Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Interwar => Topic started by: Bearwoodman on 11 May 2024, 10:59:13 PM
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As regular readers of @leadboy’s Herefordshire 1938 blog will know, it is traditional to set a Modelling Challenge in advance of the Autumn Big Game that he runs, and this year is no exception: https://hereford1938avbcwtng.blogspot.com/2024/02/modelling-challenge-2024-ladies-to.html
Moreover, this time entries from those who are unable to attend the actual battle (like me) have been formally invited (admittedly a lack of invitation has not stopped me previously, but it is always nice to be asked).
The challenge is in two parts and involves both painting up a female character from those dark days of 1938 Herefordshire and creating an “urban barricade” as a contribution towards the construction of the battlefield for the Autumn Big Game.
I have a few ideas for a suitable female personality marinating in my mind, but it was actually the construction of a barricade that caught my imagination initially. I note from studying the rules of the Challenge (I am of course a stickler for rules as my previous Modelling Challenge entry will attest) that non-attending participants are not strictly required to enter a barricade, but I thought it sounded fun and I am very happy to post the result to someone who will be there if I actually end up making something that will be of use.
I am not actually a VBCW player, in fact I have very few non-Napoleonic historical figures in 28mm scale. So my initial thought was that a 1938 era barricade would be difficult to produce from stuff I already owned. But while admiring @TacticalPainter’s impressive work creating destroyed armoured vehicles for his 20mm Second World War games (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135881.165) I realised that:
(a) a burnt out tank would make the basis for a pretty solid barricade; and
(b) that I was fortunate to be in possession of a quantity of tanks the smouldering wreaks of which were known to have been a common sight in the fields and towns of Herefordshire in 1938: the (in)famous Mk I SHODDY.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/c7886de6-42e2-43e1-ab17-dc45f5624388.jpg)
Now I have converted these cheap plastic toy tanks in the past but only for use in a Sci-fi setting (apart from one rather unusual and definitely non-military issue conversion for use by @Moriarty’s sinister VBCW cultists) so it would take a bit of thought to change the basic model to make it look a bit more period appropriate. After minutes of research on the internet I decided that the British Cruiser Mark IV tank (see below) would be my source of inspiration.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/51688581-6f59-4da0-905f-dd33ec303928.jpg)
It is a tank from the correct period and is not entirely dissimilar in proportions to the basic SHODDY. I would not be trying to make an exact replica, just to take a few visual clues from the historical tank and apply them to my cheap plastic tank, in particular:
1. Single, smaller main gun
2. A taller turret
3. Rivets!
4. Distinctive sloped armour on the side of the turret
5. Distinctive sloping armoured mudguards
I cut away a bit of track to try and make it look like the vehicle was disabled before it was destroyed.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/cad0a6d4-ecd1-4481-8090-e2b2d9e3ba55.jpg)
I used one of the gun barrels that came with the basic SHOODY as the main armament but shortened it and removed the muzzle break. The coaxial machine gun was made from a bit of cocktail stick.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/5478a67b-d0c5-4844-95d5-525afc22502b.jpg)
The severed muzzle break was re-purposed as the bow machine gun – I though it looked a bit like an armoured cover for a water-cooled gun.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ff077199-b5c1-4c48-b6ab-00f8736f93a5.jpg)
I also found I had a left over set of exhausts from a 1:72 model Panther tank I had made some years ago and added that.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/9597e5e5-b7a3-45cf-ad86-1700d3222507.jpg)
I cut out the turret hatches and glued them open to make the tank look as though it had been abandoned.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/b50ca407-5e3b-4222-ab25-2220d81ae79c.jpg)
I added some chunky milliput rivets and a few other bits and then primed it black.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/7b908c8b-7ae4-440d-99ac-e5d1702a90f6.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/620ef8fa-e027-422d-90c3-e6689b07bbd8.jpg)
Painting next!
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Good work. I look forward to the painted example.
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Hi Bear!
Determined to get our noses back to the grindstone, are you? Well, I’ll be grabbing some inspiration from the SCW, and producing a ‘washerwoman’ with clothesline and draped sheets - the resultant lack of view terrifying the enemy drivers and stalling their advance indefinitely!
May the best woman win!
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Thanks @has.been. I will be trying some techniques for the first time so I hope it turns out ok.
Hi @Moriarty. That is an excellent idea, hanging sheets break up line of sight reducing the effectiveness of enemy snipers etc. but can also be used to conceal a nasty surprise from the opposition! On top of that the sheets themselves could be a useful canvas for political slogans, inspiring maxims or crude insults. I look forward to seeing the result!
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Woohoo! Bearwoodman (and Moriarty) are back ! Look forward to seeing the results !
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I like what you've done so far. Looking forward to A. Seeing the tank painted, and B. Seeing if/how you incorporate it into some kind of barricade...
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Hi @leadboy, thanks for setting the challenge!
Thanks @CapnJim! If/how it will be incorporated into a barricade is not yet determined. The rules of the Challenge require barricades to be submitted in lengths of 6 or 12 inches. I had thought that a burnt out tank on its own might make up a length of barricade without having to do more, but sadly the tank is amount 4 inches long so probably does not quite qualify. Adding an inch of barricade at each end hardly seems worth it though. I might make it into part of a corner section. Or lay out the tank so that it is facing perpendicular to the line of the barricade. Perhaps the tank was knocked out while driving down a street and the locals left it where is was and built out a barricade on either side of the vehicle preventing movement past it and therefore blocking the street?
On to paining. I am intending to use the "hairspray" method for creating a heavily rusted appearance (I understand that burnt tanks rust very quickly) so the first stage is to paint the rusted surface that will be painted over and later partially revealed. I used orange, brown and white paints, along with some Humbrol rust coloured pigments and some brown ink.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/64c3e35f-f839-4a80-9c93-3d7c15b3f51e.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/b9d02daa-558c-4fba-90db-4d382e1b17b9.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ce3f6bb6-85d3-48dd-b77e-23c55b1944b0.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/63098c0c-0098-4b22-a66c-890ffecceaa4.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/339adacc-0288-4a69-a32c-fd5d43ba02ab.jpg)
I then applied a coat of hairspray purchased specially for the job. Irritatingly, despite the females in my household owning an extensive collection of varied and expensive hair products, they did not possess a single can of hair spray that I could borrow.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/a7ef7cac-1b82-4c70-b8d2-3d7756fe5fe5.jpg)
Hopefully this is the right kind of hairspray!
The next stage is to paint "the paint" on the tank...
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Looking v. good Bearwoodman ! And don't worry about the length or anything - the 6 - 12 inch length for barricades was just a guideline (in the usual way of Hereford Modelling Challenges, as you know). We can always add barrels or petrol drums and/or other scatter each end as necessary.....
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Great work- love the look of this so far :)
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Thanks @Basementboy, lets see how it turns out!
Noted regarding dimensions @leadboy, thanks for the flexibility. I am considering what to do.
In the meantime I have applied a layer of paint over the hairspray. I know that 1938 Herefordshire prizes "snazzy" three-colour camouflage schemes but given the amount of rust, scorch marks and general weathering I intend to apply to this tank I thought a simple coat of vaguely military flavoured green would do. I also added a few spots of colour in the form of some red and white stripes (a bit wonky but hopefully the fire damage will disguise this) a blue triangle on one side of the turret (likewise) and a freehand white 6 on a red background that I copied from a photo I found of a Cruiser Mark III on display at Bovington (see below).
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/df44e149-63f5-44e0-a20d-0c94b0707a82.jpg)
I don't know what the "6" signifies so fingers crossed it is not laughably inappropriate to my poor (soon to be) wreaked SHODDY.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/504b4642-ab31-49ea-b1de-4a5c1e7c79df.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/9e185c22-bf72-4c85-9435-bb41cf903948.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/94c69def-c461-44f9-a3c4-c9bbc1c8a4a6.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/5171d403-bb40-47cd-9e22-993526d1c907.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/8abcdb9c-8644-4b3e-8aa7-b408250ddc26.jpg)
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That looks really good, especially considering the toy you started from. Seems almost a shame to turn it into a wreck. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it in the upcoming steps.
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Ditto from me!
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& ditto from me too.
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How about a third "ditto"?
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Thanks everyone - I am starting to feel the weight of expectant dittos!
I needed to model the thrown track and as sculpting track links is well beyond my milliput abilities I decided to cut off some of the track from another unpainted SHODDY I had in my stash and use that.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/0ae8000d-14b5-4903-8970-2b8a221cc167.jpg)
Unfortunately the moulded detail on the tracks on a SHODDY is about as good as you would expect for a very cheap plastic toy, so I decided to try to add some "teeth" to give the tracks some visual interest. These were made from cardboard cut up into small triangles. Initially I added two rows to the tracks as per the picture below, but then I realised that the Cruiser tank I was using for inspiration appeared to have only a single row of teeth on its tracks and that double rows of teeth were only probably used for vehicles with interlocking road wheels. I therefore removed the little triangles I had painstakingly attached and replaced them with a single row down the middle of the track length. It is not going to impress a proper scale AFV modeller but hopefully it looks a bit more convincing that than leaving the tracks as originally made.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/f56a9557-4c07-4f2a-bbff-e7a789aae66e.jpg)
I then moved on to the all important step of applying water to the tank and running away the top layer of paint to reveal the rust effect below. Unfortunately, despite be applying lots of water and rubbing increasing hard (first with a stiff brush, then my finger nail and eventually with a paperclip) the effect did not work. The green paint did not come away easily and if I scraped hard enough to remove the green it sometime also removed the rust paint (see the photo below). I wonder if I did not apply a thick enough layer of hairspray?
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/e2eb8617-29f0-487a-a5aa-e847877e9603.jpg)
I will try the hair spray effect again on another model some day, but I am going to have to paint the rust effects on this one in the old fashioned way: paint on top of paint..
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Sorry for not chiming in earlier, but IIRC you need to add salt to the hairspray layer and paint over that, then you scrape the salt away.
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@FramFramson Ah yes I can see that salt is mentioned in some blog posts that use the technique. Next time!
I got my rusty coloured paints out (again) and applied them without thinking about it too much (I have no understanding of why some bits of a burnt tank go orange and others brown or black or even white so I just did it in a way that looked ok to me).
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/44d6d662-e1f4-41fb-97e6-536679741082.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/c0f2e98a-f45d-4f59-b630-1c2e9b7561f9.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/a7f6308f-007a-4a64-8e77-8040b52b87fd.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/c6e0ed00-b2c2-4dcc-b09b-e83614cdd4b2.jpg)
In terms of basing I went with a piece of plasticard 6 inches by 4. The 6 inches was to fit with the Challenge rule/request for a 6 inch length of barricade, and it also left room for some unspooled track. I stuck some sandpaper to it to look like tarmac as it was meant to be an urban barricade.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/c9d112b0-e325-46b7-9cf6-82aa7f9d1b12.jpg)
I also added a few bits of debris to the base (although not too much as I am conscious this is a playing piece and the intention is that figures can take shelter behind the wreak).
While taking photos I thought I would have a go with my book of backdrops:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ec98dd57-fc8a-4cb0-a6eb-90fa017c7bee.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/97319b51-cb50-49c9-ba8e-b62f73f1e1dd.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/d6db2caf-933a-450d-8fea-7eb9830ae3f1.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/351732d8-0212-4bfa-832c-d599c4761152.jpg)
As mentioned the piece is designed to be used in an urban setting, but clearly a burnt out tank could also cause great inconvenience on the narrow country roads of Herefordshire, particularly to a (self)important visitor who is already running late for some very important rabble-rousing:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/0805214c-a923-49d0-a347-699ea4893160.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/57384d14-54bf-43e9-85e1-396dd65dbeaa.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/a708c882-b327-462e-945f-6434903f6040.jpg)
"Get this tank off the road! If I am not on stage in the Church Hall in Eaton Bishop in 45 minutes the whole village might fall to the Communists!"
Demonstrating the use of the use of the tank as a barricade:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/cf7e2961-a643-40f7-8a5a-6438906f84c2.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ce9fbe25-30b3-4ac3-bd00-d073ad628587.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ffa43743-3248-482d-81e7-f39afbceee75.jpg)
"As you can see from the smouldering remains behind me, the Irish Lilliputian Leprechaun Legion have again attempted to dislodge us from our positions, and once again they have come up short!"
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/039512d1-bc2f-4d3d-bb77-2070c5198941.jpg)
"You halfwit! Why didn't you tell me the in-built cigar lighter is not to be used while refuelling?!"
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Job well done Bearwoodman.
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Love that…certainly my experience of Shoddy Tanks!
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“That’s Leprechaun Legion, ye sapleen!”
Nice job, Bear. But as the tank is unlikely to move in the foreseeable future, and is going to be an inconvenience, are you sure it’s not a Council tank, rather than Irish?
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That’s an excellent job and some entertaining photos as well. And what the heck is this "hairspray" business. Is it a euphemism? I’m agog.
Doug
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Truly excellent Bearwoodman. Blogpost coming up!
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That thrown track looks good. I speak with authority here, having put my share of broken tracks back on tanks... 8)
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That thrown track looks good. I speak with authority here, having put my share of broken tracks back on tanks... 8)
Hand-brake turns?
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Cantiniere serving drinks to the brave boys - it’s hot work out there at the barricades.
6” barricade inspired by the SCW trick of hanging bedsheets across the street to block the view of tank crew and hold up advances. Bedsheets obviously not the best (or even second best), more likely the painting cloths - there are standards, after all.
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Also one corner barricade and a 12” barricade, in two parts. Where do you want these, Bearwoodman?
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Thanks for all the compliments, they are much appreciated!
@Doug - the "hairspray technique" is a method for creating chipped paint effects on vehicles. I failed to make it work for this project, probably because I only used one layer of hairspray. Here is a description I found for how to do it properly:
https://finescale.com/how-to/articles/2022/03/weather-paint-on-a-scale-model-with-hair-spray
@leadboy - looking forward to it!
@CapnJim - thank you that is very gratifying. I have no remotely comparable experience and I struggled to find a photo that I could copy exactly, so I just laid it out until it looked ok to me.
@Moriarty - nice barricades! Especially the bed sheets/painting cloths. Your Cantinieri is very well done too, although my understanding of the challenge rules is that a bit of a backstory for your female personality is required. Is she a straightforward patriotic English type, or do the cups of coffee on her tray smell rather strongly of Whiskey, betraying her alligiance to a certain band of wild but diminutive warriors from the Emerald Isles?
As for where the barricades should go, their ultimate destination should be the Autumn Big Game (which sadly I am unable to attend). If you are going to it then just bring them with you, otherwise maybe they could be posted to @leadboy? That is what I intend to do with the burnt out SHODDY.
I also now have some ideas for a more conventional barricade, and have started work on my own female VBCW personality. Update with photos to follow!
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Thanks, will get it sorted.
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Hello Bearwoodman and Moriarty,
Would be utterly delighted to receive the tank etc via the post Bearwoodman
and we can sort it out via PM whenever you're ready. Will definitely have pride
of place on our "barricade" table when we play the game! V.glad you're adding
a female and backstory for a complete entry and look forward to it!
Moriarty love the cantiniere and washing line and happy to have "special rules"
for its deployment/play whenever you're ready (must be on back of envelope,
obviously) (or you can do what Roo has done in the past, and make them v.
complicated, but only available on his own mobile phone) Look forward to a
fiendishly imaginative backstory!
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So while I was quite pleased with how the burnt out tank had come out, I had started to think that making a small section of barricade made from items found in and about nearby nearby houses (i.e. what the judges actually wanted) might be fun. I had a couple of 3d printed mis-prints that I had picked up cheaply at the UK Games Expo last year that I thought could be used; one was a grandfather clock and the other was a lady Elf reclining in a bath. The clock was a versatile piece but I had a duplicate so I did not mind using that. The bathing figure on the other hand was an item I had never managed to think of a use for so I added her to the pile of barricade materials (or at least I added her bath - it is amazing the variety of people who apparently turned up in Herefordshire in 1938 but I thought the judges with their famed historical rigour might raise an eyebrow at the sight of a barricade been manned by a naked female with pointy ears mid way through a relaxing soak).
The 3d prints were not enough on their own to cover the required 6 inches so I decided to use a plastic Jenga block to create a large piece of furniture to bulk up the obstacle:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/4f81e5bd-9726-4fa2-bf12-d7f44775778e.jpg)
I have used these blacks in the past to make very tall bookcases but this time I needed something with width, so I decided on a large mahogany Art Deco sideboard, something like this:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/d9cfe9b6-d843-4710-8c81-8537f6e4abe2.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/c43dda82-a571-4d26-b406-18029b106874.jpg)
My version, because it is based on the Jenga block, is in fact ridiculously oversized. Still, 28mm figures can still see over it and it would certainly provide a challenge for any engineers charged with breaching it (let alone removal men should the owner move house).
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/e70cac88-39bd-4709-999f-650f2540b007.jpg)
Other additions to the barricade include:
a) corrugated cardboard for corrugated metal sheet;
b) chopped ice lolly sticks for planks of wood;
c) mdf square base and match sticks to make a small table;
d) a hanna bead as a plant pot.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/a881db33-472e-4be6-bc3f-eaf2cb3bcffb.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/c5c665be-03b6-4042-ba5d-19c1e1d1a47d.jpg)
Now for some paint...
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Here it is painted:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/a47f35eb-7f7d-4bea-9ab9-c76fc8179355.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/59767491-b3e5-472a-aced-5b40753194d6.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/aaf630c2-735a-4976-aaf3-36bae40d393f.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/66c82631-5258-4d3d-abd0-fabc23c321ac.jpg)
I added some posters (from various factions) I obtained from the internet to the section of corrugated iron.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/dedff42e-591c-4104-9091-87f3875ebfd3.jpg)
And some vegetation for camouflage:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ca08fac0-489e-4bf0-80e3-0e2f6732e01d.jpg)
And with a figure for scale:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/725d3709-352c-45cc-a463-9bdf27e91923.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/f61cdf5a-f14d-4526-953a-fefe349dc701.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ca311ee8-be39-4234-97ff-5aa435825872.jpg)
The mahogany sideboard provides a stable platform for speechifying:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/d3ed5888-1649-4d1b-bdc2-02138cd9777b.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/0a467ea9-370f-4eba-8cf2-5f4c1aeb6f11.jpg)
"Is it Fascism O'Clock yet?"
The barricade features some rather pointed "political graffiti":
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/5537b325-66e2-4b13-a10e-de9cdb0eae0d.jpg)
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That's a beautifully conceived and executed barricade. Top marks.
But we're already on the third page of "Bearwoodman does Ladies!" and still no ladies! Looking forward to seeing what you do there.
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Stunning barricade chap😳. Love the upturned bath and pot plant…exceptional scene setting.
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That’s exceptional - the design, the detail the painting - splendid.
Doug
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Just clocked the slogan on the end…any reference to Moriarty’s diminutive fellows perchance?
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That's a beautifully conceived and executed barricade. Top marks.
But we're already on the third page of "Bearwoodman does Ladies!" and still no ladies! Looking forward to seeing what you do there.
That is a very good point. I will redouble my efforts, gird my loins etc and see if I can do one this very night!
That’s exceptional - the design, the detail the painting - splendid.
Doug
That is very kind of you to say so. Hopefully it will play it's part on the table.
Just clocked the slogan on the end…any reference to Moriarty’s diminutive fellows perchance?
I thought I had picked up on rumours of the Irish Lilliputian Leprechaun Legion (or whatever their official unit designation currently is) having "beef" with elements of the BUF for some time, certainly since the final of the last Challenge (https://hereford1938avbcwtng.blogspot.com/2023/11/modelling-challenge-2023-results.html?m=1) but my understanding of the complex and shifting web of factions and alliances in VBCW Herefordshire is rudimentary at best. I am sure that leadboy will along shortly to clarify the position.
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That barricade looks the business! Well done!
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Really love that clawfoot tub lol
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Just so setting the ultimate standard for everyone else in the Modelling Challenge to compete with....congratulations again to you Bearwoodman! And as for the beef between the BUF and the Lilliputian Legion of Leprechauns (or whatever 1/72 designation they're fighting under at the moment), I fear that being run over by Mosley's Monster Truck at the conclusion of the 2023 Modelling Challenge (https://hereford1938avbcwtng.blogspot.com/2023/11/modelling-challenge-2023-results.html) has done little to promote amity between the factions...still, this being Hereford1938, anything could happen in the future (and probably will).
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Nice work, Bearwoodman!
Leadboy, will be posting the barricades off to you next week. Have another for the pot, and some ‘corner pieces’, to add.
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Those look excellent too, Moriarty! I am very interested to see that this battlefield looks like when it is all assembled.
Anyway, here is my VBCW Challenge Lady: Gertrude Tunns (the Weobley Valkyrie)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/ebe88c70-7147-4cca-b041-b5fac3944ebb.jpg)
A powerfully-voiced soprano noted across the County for her dominating presence (on and off stage) she was progressing steadily up the rankings of Herefordshire opera singers when war rudley interrupted her rise to international fame and fortune.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/fbbc6e30-8ce9-4608-9826-da539eb17a8d.jpg)
Deeming her art above the grubby business of politics, she initially avoided taking a side in what would become the VBCW as constitutional crisis led seemingly inexorably to armed conflict. She was, however, unable to avoid getting entangled in the growing conflagration when her much anticipated performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung at Weobley Village Hall was threatened by the approach of a marauding mechanised column. According to her agent, while at first her singing was able to drown out the desperate shouts and crackle of gunfire outside, mid way through Act II a tank shell passed through the wall and shattered the ceiling-mounted spotlight that was illuminating her. Incensed at the interruption, but without once stopping singing and in full costume, she strode off stage, out the side door reserved for members of the cast and straight to the barricades, pausing only to relieve a gaping militiaman of his anti-tank rifle. There, firing the weapon from her shoulder, she emptied its magazine into the impertinent tank while her voice soared to a shattering crescendo. Her intervention turned the tide of the action and the remaining attackers retreated, dazed and deafened, back down Gadbridge Road.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/f1c1e45e-fbc1-4d74-9be6-437d8d2a8f3d.jpg)
My entry is an attempt to portray her as she appeared on that fateful day. I used as the starting point a Reaper Bones henchwoman figure that I had acquired some years ago in a Kickstarter but had not yet found a specific use for. I always liked the figure while finding her "armour" rather ridiculous. Closer, you might say, to that of a pre-war Opera singer than a medieval warrior:
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/75008425-ba89-414a-b222-d12f4d8fd1f0.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/be269750-202b-4ff6-a23d-33ac3ce38509.jpg)
I replaced the mace that the figure was originally armed with with a Boys anti-tank rifle taken from a sprue of Warlord Commonwealth WW2 Infantry I got free with an issue of Wargames Illustrated.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/2bccd031-5cb4-4fbc-b835-913afab0bbc0.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/fb3d4db8-2e5b-40a5-a967-8f91cf60b031.jpg)
Removing the arm that was gripping the rifle on the sprue meant that there was a degree of reconstruction required using milliput (so don't look too closely!) and (after these photos were taken) I used a plastic sword hilt to create the handle behind the pistol grip.
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/878c3155-329d-4cea-8a26-ae0fa60692e5.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/949a48ec-5153-4cc5-b2cf-8d515ac02576.jpg)
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/0bff01f4-be84-4595-bf16-c4f23c71d66f.jpg)
Gertrude v SHODDY Tank: No contest
(https://thumbs-eu-west-1.myalbum.io/photo/360/30b3f03c-5dba-4e4b-8898-61dc0487a977.jpg)
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Lovely job & back-story. :)
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cracking job :-* :-* :-*
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Absolutely BRIL lol :-*
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Bloody hell......you go away on holiday and then come back to find......great figure Bearwoodman and the back story is just the ticket ! Now really must put up a blogpost on all this !
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Hi all. Just to hi-jack the thread, eBay has the ‘Shoddy’ China toy tanks again.
‘tank model heavy tank sand table home decor pocket toys’ is the catchy title, 10 for £13.46.
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Having now seen the evidence of your endeavours in the flesh ‘so to soeak’ …I can attest to how stunning all three are! Herefordshire’38 is littered with wrecked shoddies so this will be a welcome addition, the modelling in cracking. It seems a shame to shoot your barricade full of holes, some of the furniture would grace a well appointed miniature home, the bath is a touch of glass! The lady wielding a boyes is pure class and well painted…shame she never fired the thing…yet
Roo 2IC Herefordshire campaign
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Thanks Roo, that is very nice to hear. I hope the day went well, and I await the full report with interest!
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Progress on the ‘technical’, hopefully ready for the Spring game.
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Interesting. Waiting to see that one painted!
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So do I! It is currently occupying an indeterminate spot on the work sheet, bumbling around someone else’s ECW plastics . . .
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Progress is mine!
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Looks excellent! Do you have a Leprechaun crew for them?
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German truck crew, I'll have you know!
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Getting closer - or is it growing bigger?
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Looks good. That should work fine.
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Thanks. Just some fiddly paint bits to do, and a spray of satin varnish. The inspiration under:
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Bloody hell, didn't know there were pics of a real one! Where's that from?
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A random image from Facebook iirc - probably one of those 'algorithm' things.
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If you mean AI or a fake, no, that's a real image. Looks like it might be for some sort of reenactment based on the tents and people in the background, but it's hard to tell.
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No, more the random pictures Facebook throws up based on what you have clicked on previously.
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Ah, like that! Gotcha.
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It's like the first portee, with a machine gun instead of an anti-tank gun strapped to the bed. I guess it would be called a "technical" now, the ancestor of the Toyota Hilux.
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Yes - but just one in a long line of ancestors: Roman Carroballista; Russian Thanka.