Favorite Resources

This section documents some of my favorite resources I have used to research and create some of my favorite figures. It will include books, movies, TV Shows, or anything else I can find that I think you might enjoy. The dates indicate when I added the items to my web page.

By the way, the "Purchase it here" links are just straight links to stores where you can purchase the items, copies of articles, etc. I do NOT get any kind of hokey royalty or anything else like that. I just include the links to make your life easier.

Movies

7/29/2001	The Great Escape	One of the all time great war movies - "The Great Escape" really helped make Steve McQueen's career. Who can forget the now famous motorcycle chase scene (forever imortalized by 21st Century Toiys with a Steve McQueen and German bike set!) I used this movie to determine what I needed to make my kitbashed Steve McQueen figure. Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn,more Director: John Sturges 1963 Purchase it here
7/29/2001	Starship Troopers	Ah yes - how do YOU spell "OVER THE TOP"? :-) A lot of people really hated this movie, but I liked it. It was great, MINDLESS entertainment - and the uniforms were real cool. I must have watched this movie a dozen times to get the details of the uniforms as best as I could. I then used all of this info to make my Starship Trooper (summer dress) figure. Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Michael Ironside Direcor: Paul Verhoeven 1997 Purchase it here
7/1/2000	The Green Berets	One of the all time biggest propoganda movies (although most people forget that a lot of the World War II timeframe movies were propoganda films as well. I guess the difference is we won WW II....). Anyway, I used this movie as my resource for building my kitbashed John Wayne Major Kirby "Green Berets" figure. It is still a reasonably interesting film (especially if you like "The Duke") and does have some rather exciting moments (the Viet Cong over-run of the firebase is rather exciting.) Starring: John Wayne, David Janssen, et al. Director: Ray Kellogg, John Wayne 1968 Purchase it here.
7/1/2000	Apocolypse Now	What hasn't been said about this movie? Sheen's character is one of the most intriguing war characters ever developed and Brando's character was just downright odd. But the thief was Robert Duvall. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Who will ever forget THAT line? Anyway, I used this movie to make my own custom version of the Surf-Crazy Air Cav officer Duvall played in the movie. 21st Century Toys is coming out with one in 2000, but I beat them to the punch by a year :-) Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, et al. Director: Francis Ford Coppola 1979 Purchase it here Another related item you may want to pick up (or rent) is the "Hearts of Darkness - A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1992) " documentary. Done by Coppola's wife, this is a real eye-opening documentary into what went into making this movie. It was a real nightmare and we were pretty lucky to get ANY movie at all, never mind the classic movie we did get.

Books

7/1/2000

Point Man

Excellent story of the formation and history of the Navy Seals by one of Seal Team Two's original members, Chief James Watson. This book provided lots of insight into the Navy Seals and has given me several ideas for figures and small scenes (I have built a James Watson figure and am thinking of building a Navy Seal Training scene - using either Hasbro's new for 2000 Navy Seal Training set or by making my own.)

By James, Chief Watson, Kevin Dockery (Contributor) . ISBN 038071986X. March 1997.

Purchase it here.

7/1/2000

The Tunnels of Chu Chi

Fantastic book that documents the huge tunnel system the Viet Cong used to confuse the US and South Vietnamese forces. For the 1999 GI Joe Convention in Washington, DC, we used this book HEAVILY (along with several Internet resources) to build our Tunnel Rats diorama. This book includes diagrams of a Tunnel Complex as well as lots of pictures inside one of the Tunnel Complexes. A very entertaining and truly informative read.

By Tom Mangold, John Penycate ISBN 0425089517 March 1997

Purchase it here