The U.S.S. Vesuvius was a Spanish-American war era cruiser armed with three "dynamite guns". These weapons were giant pneumatic tubes fired by steam driven air compressors. They lobbed a shell that was effectively a can of gun-cotton to create enormous blasts. The main problems were that it was very inaccurate. And a bit prone to mechanical breakdowns, oh, also pressure kablooeys were a hazard...as was a large pile of guncotton cannisters in a ship that might be under fire.
Onfim of Novgorod was a resident of said town in the late medieval period. He is remembered historically because a number of his juvenile writing exercises have survived, in the form of incised birchbark, a medium Commonly used in the region, it seems that medieval Novgorod had a high literacy rate.
Ever since Ertl bought Britains then divested it to Tomy and First Gear, they have abandoned the nursery room level toy figure market and reached for the connoisseur level, though not in the King and Country or St. Petersburg league... kind of a low end everyman range of good quality figures. The sculpts are great, but more properly "model" than "toy" soldiers.
