Gorillas go Banana Wars (a 'glorious' find on pg 6, "15 mm" Ford Trimotor)

[FifteensAway]

Some more stuff primed - Javier and another muleteer, a couple of tables with chairs, and that queen - she is not glued in place but on a steel base.  The fan at the back not properly glued in place yet.

And then some fun finds from a gem and bead show my wife wanted to go to last Friday:



First of three pairs of soap stone carved gorillas, the white two.



The brown pair.



And the green pair.



A couple of green elephants - perhaps to join the green lions in a post earlier in this thread.



A cool obelisk with markings, not cheap but on sale at half off so I went for it.



And then some beads to be used as markers or objectives of some sort, with octopi imagery.  For those who've been paying attention, there are those Nemo-nauts.

Here are a few other items from varied sources to enhance the look of the game:



Some HO scale already painted trash cans (bought for my gangster town but will work here, too).



HO again, pallets of bananas - not that thrilled with these but at least I have them.  Important element of the game at some point.



Just a cheap plastic palm tree thingy.  Maybe will adorn the presidential palace?



And last, this cool statue that I think will be worshipped by the local native folk.

[FifteensAway]

So, an innocent errand run on the first day of 2025 and what do I find in the local grocery store:



Nothing less than a Matchbox Ford Trimotor airplane - and Indiana Jones specific!  Documents on package say copyrighted 2023 so perhaps new - or maybe just new packaging.  And it works a treat for 15 mm -

One smaller 15 mm figure (AWI but handy at the moment).


And a bit larger 15 mm (also AWI)


Of course, still on the hunt for an 'affordable' Pan-Am Clipper.  But I'll take the Trimotor.  Cost a whopping $7 US.

Now that's a way to start a new year!

[gweirda]

Seconded! - by both getting one and the excitement at the find 

iirc (from last week...) it scaled out to 1/200?

[FifteensAway]

The plane is, indeed, a bit under scale but it is only going to be a 'prop'.  And I'll likely add two other Matchbox planes also meant to be Indiana Jones planes, one might be closer in scale, the other definitely out of scale but, again, 'props'.  Better something than nothing.

Will see how this project fairs in 2025 - behind AWI, Old West, Three Musketeers, and Robin Hood.  Still hopeful to get at least something going.  At least all I need to do is pick out some already primed figures and put paint on them.

Will very likely add some weathering to all the Matchbox planes once all in hand.

EDIT: A few hours later and two more planes ordered:

MBX Airliner


River Flyer


Just under $20 US including shipping for both.  Obviously the MBX will be well under scale but the River Flyer will be better in scale, have a version of plane in wrong paint job bought somewhere along the way.  Maybe, for the extra now, 'crack it up' to create a crashed plane.

[carlos marighela]

Nice find! Here's your in scale Boeing Clipper:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267108773000?_skw=Minicraft+Model+Kits+14503+Pan+Am+B-314+Clipper+1+144-scale+NOS&itmmeta=01JGMGA36NGKBH1M7RCZ8Q5P7A&hash=item3e30ec6c88:g:JFEAAOSwjFVncEbW

[FifteensAway]

Spent some time 'tinkering' and have figured I will start with painting a maximum of 260 figures before making any decision about painting the whole lot of figures.   That should be more than enough figures to have lots of games.  And all of those figures on foot and individually based.  If it turns out that is enough to have a fun collection then I can just let the rest go to a good home - or keep them and add more figures over time to enhance scenario options.  Unlikely all the figures would be in a single game.

The best part of this is that I can get that many figures painted in a month or two which means much more likely to get on the table in 2025.  So, maybe.

And thanks for the link on the plane, Carlos; looks like it is the same as the Airfix version.

[FifteensAway]

Managed to pull out the figures and look them over and the number of figures will likely be higher.  The smallest number I've gotten to is 395 - a good deal higher than 260 but those extra figures dramatically expand the options.  And that still drops the total by close to 1,000 figures.  395 is still excessive, of course, but not quite so alarmingly excessive. 

The other side of the equation is I can paint one third of that lowest number and start running varied games and eventually build up to that 395 number.

A serious bout of sanity for me of late - at least on the miniatures front!

My biggest challenge is now getting buildings.  Perhaps mostly scratch built but I'd like to find certain buildings in the 3D print world, pre-printed.

[FifteensAway]

The great reduction has begun.  And, so far, it has been painless.  Pulled out at least 200 figures from the painting queue this evening for this 'period'*.  Should be able to pull out several hundred more as time allows.  This reduction 'disease' is spreading through much of my collection - and easing my mind a bit.  Known for years I was getting excessive and wanting for years to reduce and recently finally got sufficiently motivated to act.  Figures aren't going away, at least not yet.  But it still feels good to know my personal painting burden is roaming around towards manageable.

And as the overall burden across many collections reduces, I just might feel justified in sending a few collections to the likes of Fernando Enterprises or a similar service to get 'there' faster; there, of course, being a completed collection of painted figures!

One thing I am not worried about is feeling as if I wasted money buying figures I ended up not needing or using - enjoyed the process and, oddly, enjoying 'reversing' the process.

Oh, and those other two planes arrived.  Will need to get a photo with a figure to compare, might take a few days.

* Is a pulp variation of Banana Wars an actual period?