Bunker Talk

Craters

2026-10-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

Two Sherman tanks along the edge of the road.

The artillery towing truck moves up.

The craters limit maneuver.

The whole set up.

These vehicles were some that were out of the box for repair, upgrade, or paint.

Sherman and Halftracks

2026-10-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

Italeri US Army, WWII with early war bazooka.

T10E1 US Army halftrack with twin 20mm anti-aircraft guns. 100 produced, most converted back to halftrack and did not see service.

Roco Sherman tank with a few upgrades.

Paul Heiser Models 2 1/5 ton truck, resin.

Two Sherman tanks paused along a building.

Sherman

2026-10-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

A few Sherman tanks that have stopped in a bombed out village.

Infantry moves up alongside the tanks.

The infantry checks the buildings.

Headquarters tank with non-standard markings.

Radio back the position of the front line.

Take Your Daughter to Work Day

2026-10-12T09:11:00.000-05:00

So what are we doing at work today?

Seems boring.

Confronting the T-Rex.

Roar!

Big Roar!

Okay, Dad, that was exciting.

I am glad you enjoyed it daughter.

Several years ago MRS Bunkermeister and I visited Dinosaur World in Cave City, Kentucky. I got this big dinosaur there. I like it so much we went back a while later and got another one.

Undersea Lizard

2026-10-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

The Iguana can swim, even underwater.

They eat underwater plants.

The octopus keeps an eye open just in case.

Checking around the rocks for kelp. Strangely the rocks are from a pet shop lizard toy.

Holding his breath a long time.

He finds a tasty salad.

Godzilla comes and eats your lawn. Perhaps not the scariest movie plot.

Lizards in The Nam

2026-10-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

One of the little known dangers of the Vietnamese jungle was the Giant Chameleon.

Long range patrols into deep forests were most likely to encounter them. For years they were thought extinct at best or a mere legend at worst.

But by 1968 several patrols had reported contact with the great beasts, this diorama is based on one such encounter.

The point man for a squad size patrol of US Marines looking for reported NVA activity in the area was instead surprised by a Giant Chameleon. It's natural ability to change color made it almost invisible in the jungle until the point man got within range of the Giant's tongue.

Only rapid engagement with the Marines implementing their reaction to ambush drill and laid down massive fire upon the Giant Chameleon.

The point man, while obviously surprised, emptied a whole magazine 20 round magazine from his M14, straight into the left eye of the Giant Chameleon, and coupled with the support fires from the rest of the squad, the Giant released him and ran back into the forest. The squad withdrew a full click and requested napalm air support over the whole grid square where they had just been.

Not being quite sure what the target was, the US Navy still sent in four Skyraiders and dropped napalm on the target area. The next day a careful search by the squad, by then reinforced by the rest of the platoon, was unable to find anything definitive.

1/72nd scale plastic USMC Vietnam by Pegasus.

Horned Toads and Indians

2026-10-09T09:11:00.000-05:00

Horned toad just snoozing in the warm desert sand.

Suddenly a group of inexpensive Chinese American Indians attack!

Quickly they surround the dozing lizard.

Stunned by surprise!

The giant lizard does not stand a chance against this 1/72nd scale onslaught.

Head held high, he meets his fate with all the dignity a lizard can muster.

Moving in for the kill.

I got these figures decades ago, they were from a dollar store, they are not Giant of Hong Kong but they look a lot like them. I suspect both Giant and these guys copied the same 1/32nd scale figures. These also came as cowboys and I have a few of those also.

Chinese Castle

2026-10-08T09:11:00.000-05:00

Castle from Giant of Hong Kong, with a Walmart aquarium toy building inside.

Figures from an old Samurai Swords game by Milton Bradley.

The giant Jamaican Turquoise lizards was a huge problem in ancient China.

Often only a lucky hit from an arrow at the base of the skull could kill him.

Or annoy him so he would attack the archer.

Lizard Line Up

2026-10-07T09:11:00.000-05:00

These are the lizards I got. I have two sets of them. There is no identification of the lizards in the set so I took an individual photo of each lizard and did a Google AI search for what type of lizard is this? Mostly it came back with "it's a plastic toy lizard" and then said "that looks like an XYZ lizard." So I was impressed that it could tell a toy lizard from a real one. I am not sure that the green one with the black spots is really an iguana, but I don't know much about lizards. If you know about lizards, leave a comment and set me straight on who is who in the lizard zoo.

Here a team of knights defend Sherwood Castle from a giant Gecko.

Knights are from some unknown Chinese company. They are similar to but not as good as the knights form Caesar Miniatures. All these lizards are between 3 and 4 inches long.

The Castle of the Wizard

2026-10-06T09:11:00.000-05:00

The Wizard releases his giant dragon out the door of his castle.

I got some photo background and a set of lizards on Amazon recently.

So I figured I would do some test runs to see how they work with my existing collection.

The surface is indoor / outdoor carpet.

The castle is Sherwood Castle from Airfix, likely 55 years old. The Wizard is Caesar Miniatures.

Bits and Pieces

2026-10-05T09:11:00.000-05:00

Johnny Cloud, a DC character, Navajo Indian, used to see visions of an Indian brave riding a horse in the sky. He was in the US Army Air Force in WWII, so I made this vision out of translucent plastic to use when he has those visions in a game. It has a hook on the top at the balance point so I can suspend it from above.

Cold War Soviet truck. It looks gray in this photo but it is actually the dark green in the photo below. This is an odd paint because even in real life it appears to be gray like this.

Trucks getting their wheels painted, note the window frame has been painted, compared to the photo above this one.

Canopy on, wheels painted, looks good enough for me.

I got a couple sets of lizards recently and I took their photo and asked Google AI to identify each lizard. This is the results as near as I can figure out. I know several of them are correct and I think a couple of them may be a little off. Still I think it is a hard task for the computer to identify a real lizard based on a toy lizard.

I have two of these sets and they will be part of my forthcoming Astron Delta project.

Sea Creatures Doing Sea Creature Stuff

2026-10-04T19:11:00.000-05:00

Here is a little set up with a dolphin playing with a sea lion, as sea turtle leaves the sandbar. Some sea glass for extra color and texture.

Shark on the prowl, not looking for star fish.

Octopus and sperm whale locked in mortal combat.

Combat continues.

Big bite to the head.

Hammer head cruises the shallows.

A ray moves from sand to plant.

Blue whale moves towards the surface.

The whole scene together.

Blue whale dancing in the background.

The set came with a little, thin, string that can be used to hang animals like the two whales here.

Sea Dioramas, Animals and Accessories

2026-10-03T09:11:00.000-05:00

Here are four of the toys, you can see the huge difference in scale between the whales and the other animals.

The octopus and sperm whale work well together and look pretty cool.

Shark and octopus together is pretty cool too.

Octopus and big starfish is interesting, octopus will eat starfish, but not often.

Hammerhead shark and a ray. I think it is a sting ray but I am not certain.

Sea lion with the two plants that come with the set. The bases are kind of weird they look like they should be weighted and put at the bottom of a fish tank. They look like alien plants to me.

The diorama set comes with a little bag of sea glass. Sea glass is glass that has been worked on by the action of the water and the sand. Over time it gets smooth and opaque.

A bag of sand, useful for creating a sea floor.

Ocean Life

2026-10-02T09:11:00.000-05:00

These are the animals that come with the set, a sea turtle. He is about 1/32nd scale.

This shark is about 4 inches long, about 1/32nd scale.

Hammerhead shark, also about 4 inches long, also about 1/32nd scale.

A rather nice octopus, I like the eyes. He is about 3 inches long, and since he is an octopus he could work for GI Joe size figures to as small as 1/72nd size figures.

The star fish is rather large and would only be useful for a GI Joe size figure.

Sea lion, about 1/32nd scale.

This ray works for about 1/32nd to GI Joe size figures.

The whale is only about 3 inches long, so very small.

The sperm whale is the size of the blue whale, which is very small.

The dolphin is about 1/32nd scale.

The figures were fully painted, no flash, and durable soft plastic.

Ocean Background

2026-10-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

I got a photo box on Amazon with some animals recently.

It is ocean scenes, with sea life figures.

The brown is the table that I set this up on.

It's a cubic box with photos for both sides, back, and top and bottom with water or seascapes.

This is the water surface. I think it would work well placed on the table top as the water surface, particularly in tropical areas.

Looking up at the underside of the oceans surface.

The ocean bottom is sandy and rocky. These kinds of diorama kits can make set ups easier to make and look better. A Hot Wheels submarine, a few frogmen, a sunken ship would all look good if they were using this background.

Small Building Upgrades

2026-09-30T09:11:00.000-05:00

This is a dollar store building. I like these buildings because they are cheap and can be used for a variety of purposes.

The castings are usually good, but the paint jobs are typically marginal.

So a little bit of paint can make a big improvement on how these look.

For less than $2 this is a pretty good building for wargaming.

Here is a small group of them that I have put together over the last few weeks, these have all had a little bit of new paint and I think it makes them look a lot better.

On of the first things I do is color in the windows, usually with gloss black paint. Sometimes semi-gloss and sometimes with yellow to simulate the light are on inside.

That black window paint really defines the look of the windows which really improves them right away.

Usually I keep the colors the same, but if I have more than one of the same building, then I often repaint them so they look very different from one another. Then a little touch up on the plant life, rocks, and other bits and they are done.

Wargame Rules Infantry Weapons Fire

2026-09-29T09:11:00.000-05:00

While my wargame rules are primarily designed for World War Two the mechanisms will work for most any era.

VI. INFANTRY WEAPONS FIRE/ATGM LAUNCH

The side that moves first will designate fire second. The side that moves second will designate fire first. Infantry weapons may only be fired at targets that can be "seen" by the firer. Ranges to targets are not measured before designation. If the weapon is later found to be out of range, the weapon missed.

All infantry weapons fire/ATGM targets must be designated at the beginning of this phase. If multiple weapons are directed at the same target and the first weapon fired destroys that target, all other weapons are considered to have also fired at that same target and those weapons have no additional effect and may not designate any other targets this turn.

Infantry will usually shoot at the nearest appropriate target. This would be targets that are in the open or targets that pose the greatest threat personally.

Infantrymen are assumed to have taken advantage of any hard cover available, regardless of whatever the pose of the figure. A standing figure placed behind a low wall is assumed to be kneeling behind the wall. A kneeling figure, which moved at crawling speed, is assumed to have been in a prone position.

To fire an infantry weapon, measure the distance from the firer to the designated target. Measure the distance from the top of the head of the firer to the top of the head of the target. Find the percentage chance to hit for the weapon at the appropriate range. Infantry who simply change direction without moving are considered stationary.

To determine the results of infantry weapons fire, roll one six sided die, and one 20 sided die. Roll both dice. Consult the Percentage Chance to Hit. If the number on the 20 sided die is equal to or less than the Percentage Chance to Hit for that infantry weapon, then the weapon hit the target. Otherwise, the weapon missed.

Troops with a sniper scope add 5% to hit. Elite troops increase their chance to hit by 5% for each level of elite. Elite troops that are three levels above the "target" troops fire first. Only the survivors may return fire. If the weapon hit the target, use the six sided die to determine the "Hit Location."

INFANTRY TARGET HIT LOCATIONS CHART

Die Roll Hit Location Effect

1 Face or Head Death

2 Shoulders Death

3 Chest Litter case

4 Abdomen Litter case

5 Upper Leg Walking wounded

6 Lower Leg Walking wounded

A hit in the 1 Head from the direct front is a Face hit. Infantrymen equipped with body armor are modified +1 for hit location. For example, a hit location roll of 4 would be modified to a 5. Infantrymen equipped with a ballistic helmet are modified +1 for hit location; a result of a 7 is no effect on the soldier. Ballistic helmet and body armor modifiers are cumulative. Soft body armor only stops pistol and submachine gun rounds as well as shrapnel. There is a +1 hit location modifier for artillery effects in the red zone. Troops not wearing a steel or ballistic helmet get a -1 to their hit location.

Dead infantrymen are removed from the board at the end of this phase. Walking wounded may move up to 50m per turn, but may not fire their weapons if they move. During the next turn, litter cases may be given assistance by non-injured infantrymen.

ANIMAL HIT LOCATION

Die Roll Hit Location Effect

1 Head Death

2 Shoulders Charge, close combat, die

3 Chest Litter case

4 Abdomen Litter case

5 Front legs Walking wounded

6 Rear legs Walking wounded

"Walking wounded" domestic animals can only move at a walk and cannot carry any loads or riders. Owner may destroy “Litter case” animals. Use the same Medical Treatment chart for humans to determine recovery from injuries. If cavalry are on their mounts and the animal is killed, roll a six sided die to see if the rider is injured, with a DM of +1.

A result of a 2 on the hit location die, the shoulders, results in the animal charging the attacker, because some animals are more dangerous when wounded, conducting a close combat and then dying. The animal will die even if it wins the close combat.

Infantrymen behind hard cover or less exposed positions are protected from small arms fire if the body location hit was covered.

HARD COVER or BODY POSITION HIT LOCATIONS

Firing Port 1

Over a high wall 1,2

Prepared foxhole 1,2

Prone in the open 1,2

Low Wall 1,2,3

Hasty foxhole 1,2,3

Window 1,2,3

Around a corner (right) 2,4,6

Around a corner (left) 1,3,5

Kneeling in the open 1,2,3,4

Standing in the open 1,2,3,4,5,6

The hit location is modified +1 if the firer is above the target unless the target also has overhead protection.

Automatic weapons and explosive/incendiary weapons may hit more than one target. These weapons use a template, the size of which is determined by the rate of fire or area covered by the weapon. These types of weapons may fire once at any target within the template.

AUTOMATIC/EXPLOSIVE/INCENDIARY WEAPONS CHART

Type Number of Templates/Area

Shotgun 1

Machine Pistol 1

Sub-Machine Gun 1

Assault Rifle 1

Automatic Rifle 1

Gatling Gun .50 cal hand cranked 2

Automatic Assault Rifle 2

Heavy Machine Gun (.50 cal) 2

Tripod Machine Gun (.30 cal) 3

Bipod Machine Gun (.30 cal) 2

Hand Grenade 40mm diameter

Grenade Launcher 40mm diameter

Flame Thrower cone shaped template

Any targets within a template must be separately ranged and dice rolled for each target to determine if the target was hit. The firer has the option with multiple template weapons to fire lengthwise or depth wise, but the template must point towards the machine gun.

Infantry Template Construction

Leaf template is a Vesica piscis shaped design. Draw a circle 4 1/8 inches in diameter. Draw an X, with its center at the center of the circle. Using one of the lines of the X as a base, from the center of the circle, draw two more lines. Draw one at an angle of 135 degrees, the second line at an angle of 45 degrees. Where the lines intersect the circle that marks the template ends. Using another 4 1/8 inch diameter circle, connect the lower half ends.

Infantry Weapons Firing at Vehicles

Any weapon assigned a template also has a chance to destroy or disable some types of vehicles. Only one vehicle may be in the target zone, even if more than one fits within the template. The firing infantry weapon must first hit the vehicle. If the vehicle is hit, check the damage die for the location and result of the hit.

VEHICLE DAMAGE

1 Crew Crew killed

2 Engine Engine destroyed, vehicle cannot move

3 Engine Engine destroyed, vehicle cannot move

4 Fuel Vehicle catches fire

5 Cargo Cargo or passengers destroyed

6 Suspension Wheels destroyed, vehicle cannot move

Crew served direct fire infantry weapons such as, ATGM, machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, Gatling gun, must have a full crew in order to fire with the full number of template leafs. Anytime the firer of a man portable weapon is killed his weapon is also destroyed.

If any other member of the crew is killed the number of templates is reduced by one template for each dead crewmember. Survivors from weapons of the same type may unite to operate the weapon again if one is a loader and the other is a firer.

A .30 caliber machine gun with just a gunner gets one leaf template. A bipod mounted .30 caliber machine gun gets two leaf templates and has a crew of two. A tank mounted .30 machine gun counts as a bipod machine gun but only needs a crew of one. A tripod mounted .30 caliber machine gun gets three leaf templates and has a crew of three, gunner, loader and commander. A tripod-mounted machine gun may fire indirect fire if it has a full crew of four, gunner, loader, commander and spotter, it will use three leaf templates.

A tripod mounted .50 caliber machine gun gets two leaf templates and has a crew of three, gunner, loader and commander. If they use a fourth crewman, a spotter they may firre indirect. If there is no loader the machine gun only gets one template. Firing indirect fire will use two templates.

A tripod machine gun may fire at a tank. A #1 hit is the turret machine gun. If it gets a #2 hit on the turret it is an optics damage that will cause the tank to fire at -35%. A #3 hit is the hull machine gun. A #4 hit on the upper hull it is a driver’s vision slot and the tank is limited to no more than 50m per turn unless the driver looks out the hull hatch. A result of #5 or #6 on the hit location die does nothing.

Machine Fire at Tanks

1 Turret machine gun

2 Turret main gun optics

3 Hull machine gun

4 Hull driver’s optics

5 No effect

6 No effect

To fire a machine gun in the indirect mode the crew must include three men, gunner, loader and spotter. In the artillery spotting round phase place two machine gun spotting rounds- one real and one dummy- just like with the artillery spotting rounds only with just one dummy. Place the templates in the direction the firer wants the rounds to land. Templates must be side by side. Roll an arrow die for direction and a six sided die for distance; a “hit” result is a hit.

Infantrymen cannot fire weapons other than their own. A rifleman cannot begin firing the machine gun because when the firer is killed the machine gun is considered destroyed also. Weapons also cannot be captured and turned against the player who lost them. This is because the weapon is destroyed when the operator is hit, unless the weapon would not be harmed by the attack. A chemical weapon landing on a machine gun would not damage the weapon.

Troops killed by chemical weapons, or stabbed would not have their weapons destroyed. A tank crew that was machine gunned while outside their hatches would not result in the destruction of the tank.

Figures equipped with secondary weapons such as grenades, LAW rockets, pistols, are assumed to have an unlimited supply of ammunition. These weapons are not transferable to any other infantrymen. Only one weapon may be fired per turn. For example, an assault rifle equipped with a grenade launcher may fire either the rifle or the grenade launcher but not both in one turn. An infantrymen may fire his rifle or throw a grenade, but cannot do both.

Gas, People, Motorcycles

2026-09-28T09:11:00.000-05:00

This is the back side of the gas station. Note the big wire that comes out of it. I am fine with it, buildings have wires coming out of them all the time, cable TV, phones, power. I don't mind that the back of the building is blank, because it is just a plain white wall. I will likely make and affix a large Coca-Cola sign or something similar to take up the space and add more interest.

Some generic civilian figures, 3D printed. The fat guys have eyeglasses on. Note the guy with the newspaper! Amazing stuff. 3d Historic Miniatures, 1/72nd scale.

Roskopf Motorcycles waiting to be painted.

I put them all on a base. A few of them were on thick balsa wood bases from a previous owner. All gone now.

I filed the bottoms flat and used this glue to attach them.

It is a sheet of 4504 Tile by Evergreen Scale Models for the base a 3 x 2 size part.

Gas Station Daytime

2026-09-27T09:11:00.000-05:00

Here is the same light up gasoline station in the daytime.

Even in the Arctic you gotta buy gas somewhere.

Or in the tropics.

Or even in Jurassic Park.

The kit was easy to assemble and I think will bring a lot of play value. Modern people need gasoline and it will certainly be an objective in wargames, role playing games, and such.

Buy Gas

2026-09-26T09:11:00.000-05:00

I got this 1/64ths scale Shell gas station from Amazon.

It is a lighted kit, made like a laser cut MDF model, but it's plastic. Most of it is pre-assembled.

1/64th scale is die cast car scale, in theory Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars are 1/64th scale subject to how well they fit on the cardboard car in the plastic bubble.

1/72nd scale figure buying gasoline in the city at night.

The lighting is LED powered by a USB connection to a power source

I think it is a lot safer and generates less head than other types of lights.

The background is a sheet of laminated plastic paper with a nighttime skyline on it I got 15 years ago or so.

The pumps are highly detailed and come fully assembled. I think it works for HO and 1/72nd scale even if it is a little large.

T34 AVLB Construction Continues

2026-09-25T09:11:00.000-05:00

The side hull is looking better, not done yet though.

Bottom is a little ratty and it may stay that way.

The port side view of this HO 1/87 scale model.

The new lower hull plate. The Mir is very slightly larger than the Roco T34 but mostly it is a bit taller.

The new tracks are waiting in the upper right of this photo. Lots more work to do!

More T34 AVLB

2026-09-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

The bridge launching gear is from an old T54 AVLB made somewhere behind the Iron Curtain.

Now it is going onto a Mir T34 tank upper hull. Mir was made in the old Soviet Union.

Like this. I like the structure on the bridge.

Gluing more side hull plates to fill the gaps. I am using a nicer looking track on this model than the original which was destroyed decades ago.

Looks pretty patchwork, because it is. Mostly it will be hidden inside the hull or behind the tracks so it should be fine. Mostly.

T34 Bridge Launching.

2026-09-23T09:11:00.000-05:00

The Mir T34 has a very big engine hump on the rear upper hull. This means the bridge launching gear mount has to be raised up a bit to clear the hump. I used some sheet styrene to fix the problem.

This is the bridge I am using. It's upside down it looks odd.

This is the bridge launching gear, note the white sheet styrene on it to help get the gear over the T34 engine hump. One plastic bit on the hull and one on the launching gear should be enough.

The top of the launching gear.

This shows the launching gear receiving the bridge, again, it's upside down.

Just waiting for all the glue to dry. My intention is to use these for late WWII and early Cold War for my Soviet forces.

T34 Bridge Launcher

2026-09-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

A company from the old Soviet Union, called Mir, made a nice T34 tank. I have a bunch of them but this one had the tracks destroyed and so I am using it to make a bridge launcher.

The tracks on the original had tabs on the tracks to fill these gaps, but since the original tracks are no longer usable I am having to fill in the holes. Sheet plastic bits are doing that job.

These clamps are holding these bits together while the glue dries.

These are dollar store clamps, and they work fine for light duty work.

I have a Permit SU-100 that is in the junk pile and so it is donating their tracks. You can see those tracks in the upper right corner. The holes have been filled in well enough for my purposes.

This Eastern European T54 bridge launcher will donate it's bridge and launcher stuff to make my T34 bridge launcher. The T54 may become a mine clearance vehicle.

Volcano Monster

2026-09-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

Schleich makes a nice variety of toys and models from history, real animals, and fantasy, and myth and legend.

The Volcano Monster on the volcano.

Nice arm movements.

Jaw opens and closes.

Painted details are excellent.

Big hands for grasping things.

Waist pivots.

Face is scary.

He stands up well.