I have a friend from high school days that was... and is... a fan of all things retro sci fi. He found the kit for the Heat Ray in a junk shop many years ago... When he visited a couple years back he happened to have it with him... always knowing that I usually had a ready population of N scale figures to terrorize...
Of course, the Martians aren't the only issue the townsfolk would have...
But they're not completely unprepared...