Toy soldiers provide history lesson at Cantigny
Nick Albanese knows what you're thinking.
Here he is, a grown man, someone who used to work in the rough-and-tumble construction industry, and you know what he likes to do when he sneaks off to the family room at night?
Paint toy soldiers.
Go ahead, roll your eyes. Snicker. Albanese doesn't care because first, after all these years, it still relaxes him and second, he turned his hobby into a long-running business called Camp Randall Miniatures in Watertown, Wisconsin.
Oh, yeah, here's the other thing: He's the fellow who has been organizing the annual Toy Soldier Show at Cantigny Park in Wheaton for right around 15 years now.
And when folks come out to see the work he and 17 other dealers do, as they did Sunday at the Visitors Center, they discover those toy soldiers - and the even more detailed "miniatures" - are really pretty darn cool.
People of all ages were able to get a close look at the soldiers, many just a couple inches high, that represent nearly every conflict you can name, dating back to the Vikings and continuing through Napoleon to the Civil War, to World War II, to Vietnam and beyond.
Some of the most intricate pieces feature everything from shaded wrinkles in the soldiers' pants to five o'clock shadows on their faces.
Albanese himself specializes in World War I soldiers, partly because they helped "change the world," he says, and partly because it's a time period that's far enough removed from the present to reduce some of the sting.
His high-gloss figures, generally about 2ΒΌ-inches tall, take hours and hours to paint. He says he's honed his technique over the years, usually starting with the raised portions of the figure, such as a backpack, and working his way down.
He's meticulous in his work, but not quite to the extent of some other hobbyists.
"There are guys," he says, "who are a bit anal about it."
Show visitor Michael Johnson of Naperville was interested in the historically accurate flags that were for sale, saying "it is an unique accessory that individualizes a display". Johnson, like many others attending the show, are fascinated by the realistic details put into the figures and display pieces.
The Cantigny show, Albanese says, is a great way to introduce the hobby to others, and perhaps even to interest a kid or two in picking it up.
You also could learn a little history because most of the booths on Sunday featured men - and occasionally women - more than happy to talk about their work and the time period their soldiers represented.
Albanese likes to share his knowledge, too, but that's not his favorite part of the Cantigny show.
That, he says, he can sum up in just one word: "Selling."