Lt. Col. E. Joe Shimek (Ret.) of Potsdamer Zinnsoldaten (PZ) fame has passed away. A Texan proud of his heritage was born there on 16 January, 1935 and passed away there on 1 October, 2015. A man of great wit, sharp humor and intelligence this bagpipe playing man was a proud 1957 graduate of West Point Military Academy. His fascination with casting began with an A.C. Gilbert Casting set at age 8 having previously began playing with and collecting military figures as a younger boy. During his military service in the Cold War one of his assignments was that of U.S. Army/Soviet Forces liaison in Potsdam (hence the future name of his firm). While in Germany he developed his encyclopedic knowledge of many manufacturers in all formats of flats, semi-rounds and rounds. Some of the manufacturers included Heyde, Spenkuch, Krause, Bischoff, Haffner and more. He later taught Russian at the U.S. Defense Language Institute. His service in Viet Nam came with multiple decorations including that of the Bronze Star.
PZ was founded on the base of Heyde's catalog offerings of Size 2. But its production in a labeled box began with PZ-1 Askaris in 54 mm which looked on Britains for inspiration. PZ was obviously not limited to Heyde's Size 2. He drew on multiple manufacturer's including their various parts as well as those of his own creation. At times Joe was assisted by his late dear friend Neal Crowley along with PZ's out of house painting staff if he did not paint it himself.
With playful abandon he as a master of mold making and the soldering iron along with other tools he copied, modified and repaired besides creating new figures and the various military panoply of equipment and such that accompanies any campaign real or imagined. Some of the fictional figures included an Ostrich mounted "Hottenttot Carbineers" using a Heyde African Warrior, "Unicycle Ulans" and a sword or pistol wielding (depending what he had on his soldering table like Heyde et al), peg legged Pirate replete with an eye patch, tricorn hat along with the mandatory shoulder mounted parrot. Figures like this I doubt that even the folks at Heyde or the like ever even dreamed of. Joe and PZ left a delightful legacy that makes collecting a joy. So Herr Oberst mein Freund our corner of the world is diminished by your absence. Danke viemals, Hochachtungsvoll, Servus und Prost!
Ihr Freund und Kamerade, Michael
Readers of the above are encouraged to post photos of PZ production to share with readers as well as copy and translate and transfer this to non-English language websites. Thanks for reading.
.
PZ was founded on the base of Heyde's catalog offerings of Size 2. But its production in a labeled box began with PZ-1 Askaris in 54 mm which looked on Britains for inspiration. PZ was obviously not limited to Heyde's Size 2. He drew on multiple manufacturer's including their various parts as well as those of his own creation. At times Joe was assisted by his late dear friend Neal Crowley along with PZ's out of house painting staff if he did not paint it himself.
With playful abandon he as a master of mold making and the soldering iron along with other tools he copied, modified and repaired besides creating new figures and the various military panoply of equipment and such that accompanies any campaign real or imagined. Some of the fictional figures included an Ostrich mounted "Hottenttot Carbineers" using a Heyde African Warrior, "Unicycle Ulans" and a sword or pistol wielding (depending what he had on his soldering table like Heyde et al), peg legged Pirate replete with an eye patch, tricorn hat along with the mandatory shoulder mounted parrot. Figures like this I doubt that even the folks at Heyde or the like ever even dreamed of. Joe and PZ left a delightful legacy that makes collecting a joy. So Herr Oberst mein Freund our corner of the world is diminished by your absence. Danke viemals, Hochachtungsvoll, Servus und Prost!
Ihr Freund und Kamerade, Michael
Readers of the above are encouraged to post photos of PZ production to share with readers as well as copy and translate and transfer this to non-English language websites. Thanks for reading.
.
