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Remember the Alamo


strawberry 9
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I usually stick with WWII models, but I always wanted to do a very large diorama in a period with "colorful" uniforms.  I thought about the American Revolution, Civil War, even the Zulu wars.  Then while watching the movie "The Alamo" I thought....perfect!  At the moment I don't have enough space to actually complete/display a really big diorama.  I figured I can go ahead and start on the figures though since there will be so many.  I'm not quite sure how big yet, probably not as big as the diorama at the actual Alamo, but maybe the entire North wall.  So I started the Mexican soldiers.  I plan to do a few different uniform types such as tropical (white), and the ones pictured with variations in the color of pants (White, Gray, Blue) and also some Lancers, Engineers and Calvary.  I know that there were variations depending on what was available. 

I thought I'd share the first lot that I've done so far.  Of course, after finishing all of the Mexicans I'll have to get started on the Texans.  After that, constructing the walls of the Alamo.  This will definitely be a long term project.  Having fun so far though!

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Here are a couple from the next wave.  I started out with figures in various colors...some blue some gray.  These have been primed and are ready to go.

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These aren't models, but toy soldiers.  The brands include Conte, Paragon and Toy Soldiers of San Diego.   I tried to "dirty" them up a bit.  The Alamo fell on day 3.  These guys completed a very long march beforehand, so I'm sure there weren't a lot of bright whites by that point.

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If you visit downtown San Antonio, you will, not surprisingly, find a lot of references to the Alamo.

 

There was a shopping mall within an easy walk of the historical site with a small diorama of the final battle.  Some of the figures were placed a bit haphazardly, I suppose just to illustrate some of the uniforms that were there.  But here are a couple of better vignettes.

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"Let the old men tell the story, Let the legend grow and grow,

Of the thirteen days of glory at the siege of Alamo"

 

Great idea for a diorama! I assume the figures are plastic?  How well does the paint adhere?

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So far so good. I primed them all first. I’m working with acrylics which I don’t usually do. Although I love the cleanup lack of smell, I think I still prefer enamel. 

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Wow, what a great modeling project! The figures you painted look awesome. Could you please post the size or scale of the figures. Looking forward to see the next steps of this dio.

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Thanks Proud Kraut. These are 54-60mm figures or 1/32. The Conte ones are very nice with great detail. Same for the TSSD line. The Paragon figures have great poses but lack detail especially in the faces. For this diorama though they will be fine. There will be so many bodies in a small space that facial details won’t matter. I’ll post as I go. Like I said though….going to be a loooonnnggg project😂

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8 minutes ago, scottplen said:

Where are you finding your figures ? eBay ?

Yep.  There are quite a few Mexican soldier figures out there, but not so much for Texans.  The old Marx figures are a different size than the Conte so they don't really go well together.  I don't need nearly as many Texans though so I should be able to put enough together.  I can always kit bash.

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I have looked at them.  You could probably get by with a couple in there, but the figures I've seen do have some variation of uniform.  You could alter them a bit and have them as New Orleans Greys too.

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TheCrustyBosun
26 minutes ago, scottplen said:

How about confederate figures ? I am motivated to try my hand at a small Alamo diorama. Maybe with a cannon ? Seems 54mm confederates might work as defenders ?


Confederates might work unless they’re “uniformed”.  The less uniform items, the better. William B. Travis was a uniformed defender there. Bowie, Crocket, and the Texians wore civilian attire. Keep an eye on the accoutrements as well. 
 

I love the idea of this diorama both as a history buff and especially a TEXAN!!
 

Remember the Alamo, y’all !!

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