Althouse: "Imagine playing with your toy soldiers in this: a 1/84th scale miniature model of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan..."

July 24, 2012

"Imagine playing with your toy soldiers in this: a 1/84th scale miniature model of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan..."

"It features a wealth of tiny details, including a Hot Wheels–sized red moving van parked out front and true-to-life foliage in the compound’s inner courtyard."

18 comments:

ndspinelli said...: When I worked @ a large loop law firm the in-house engineer had made a model of a large warehouse that had burned. It was made for our reference and also for a jury. The case settled and a partners kid had a warehouse model. Poor fucking kid w/ a cheapskate old man.

This model would be fun.; 7/24/12, 10:50 AM
KJE said...: No joke; I have a Roarke's Drift toy soldier set.

I enjoy deploying them in the horns of the buffalo formation.; 7/24/12, 10:51 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Imagine playing.

No.

It's interesting. A model. Six weeks. A long time. A full scale one too. And then, after telling us all that, it is just one of several models. And now I am curious what several means. They made three? eighteen models? Why so many? How many different groups of analysts does a thing like that take? Sometimes I worry about security being insufficient and then this. I'm imagining eighteen models out there and teams of experts pouring over them and that's kind of scary too. I hope several means three. But even that seems like overkill when I visualize teams pouring over models, and making models, but no, not playing.; 7/24/12, 10:53 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: This seems as good a time as any to re-link, again, Saki's The Toys of Peace.; 7/24/12, 11:01 AM
Wince said...: "Imagine playing with your toy soldiers in this: a 1/84th scale miniature model of Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan..."

"Battle Boy."; 7/24/12, 11:02 AM
Beach Brutus said...: 1/84th - one inch equals seven feet -- that's HO Scale -- I could add a train!; 7/24/12, 11:11 AM
Rusty said...: Chip. I think what they do, once they have the proportions right, they scale it up to several different versions for more detail until they can build an actual full size mockup.
I be there is a 1/4 scale version where every bush and branch and pothole is represented.
You're going to send your guys out in harms way you want them to have every advantage.; 7/24/12, 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...: What would be closer to scale-- Lego jihadists or Playmobil jihadists?; 7/24/12, 11:33 AM
chickelit said...: Adolf Hitler had a fascination with scale models and he adored Albert Speers for creating them:

Hitler was particularly excited over a large model of the grand boulevard on a scale of 1:1000. He loved to ‘enter his avenue’ at various points and take measure of the future effect. For example, he assumed the point of view of a traveler emerging from the south station or admired the great hall as it looked from the heart of the avenue. To do so, he bent down, almost kneeling, his eye an inch or so above the level of the model, in order to have the right perspective, and while looking he spoke with unusual vivacity. These were the rare times when he relinquished his usual stiffness. In no other situation did I see him so lively, so spontaneous, so relaxed, whereas I myself, often tired and even after years never free of a trace of respectful constraint, usually remained taciturn. One of my close associates summed up the character of this remarkable relationship: ‘Do you know what you are? You are Hitler’s unrequited love!’ link; 7/24/12, 11:36 AM
chickelit said...: And here is a "fascinating" scale model of ancient Rome, commissioned by Mussolini: link; 7/24/12, 11:42 AM
Carnifex said...: The Pentagon didn't build that.; 7/24/12, 12:20 PM
edutcher said...: I wonder if they have a website for all the military miniatures guys who want to make their dioramas look more professional.

KJE said...

No joke; I have a Roarke's Drift toy soldier set.

I enjoy deploying them in the horns of the buffalo formation.

The Zulus or the Welshmen?; 7/24/12, 12:50 PM
ndspinelli said...: interesting stuff there, chickelit.; 7/24/12, 1:35 PM
Joe said...: I once built models for a living. One interesting one was a model of a curve of road where a car crashed to be used in court. I also built a model of a red Porsche 928 in the same scale (1/24).

I have no idea which side commissioned it, what the circumstances were, what argument was being made or the outcome. My job was to make an accurate representation of a stretch of road and I did.; 7/24/12, 2:06 PM
BarryD said...: "The compound was destroyed by Pakistani authorities after the raid."

To help cover up high-level Pakistani involvement with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.; 7/24/12, 2:46 PM
BarryD said...: "that's HO Scale"

HO is 1:87

Too bad, really. I think the place could use a train.

Also, Hot Wheels are available in 1:87 (standard Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars are 1:64). Standard small slot cars are also 1:87.

But of course, using a standard scale like 1:87 for which countless architectural parts, measuring equipment and other modeling supplies are readily available would be far too economical for the military.

Or did they choose 1:84 because it's common for model ships, and this was the Navy?; 7/24/12, 2:54 PM
Old RPM Daddy said...: "Or did they choose 1:84 because it's common for model ships, and this was the Navy?"

The USS Missouri in 1:84 would be a really big model -- More than ten feet long!; 7/24/12, 3:39 PM
Anonymous said...: 1:84 is close enough to 1:87 for government work. The Brits use HO scale track to run their 1:76 scale trains.; 7/24/12, 4:05 PM