My Franken-Alamo Set-up - Pt 3 Final

Here's the final version of my Alamo playset set-up. I took out the Disney gate on the west wall (the wall closest to the viewer), then I bought a second tin adobe hut from Peter Wassmiller and used it as the Trevino house. From what I've read, the Trevino House apparently had a peaked roof, but this will do as a stand-in. I bought more ladders: now there's 25 and the set-up could use more! The horse corral is now behind the Long Barracks and the two plastic Marx walls have been replaced with Atherton Scenics walls. This was another fun build and I enjoyed seeing my Alamo toys out and on display for a while, but now it's time to dismantle the thing and move on! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

If I'm disappointed in anything it is the ladder climbers NONE of them stay on the ladders in a 'natural' ladder climbing pose, so they all appear as if they're already climbing over the walls or being shot

My Franken-Alamo Set-up - Pt 2

Here's the second phase of The Alamo playset build. I took out the walls that made up the Long Barracks and used the two bread canister Chapels from the two Re-Marx sets I had. All I did was turn them around so that the back was facing out and voila' - instant Long Barracks. Then I placed the handmade adobe hut from Peter Wassmiller, next to the the south wall gate and used it as Bowie's quarters where he made his last stand. Two cannons added to the top of the Chapel, more figures - to include more cavalry - were added to make it an even 'busier' scene than it already was. I think one more change ought to do it for this set-up. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

My Franken-Alamo Set-up - Pt 1

I like putting together toy soldier set-ups but every now-&-then they become quite a handful. This was one of them. The space used for this was the same space I used for last year's Christmas layout, battery operated Korean train, the Gettysburg set-up, and more. It measures 44" deep x ca76" wide and is in no way sufficient enough to properly depict the real Alamo compound, which was actually quite large. Of course, the original Marx playsets featured a very small compound because they were meant as a child's playset. But using components from an original Marx set as well as two Marx re-pop sets - along with components from a variety of other manufacturers - allowed me to cobble together a reasonable toy resemblance to the original compound.

Sooo, what is it we have here? I first used the original Marx Chapel as well as several original Marx walls. In order to make a bigger compound, additional walls from the re-pop (Marx Toys Corp from 1995) were used. As an homage to the original Marx playset I put the "Davy Crockett At The Alamo" gate on the west wall (that's the wall in the very front that you're looking at in the main photo). Of course it doesn't belong there because entry into the compund was managed by a port cochere' in the south wall. For that I used a second Marx "Davy Crockett At The Alamo" gate. I cobbled together a Long Barracks in the upper left (the north east corner) using extra wall sections. There are two foam gun ramps from an early Classic Toys Soldiers (CTS) playset and a foam repaired north wall from The Hobby Bunker (The real Alamo had a breach in its north wall which had been hastily repaired prior to the siege). Figures are Marx re-pop, CTS, BMC/Americana, Wm Britains, and Britains DSG.There's only three cannons in the compound and one used by Mexican artillerymen. Depending on which account or which drwaing you're looking at the compound had anywhere from13-15 cannons. I don't know how many the Mexican army employed.

I culled this drawing of the Alamo compound from Pinterest. It's about as good as any and while some details may differ from drawing to drawing that you come across, the basics are there.

My set-up as it looked on 12 Mar 2021

Jim Bowie's Last Stand is represented here in the Long Barracks, but in truth he was in his quarters next to the port cochere' on the south wall.

Notice the well near the Long Barracks

Marx Toy Corp., MIB Unopened 'Davy Crockett At The Alamo' Playset No. 3538 (1995) - Not 'Unopened' Any More! - Pt 5

Every Alamo playset from Marx Toys included a packet of paper goods with a nice 8x10 photo of Fess Parker as Davy Crockett, COA, instructions, and pamphlets with nicely detailed histories of the siege as well as a history of Marx Toys. Enjoy! Opa Fritz