Marx Battleground, Training Center, and Other Military Playset Pieces - Marx Repo Destroyed Building

This Marx 'destroyed' cabin is a rare piece which came, I believe, in only one or two playsets. Why Marx didn't include it in more sets is a beyond anyone's ability to successfully answer. The scarcity is such that these command premium prices. So, when this repo came up for sale some years back on fleaBay at a reasonable price, I snatched it up. It's a case of good 'nuff. Based on Marx's downsized cabin, it's made of heavy cardstock laminated with glossy photo copies of the actual building components all held together by hot glue. My only complaint is that hot glue was used on the outside of the building to hold the roof to the walls. Most of the time you can't see it but it is unsightly. It did not include a chimney of any kind. It measures: o'all 8.625" (21.90cm) W x at roof, 4.5" (11.43cm) D at roof, x 4.25" (10.79cm) H at roof peak. 

Ed

My only complaint: using hot glue on the outside, where it can be seen easily

Held together by hot glue

Shown here with a Britains Deetail 54mm German motorcycle rider for comparison

NEW SERIES: Marx Battleground and Training Center Playset Pieces - Destroyed House

This has been a l-o-n-g overdue series. There's sooo much Marx military toys sitting out in The Cave and I just recently got serious about photographing them. There's more than enough to start a new series, however, I am not going to break the series down into 'parts', like Pt 1, Pt 2, etc. because there'll be like 5000 parts when all is said and done!

As a kid I never had a Marx Battleground or Training Center playset, yet I still remember them, most likely the result of my folks buying smaller header bag, or carded sets vs. the larger boxed ones (although I did actually get several large Marx playsets as a kid). As an adult collector I always shied away from them because of costs and I only have one boxed Training Center playset. But I do have a multitude of the individual pieces that came in the playsets! A few pieces have already been posted on the blog like the three airplanes that Marx included in their big boxes. Those were posted back in 2023. Then, just yesterday I posted the CH-37 Mojave helicopter which appeared in some of their very first big box offerings

This extract from the 1958 Sears Wishbook is the first reference I could find of a Marx Battleground playset. You can clearly see the Mojave helicopter as well as the destroyed house which is featured here today. The write-up calls it a 'bombed out building' although I've seen it referred to variously as destroyed building or house, or mansion. Call it whatever you want I s'pose!.

My memories of this piece comes from the Civil War Centennial playset I got in 1961, but little did I know at the time that it was already a three year old accessory.

The house measures: 6" (15.24cm) W x 2.5" (6.35cm) D x 3.25" (8.25cm) H