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Two more Spanish Civil War models are offered for consideration today. First is the Artilleria de Costa, or Coast Defense Gun. It is Number 12 in the Instrumentos de Guerra series and shows a sizable gun situated behind a stony revetment. While it can be built into a colorful and interesting model, it takes a lot of work to get it to this point. Parts fit is a puzzle that can only be solved with scissors, glue and ultimately more parts. Luckily, my ink jet printer is currently behaving, so it’s no problem to run off the needed pages to do a good job on this troublesome project.
Also, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the original parts sheets for this series of models will sometimes have only one side of a needed part printed on the page. This is common for vintage paper models, as their designers regarded them more as toys than serious scale representations. In order to cover the white sides of the parts, I go to the mirror function on my computer. I print reverse images of most of the vintage models I build, and use the mirrored parts to cover the exposed white areas in question. In this model, the trees and the sailor needed reverse sides, so another piece of 110 lb card, a little ink, and a better looking model is the result. On my version of the model, two fully dressed sailors guard the gun where only half a sailor was provided on the sheet. The wonders of computers.
The last model shown below is a true oddity. Known as a Recortable, or Cut-Out, this paper doll by a different publisher shows Shirley Temple holding a pie-eyed Mickey Mouse. As she stands, Shirley looks fine, it’s only when you scan the clothing choices you find a rather shocking image, namely a uniform for Frente de Juventudes, a Nationalist Falange Espanola youth organization. Note the Yoke and Arrows device on the blouse and belt. When she dons this outfit, Shirley will be seen giving the Fascist salute. No doubt, this was not a licensed image, and I imagine she was appalled if she ever saw it. I include it here to demonstrate propaganda’s ability to corrupt even the most innocent of ideals.
Finally, I need to correct and error in the last post. I suggested the designer, J. Galvez, didn’t know his aft from his bow when he designed the battleship. I referred to the battleship’s command center as the conning tower, when I should have called it the bridge. Point to J. Galvez.
Score and fold,
Thumb Dog
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