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I make toys for kids who don't want to grow up. I'm on the lookout for new projects. If you're interested in commissioning me to build something ridiculous, shoot me an email.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Combat Garden Gnome Radioman is Ready to Ship Out!

Somewhere in the wilds of a suburban garden plot right now there's a platoon of garden gnomes pinned down by suppressing fire from a hedgerow.  In the past they'd have to hunker down and wait until the opposing forces ran out of ammo or hope some friendly unit happened to be within yelling distance. 

That was before they enlisted the help of the Combat Garden Gnome Radioman:
Combat Garden Gnome Radioman

At first glance he's mostly harmless. He doesn't even have a weapon, just the comically oversized A/N PRC-25 Portable Radio set:
Combat Garden Gnome Radioman Back

But that's before he calls in an aerial bombardment and churns the very earth beneath your feet into a broiling hell that Dante could never have imagined.
Radio Kaboom

The Radioman is carefully chosen. He has to be someone with experience and steady nerves who won't get rattled under fire. He has to be able to read maps, too. If something happens to the commanding officer, the Radioman is essentially in command of the unit, calling in fire support, medevacs, and reinforcements. It's also an exceptionally dangerous job, since the conspicuous radio antenna says to the enemy "Shoot ME first!"

Here's a closeup of the details on top of his radio pack:
Radio Gnome Pack Details

The A/N PRC-25 (called the "prick 25" by GIs) is a compact, lightweight, tactical, VHF solid-state portable radio set. Over its service life more than 130,000 sets were produced. Although mainly designed for manpack use, the PRC-25 can be mounted in vehicles or aircraft as well. It can survive a 50-foot drop from a helicopter onto a steel plank runway or up to an hour submerged in six feet of water and still function reliably. It was the most widely used piece of communication equipment in Vietnam and no suburban lawn is truly secure without one.

I've got a handful of these guys listed in the Etsy shop.  You can order your own by clicking HERE.
Radio Gnome Scale Reference

More projects in the works as always.  Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any updates.

7 comments:

  1. Hi
    It’s hard to find knowledgeable people regarding but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks for sharing this with others.

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  2. These are awesome. So I think the next pieces you should work on are terrain pieces. I'm thinking mushroom shaped gun emplacements that will fit some of the the other figures. Maybe a bunker. What about vehicles? I bet a jeeps would go over well. and have you thought of making "the enemy"? Who are these guys fighting anyway? Fairies? Unicorns? Demonic woodland animals? Think about it. People could have a whole set battle in their back yards. Then you could make up a rule system and people could play their backyards like 40k. Giant miniatures.

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  5. Do you know where else I could find this gnome? The link you provided isn't working so I'm assuming Etsy is sold out.

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  6. Any chance of ordering another Signaller Gnome? I work for a military signals unit and this would be awesome for a mascot.

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  7. I would love to get my hands on another signaller gnome. I work as a military signaller and would love to get one of these as a unit mascot. Can we get another?

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