Mike Tarantino's Toy Soldier Collection (4 Viewers)

[ucla1967]

Hi Mike,

I totally understand your dilemma I find myself having that issue too. For me its militaria mainly related to tanks and cavalry, book again mainly on tanks and tank development from WWI through the modern era and every now and again a baseball card or two will sneak in the door...

But it is better to have a wide range of interests rather than be so focused on some aspect of a collection that you miss something interesting. I like the Jenkins figures you just posted too!:salute::

Thanks again for the great photos

Dave

Hi Dave,

It is somewhat of a dilemma, but I try and limit the damage as much as I can. I agree that it is better to have a wide range of interests rather than a narrow focus, but some collectors are more disciplined than I am and can do it. The JJD are really well done. I am continually surprised that John can produce the number of figures he does considering the size of his business.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

WOW Mike some great stuff there,you have opened a pandoras box now mate he come the 60mm matte figures foot sloggers.

Hi Wayne,

I hope I can limit the damage to these particular John Jenkins 60mm matte figures. I think I can, but we shall see.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

My first order from Treefrog Treasures had seven John Jenkins Designs Battle of Leuthen sets. Three of the sets had no figures: LEUT-10 Churchyard Gateway. LEUT-10A Churchyard Corner Turret, and LEUT-10B Churchyard Straight Wall. The other four sets had a total of nine additional Prussians: LEUT-04 Prussian Grenadier Casualties No. 1, LEUT-07 Prussian Grenadiers Advancing No. 5, LEUT-09 Prussian Grenadiers Attacking Gateway, and LEUT-11 Prussian Sergeant. Treefrog no longer had LEUT-12 the Prussian Officer in stock, but I was able to find one on eBay.

So, here is phase 2 after Chloe and I set up the new arrivals. With phase 3, the second Treefrog order, the diorama will almost be complete. I emailed John to ask him what sets I needed to repeat to complete the diorama. If you have one each of the Prussian sets, you will have 17 figures, but to complete it requires seven additional sets with nine figures or a total of 26 Prussians. Specifically, you need two each of four advancing sets, plus three each of the fifth advancing set.

 

[ucla1967]

The second Treefrog Treasures order had eight more John Jenkins Designs Battle of Leuthen sets. Four additional sets of Prussians with five figures: LEUT-01 Prussian Grenadier Advancing No. 1, LEUT-02 Prussian Grenadier Advancing No. 2, LEUT-03 Prussian Grenadier Advancing No. 3, and LEUT-06 Prussian Grenadiers Advancing No. 4. Two other sets are on back order: The third set of LEUT-06 Prussian Grenadiers Advancing No. 4 and the second set of LEUT-07 Prussian Grenadiers Advancing No. 5. The other four sets in the order were the Roth Wurzburg Infantry Regiment defenders with 16 figures: ROT-01N 4 figures firing, ROT-02N 4 figures at the ready, ROT-03N 4 figures loading and at the ready, and ROT-04N four figures firing No. 2.

So here is phase 3 after we added the new figures from the latest Treefrog Treasures order. The diorama now has 38 figures including 22 of the 26 required attacking Prussians and 16 defending Roth Wurzburgers. In an email exchange with John Jenkins he said that a Roth Wurzburg command set was in the works. I am assuming that it will be similar to the other Seven Years Wars series with an officer, flag bearer, and drummer. So the question is where can I put them? The turret doesn't have any more room.

 

[ucla1967]

The 16 Roth Wurzburg Regiment defenders.

 

[villagehorse]

No doubt about it Mike the JJD work a treat, the figures are excellent. A great display. Robin.

 

[ucla1967]

No doubt about it Mike the JJD work a treat, the figures are excellent. A great display. Robin.

That it is, Robin. I really like the animated poses of the Prussian Grenadiers and their fine facial detail. I am going to clear a shelf in my toy soldier room to make a place to display it.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

Well, here it is essentially complete except for the four Prussian Grenadier figures on back order, but close enough. I have pretty much tacky waxed everything down, because if you bumped or moved the base some figures would inevitably fall over. I calculate that to complete this diorama with the extra figures costs about $1950. I have also attached a copy of the painting which inspired John to make this diorama. NB: If the truth be known, I believe my granddaughter Chloe really would prefer to play with her stuffed animals in the background rather than with my toy soldiers. I think she was just humoring me and didn't want to hurt my feelings.

 

[villagehorse]

Simply a lovely display Mike. I try not to ever think about the cost, tend to sneak up bit by bit and than the $2000 figure does not look so daunting^&grin, Robin.

 

[ucla1967]

I acquired another Philippine mahogany World War II warbird last week. It is a Russian Ilyushin IL-2M3 Sturmovik ground attack fighter in 1/32nd scale with an 18 inch wingspan. It had an armored engine and crew compartment which made it difficult to shoot down. The Sturmovik was known as a "flying tank" because of its armor protection. It was armed with a 20mm cannon which fired through the propeller hub, two wing mounted 23mm cannon, and two 7.62mm for the rear tail gunner although I see only one. In addition, it could carry more than one ton of bombs. The list price in the 1998 Toys & Model Corporation catalog was $129.95.

 

[DMNamiot]

That is an amazing Diorama! I think it is one of the best series JJD has put forth.

Thanks for sharing

Dave

 

[ucla1967]

That is an amazing Diorama! I think it is one of the best series JJD has put forth.

Thanks for sharing

Dave

Dave, I agree with you on both counts. The Prussian Grenadier sculpts are especially well done and well worth their $39 per figure price. Sharing is what the forum is all about.

Mike

 

[ucla1967]

I am in the process of reorganizing my toy soldier room. What a mess! I am making room for about 50 Hiriart sets that I haven't had the room to display before. Unfortunately, I had to pack up my Blenheim Military Models collection to make room for them. I guess I will sell them; it is kind of sad, I've had them for more than 20 years. In another curio, I packed up one shelf of Frontline Figures American Civil War sets to make room for the Frontline Figures WWII Americans and Germans display I had in my bookcase . The bookcase shelf now has my new John Jenkins Battle of Leuthen diorama on display. Confusing, isn't it?

 

[DMNamiot]

I totally understand this dilemma! Good luck on sorting it out.

Dave

 

[ucla1967]

I totally understand this dilemma! Good luck on sorting it out.

Dave

Thanks Dave. I am still at the planning stage on how to display my "new" Hiriart sets. I have started with the Latin American sets which I have laid out on the floor, alphabetically by country, in another room so that I can see what I have and decide which ones to display on the top curio shelf; I don't have room for all of them, so some will have to go back into storage. I also have Brazilian, Honduran, and Paraguayan military academy sets on order this year which I will have to leave room for.

I did move the John Jenkins Battle of Leuthen diorama to the top shelf of the bookcase (attachment one) replacing the WWII Frontline display now found on the bottom shelf of another curio (attachment two) which is exclusively for Frontline Figures sets. I also repositioned my warbirds so you can see some of the detail on them better than before. The third attachment shows the Leuthen diorama and my Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair and Lockheed P-38J Lightning mahogany warbirds, both in 1/32nd scale. All of my curios/bookcase have earthquake straps (attachment four) which, hopefully, will prevent them from falling over during an earthquake. While I was at it, I put Velcro (attachment five) on the bottom of all the warbirds that are displayed on top of the curios.

 

[ucla1967]

This is my first four engine Philippine mahogany bomber acquisition. It is a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress called "909" from the last three digits on its' tail number; the G model B-17 added a twin .50 caliber chin turret to help it defend against head on attacks by Luftwaffe fighters. It is in 1/62nd scale with a wing span of 23.5 inches and a length of 16.9 inches. Rick Wang's Figarti Miniatures came out with a 1/32nd scale B-17 in 2007 which was huge and cost $899 with ground crew.

 

[Al Fisher]

Jeez Mike, you must be one of those LA bank bandits I've been reading about to be able to get all those goodies. Keep it up!

Bosun Al

 

[ucla1967]

Jeez Mike, you must be one of those LA bank bandits I've been reading about to be able to get all those goodies. Keep it up!

Bosun Al

Al, I can assure you it isn't me; besides they just caught them. The "Nine O Nine" B-17G is listed on Amazon for $310, the Toys & Model Corp. list price was $140 in 1998, and I bought it for $120 MIB. It pays to shop around.

 

[ucla1967]

My photo of the B-17G's nose art detail didn't come out, so I am attaching a stock photo which shows the number of bomb runs they made and the number of Luftwaffe fighters they shot down. A very impressive record.

 

[ucla1967]

The reorganization of my collection that I mentioned a week ago in post number 1333 is making good progress, although the toy soldier room still looks like a hoarder lives there. On the first three shelves where I previously had my Blenheim figures displayed, I now have the first two shelves displaying 24 South American sets which had previously not been displayed before. I tried to display them in alphabetical order by country. I have left six open spaces for sets from Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, and Paraguay that are on order.

First photo - Top shelf, left to right: Sets 1001 Fuerza Aerea Argentina, 1351 Cazadores de los Andes Argentina, and non-catalog Argentine Infantry in Swiss helmets 1950.

Second photo - Top shelf: Sets 1061 Colegio Militar Argentina, 1135 Granaderos de San Martin Argentina, and space for two additional sets on order.

Third photo - Top shelf: Set 1287 Batallon de Infanteria Los Coloradoes Bolivia.

Fourth photo - Top shelf, second and third tiers left: Set 1300 Escole Naval Brasil ; above them set 1191 Escuela Naval Arturo Prat Chile.

Fifth photo - Top shelf, second and third tiers right: Sets 1096 Carabineros Chile and 1062 Regimiento Caupolican Chile; above them sets 1103 Escuela Militar de Santiago Chile and 1288 Escolta Presidencial Columbia.