WW1 Tin Soldier, American Infantry "Doughboy"

Today I have an interesting piece of history to present............ a WW1 Tin Soldier.  Sweet Pea spotted this one in a box of junk at a yard sale............. yard sale pricing made the purchase all that more rewarding!

This particular soldier was most likely made after the war, no later than the 1930's.  It was intended to be part of a child's target game.  The tin soldiers were shot at with toy gun darts, and when they were knocked over, they showed the "score points" on the base.  If you look close on the face of this soldier, you can see the pock-mark of a "direct hit" with something harder than a dart...... maybe a BB.

Here is a photo gallery of our new "Doughboy"

Bundesgrenzschutz-See Stoffabzeichen, Bundesgrenzschutz Shoulder Patch

 Today's posting is a quick show case of an often overlooked area of Bundesgrenzschutz uniforms, the Bundesgrenzschutz-See.  The Bundesgrenzschutz-See was a component of the German Coast Guard, or Küstenwache (They are still part of the Küstenwache, but they are now part of the Bundespolizei, and not called BGS-See any more).  The BGS-See patrolled the coast with large patrol boats and helicopters.  The old BGS-See is now part of the Bundespolizei Küstenwache and wears the patch with "Polizei" above the eagle....... no arch like the originals.


This first patch set was cut from an old BGS-See service shirt.  This patch set does a great job illustrating the color of the service shirts and the method of stitching on the patches.

The second patch set is a set that was removed from the BGS-See parka.  The arch patch is small and was sized to fit on the shoulder pocket flap.

To finish things up, here are a few BGS-See archive photos:

This patrol boat has the new hull color of the Bundespolizei, but still has "BG" on its hull, showing that it is still Bundesgrenzschutz...... from the "transition time".

Coleman 425B Two Burner Camp Stove, Gasoline fired, circa 1950's

This last Sunday, Sweet Pea and I stopped by the Children's Thrift, thrift store in Port Townsend on our way home from running an errand or two.  I picked up another Colman camp stove for the ever growing vintage camping collection.  The stove was marked with a 25% off tag and I ended up getting it for about the cost of a cup of coffee!

The stove has never been fueled or fired up and retains nearly 98% of the original paint and finish.  There is a little bit of storage corrosion on the fuel supply tube and fittings, but that should clean up nicely.  The only markings that I can find on the stove is the old style Coleman emblem inside the lid, and the stamped in model number and company information,

There is not much definitive information about what years that this model was produced, but from what I can tell from my research, the Model 425B was manufactured from 1949 through the 1950's and maybe into the very early 1960's.  I would guess that this stove falls firmly in the 1950's zone.  This model stove is designed to burn white gas (gasoline without any additives, commonly sold as "Coleman Fuel").

I'll do a little bit of cleaning on the stove before firing it up, but until then, enjoy these pictures:

Bridgestone MB 4 Trail Blazer Mountain Bike Update: Clean Bike!

Here's a quick update on the Bridgestone MB 4 from the previous post.....................  The bike's been cleaned up and ready for phase 2 of the restoration............

Here are a few pictures of the clean bike.  It still needs to have a tune up, a few bolts and screws replaced, cables, etc., but aside form that it looks pretty good!

Here are a shot from the Sun Tour parts catalog showcasing the X-1 drive train group that is on the bike:

Here are a few shots from the 1991 Ritchey component catalog...... you'll notice that many of the Ritchey parts on this bike are in these pages.  The last shot details the tube set that this bike is constructed of.

1990 Bridgestone MB 4 Trail Blazer Mountian Bike, Richey Logic Tube Set

View from the "Top Of The Hill", on the Lake Anderson Trail.  That's Discovery Bay, with Protection Island behind that, and Vancouver Island, BC, behind that!  About 4-5 miles of groomed single-track trail with jumps, ladders, bridges, etc., for the adventurous mountain bikers out there!

 This last Friday,  Sweet Pea and I stopped by the Hadlock Thrift Store in Port Hadlock, on our way home from a fantastic hike on the Lake Anderson Mountain Bike Trail.  We had fantastic weather, a great time, the mountain to ourselves, and to end it all perfectly, I spotted a "dusty and dirty old bike" at the thrift store.  On closer inspection, the bike revealed itself as a vintage Bridgestone MB 4 Trail Blazer mountain bike, with a frame built out of Ritchey Logic tubing!

The bike was covered in sticky dirt and grime (the "stored in a barn" kind of grime, not the "outside in the rain" kind of grime), but only that.............all the components are in great shape and function perfectly (well, not all parts are perfect, as you will see, it needs a new chain....).  After cleaning it up, inflating the tires, and adjusting the saddle, I took it for a spin around the block and found that it rode, shifted and braked perfectly!  I did a little browsing through some old Bridgestone catalogs and found that the bike was a 1990 model year.  The saddle is stamped with a 1989 date code, so this fits perfectly.

1990 Bridgestone Bicycle Catalog

The MB 4 Trail Blazer was the bottom of the "High End" mountain bikes built by Bridgestone.  These Bridgestones that were built with the Ritchey Logic tubing are legendary and still have a cult-like following.  The Bridgestone mountain bikes of the 1980's and early 1990's, were designed by Grant Peterson who later broke away and started his own company called Rivendell Bicycle Works.  His designs were revolutionary in the mountain bike world and nearly every rigid mountain bike made today copies his geometry.  His frames had much steeper frame angles and shorter chain stays that made his designs much quicker and nimbler.  At the time this design was considered "radical", but now is the accepted norm.  Here's a great interview from 37 Signals, that interviewed Grant Peterson this last February.  A great article with great insight into Peterson's unique philosophies and style:  Bootstrapped-Profitable-Proud-Rivendell

1990 Bridgestone Bicycle Catalog

One very cool thing about this bike is the tube set that was used to construct it.  Ritchey Logic tube frames were and are cutting edge in lightness and strength!  Here's a page out of the 1992 Ritchey catalog describing their tube sets:

I'll take a few pictures of the cleaned and tuned bicycle soon and make a second posting, but for now, here are the "as we found it" pictures of the bicycle...... As a side note, the bike cleaned up BEAUTIFULLY!!!  Under all that grime was a near perfect bicycle and components!