Airfix 1/32 scale Railway Enthusiasts set - Making the set Airfix didn't

In some toy soldiers Facebook groups I follow there was a phenomenon of making AI-generated images of 'What-if' box art of 1/32 scale figure sets by Airfix, actually never made. This phenomenon was trending at the time I had attended 3 Railway Garden meetings in only 4 days, so I was heavily influenced by these impressions when making my contribution:

I also 'stretched' this phenomenon and challenge a little further by adding an image with a suggested content to my suggested 'what-if' Airfix box of 1/32 scale Garden Railway Enthusiasts:

These AI generated images by ChatGPT intrigued me to much that I imagined what these figures, if ever made, would look like beside Z-scale (1:220) or T-Gauge trains (1:450). I don't have any T-Gauge trains (yet), but I do have a starter set of Märklin Z-scale. There was only one way to actually find out, and that was to make the figures myself. So some suitable miniatures was scoured on Thingiverse, which I resized and 3D-printed to 1/32 scale /54mm:

I also found some engines and resized them to look right as garden trains for my 1/32 scale figures:

Then everything was given the simplest paint-job ever:

This is how my miniature garden railway enthusiasts in 1/32 scale looks beside a 1:220 scale train by Märklin. I wonder which scale this train will actually be in relation to the figures?

And here are a couple of video shorts running the train with my miniature garden railway enthusiasts:

 

This was a quick and fun little 'project'. What I'm going to use these hastily made miniatures for now I don't really know yet. Any suggestions?

Blog PostScript

As earlier mentioned, this Facebook phenomenon and challenge was initially about soldiers and  military sets. Last week when I posted a blogpost with some photos from a Norwegian model railway exhibition I'd been visiting, showing a Norwegian WW2 themed layout, Mark at the Man of Tin Blog 2 followed up with an epic blogpost on his Sidetracked blog on how this could be transferred to a wargame. Please have a visit on his blog to read about his ideas. One thing he suggests in his post is what kind of miniatures to substitute as 'WW2 Norwegians' in his wargaming ideas. Well, this blogpost was originally about Airfix What-ifs, so at least I can suggest the Box Art for Mark's Norwegians:

Army Men vs Zombies

This week it is Halloween, which originally is a celebration to 'All Saints'. In modern times and pop culture Halloween has focused more on 'to frighten evil spirits' and turned into a horror and gore related celebration. Anyway, by this time of year the shops are full of everything Halloween related merchandise, and the toyshops are no exception.

While visiting a toy store in Sweden (at the border just some 60km south from where I live) last weekend with my youngest son, I saw a 'new' bucket of soldiers. -And they were Halloween themed. The bucket was labeled "Zombie Hunter", "Marines vs Zombies", and "Zombie Battle Playset". It got my attentionand I took a closer look on it.

I haven't seen the Zombie figures before, but they looked somewhat chunky, 'cartoonish' and not so well proportioned. Since some of the Zombies was 'kids' they looked bigger than the 'Marines'. The 'Marines' on the other hand I've seen before, as they are identical to 'The Corps' futuristic army men looking like Starship Troopers. 

So, did I buy one? No. These almost 'Pound Store figures', were not at sale at 'Pound Store prices'. At £ 16,10 or $ 21,48 or € 18,41 for only 105 pieces I didn't think it was worth it. If I'm going to make an 'Zombie Army' for a future game, I'm considering converting some of these. I still have some 90+ unpainted 'Space Marines' left from a larger 'Bucket of Soldiers'. - So it's no danger for me painting my last miniature yet, hence Mark's latest blogpost at Pound Store Plastic Warriors.

These futuristic Army Men or Space Marines looks like they're made as 'Starship Troopers', but are very versatile and generic and can be used for everything from near future troops to various alien armies. The prone sniper looks like a present day soldier. Perhaps they even can be used for Warhammer 40k or Kill Team? They are notably smaller than regular 54mm figures. I've been using them to create a small section of 'V' - Visitors Shock Troopers and James at the Quantrill's Toy Soldiers have used them for making a Sci-fi Lizard Alien Army and more recently classic Space Opera Troopers. Please share a link in the comment-section if you have made your own versions of them.

However you celebrate it, Happy Halloween!

A Model Railway Exhibition in Norway

Even if members from my model railway club often goes to model railway shows abroad, we do have model railway exhibitions in Norway too. It's not so many of them and they are usually not so large. It's nice to visit them because the model railway society in Norway are not so large, so you're going to meet a lot of freinds and other nice people (you probably knows some how).

Earlier this autumn I visited one such small model railway show at Skedsmo, some 15km north of the capital, Oslo. There were not so many layouts on such a small venue, but I was struck by the high level of standard and detail on some of them.

Here are a couple of overview photos:

Layouts

The first layout out in this blogpost is a H0-scale Norwegian Tram-layout from Oslo. It's 'freelanced' but all the structures are built after real prototypes. I used to pass the row of buildings in the second photo every day to and from work for 7 years, so this was very nostalgic to me. This layout is built to a very high standard, and the builder is extremely skillful:

This N-scale layout is a rebuilt ready made landscape-board by Noch. The season is altered to winter, and set to the Rauma line in Norway:

A modular island-style Norwegian H0-scale layout also built to high standards by father and son:

This small H0-scale winter layout is actually built as a window-display for a pharmacy (hence the shelves between the tunnels) by a member of our model railway club:

A Z-scale layout:

Some scenes from another Norwegian H0 scale layout:

Here is another 'Norwegain' H0 scale tram-layout. It's mostly freelanced, but the fire station (the large white building) is based on one from Oslo:

The Model Railway Association of Norway, MjF, displayed a large G-scale layout on the floor with several trains kids could run them self: 

Displays

On the show there was also some displays in H0 scale with static trains. The first one depicts a scene from the 'Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury' in 1940, where the Norwegian gold reserves was loaded from train to lorries near Åndalsnes to keep it away from the Germans. It's recentlybeen made a movie about this (perhaps on Netflix?):

This H0 display was a funfair with a lot of 'animations' and lights:

Another H0 scale display with moving cars. Probably by Faller Car System':

This is from the Living Steam stand with live steam and RC diesel engines. I think a 'grey' diesel would fit my collection (?):

I didn't actually plan to buy anything at this show, as I've already have model railway projects enough to keep me busy through the whole winter. I did end up buying this heavily worn LGB car looking like a piece of junk for only £ 14,90 or $ 19,90, because I was looking for LGB steel wheels for another project, and a pair of those costs £ 29,43 $ 39,30 in the shop. The wagon it self looks like it's been serving as a transition wagon with LGB-couplings in one end and Märklin Gauge 1 couplings in the other. The re-modelling is not very neatly executed. The wagon it self is of the same type as I used for my own transition wagon with LGB-couplings in one end, and 3 link coupling in the other. Even if I bought this wagon to get it's steel wheels, I guess i can refit it with plastic wheels and salvage it some how. Time will show:

Some acquisitions are mandatory on shows though...

All in all this was a great little show. It's usually held annually in the beginning of October, and I recommend a visit if you're in the area.