to be answered, answer all eight questions correctly, and then return the contest form to one of the dealers. As the show progressed, a rumor circulated that if you were especially interested in one of the specific items, you needed to return your form to the dealer that had that item on display. The rumor suggested that each prize would be awarded according to what dealer received the correctly completed form. And, since the item that most interested me was in Nicholas' room, I wanted to deliver my form to Nicholas.

By the way, winners of the eight items will not be notified until November. There was also another wrinkle in the contest. One of the dealers, Tim Tyler, did not have a vendor's room as he does not sell figures at the show. Consequently, a participant had to identify Tim, find him, and obtain the specific question possessed by Tim. Since I know Tim, this was no problem for me, but, if you did not know him, you had discover who Tim was and then find him.

Well, I returned my form to Nicholas and began to take some photos of the many terrific items found in the Crown room. The photos I took are presented below:


Photo 073 - I am not completely satisfied with this photo as it does not present as much detail as I wanted to capture. However, these were some extremely nice figures and you could gaze at them for hours. You might notice there are no price tags attached to the figures. Hmmmm. I wonder why? :rolleyes2:


Photo 074 - This photo displays more of the same as shown in the photo above. The picture is crowded, so you may have to look closely to discover each item.


Photo 075 - Yet more of these lovely figures. And, still no price tags attached.


Photo 076 - Nicolas' room was filled with dioramas. Below is a nice ACW diorama.


Photo 077 - Can you say, "Sudan War?" I especially like the bridge you see on this diorama.


Hang with me. I have more photos to post of the treasures I found in Nicolas' room. Give me a few minutes and more photos will appear in my next post.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

More photos of the treasures in the Crown Military Miniatures room.


Photo 078 - Diorama, Battle of the Plains of Abraham.


Photo 079 - Anyone for WWI armor?


Photo 080 - These John Jenkins Woodland Indians are supurb! Drool! Drool!


Photo 081 - Some brilliant John Jenkins WWI airplanes (more drooling in progress.)


Photo 082 - Another nice diorama featuring John Jenkins figures depicting the Raid on St. Francis.


Shortly, more photos will be forthcoming. Stay tuned!

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends.

Still more goodies from the Crown Military Miniatures room.


Photo 083 - More beautiful WWI planes.


Photo 084 - Now, this is really nice!


Photo 085 - I think this is most impressive!


Photo 086 - Nice. How much drooling can one guy do?


Photo 088 - Great diorama, Seven Years War.


Stay with me. I am almost at the end of the photos taken in Nicholas' room.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

Can you believe I took this many photos in Nicholas' room?


Photo 089 - Nice diorama of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. The figures are produced by Blackhawk.


Photo 090 - Custer's cavalry charging at the Battle of Gettysburg.


Photo 091 - Blackhawk cowboys.


Photo 092 - Nicolas had a nice group of Frontline figures for sale.


Photo 093 - Here is my friend, John Rio (a.k.a. leadmen), wiping a tear from his eye because he cannot purchase everything in the room. By the way, I had a tear in my eye for ths same reason. ^&grin


Only one more post of Crown Miniature Military offerings to go.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

Below you should find the final group of photos I took in Nicholas' room.


Photo 094 - Here is the man himself, Nicholas. He is always an exceptional host.


Photo 095 - There have been several comments regarding the young ladies that were working for Nicholas at the show. Well, here they are. They were a fun, polite, helpful, and they demonstrated a nice sense of humor. Nicholas certainly knows how to pick his employees!


Photo 097 - Here is the reason I returned my contest form to Nicholas. The John Jenkins prize in his room was this beautifully painted WWI pigeon wagon. Unfortunately, I must wait until November to discover who the lucky winner might be.


Photo 098 - A slightly closer view of the Pigeon Wagon.


That's all for now, folks. I will post more photos as soon as I can.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[Leadmen]

Nice photos of Nicholas room. The girls were fun to talk to and live in my old neighborhood. They told me of all the changes in on the south side. J

 

[aujj65]

Excellent coverage Pat - thanks so much for posting all these photos! :salute::

Jeff

 

[marco55]

Pat, thank you for all the wonderful photos and taking the time to post them. Thank you to everyone who brought the show to us. And finally to all the manufacturers who get all these wonderful products made.
Mark

 

[HistoryfortheAges]

Thank you Pat for your coverage of the show! I suspect there are more treats coming! ^&grin

:salute::

 

[jazzeum]

Photo 086 - Nice. How much drooling can one guy do.

Stay with me. I am almost at the end of the photos taken in Nicholas' room.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

Now, I understand why you were walking around with a handkerchief ^&grin

Brad

 

[mikemiller1955]

Pat...great coverage of everyone's product and displays...your photography skills are quite good...thank you for taking the time to allow us that didn't go get a glimpse of what was there...

 

[Obee]

Pat,

thanks for a great set of images form the show, being so far away, its a real thrill for me to see what's on offer there, and get some of the atmosphere

John

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

Let me take stock. Since I started my photographic tour, I have visited Shannon at Treefrog, Ana at Beau Geste, Mike at Sierra, Ted in Tedtoys, and Nicholas in the Crown Military Miniatures room. So, who is next? Oh, I know! It has to be Norm Rodriguez in the Memphis Toy Soldiers room! Like a flash (more like a very slow burning candle), I was off to another section of the hotel to see my friend, Norm.

I first met Norm in an antique mall in Memphis. My wife, Diane, and I were visiting her brother who lived in Memphis at the time. When I walked into this specific antique mall, I immediately spotted a case full of toy soldiers. Inside the case, were some excellent figures and among them was a super nice set of William Hocker figures. At the time, I did not collect Hocker figures, but, then again, I had never seen them in the flesh until I walked into the antique mall. I quickly discovered that the owner of the figures was actually in the mall and I was introduced to him. What followed was a lengthy conversation in which we became acquainted with one another. And, I walked out with the Hocker figures.

When you visit Norm's room, you will see a large variety of figures and accessories. However, Norm tends to specialize in pre-owned Hocker sets, pre-owned Imperial figures, and a few dimestore figures. Whatever Norm has for sale, you can bet it is top quality. Let me show you some of the treasures to be obtained in Norm's room. You should see them in the photographs below:


Photo 099 - This beautiful English church is a product of JG Miniatures. And, yes, it was for sale. I cannot identify for certain the figures standing in front of the church, Could they be Imperial figures?


Photo 100 - Here is another wonderful JG product, an English Inn.


Photo 101 - We stumbled across this beautiful Hocker set of the Indian Army Artillery Elephant Train with mortar. When you visit these rooms, you find far more treasure than you could possible purchase or take home. Decisions, decisions, decisions!


Photo 102 - I know ahead of time that Norm's bed will be covered with boxed Hocker sets. This year was no different from previous years.


Photo 103 - How about this set of Northwest Frontier figures with a mountain battery. Be sure you do not overlook the terrific set of the 15th Bombay Cavalry in the box immediately above the mountain battery.


Give me a few minutes. I have some more photos from Norm's room. If you are a Hocker fan, I think you will want to see them.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

More mouth watering treasure in Norm's room:


Photo 104 - I believe this Hocker set is the King's Royal Rifles. And, oh! Do not mind the feet in the photograph. I could have cropped the photo to eliminate the feet, but I wanted a reminder that I was really there.


Photo 105 - More great Hocker sets!


Photo 106 - Have you ever seen so many Hocker sets in one place?


Photo 107 - Still more Hocker sets!


Photo 108 - Yikes! Even more of them?

There are still some photographs to come. Give me a minute or two and you shall see them.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[wadepat]

Gentle Friends,

Can you tell I really enjoyed Norm's room? Here are a few more photos.


Photo 109 - Yep. There really were more Hocker figures in Norm's room than I have shown you.


Photo 110 - Is there no end to the beautiful figures Mr. Hocker makes? I hope not.


Photo 111 - Still more Hocker figures and I have not yet visited Mr. Hocker's room!


Photo 112 - Meet Norm Rodriguez. That is him seated in the chair. He is a great friend to me and to all collectors.


Photo 113 - While in Norm's room, if you tire of looking at Hocker figures, you can always turn around and examine some of the dimestore figures he has for sale.


Only one more post full of photos from Norm's room. The photos will appear shortly.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat