Return to a stalled build - WW1 trench attack

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

Over the Christmas period I decided to take break from busts and back to this build - a WW1 scene of a British tank attacking a German trench. To keep it manageable, and the focus on the trench rather than the tank, I have chopped off half the tank and perched it slightly over the trench.

the next step is to start work on the figures, These will mainly be Master Box models figures, a singly British soldier next to the tank with 2 of three Germans in the trench looking up at the tank.

here are a few photos of the work so far:



Peter

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Looking very nice so far.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Looks great .

 

[Steve Jones]

I really must get one of these wedges built myself. This looks awesome Peter. Just watched 1917 so very poignant as well

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
A really effective way of setting the scene and still keeping the focus on the trench.
Jim

 

[Bortig the Viking]

I really must get one of these wedges built myself. This looks awesome Peter. Just watched 1917 so very poignant as well

Looking to see the film 1917, is it any good ?

 

[rtfoe]

Nice wedgie base Peter.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Deleted member 6559]

That looks great Peter. Very brave of you to cut the tank in two, but it works. Looking forward to the figures.

 

[Andy Belsey]

I too am watching eagerly. Great idea and done well!
Andy

 

[Steve Jones]

Looking to see the film 1917, is it any good ?

Its okay. Got a bit boring half way through. The sets and trenches are outstanding and the camera work was awesome. It is one contimous shot from start to finish spanning a 24hr period. Certainly worth a watch.

 

[Peter Gillson]

hi guys

thanks for the support. I think it needs some barbed wire, so this evening will be making some with 0.3mm fuse wire, as per Stan Catchpole - there's a name from the past!

peter

 

[Peter Gillson]

Not a lot done today, working on other non-modelling stuff.

this is my attempt at making barbed wire, using 0.3mm fuse wire.

Stage 1 - a lolly stick has 3 holes drilled into it and the ends of a length of wire tied to the 2 outer holes, the middle of the wire is then formed into a loop and hung on a hook.

Another length of wire is tied to the hook, passed down through the middle hole and a fishing weight attached to hold it taught.



stage 2 - The lolly stick is turned round and round and round and round to twist the wire to produce a 3-ply twisted wire:



Stage 3 - more of the wire is then twisted around the 3-ply wire ant equal (well, reasonably equal) distances along the whole length of the 3-plywire:



Stage 4 - The 'loops' are cut off leaving the twisted barbs in place:



about an hours work And I have a foot of barbed wire.

looking at it, I think it would look more in-scale if I used wire a bit thinner than 0.3.

peter

 

[Peter Gillson]

Here is a phot of the wire placed on the base. I think it is a bit too thick so i just ordered some 0..2mm fuse wire from the WWW, hopefully it will arrive quickly so I can get on re-doing the wire.

peter

 

[JR]

That SBS on the wire alone is impressive, great finish to those sharp pointed sections.
Agree with Steve about the shape of the base, certainly something I would like to try, it's just having the nerve to make that cut into the tank !

 

[Steven000]

Nice model and wire Peter

0.2 wire goodluck with that!

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Great SBS will have to try it out.

 

[SimonT]

Peter - I have the Stan Catchpole book right here - learned lots from that way back when including the barbed wire

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice SBS on the barbed wire. Only just come across Mr Catchpole and he is a very interesting read.Thanks for sharing

 

[Peter Gillson]

John, Paul, Steve (sounds like a mid-sixties folk group) - Glad to post the SBS,

Steven - I'll let you know how the .2mm wire works.

Simon and Steve - I've been a fan of Stan Catchpole ever since his stuff appeared on MilMid. I got the book as soon as it was published and still have it - a bit dog-eared. I still refer to it, shows what we can do with a bit of ingenuity. This little contraption was from his boo, I dread to think how many years ago and still in daily use;



Peter

 

[Peter Gillson]

That SBS on the wire alone is impressive, great finish to those sharp pointed sections.
Agree with Steve about the shape of the base, certainly something I would like to try, it's just having the nerve to make that cut into the tank !

John - be brave, with a cheap kit.

here is a pdf of an article I wrote for MM in 2001 (was it really that long ago?) which show how I chopped up a Panther to make 4 bases.