Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Raoul Kunz »

So while I still have no hint on how to do the corrugated irons but I invested some money into.... guess.. more sandbags :lol: ...

So here's sandbags made from, well, fabric.
They come empty with no way of closing them... I filled the trial ones here with some fine earth.
The look... hm... okay-ish-y...
Well, let me elaborate a bit:
They are a bit oversized (see our KuK officer for scale) but this is okay as I suppose there where all kinds of sizes for sandbags, given that those where everywhere for four years of war.
The true problems are really a) there is no way of closing them properly, and it's really annoyingly fiddly doing this with string... and I wouldn't like to do this for a couple of hundreds... It can be done... okay... but it's really fiddly and annoying as mentioned earlier (as in: 24 words back... :roll: )...
The other, not entirely insubstantial, problem is the unchangeable fact that they are, while looking fine initially, way too "rough" in weave for scale...

Assessment: nice, okay-ish, but because of several factors I would not, actually will not, use them on the completely exposed segments.
They look decent on top of the ground ones when placed transversely as long as something is above them and they are not fully exposed to vision... so another slightly more high def layer for the trenches, still not a one to be exposed.

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As for the corrugated iron, I've been thinking about getting some resin (or of any material really) and using it as "stamp" to form lead foil on them because lead foil would be near to ideal, being "ruin-able" as well as looking already appropriately the raw ;) . We'll see... probably won't work, but that's my calculated pessimism speaking here :lol: .


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Raoul G. Kunz
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Steve Hutchinson »

""I need to be creative, to feel ALIVE!""

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Okay...

Wow...

October...
....
...
..
.
:oops:

So instead of embarrassing myself by proving that I seem to have forgotten basic methods for ageing ( :oops: :? ) I decided to go ahead and actually start this presumptuous eldritch abomination of a project. :twisted:

And because starting out in '14 would be plain logical I start at 18, more specifically with Operation Michael, the "Kaiserschlacht" (emperor's battle), the final German offensive, the long overdue return to mobile warfare which would last until the end of the war (gods willing there will be plates for everything eventually... in a couple of years - I have great plans...*evilcackling* :lol: ).
This "German side" plate will have stormtroopers moving out of their trenches under artillery fire and clean out some forward employed British posts utilizing some new hardware including the 08/15 "light" (as if, haha) MG, shorter 98s (K98a, not to be confused with the K98k of the 30s) and quick movement from cover to cover.

This will be a first for me using a lot of items I sourced from work including tons of "sandbags" as well as cork (though this isn't a first) to from the landscape roughly and then it will be smoothed by covering the whole thing with thermoplastic strengthening material (that's the rolled up material in the photograph) to smooth it all out into a more organic shape and moving forward from that point on with all kinds of debris and filler-based mud.

I honestly have zero idea how this will turn out and what obstacles may still reveal themselves over the course of this endeavour, but in the words of one of my favourite fictional characters: let's be about it! ;)

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Raoul G. Kunz

Sorry again for the long absence, sometimes life simply kicks you in the shins :lol: :roll: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Adam Durrant »

Saying you have your work cut out for you would be an understatement :D
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Vincent Power »

That's a lot of sandbags Raoul :shock:

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Thanks!
Yeah... it's a lot of sandbags.. and they're just the fillers to push the volume of the parapet and parados... still thinking about how to do the proper ones on top... ;)

Anyway - here's the setup of the trench so far, nothing is glued in any way here and there will probably be some storage positions in the rear wall of the trench, I don't think I'll start out with MG positions since it will be just a jumping off position for the storm troopers... also I want to train my trench building abilities a bit before moving into the really strong, hardened German positions, all concrete and hardened positions, of the mid-war operations, such as the elements of Hindenburg Line... they're something for '17 :lol: .

Don't mind the '14 KuK officer, he's there for scale :lol: .
A bit like the KuK Empire in this war... :roll:

With parapet=>
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With parados added=>
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Once I've done the no man's land section and tested of my insane plan of using thermoplastics on it (who knows how THAT will work out...) I'll start adding detail - planks, wooden ladders (as in.. built from actual wood, not this plastic one here, though it's actually a nice little piece), the odd tin cup and the like...


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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Philipp Gross »

That's...huge :shock:

Very nice Raoul...can't wait to see this built up.

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Thanks!

All right here's something boring: planking of the firing step!
Yay!
Needs to be done though :lol: ;) .

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Minor-mini-micro-still-alive-update:

I decided to buy a sheet of "Micro-cork" (20% finely ground cork, 80% EVA plastic - has no memory when heated and cools down to a fairly fixed and stable form again... it's thermoplastics... ;) ) which is what I planned to use on top of the cork structures anyway but turns out there's an even thinner version available than the 3mm version, so I decided to get a 2mm sheet because it's really cheap when bought at wholesale prices... and since I bought it along with the usual weekly shopping spree at work at the local wholesaler... :lol:

I suppose I might do something with it in it's own good time ;) .


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Re: Huge scale-, insane-, won't be done by 11th/11th-, timeline-dio

Post by Shawn Ramsey »

Wow, Wow, Wow Raoul.

Why do we do this to ourselves??? :twisted: "Insane" is certainly fitting for this diorama. Those sand bags alone, must have cause a significant level of stress and alcohol consumption.

Great work.

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