My Lego custom Spanish Civil War minifigs

Today I show you my latest minifigs. Spanish Civil War ones. Finally I recreate something about the main war of my countires recent history. A war that still causes trouble nowadays in our society. But well this post is just to show the minifigs I have done and that's what I'm going to do. Enjoy !

Let's start with the Nationalist army. Thats the winner side. The one of the army officers who did the Coup d'Etat incluiding the later dictator Francisco Franco. First soldier is a Legionario. Founded in 1920 the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 found them in North Africa busy defending the Spanish colonial territory in the actual Morocco. The Lego version wears a custom cap made by me and the uniform you will see in the drawing below. The BrickArms Kar 98k represents a Spanish Mauser 1893 very used during the war. Torso from the Lego Indiana Jones theme and painted boots. The pouches gear is from Brickwarriors.

Source: https://elimperiodedes.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/la-guerra-civil-espanola-los-primeros-5-dias/

Next we find a regular from the North African troops. Local men with Spanish officers. Torso is a Lego Olive Green torso with a decal over it from the amazing Roaglaan Decals. ( You can check his shop here https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoaglaansCustoms?page=1#items)

Source: https://www.pinterest.es/pin/13370130128843238/

More examples. Source: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/557390891386225655/

Next one is a soldier from a colonial unit from Equatorial Guinea. painted cap and boots again. 

Source: https://historiayguerra.net/2015/05/15/uniformes-de-la-guerra-civil-espanola-1a-parte-bando-nacional/

Now it's turn for the foreigners units from the future Axis powers sent to Spain to beat democracy. First comes the German Luftwaffe members. A pilot and a ground assistant. They belonged to the Condor Legion sent to Spain by Adolf Hitler and they wore tropical uniforms. Cap from 7Toys7 and rest are all official Lego parts. Boots printed.

Source: https://www.amazon.es/Condor-Legion-German-Troops-Spanish-ebook/dp/B01BY3ESLS

To finish the Nationalist troops we have a couple of Italian minifigs. Mussolini sent around 60.000 men alongside many CV-33 tankettes and cannons and MGs. First a regular Italian soldier in the same uniforms they were using at the time in their African Campaings. Torso from Lego Indiana Jones theme and the legs belong to a minifig from the Lego collectible minifigures.

Source: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/62768988534729429/

And finally an Italian tank crewman. Same uniform they would use in Africa until they finally replaced the black coat with something lighter to fight the heat. To create the minifig I painted the boots as usual and used an interesting torso from the Lego theme Adventurers (Late 90s and early 2000s). Cap from Brickwarriors.

Source: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/272327108698036033/ 

Turn now for the republican forces. The variety here seems even bigger due the big number of militias involved specially in the first months of the wars. Supporters of the goverment and comunists and anarchists joined to create the Popular Front made to fight the fascists and defend the leftist government people had chosen months ago before the war broke out. 

First the regular army soldier. Painted boots and torso from Lego Indiana Jones. Helmet from BrickArms because the original one is very similar to the German Stahlhelm.

Source: https://historiayguerra.net/2015/05/15/uniformes-de-la-guerra-civil-espanola-2a-parte-bando-republicano/

More republic soldiers. Uniforms are a nightmare when it comes to Spanish Civil War so thats why following soldier have different uniforms than previous ones. A NCO and a soldier:

Inspired by this soldier from the Pi y Suñer column.

Source: https://historiayguerra.net/2015/05/15/uniformes-de-la-guerra-civil-espanola-2a-parte-bando-republicano/  

Catalan soldiers. Some units fought for the freedom of Catalonia as an independent state once war was over. Even the Spanish government didn't want the independence of Catalonia to happen they lost the war and with Franco in the power things got worse and once German Gestapo arrested the president of the Catalan Government in France he was executed in the castle of Montjuic in Barcelona. His name was Lluis Companys and a stadium in the little mountain of Montjuic has his name. The flags should be the separatist flag but I decided to use the republican Spanish one because it's easier to do. 

Mosin Nagant guns sent from the USSR and typical red Catalan cap

Both inspired in the soldier on the right.
Source: https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/797911258958670843/

Now a pair of Republican officers. Painted boots and torsos used as leather jackets. Cap of right officer is from BrickWarriors.

Source: http://miniaturasjm.com/uniformologia/uniformes-espaoles-guerra-civil-espaola/

Russian tanker in Spain. Many came to teach Spanish units the way vehicles and planes worked andhelped even fighting alongside their spanish comrades against the enemies.

Same uniform used in WW2. Full black or full dark blue would be accurate too

Source: https://www.ebay.com/p/1840309588

Next one is a group of armed civilians . There were many militias specially in the first months of the war and these soldiers could belong to any of both armies but I decided to put picture here.

Next will be International Brigdes soldiers to finish this post. We will start with a soldier from the Abraham Lincoln battalion. Painted Lego cap with Brickwarriors gear and Citizen Brick legs. Weapon is a painted Lebel 1886 from BrickArms.

Source: http://miniaturasjm.com/uniformologia/uniformes-espaoles-guerra-civil-espaola/

Next minifig is based in Oliver Law as a tribute to him. First black soldier to lead a unit of American white men. He was leader of Lincoln Battalion but got killed in the summer of 1937. He was 36 and as some of his comrades have told he died leading his troops in the first line of the battlefield. A shame many belonged to comunist parties so nobody remembers the International Brigades volunteers who fought against the fascism already in the 30s. Actor Paul Robeson thought about making a film about him after the Second World War but wasn't a good idea due the politics in the USA about comunist stuff and project was left aside.

Source: https://elpais.com/diario/2006/06/25/domingo/1151207557_850215.html

Source: https://www.elespanol.com/cultura/historia/20200628/oliver-law-comandante-guerra-civil-sacrifico-republica/500700648_0.html

And finally some regular soldiers of the International Brigades. Uniforms were again so diverse. The cap in the right is from Brickmania.

Farewell of the International Brigades in October 1938 when they left Spain before the defeat of the Republic troops. Picture from the great Robert Capa. Source: https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/collections/estate-stamped/farewell-ceremony-for-the-international-brigades-spain-october-1938/

For further reading I recommend you writers like Paul Preston or Antony Beevor and to see the amazing art the Spanish artist Augusto Ferrer Dalmau does like the following picture.

Hope you guys liked this post and these minifigs. Feel free to share your thoughts or doubts. 

Project Megálē Hellás: The Ancient Greece in Lego

Hey! This is a series of posts I plan to do here where I will show the stuff I build related to the Ancient Greece. The main goal I have is to show something I never showed before since I always show the finished result (a minifig or a group of them, a vehicle or a MOC I build or a stopmotion) but never the process it has until it's done. I want to inspire people seeing this to build their own things too and it will include some fast history lessons about what I build. Nothing special. I'm not the one to teach big things anyway. 

Photo of the Parthenon in Athens.
Source: https://www.history.com/news/ancient-greece-architecture-photos

The Ancient Greece was formed by a group of different cities-state (Polis) being the most famous ones Athens and Sparta. Sparta is my main inspiration to build. I'm not going to lie guys. My favourite moment and battle of the Ancient era is the Battle of the Thermopylae (even Roman Empire era is one of my favourite ones to study). One of my favourite battles of the whole history. What could be more epic than 300 men (plus 1000 from another Polis history forgots about) fighting against around 100.000-300.000 enemies ? 

Source: Pinterest

So far I have only done a test of minifigs trying around custom clothes over them to check how they look. Lego has a Spartan minifig from a Minifig Series already but it's yellow. They are so expensive sadly. I want mines in Flesh color (sorry Light Nougat ;-) hehe). I think it has never been done before at least I haven't seen them. If you search for Lego Spartans on Google you will find some very interesting stuff. Battle of Thermopylae for example has been done several times still I think what I will do won't be just the same as it can happen with WW2 related builds since WW2 is what most people (included me) build about.

The minifigs test I have done so far.

For the minifigs I will use the original torso LEGO used with legs that are fully light nougat color or at least in the bottom part so I can use them with the piece of red clothes over it as shown above. Due to the costs of the stuff I want my Spartans to have some parts will be fake Lego parts from AliExpress like the helmet or the sword. I hope you don't mind it guys haha. Legs torso including arms and hands plus head will be official Lego parts so the minifig is technically all original :-)

In the next updates I will show you how to create the clothes. (very easy but anyway I want to show so everyone who wants can do their own customs)

Hope you like how this idea sounds. Can't wait to see where it takes and which things I'm able to show you in the next months. I'm really excited about it.

By the way Megálē Hellás is how was called in old Greek language the cities they funded in the (nowadays) Italian part. 

To finish here you have some great epic inspiration with the cinematic videos of Assassins Creed Odyssey about the Battle of Thermopylae.

XIX century canons

 Here today I will show you how to build the 3 artillery cannons you see in the picture below. 

From left to right: M1853 "Napoleon Cannon", Napoleonic Wars
12 Pounder cannon and a smaller Napoleonic Wars 6 Pounder cannon

First we will start with the M1853 Napoleon Cannon used a lot in the USA Civil War. Here´s the parts you need to build it. 

Click on the pictures to see them bigger. All are LEGO parts but I needed to use 2 BrickArms Monopods also in order to make the build much better. 

First step

Second step. One BA monopod must hold the other one and the 1x2
modified tile must hold the first of them as shown above

Now start using the 1x1 round plates with holes. Put the first one
as the picture shows

Now we put one wheel and the other 1x1 round plate will go in the center
of the wheel fixing the wheel to the long Light Bluish Gray bar. The modified 1x1 black tile with the clip must go right above the brown modified tile with the clip. Check they fit properly (probably won't alow you to rotate going down with the modified 1x1 tile because it will crash with the brown one below)

Now we do the same with the other wheel in the other side

No we will do the tube. Both parts in the right side must be connected together and it will go in the front side of the black 1x1 modified plate. The ones in the left side goes the Technic one inside the round brick and them together fit in the back part of the mentioned modified plate. Results in the next picture

Now in the empty stud we must add this black part to hold a long bar that will represent the sticks used to clean the barrel of the gun and push the powder to the rear (or even better if it's another Black or Reddish Brown 1x1 modified tile with clip)

Must look like this

Finished !

Now the next cannon. The little 6 Pounder gun. A fast and easy build.

Parts needed

3L bar must join the Technic parts in the thickest part as shown 2 pictures down

Now the same in the opposite side. The space left in the middle (of both sides) must
 allow the clip of an 1x1 modified tile to fit in the middle of the Technic parts

Now the same in the bottom part

Must look like that

Now we build the barrel as we did in the previous cannon

Now this little parts in the longest bar to separate the wheel from the tube

Now we put the wheels in their place...

... and the black 1x1 round parts at the end of each side of the bar
 to avoid the falling of the wheels

Finished !

The last one will be my favourite. The 12 Pounder cannon. 

The parts you need

This is a cut tube around 2 cm long

The tube must go inside the side holes and the 1x1 plate under the
 1x1 modified brick as shown above

The same we did in the previous cannon

We add this Technic part to hold the barrel later. Doing it that way
we will leave empty the center space to make a bucket hang

Now we add a 1cm long tube with a 1x1 modified tile with the
clip in the tube as you can see in the picture

Now we do the barrel. The same we did in both previous cannons

Step done

Now the rest of the barrel

Now we will add the wheels. First the black round plate as
you see in the picture below

Now we put the wheel...

... and the round plate with the hole in the end of the bar as always

Step done

The same in the other side

Now we put the BrickArms U-Clip we need in the handle
 of the bucket

And we put in right under the barrel in the bar

And finally another modified plate with the clip looking up

Finished ! Vive l'empereur !

Finally guys let's clarify something. All the cannons have the same width of the barrel so you can use this trick below.

Using this ice cream part you can put it inside the barrel and act as if it is smoke of the BrickArms Cannonball shown below because it fits perfect! No lie. Fits that perfect that now I can't take it out so take care haha 

Enjoy your new artillery guys :-)